The bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world

 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."  And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven'?"  Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.  No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.  It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'  Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.  Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.  Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.  This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."

- John 6:41-51

In yesterday's reading, Jesus was speaking to the crowds that followed Him after the feeding of five thousand men (and more women and children).  They had wanted to forcefully make Him king, but He eluded them.  He said, "Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."  Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."  Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You?  What work will You do?  Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."  Then they said to Him, "Lord give us this bread always."  And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.  But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.  All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.  For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.  This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.  And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."  And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven'?"  Jesus therefore answered and said to them, "Do not murmur among yourselves.  No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.  It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'  Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.  Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father."   We remember that the term "the Jews" generally is used in John's Gospel to denote religious leadership.  Here, there are echoes of scenes from the synagogue in His hometown (see, for example Luke 4:14-35).  We remember that here He is among people who know Him and His extended family, in Galilee.   Here Jesus quotes from the prophesy of Isaiah (54:13).   This is a kind of repetition of the statements in yesterday's reading, but the verses ask us to look closer, and to see many connections.  How are we drawn by the Father to Christ, to know Jesus, to really see and perceive?

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.  I am the bread of life.  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead.  This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."  He can state it no more plainly:  He is the living bread which came down from heaven.  It is a plainly eucharistic statement, giving meaning to the sacrament and its institution, already known to those who would have received this Gospel at the time it was written.  But it is an emphatic statement of His own divinity, and asking those who "behold" Him to truly see.  He is revealing everything, great mysteries, and standing before them as greater mystery and revelation than anything Moses could give to the people.  Of course, there is also reference here to the Cross, and to the sacrifice He will make for the life of the world.

For the life of the world . . . there are many ways one can think about this statement.  Like so much else, the words themselves just "keep on giving."  It is seemingly inexhaustible, perhaps literally inexhaustible as a subject, to think about how many ways this statement is true.  This inexhaustible nature actually is the reality of Christ.  He is the Gift that keeps on giving.  The flesh He will give for the life of the world is His own body, His voluntary sacrifice on the Cross, transforming the most feared instrument of death into the symbol of Resurrection, of everlasting life.  His flesh is given in the Eucharist, also to feed us, to give us life on so many levels -- to give us an abundant life, more than the grimness and the banality the world can at times present us with.   His mission on earth as Incarnate human being as a whole is given for the life of the world:  to reveal to us, to teach us, to give us mysteries "hidden since the foundation of the world."  There are so many ways in which He feeds us, for the life of the world.   He gives us meanings, He gives us beauty, He asks us to transcend a material perspective and to see what there is in love, in sacrifice, what life we're given in return.  Truth and goodness become more than mere relative values; they become aspirations, something in which to participate and grow, to be nourished as well by this bread of life.   And in so doing, we are taught about what it is to receive a pure gift, the grace of God.   For the life of the world adds meaning to the beauty of sunlight dappling and glinting off leaves of a tree, sparkling after the rain.  Why?  Because we may come to know all of life as a gift, given out of love for us.  We come to know that we are loved with a love that longs to give us everything, and it changes the ways in which we can perceive our lives.  Every loss may be an occasion for gain, for seeing what is beyond the loss, hidden in our circumstances, our capacity for transcendence and resurrection, even in the minor events in our lives.  Everything is given meaning and richness in light of Christ's life that it doesn't have otherwise.  His very mission is to give resurrection to everything, to add life in abundance to our daily lives, a texture beyond the purely material.   Everlasting life teaches us about a quality of life, something added to us, and it teaches us about this great, tremendous love that wants nothing more than for us to be with Him.  Let us consider the ways He is here as a gift for the life of the world.