Homily for 19thSunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle B)
Based on Jn
6:41-51(Gospel), 1 K 19:4-8 (First Reading) andEp 4:30-5:2 (Second
Reading)
From the Series: “Reflections and Teachings of the Desert”
LIVING BREAD
“I am the living bread
which has come down from heaven.” (Jn 6:51)
Today’s gospel reading is taken from Jn 6:41-51.Verses
41 and 42 say: Meanwhile the Jews were
complainingm to each other about him, because he had said, ‘I am the
bread that came down from heaven’.
‘Surely this is Jesus son of Joseph’ they said. ‘We know his father and mother. How can he
now say “I have come down from heaven’?’ Footnote m - As their
forefathers did in the desert, cf. Ex 16:2f; 17:3; Nb 11:1; 14:27; 1 Co 10:10.
Parallel texts of verse 42 are:
a.
Mt 13:54-57 - …and, coming to his home town,m he taught the people in the
synagogue in such a way that they were astonished and said, ‘Where did the man
get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? (v. 54) This is the carpenter’s
son, surely? Is not his mother the woman called Mary, and his brothers James
and Joseph and Simon and Jude? (v. 55) His sisters, too, are they not all here
with us? So where did the man get it all?’ (v. 56) And they would not accept
him. But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is only despised in his own country and
in his own house’ (v. 57).Footnote m states: “Nazareth,
where he lived as a child, cf. 2:23.”
b. Mk
6:1-6 - Going from that district, he went to his home town and his disciples
accompanied him (v. 1). With the coming of the Sabbath he began teaching in the
synagogue and most of them were astonished when they heard him. They said,
‘Where did the man get all this? What is this wisdom that he has been granted
him, and these miracles that are worked through him? (v. 2) This is the
carpenter, surely, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseta
and Jude and Simon? His sisters, too, are they not here with us? And he would
not accept him (v. 3). And Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is only despised in
his own country, among his own relations and his own house’ (v. 4); And he
could work no miracle there though he cured a few sick people by laying his
hands on them (v. 5). He was amazed at their lack of faith (v. 6).Footnote
a says: “Var ‘Jose’ or
‘Joseph’.”
Verses 43 and 44 say: Jesus said in reply, ‘Stop complaining to each other. ‘No one can come
to me unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise him up on
the last day.
Parallel texts of verse 44 are:
a.
Jn 5:37 - Besides, the Father who
sent me bears witness to me himself. You have never heard his voice, you have
never seen his shape and his word finds
no home in you…
b. Mt
16:17 - Jesus replied, ‘Simon son
of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and bloode
that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven…’Footnote
e says “The expression
indicates man, emphasizing his material, limited nature as opposed to that of
the spirit world, Si 14:18; Rm 7:5+; 1 Co 15:50; Ga 1:16; Ep 6:12; Heb 2:14; cf. Jn 1:13.”
Verse 45 says: It
is written in the prophets: they will all be taught by God, and to hear the
teaching of the Father, and learn from it, is to come to me.
Parallel texts are:
a.
Is 54:13 - Your sons will be taught by Yahweh.
The prosperity of your sons will be great.
b.
Jr 31:33 - No, this is the covenant I will make
with the House of Israel when those days arrive-it is Yahweh who speaks. Deep
within them I will plant my Law, writing it on their hearts. Then I will be
their God and they shall be my people.
c.
1 Th 4:9 - As for loving our brothers, there is
no need for anyone to write to you about that, since you have learnt from God
yourselves to love one another.
d. 1
Jn 2:20,27 - But you have been anointedi
by the Holy One, and have all received the knowledge.j (v. 20). But
you have not lost the anointing that he gave you, and you do not need anyone to
teach you; the anointing he gave you, and you do not need anyone to teach you;n
the anointing he gave teaches you everything; you are anointed with truth, not
with a lie, and as it has taught you, so you must stay in him (v. 27). Footnote
isays:“In the OT, the chrism that was to anoint the messiah (the
‘anointed’’) was identified, Is 11:2; 61:1, with the (holy) Spirit or Breath of
Yahweh. Christians share in this anointing that teachers them the true gnosis
or knowledge”; Footnotej
states “Var. ‘you know all things’”;and
Footnoten says“Christians are
taught by the apostles, 1:3,5; 2:7,24m, but merely hearing what is said is not
enough, the message must penetrate them and this it cannot do except through
the grace of the Holy Spirit, cf. 2:20+.”
