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

 

 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 in Capernaum then complained about Jesus, because He said, "I am the bread which came down from heaven."  And they said, "Is this not 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.  Here, Jesus' words continue to convey the eucharistic understanding of the bread which came down from heaven.  The hearers of this Gospel, written near the end of the first century, would already be familiar with the Eucharist, and so understand the meaning.  My study Bible comments 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.  It notes that we receive the grace of Christ's sacrificial offering by coming to Him in faith (verse 35) and by receiving Holy Communion in faith.  In Communion, in the tradition from the beginning of the Church, we truly eat His flesh and drink His blood, and this grants to the faithful eternal life (verse 54), with Christ abiding in us and us in Him (verse 56).  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." 

 

 In the Orthodox Church, the presence of Christ's body and blood is considered to be in the Eucharist.  While there are varieties of understanding of this presence among many denominations of the Church, for most Christ is considered to be truly present in some sense, although the theological language varies.  As my study Bible notes, Christ's sacrificial offering -- a once and for all time sacrifice, partaken and shared among the faithful -- makes it possible for us, also, to be raised up in a glorified state as He was (Luke 24:51; Acts 1:1-9).  In the Orthodox Church, how this happens is a mystery; but we accept His word that He is present to us, and that we may partake of His sacrifice for us, thus making it possible, by faith, for us to be "in Christ and Christ in us."   This subject may be quite difficult for modern people to grasp, but we first must begin with the Incarnation itself to start with the presumption that the human and the divine can be united, that what we call or think of as purely material matter can be imbued with the presence of the divine, with what "comes down from heaven" and is truly spiritually present.   From the Incarnation, we derive this sense that makes it possible, for example, to understand the conferring of the Holy Spirit through the oil of chrismation at Holy Baptism.  The gifts and charisms taken on by saints in the Church become a part of the character of a person, yet they are gifts of the Spirit.  Christ has left us with a Mystical Supper, that we may partake of what He is, so that He lives in us, and we live in Him -- and are promised through faith that we may ultimately become a part of His everlasting life.  In St. Luke's Gospel, we read His teaching that "the kingdom of God is within you" (meaning both among and within us); see Luke 17:20-21. In the Eucharist, we are given more than a memorial, we are given a "living bread" that enables us to live the life with Him that He offers, with the quality of the eternal or "everlasting" that may dwell in us and prepare us, even helping us to grow into the fullness of that life with Him that He promises.  This is the living bread for the eternal day of the Lord, for the life in us He wants for us, for the kingdom of God dwelling within us.  Let us consider these mystical words, so seemingly out of place --as the response and consternation of His hearers among the religious leaders indicates.  But Christ's words have particular meanings, elevated and understood as He gives them to us, imbued with the divine reality that may also live in us, so that we might participate in the life of God's kingdom even in this world.  In Saturday's reading (above), Jesus spoke of how the Father draws us to Him, giving us faith, and helping us to grow in understanding ("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").  He will make His sacrifice so that we may dwell in Him and He in us; let us cherish this mystical gift with thanks, as the name Eucharist indicates (from εὐχαριστέω/eucharisteo, to give thanks).  In this article, Fr. Stephen Freeman describes the making of a sacrament as God taking up an ordinary action and making it a means of grace.   In today's reading, Jesus speaks of His gift of life, not as the world gives, but as only God can give to us.