Food and Drink

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ So Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live for ever.’ He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

- John 6:52-59

These are strange words indeed, at first glance. One once again wonders what his audience would have made of them. But we have markers and understanding and reflections to make on these words. First of all, Jesus has already referred to himself in the same passage as the bread that has come down from heaven, when he compared his being in the world with the manna that came from the Father in heaven to feed the Jewish ancestors in the wilderness.

I am also reminded of Adam's words to Eve, that she was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. Elsewhere, Jesus refers to himself as the bridegroom, and we, the Body of Christ, His Church, are the bride. Jesus defined marriage as "twain that become one flesh." So we have reflections on the notion of yet another depth of relatedness.

These sayings about food, referring to himself as food, seem to me to establish ever more deeply relationship: our very being is in the partaking of his spiritual flesh and blood so that we become of one Body with Him. Earlier in John's gospel, Jesus has also told his disciples that he has food to eat that they know nothing about - that his food is doing the will of his Father who sent him. So also, if our food is that of Christ, in relationship to both we must do the same. And finally, there is of course reference to the eucharist - to which Jesus will explicitly refer again at the Last Supper when he tells his disciples, "Do this in remembrance of me."

So, this "hard saying" about flesh and blood must resonate within us on many levels. We must understand it, of course, in spiritual terms, and as denoting an even deeper relationship than all we have already been led to understand through this gospel. Not only are we, humanity, invited into relationship with Father and Son through this gift of the son who has come to claim all that the Father has given him, but here we have the ultimate depth of relationship. Christ himself is our food; when we partake of the bread that is him - in other words, the bread and wine he offers us is himself - this denotes the idea that we become a part of him, our very lives are formed and shaped by the food we take in, of which we partake.

So, once again, for me, we come to deeper and deeper allusions to relationship - this time He is our very food and drink, when we share in His life, we become inseparably a part of His very life.

The Lamb of God is broken and distributed
Broken but not divided
Forever eaten yet never consumed
Sanctifying those who partake