Verses 46, 47, 48, 49 and 50 say: Not that anybody has seen the Father,
except the one who comes from God; he has seen the Father.I tell you most
solemnly, everybody who believes has eternal life.I am the bread of life.Your
fathers ate the manna in the desert and they are dead; but this is the bread
that comes down from heaven, so that a man may eat it and not die.
Parallel texts of verse 46 are:
a.
Jn 1:18 - No
one has ever seen God; it is the only Son,r who is nearest to the
Father’s heart, who has made him known. Footnote r says: “Var. ‘God, only begotten’.”
b.
Ex 33:20
- ‘You cannot see my face’ he said
‘for man cannot see me and live.’I Footnotei - God’s
sanctity is so removed from man’s unworthiness, see Lv 17:1+, that man must
perish if he looks on God, cf. Ex 19:21; Lv 16:2; Nb. 4:20, or even hears his
voice, Ex. 20:19; Dt. 5:24-26 and 18:16. For this reason Moses, Ex. 3:6,
Elijah, 1 K 19:13, and even the seraphim, Is 6:2, cover their faces in his
presence. The man who remain alive after seeing God is overwhelmed with
astonishment and gratitude, Gn 32:31; Dt 5:24, and with awe, Jg 6:22-23; 13:22,
Is. 6:5. It is a favor God rarely concedes, Ex 24:11; he grants ‘it to Moses
his ‘friend’, Ex 33:11; Nb 12:7-8; Dt 34:10, and to Elijah, 1 K 19:11f, the two
who looked on the New Testament theophany, the transfiguration of Christ, Mt.
17:3p. Hence, in Christian tradition Moses and Elijah (together with Apostle
Paul, 2 Co 12:1f) are the three pre-eminent mystics. In the New Testament the
‘glory’ of God, cf. 33:18 and 24:16+, is manifested in Jesus, Jn 1:14+; 11:40,
who alone has gazed on the Father, Jn 1:18, 6:46; 1 Jn 4:12. Man cannot look on
God’s face except in heaven, Mt 5:8; 1 Jn 3:2, 1 Co 13:12.
c.
1 Jn 4:12 - No
one has ever seen God;e but as long as we love one another God will
live in us and his love will be complete in us.Footnotee says: “This is directed against the pneumatikoi who held that by
intuition a human being can ‘reach’ God.”
d. Jn
7:29 - …but I know him because I have
come from himl and it was he who sent me.’Footnotel
says: “Var. ‘because I am at his side’.”
Verse 51 says:
I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone one who eats this
bread will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, nfor
the life of the world.’o Footnote n says: “Add ‘that I shall give’; the phrase is, in any case, to be understood”;
and Footnote o states that “Jesus
is the true bread because he is God’s Word, vv. 32f, and also because he is a
victim whose body and blood are offered in sacrifice for the life of the world,
vv. 51-58, cf. 6:22+. The word ‘flesh’ suggests a connection between the
Eucharist and incarnation: the Word made flesh, 1:14, is the food of man.”
Parallel texts are:
a.
Is 25:6 - On
this mountain,c Yahweh Sabaoth will prepare for all peoples a
banquet of rich food, a banquet of fine wines, of food rich and juicy, of fine
strained wines.Footnotec - Zion.
b.
