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

 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?"  Then 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, and I live because of the Father, 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

On Saturday we read that at the synagogue (in Capernaum, Galilee -- Jesus' "home" territory) the leadership then complained about Him, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."  [See Friday's reading.]  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?"  Then 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, and I live because of the Father, 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 Jews, we remember, is used most frequently like a kind of political term in John's Gospel, indicating the rulers or leadership.  (John the author of the Gospel, Jesus, His disciples, and all those listening to Christ speak are Jews.)   My study notes regarding this passage that Christ was crucified in the flesh and His blood was shed on the Cross, and on the third day He was raised in a glorified state.  We, in turn, receive the grace of this sacrificial offering of Christ by coming to Him in faith (see verse 35), and by receiving Holy Communion in faith.  In Communion, we eat His flesh and drink His blood, and this grants the faithful eternal life (verse 54), with Christ abiding in us and us in Him (verse 56).  This is a great mystery, and His presence is mystical.  For the Orthodox, it remains simply so.  St. Hilary of Poitiers (310-367) is quoted by my study bible:  "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."

What is the great meaning of the Eucharist?  John's Gospel gives us a eucharistic perspective of our faith.  That is, everything begins here and all expands from the Eucharist.  Jesus speaks most solemnly here:  "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."   Is He simply speaking metaphorically?  Are these just symbols He's speaking about?  We know that He will give His flesh for the life of the world (6:51) when He is lifted up upon the Cross (3:14-15).  This is quite literally true.  Is this most explicit and very seriously affirming speech in today's reading ("Most assuredly," Jesus tells us) just metaphor, analogy, smoke and mirrors?  One may come to all kinds of conclusions or develop many theories, but certainly we know that for His most immediate followers, it was not.  From the earliest time, in the development of the Eucharist, His words were perceived to be mystically true.  As commented upon in the body of the reading, above, for the Orthodox churches, this remains so.  It is mystically true; His flesh and blood are mystically present -- no explanation reasonable.  They are things which we cannot explain in an earthly way; perhaps someday we may understand, but for now it is a mystery as it was given by Christ, and remains so.  For the earliest Church, and as affirmed through many Councils, the understanding that God became flesh and blood -- both human and divine -- so that we, too, could be raised up, given His life, become "like God," was crucial to the full understanding of what Church is all about.  (St. Ignatius, for example, in the first century -- around the time this Gospel was written or perhaps even earlier -- writes in defense of this mystical presence of flesh and blood in the Eucharist.)   The ways in which we receive the life He offers, become "like Him," are as myriad as the problems that each of us must grapple with. resolve, and transcend in our own lives.  This is part of the mystical reality about which He speaks in today's reading, that connects body, spirit, and soul.  Without this Holy Communion, we as faithful do not share in the kind of communion among all of us that Jesus speaks about here in this passage in today's reading from John's Gospel.  John's Gospel is the one that gives us all the meanings we understand of the events reported in all the Gospels.  It "fleshes out," if you will, the reality of Christ's ministry, and gives us purpose and meaning, a sense of why Jesus did what He did, why He instituted the Eucharist, what it all means for us.  In these words of Christ are life itself, and the promise of its fullness for us.  We must take the words seriously.  And we will read, in tomorrow's reading, of the immediate objections,  right from the start, to Christ's words.  How can He give such a teaching?  The confrontation and objection was with us right from the start, from the moment He uttered these words, and is clearly addressed by Christ in this Gospel.  John gives us the fullness of the teaching for the earliest Church.  Let us be truly attentive.