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?"  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 the religious leaders 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 one 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?" Continuing from yesterday's reading (see above), the religious leaders of the synagogue at Capernaum, where this conversation takes place, carry on their dispute with Jesus, after the people sought to make Him king and followed Him to the town.  Let us remember, as always, that most often John's Gospel uses the term "the Jews" in a sort of political sense, to denote the religious leadership; here the religious authorities in the synagogue.  As also happens frequently in John's Gospel, they hear Jesus' words in their "earthly" meaning and quarrel on that basis.

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.  My study Bible comments on today's entire passage (and including the previous verse from Saturday's reading:  "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").  It notes that the eucharistic significance of this passage is indisputable.  Christ's declaration that He is Himself the living bread that gives life is a revelation of the Mystical Supper of the New Testament Church.  It notes that John does not report the details of the Last Supper (such as the "words of institution" which are recorded in Luke 22:19-20).  Instead, John's Gospel reveals the significance and truth of these events (we should understand, these are events which were already known to John's hearers) by reporting Christ's own words.  Moreover, in reading His words here, we should hear them as did the early Church, in the light of Christ's Crucifixion:  that He was crucified in the flesh and His blood was shed on the Cross, and on the third day raised in a glorified state.  So we receive the grace of Christ's sacrificial offering by coming to Him in faith (verse 35), and receiving Holy Communion in faith.  My study Bible reminds us that in Communion, so the Orthodox Church has maintained, we eat His flesh and drink His blood which are mystically present, granting the faithful eternal life ("Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day"), with Christ abiding in us and us in Him ("He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him").  It quotes the commentary of 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.

We should think hard about what these words mean, as used by my study Bible.  What is the Mystical Supper?  Why call it that?  What does it mean to say that in the Eucharist, Christ's flesh and blood are mystically present?  This is something to understand which is a spiritual mystery, inextricably linked to the Eucharist, our prayers and worship, and our faith -- and of course to Christ's command and His words here.  See also especially Matthew 26:26-28, Luke 22:19-20, His words at the Last Supper.  For something to be mystically present to us is a reality that we don't necessary see on earthly terms, but is nevertheless present.  We assume that there are angels present, servants and messengers of God, that each of us has a guardian angel, but we don't necessarily see or hear them in an earthly sense.  We assume the presence of the Holy Spirit, Who is "everywhere present and filling all things" according to an Orthodox prayer that begins every worship service (see the Prayer to the Holy Spirit here).  We know the Holy Spirit as a Person (the Third Person of the Trinity), yet we don't see a face or hear a voice in an earthly sense -- but understand the mystical reality that nonetheless is present, even the mystical reality of a Person of God that has qualities different from earthly persons (Joel 2:28).  To know that something is mystically present is linked to faith and prayer, that connection which Jesus assures us is there and present to us at all times.  He tells the disciples -- and all of us --  in His parting words at His Ascension, "I am with you always, even unto the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19-20).  In Luke's Gospel, He tells the Pharisees, "The kingdom of God is within you," using a word which can also mean "in your midst," (see Luke 17:20-22).  It is a way for Him to say, also, that this Kingdom is mystically present.  And a mystical presence is something that is denoted all throughout John's Gospel by John's reporting of the seven signs of Christ's ministry.  It is important to note that John uses the word "sign" (Greek σημεῖον/semeion) for these miraculous events, because it puts them in the proper context to Christ and what He does.  They are "signs" that point to the mystical reality of the presence of the kingdom of God, that lives in and is made present to us in Christ.  The same is true when we worship, for we consider that Isaiah's vision of heavenly worship in Isaiah 6:1-3, and the vision of the same given to us in Revelation 4, is something that is mystically present to us in our own worship, and all creatures worship together -- both seen and unseen.  This would also include the saints, and those who are departed from us but who live in Christ, for as St. Paul has said, we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1-2), who are also mystically present with us.  There are no doubt times in worship and in prayer, in dreams and visions, when people are given glimpses of this mystical reality, tastes of what is truly present in a mystical sense.  But our worship and prayer interacts with this reality in which we have faith; our confidence and trust in Christ also takes root in the same.  For without this understanding, where is Resurrection, and what is it?  Without this understanding, to Whom do we pray, and in what are we participating when we say we participate in the life of Christ?  A highly materialistic mindset would cast this aside for the mistaken notion that what we cannot verify in an earthly sense mustn't be real.  This seems to be a completely misunderstood notion of what science  teaches, as hypothesis, by which all science is conducted, always assumes or seeks what is not yet proven -- and each new proof may dispel a once-cherished notion held previously as scientific truth.  See, for example, the current debate over the newest photos of the James Webb Space Telescope; it illustrates how new data changes and challenges long-held scientific assumptions and theories (see this article, for example).  Moreover, advanced scientific theories and mathematical proofs always hold assumptions.  So when we speak of things which are accepted and understood, but for which there is not necessarily a scientific measure of proofs, even science itself does not declare such reality impossible or nonexistent.  We should look to Christ's own attitude about proofs, shown in the number of times He refused to submit proofs or "signs" on demand in order to force faith ("An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah" -- see Matthew 12:39, 16:4).  In recent readings, Jesus has spoken of faith as that by which the Father draws those to Christ who truly desire to know Him, and who want this mystical truth (see Saturday's reading, above).  Then, as now, faith is a mysterious, God-given thing, that works at depths within ourselves whose origin is as unknown to us as the farthest reaches of the universe.  Let us accept what we are given in the same understanding, that a mystical reality depends on faith, a discernment which has mystical roots in the deepest places in us, known only to God.