Mt 26:26 –29 - Now as they were eating,f
Jesus took some bread, and when he had said the blessing he broke it and gave
it to the disciples. He said, ‘Take it and eat; this is my body’ (v. 26).Then
he took a cup, and when he had returned thanks he gave it to them. He said,
‘Drink all of you from this (v. 27).For this is my blood, the blood of theg
covenant, which is to be poured out for many for the forgiveness of sinsh(v.
28).From now on, I tell you, I shall not drink wine until the day I drink the
new wine with you in the kingdom of my Fatheri (v. 29)’.Footnotefsays:
“They have come to the Passover supper
itself. The rubrics for this solemn blessing of bread and wine are laid down
exactly; on to this ceremony Jesus grafts the sacramental rites of the new
religious order of things which he institutes”;Footnoteg states
that ‘Add (Vulg.) ‘new’, cf. Lk 22:20; 1
Co 11:25”; Footnoteh says
“As at Sinai, the blood of victims sealed
the covenant of Yahweh with his people, Ex.
24:4-8+, so on the cross the blood of Jesus, the perfect victim, is about to
seal the ‘new’ covenant, cf. Lk. 22:20, between
God and man - the covenant foretold by the prophets, Jr 31:31+. Jesus
takes on himself the task of universal redemption that Isaiah assigns to the
‘servant of Yahweh’, Is. 42:6; 49:6; 53:12, cf. 41:8+. Cf. Heb 8:8; 9:15;
12:24”; Footnote i says:
“Allusion to the eschatological banquet,
cf. 8:11; 22:1f. Jesus and his disciples will never meet at table again.”
c.
Lk22:19p
-Then he took some bread and when
he had given thanks, broke it and gave it to them saying, ‘This is my body
which will be given for you; do this as a memorial of me.’ (v. 19). He did the
same with the cup after supper, and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my
blood which will be poured out for you.h (v. 20).Footnoteh says:
“Or alternatively ‘which has to be given’
and ‘which has to be poured out’.”
d.
1 Co 11:24 - and thanked God for it and broke
it, and he said, ‘This is my body, which is for you;i do this as a
memorial of me. FootnoteI says “Var.
‘This is my body, broken for you.’”
The First Reading for this Sunday is1 K 19:4-8. Verse
4 says: He himself went on into
the wilderness, a day’s journey, and sitting under a furze bush wished he were
dead. ‘Yahweh,’ he said ‘I have had enough. Take my life; I am no better than
my ancestors.’
Parallel texts are:
a.
Gn 21:14-21 - Rising early next morning Abraham took some bread and a skin of water
and, giving them to Hagar, he put the child on her shoulder and sent her away.
She wandered off into the wilderness of Bersheeba (v. 14). When the skin of
water was finished she abandoned the child under the bush (v. 15). Then she
went nad sat down at a distance, about a bowshot away, saying to herself, ‘I
cannot see the child die.’ So she sat at a distance; the child wailed and wept
(v. 16). But God heard the bot wailing, and the angel of God called to Hagar
from heaven. ‘What is wrong, Hagar?’ he asked. ‘Do not be afraid, for God has hearde
the boy’s cry where he lies (v. 17) Come, pick up the boy and hold him safe,
for I will make him into a great nation’ (v. 18). Then God opened Hagar’s eyes
and she saw a well, so she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy
a drink (v. 19). God was with the boy. He grew up and made his home in the
wilderness, and became a bowman (v. 20). He made his home in the wilderness of
Paran, and his mother chose him a wife from the land of Egypt (v. 21).
Footnote esays “Allusion to
Ishmael’s name, see 16:11.
b.
Nb 11:14 - I am not able to carry this nation by
myself alone; the weight is too much for me.
c.
Tb 3:6 - …so now do with me as you will; be
pleased to take my life from me; I desire to be delivered from earth and to
become earth again. For death is better for me than life. I have been reviled
without a cause and I am distressed beyond measure. Lord, I wait for the
sentence you will give to deliver me from this affliction. Let me go away to my
everlasting home; do not turn your face from me, O Lord. For it is better to
die than still to live in the face of trouble that knows no pity; I am weary of
hearing myself traduced.
d.
