Abide in me

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

Over the past several readings from this chapter in John's gospel, Jesus has been teaching about the "bread of life." In Friday's reading, we read about feeding the 5,000 on the mountaintop. These people have pursued him in order to make him king, even across the Sea of Galilee. Jesus then began to teach them about the true "bread of life" which they should pursue, rather than pursuing him to be king because he fed them loaves and fishes. Over the past several readings, Jesus has been teaching about his own nature as this bread of life, and drawing all to the Father through himself. (See Monday's and Tuesday's readings and commentary, The bread of life! and For the life of the world.)

In yesterday's reading, Jesus began to speak of his sacrifice: "Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world." Today he continues his dialogue.

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." These words equate Jesus with life itself. He is clearly alluding to himself as Creator, as the source of life. "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." His flesh and blood is life itself, and in that life, those who eat and drink will have eternal life. In this sense his flesh is true food and his blood is true drink. Strange words, indeed! But we must ask ourselves why this language is phrased this way... why does Jesus speak of his flesh and blood as our food and drink? We understand this is not a literal text, Jesus was not inviting anyone to eat his bodily flesh and blood! So we must understand this text in spiritual terms. Jesus is offering himself to us, his nature: all that he is within himself is not just something he offers to us in relationship in this text. "Relationship" is now not a powerful enough word for the encounter which he offers us. Instead, he offers us his life, his Personhood, and in so doing it is offering us life itself: he offers to be our food and drink, our sustenance, and more. He is offering the spiritual food and drink that will shape us and become a part of us, as deeply a part of our lives as we know ourselves to be individual persons. This is the depth of his reality in us through faith.

"Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them." This sentence makes the relationship, the depth of which Jesus is speaking, abundantly clear. We abide not simply with one another but in one another. "Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me." In this expounding on theology, and the nature of the root of all Being in the Father, so Jesus expands on our relationship to himself. The Father has sent him, and he lives because of the Father, and just so - we who partake of his flesh and blood will live because of him. Again, how can we get around these words and come to understand them in the terms he is implying? We need spiritual ears to hear and eyes to see. His sacrifice of flesh and blood will come on the Cross. He will give his life for the life of the world. In his life, our faith in this reality that he teaches us will make us one. In the Eucharist we take in this spiritual flesh and blood, his life, all that he offers us. What he offers us is himself, and the spiritual reality of that gift that we can then make a part of ourselves. It's like the grain of mustard seed that grows into the great sturdy shrub from his parables of kingdom in Matthew's gospel, or the leaven mixed in with the flour in those same parables that describe the nature of the kingdom. Jesus' life, in us, creates of us a new substance which is life in abundance - and here referred to as life itself. It is the true food, spiritual life and reality, giving us more dimensions to life - even as we walk in this world - than merely our own flesh and blood can convey. This is a mystical reality that lives in us.

"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." This bread from heaven, he's saying, is not like the manna that their ancestors ate in the wilderness. This is a living bread that shall not die but shall extend eternal life to those who partake. As we take the Eucharist, so he offers us all that he is, his very life, so that he gives this eternal life to us and makes it a part of us as well. My study bible notes as follows: "St. Hilary of Poitiers writes, 'What we say concerning the reality of Christ's nature within us would be foolish and impious were we not taught by His very words." I know some people myself, pious Christians, who would get after me for writing that these words imply that we share his very nature: or rather, that he shares, he gives, his nature to us. But if we are to take these strange words seriously (and we know from the gospels that Jesus lost many of his own disciples because of these words), then we must at least perceive what they imply, what Jesus is getting at. His life itself he shares with us. It will become a part of us. And in that eternal nature of life he will make us like him: he will raise us to eternal life as well. So let us ponder today, just what it means to take in his life, his flesh and blood that gives us life itself. Let us think about what it means that his gift is all of himself to us.