Wednesday, January 31, 2018

He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him


 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Than Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down from heaven -- not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.  He who eats this bread will live forever."  These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. 

- John 6:52-59

Yesterday we read that the religious leaders in the synagogue at Capernaum complained about Jesus, 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."

The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Than Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent Me, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.  This is the bread which came down from heaven -- not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead.  He who eats this bread will live forever."  These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.   The term the Jews indicates the religious leadership; it is used like a political designation.  As the text tells us, Jesus is speaking in the synagogue at Capernaum; those who listen are also those who have followed Him from the feeding in the wilderness, after which they sought to forcibly make Him king.  Here, He elaborates on the food for which they should labor, the bread which came down from heaven (see yesterday's reading, above).  My study bible says that the eucharistic significance of this passage is indisputable; Jesus speaks of the Mystical Supper of His Church.  It adds that He was crucified in the flesh and His blood was shed on the Cross.  On the third day He was raised in a glorified state.  We receive the grace of this sacrificial offering by coming to Him in faith (6:35) and by receiving Holy Communion in faith; in Communion, we eat His flesh and drink His blood, granting the faithful eternal life.  In so doing, He abides in us and we in Him.  My study bible quotes St. Hilary of Poitiers:  "There is no room left for any doubt about the reality of His flesh and blood, because we have both the witness of His words and our own faith.  Thus when we eat and drink these elements, we are in Christ and Christ is in us."

As we shall read in tomorrow's reading, Jesus gives us a "hard saying."  That is, it is hard to believe the doctrine of Christ's flesh and blood in the Eucharist.  As we read from the comment of St. Hilary (c. 310-367), the doctrine of the flesh and blood of the Eucharist was accepted from the earliest centuries of the Church.   It was understood as a Mystical Supper; that is, these elements are mystically present and accepted as Mystery.  In the quotation from St. Hilary above, he cites the witness of Christ's words and of the Church's own faith as to the truth of this understanding.  In the Eastern Church, there was never developed any doctrine "explaining" how this happens, such as that of Transubstantiation.  It is still accepted and regarded as Mystery that the elements of bread and wine are changed.  In the West, there have been varied debates historically about the Eucharist.  But for nearly the entire history of the Church, whether or not one ascribes to one particular theory or another, the doctrine of the Eucharist has remained essentially the same:  that Christ's body and blood are mystically present, and that in accordance with His words above, "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him."   This is central to our faith, the very keystone:  that we are invited, even commanded, to participate in His very life, even in the here and the now.  In an entirely mystical way, Christ lives in us and we live in Him.  In His words above, there is an eternal life conveyed through this participation; life itself is given through Him.  He Himself conveys communion in the life that is unified as one Body.  Our understanding of ourselves as Christians will always come down to this cup, that that which He has given for us becomes our food and drink -- Him abiding in us and we in Him.  While all of us may not be brilliant theological scholars or exalted saints, we can understand this through our own experience.  We are invited into something -- not as chance observers but as fully fledged members of one Body, His Body.  He does not reserve something back from us.  We are plunged fully into the reality of His words and His life.  Just as with Holy Baptism, there is not conveyed here a kind of partial project, a faint hope, a slight participation.  We are all in.  He is all for us, and invites us to be all for Him.  We may not find a full understanding of how this happens, but we do find our faith and its workings in the Eucharist.  We find a depth that can't be breached otherwise.  And we find that we are all equal in sharing in that cup.  All of these things convey His faith to us, that which He asks us to enter and to abide in, so that He may abide in us.



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