Jb 6:9 - My it please God to crush me, to give
his hand free play and do away with me!
e.
Jb 7:15 - Stranglingh
I would welcome rather, and death itself, than these my sufferings.iFootnote
hsays “Unlike the Egyptian
when ‘tired of life’, Job does not contemplate suicide. Apart from the case of
soldiers preferring death to dishonor, Jg 9:54; 1 S 31:4, the OT has only one
suicide, that of Ahithophel, 2 S 17:23+”;Footnoteisays:‘Suffering’ corr.
f.
Jon 4:3,8 - So now Yahweh, please take away my
life, for I might as well be dead as go on living.
Verse 5, 6 and 7 say: Then he
lay down and went to sleep. But an angel touched him and said. ‘Get up and
eat’. He looked round, and there at his head was a scone baked on hot stones,
and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. But the angel of
Yahweh came back a second time and touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat, or
the journey will be too long for you’.
Parallel text of verse 5 is Ac 12:5-7 that says: All the time Peter was under guard the
Church prayed to God for him unremittingly (v. 5). On the night before Herod
was to try him, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, fastened with double
chainsb while guards kept watch at the main entrance to the prison
(v. 6). Then suddenly the angel of the Lord stood there, and the cell was
filled with light. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him. ‘Get up!’ he said
‘Hurry!’ - and the chains fell from his hands (v. 7). Footnote b
says “Each one to a soldier on either
side”.
Verse 8 says: So he got up and
ate and drank, and strengthened by that food he walked for forty days and forty
nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.bFootnote b
- Cf. Ex 19:1+. Zealous to maintain the
covenant and restore the ancient faith, Elijah visits the place where the true
God revealed himself, Ex 3 and 33:18+, 34:9, and where the covenant had been concluded, Ex 19 and 24: he sees his
own task as that of continuing the work of Moses. Moses and Elijah have in
common a theophany at Horeb; both also witness the NT theophany, Christ’s
transfiguration, Mt 17:1-9p.
Parallel texts are:
a.
Ex 24:18 - Moses went right into the cloud. He
went up the mountain, and stayed there
for forty days and forty nights.gFootnote g says “Cf. the forty days’ journey of Elijah to
Sinai, 1 K 19:8 and Christ’s forty days in the desert, Mt 4:2p.”
b.
Mt 4:2+,3 - He
fasted for forty days and forty nights, after which he was very hungry (v. 2),
and the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God,ctell
these stones to turn into loaves’. Footnote c says: “The
biblical title ‘Son of God’ does not necessarily mean natural sonship but may
imply a sonship which is merely adoptive, i.e., which as a result of God’s
deliberate choice sets up a very intimate relationship between God and his
creature. In this sense the title is given to angels (Jb. 1:6), to the Chosen
People (Ex. 4:22 , Ws. 18:13 ), to individual Israelites
(Dt. 14:1, Ho. 2:1, cf. Mt. 5:9,48, etc.), to their leaders (Ps. 82:6). Were
therefore it is attributed to the royal Messiah (1 Ch. 17:13, Ps. 2:7, 89:26)
it does not necessarily imply that he is more than man; nor need we suppose
that it has any deeper significance when used by Satan (Mt. 4:3,6) or by the
possessed (Mk. 3:11, 5:7, Lk. 4:41), still less when used by the centurion (Mk.
