The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life

 

 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"  When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?  What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.  But there are some of you who do not believe."  For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.  And He said, "Therefore I have said no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."  From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.  Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"  But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"  He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.

 

- John 6:60–71 

 

 

Yesterday we read that the leaders of the synagogue in Capernaum quarreled among themselves regarding Jesus' teaching, 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. 

 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"  When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?  What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.  But there are some of you who do not believe."  For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him.  And He said, "Therefore I have said no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."  From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.   My study Bible comments that even Christ's disciples took His teaching on His Body and Blood as a hard saying, and many walked with Him no more.  There are still those, it says, who reject Christ's words concerning the sacramental eating of His Body and drinking of His Blood.  This is a highly difficult Mystery to grasp, and many have attempted to define it rationally or to explain it away as purely metaphorical.  (See yesterday's commentary in which we discussed what the sense of "Mystical" means.)   My study Bible comments that either extreme is dubious; to reject Christ's sacramental teaching is to reject the witness of the Scriptures and the unanimous teaching of the Church throughout history.  

Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"  But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.  Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."  Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"  He spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would betray Him, being one of the twelve.   Here in John's Gospel, we have Peter's confession in the light of the words and teachings of Christ:  "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life."   My study Bible comments that Peter's understanding that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God cannot be achieved by human reason, but only by divine revelation through faith (1 Corinthians 12:3).  

In today's reading, Jesus repeats His teaching from Saturday's reading ("No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him"), saying, "Therefore I have said no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father."   But coupled with this teaching is a new element, which we might say in some sense characterizes John's Gospel, and that is the life of the Spirit.   In Matthew's Gospel, when Peter makes His confession of faith that Jesus is the Christ, the long-awaited Messiah, Jesus tells him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven" (see Matthew 16:16-18).   This therefore underscores Jesus' repeated teachings in our recent readings that no one can come to Him unless drawn by the Father; we are only capable of knowing Christ through a desire for God in the heart.  But here, the vivifying, living reality of the Spirit is also given to us in both St. Peter's words and in Christ's teachings.  Jesus says, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life."  And St. Peter affirms the human perspective that grasps for such a living reality where it is met:  "Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life."  So, in a sense, there is a theophany, or revelation of God -- Father, Son, and Spirit -- in today's reading.   Here in John's Gospel, as contrasted with Matthew, Peter's confession of faith includes this working of the Spirit, in the "words of eternal life" which Jesus says are "spirit" and "life."  Therefore,  Father, Son, and Spirit are inseparable also from Peter's confession of faith.   Perhaps it is that John's Gospel is the last of the Gospels to be written, and reflects the illumined understanding in the experiences of the early Church, and the unfolding of the work of the Spirit that informs it.  It is distinguished through Christ's words and teachings, and through Peter's confession, that the role of the Spirit is also inseparable from how we experience faith and how we grow in that faith, and this is the experience of the early Church as reflected here.  The Father draws us and makes possible our capacity to know Christ as Son, and His words are spirit and life.  And we, like Peter, are also drawn by His words, for nobody else has the words of eternal life.  We can look around and ask ourselves, where else shall we go?  Who else has the words of eternal life?  In the literature of the world, we can search and find, no matter the beauty, or the inspiration, or the sublime quality we find elsewhere, none has had the impact of Christ's words -- so that even those who quote wisdom often don't realize they are quoting the teachings of Christ.   Jesus brings together Father, Son, and Spirit -- and together they are met in us, with us.  For we, like Peter, are given these words of eternal life, and Father, Son, and Spirit work in us to help us to come to faith and to grow in that faith through time and through their communion.  Let us accept the power of His words, the light and the life that are in them, and understand.