15:39, cf. Lk. 23:47). By itself the sentence at baptism (Mt. 3:17) and at the
transfiguration (17:5) suggests no more than the divine predilection for the
Messiah-servant, and all probability the High priest’s question (26:63)
concerns messiahship only. Nevertheless the title ‘Son of God’ can bear a
further, more profound meaning of sonship in the full sense of the word. Jesus
clearly insinuated this meaning when he spoke of himself as ‘the Son’ (2:37 ), ranked above the angels
(24:36), having God for his ‘Father’ in a way others had not (Jn. 20:17 and cf. ‘my Father’ in Mt. 7:21 , etc.), enjoying with the
Father an altogether singular relationship of knowledge and love (Mt. 11:27 ). These assertions, coupled
with others that speak of the Messiah’s divine rank (22:42-46), of the heavenly
origin of the ‘son of man’ (8:20+),
assertions finally confirmed by the triumph of the resurrection, have endowed
the expression ‘son of God’ with the strictly divine significance which will
later be found, e.g. in Paul (Rm. 9:5+). During the lifetime of Christ, it is
true his disciples had no clear conception of his divinity – the texts of Mt.
14:33 and 16:16 which add the title ‘Son of God’ to the more primitive text of
Mk reflect, in all probability, a later stage in the faith’s development. But
it is equally true that Jesus expressed with his own lips and with as much
clarity as his audience could support, his own consciousness of being Son of
the Father in the fullest sense. On these historical utterances the faith of
the disciples rested, a faith that reached its perfection after the
resurrection with the help of the Holy Spirit. “
The Second Reading for this Sunday isEp 4:30-5:2. Verse
30 says: Otherwise you will only be grieving the Holy
Spirit of God who has marked you with his seal for you to be set free when the
day comes.qFootnote q says: “The one Holy Spirit that keeps the one body of Christ united, 4:4, 1
Co. 12:13 , is ‘grieved’;
cf. 4:30 , Is. 63:10, by
anything that harms the unity of the body.”
Parallel texts
are:
a.
Is 63:10 -
But they rebelled, they grieved his holy spirit. Then he turned enemy, and
himself waged war on them.
b.
Ep 1:13 - Now you too,n in him, have
heard the message of the truth and the good news of your salvation, and have
believed it; and you too have been stamped with the seal of the Holy Spirit of
the Promise.oFootnoten says: “Sixth
blessing: the Jews are chosen to be the human share allotted to God, and are to
be his witness until the coming of the Messiah. Paul, being a Jew, here uses
‘we’”; Footnote o says: “Paul
completes his Trinitarian account of God’s plan with the Spirit, since the
giving of the Spirit shows the plan has reached its final stage. Nevertheless,
though this gift has already begun, it is only given in a hidden way while the
unspiritual world lasts, and will only be given fully when the kingdom of God
is complete and Christ comes in glory.”
c.
Rm 1:29 - So
they are steepedr in all sorts of depravity rottenness, greed and
malice,s and addicted to envy, murder, wrangling, treachery and
spite.Footnote r
says: Here, as he frequently does
elsewhere, Paul uses lists of vices taken from current pagan and (even more so)
Jewish literature: 13:13; 1 Co 5:10-11;
6:9-10; 2 Co 12:20; Ga 5:19-21; Ep 4:31; 5:3-5; Col 3:5-8; 1 Tm 1:9-10; 6:4; 2
Tm 3:2-5; Tt 3:3; Cf also Mt 15:19p; 1 P
4:3; Rv 21:8; 22:15”; Footnote s says “Add ‘fornication’.”
Verse 31 says: Never have grudges against others, or lose
your temper, or raise your voice to anybody, or call each other names, or allow
any sort of spitefulness.
Parallel text of verse 31 is Col 3:8 that
says: But now you, of all people, must give all these things up; getting
angry, being bad-tempered, spitefulness, abusive language and dirty talk…
Verse 32 says: Be friend with one
another, and kind. Forgiving each other as readily a God forgave your
in Christ. Footnote r says “‘you’: var. ‘us’. The same in 5:2.”
Parallel texts are:
a.
Mt 6:12,14-15 - And forgive us our debts, as we
have forgiven those who are in debt to us (v. 12). Yes, if you forgive others
their failings, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours (v. 14); but if you do not forgive others, your Father
will not forgive your failings either (v. 15).
b.
Col 3:13 - Bear with one another; forgive each
other as soon as a quarrel begins. The Lord has forgiven you; now must do the
same.
Chapter 5, verse 1 says: Try, then, to imitate God, as children of
his that he loves,
Parallel texts are:
a.
You must therefore be perfect just as your
heavenly Father is perfect.
b.
You know how you are supposed to imitate us;b
now we were not idle when we were with you. Footnote b says “By imitating Paul , 1 Co 4:16; Ga 4:12; Ph
3:17, Christians will be imitating Christ, 1 Th 1:6; Ph 2:5; cf Mt 16:24; 1 P
2:21; 1 Jn 2:6; who is the one that Paul is imitating, 1 Co 11:1. Christians
must also imitate God, Ep 5:1 (cf. Mt 5:48), and they must imitate each other,
1 Th 1:7; 2:14; Heb 6:12. Behind this community of life is the idea of a model
of doctrine, Rm 6:17, that has been received by tradition, v. 6: 1 Co 11:2+; 1
Th 2:13++. The leaders who transmit the doctrine must themselves be ‘models’ v. 9; Ph 3:17; 1 Tm 1:16; 4:12;
Tt 2:7; 1 P 5:3; whose faith and life
are to be imitated, Heb 13:7.”
Verse 2 of Chapter 5 says: And follow Christ by loving as he loved
you, giving himself up in our place as a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to
God.
Parallel texts are:
a.
Ga 2:20 - …and
I live now not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me.m
The life I now live in this bodyn I live in faith; faith in the Son
of God,o who loved me and who sacrificed himself for my sake.
Footnote m - The living acts of a Christian becomes somehow the acts
of Christ; and Footnoten - Lit ‘in my flesh’. Though still
physically alive, cf. Ep 3:17+; on this paradox, cfRm 8; and Footnoteo
- Var. ‘faith in God and in Christ’.
b.
1 Jn 3:16 - This has taught us love-that he gave
up his life for us; and we, too, ought to give up our lives for our brothers.
The Online Article “Bread of Life Discourse” from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
The Bread of Life Discourse is an episode in
the life of Jesus that appears in the Gospel of John 6:22-59.
The title "Bread of Life" (Greek:
ἄρτοςτῆςζωῆς, artostēszōēs) for Jesus is based on this Biblical episode which
takes place in the Gospel of John shortly after the Feeding the multitude
episode (in which Jesus feeds the crowds with five loaves of bread and two
fish) after which the crowds watch as Jesus walks to the other side of lake on
the water after Jesus' walk on water.[2]
The Gospel of John does not include an account
of the blessing of the bread during the Last Supper, e.g. as in the Gospel of
Luke 22:19. However, this discourse does communicate teachings regarding the
Eucharist that have been very influential in the Christian tradition.[4]
Jn
6:24-35
Through Jesus’ discourse on the bread of
life, John is able to make some important theological points which reveal who
he believes Jesus to be.
First, Jesus tells the crowd to work not
“for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life” (v 27).
The food of which Jesus speaks is not the physical bread, which was multiplied
in the last narrative, but is similar to the water offered to the Samaritan
woman—“water welling up to eternal life” (Jn 4:14).
In both cases, John understands Jesus to be offering faith to people. Faith is food which nourishes people throughout their lives to eternal life. Water is drink which quenches the thirst for God that people have throughout their lives to eternal life. Through faith in Jesus, people have their hunger and thirst satisfied.
Second, the food and drink of faith does not have to be worked for, as one would work for money to buy physical bread or as one would work by carrying water or making money to pay a bill. When the crowds ask, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” Jesus tells them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent” (vv 28-29). In other words, faith is not earned; it is a free gift offered by God through Jesus.
Third, the crowd thinks that it needs a sign in order to believe in Jesus. After all, there was the sign of manna in the desert in the past. Through Moses’ intercession, God had given his people bread from heaven to eat. God worked a whole series of signs and the people believed in him.
Jesus takes the focus off of Moses and reminds the people that it was not Moses who gave them bread from heaven. It was the Father. And the Father now gives them the true bread from heaven.
The “true bread from heaven” is not physical bread, like the manna of the past. “The bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” (v 33).
John understands Jesus to be this bread which sustains life. Bread is a staple of life. Jesus is the staple of eternal life. Just like the manna sustained the lives of the Israelites in the desert, so now those who believe in Jesus will find that their lives are sustained for eternal life.
For John, Jesus is bread. All people need
to do is to ask: “Lord, give us this bread always” (v 34). However, they have
to understand that what they are asking for is not a loaf of physical bread but
the faith to believe that Jesus will satisfy their hunger and their thirst
forever.
Jesus promises eternal life for all those
who will believe in him as the one God sent to liberate his people. He is the
true bread which God gives in order to sustain his new people on their new
journey toward the new promised land, heaven.
“Flesh,
blood: When Jesus declares, “The bread that I will give is my flesh for the
life of the world,” the Jews “murmur” in unbelief. Their revulsion is complete
when Jesus speaks about his blood as true drink. Literal drinking of blood was
prohibited in Judaism and perhaps in early Christianity (Gn 9:4; Acts 15:29).
The Jews cannot go beyond the physical, and so misunderstand Jesus’ promise.
“Jesus
will provide food for the life of the world. In place of the manna and the gift
of the Torah, the Jews are told to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus
who is the Son of Man.
“Flesh”
has to do with the incarnate life of Jesus. He, the divine Word, became flesh,
a human being in its weakness and mortality. “Blood” has to do with his very
real death. To be eaten and to be drunk means that the flesh is to be broken
and the blood is to be spilled. Jesus now speaks of the separation of his flesh
and blood in a violent death as the moment of total giving of himself. Jesus
speaks of the inevitability of his death on the cross.
“Later, the believers will have
to ask: Where do we encounter the revelation of God in the flesh and blood of
the Son of Man? How can we partake of his flesh and blood? The evangelist’s
insinuation of the Eucharistic language in Jesus’ discourse on the bread of life
provides an answer: one encounters the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ in the
Eucharistic celebration.
From the online article “John 6 - The Bread Of
Life Discourse” (http://www.ourcatholicfaith.org):
The Eucharist is
much more than a memorial service using grape juice and crackers. It is a
sacrifice and a meal. The sacrifice comes in two forms: 1) us giving our whole
selves to Christ and 2) the continuation of the sacrifice made by Christ of His
flesh and blood. The meal is accepting the gift of holy food in the form of the
body and blood of Christ.
Many Protestant
Churches misinterpret John 6 and believe it is symbolic. The passage "It
is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have
spoken to you are spirit and life." often confuse people that do not
understand that the terms "flesh" and "blood" are used two
different ways in the passage. Initially, Jesus is speaking literally of His
flesh and blood. This is what we now call the Eucharist. His use of flesh and
blood in the last portion is moving to the familiar analogy between flesh
(earthly things) and spirit (heavenly things). He is simply stating that His
(literal) flesh and blood are of spirit (of heaven) while flesh (all earthly
things) are of no use. He is simply telling us that His flesh and blood are
spiritual food. Real food!
Tim Staples, in an online article What
Catholics Believe about John 6, ( from http://www.catholic.com) says:
For millions of
non-Catholic Christians, Jesus was using
pure symbolism in John 6:53 when he declared to his followers, “Truly, truly, I
say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you
have no life in you.” So the non-Catholic claims Jesus is using metaphor in
John 6, just as he does elsewhere in the Gospels.
When we examine
the surrounding context of John 6:53, Jesus’ words could hardly have been
clearer. In verse 51, he plainly claims to be “the living bread” that his
followers must eat. And he says in no uncertain terms that “the bread which I
shall give . . . is my flesh.” Then, when the Jews were found “disputing among
themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’” in verse 52,
he reiterates even more emphatically, “Truly, truly, I say unto you, unless you
eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” Only
the Spirit can accomplish the miracle of the Eucharist, and only the Spirit can
empower us to believe the miracle. The resurrected body is spiritual, and
indeed we can be called spiritual as Christians inasmuch as we are controlled
by the Spirit of God.
From an online article, “I Am the Bread of Life” ( http://www.gty.org):
“The most compelling
statement around which all of this is built is the repeated statement, “I am
the Bread of life. I am the Bread of
life.” That’s His claim, verse 32, verse
33, verse 48….This is a metaphor...
Verse 41, there’s a lot of shock about that, but I just want you to
notice they understood exactly what He was saying. The Jews are grumbling because He said, “I am
the bread that came down out of heaven.”
In verse 42, they are wondering how this man whose parents they know can
say, “I have come down out of heaven.” Verse 46, again says, “Not that anyone
has seen the Father except the One who is from God.” He has come down out of heaven. “Verse 47, “I say, he who believes has
eternal life.” Verse 50, “This is the
bread which comes down out of heaven so that one may eat of it and not
die.” Not die. Verse 51, “I am the living bread that came
down out of heaven. If anyone eats of
this bread he will live forever, and the bread which I give,” again he says, “I
give for the life of the world.” It’s
life and it’s eternal life. Verse 53,
“Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and
drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.” Verse 54, “He who eats My flesh, drinks My
blood, has eternal life. And I will
raise him up on the last day.” Life,
life, life, life. Eternal life. Verse 58 at the end, “He who eats this bread
will live forever.” How is this
possible? Because of verse 56, “He who
eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him.”
“How do we get
eternal life into these mortal bodies?
Because we come into real union with Christ. Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live yet not I,
but Christ lives in me.” “He that is
joined to the Lord is one Spirit.” We
are one in Christ. And so His eternal
life is in us, granting us eternal life.
“And it culminates
in a resurrection. Several times Jesus
says, “I’ll raise him at the last day.
I’ll raise him at the last day.
I’ll raise him at the last day.”
It is a union that will not only be a union in spirit, but it will be a
union in spiritual body. Philippians 3,
“We will have a body like unto His glorious body. We will reflect His glory. We will be made like Christ when we see Him
as He is,” right? This is what it means
to be a Christian. It’s not following
the teachings of a man. It’s having His
life in us. This is the work of
God. This doesn’t happen unless you’re
taught of God, as verse 45 says. This
does not happen unless God the Father draws you.
“This is the bread
which comes down out of heaven so that one may eat,” and now we’re back into
the metaphor. Believing is eating. Taking in, receiving, appropriating. Verse 51, “I am the living bread that came
down out of heaven. If anyone eats of
this bread, he will live forever.” Verse
57, “As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who
eats Me, he also will live because of Me.”
Again, verse 58, the end of the verse, “He who eats this bread will live
forever.” I mean this is a powerful
metaphor that everybody understands. You
have to take Me in. It’s not enough to
come and listen. It’s not enough to
admire to get some kind of information.
You have to eat. You have to
appropriate. You have to receive Me…
“You not only have
to believe in Him as living bread, you have to believe in Him as dying
blood. What? Verse 51, “I am the living bread. I came down out of heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live
forever. And the bread also which I will
give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
Now, he’s talking about giving up His life. Very specific terms. Verse 53, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless
you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in
yourself.” 54, “He who eats My flesh and
drinks My blood has eternal life.” Verse
55, “For My flesh is true food and My blood is true drink.” Verse 56, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My
blood abides in Me in and I in him.”
“You have to be
able to eat His flesh in the sense that you take Him as the one who nourishes
the soul. And you have to be willing to
drink His blood in the sense that you accept his sacrificial death. Verse 52, they can’t even get to the part
about eating His flesh, let alone the part about drinking his blood or
accepting His death. Just in conclusion, a few things to think about. Eating is necessary. If you want eternal life, eating is
necessary.”
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