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 rulers in the synagogue and their allies 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?"  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.  As Jesus begins the theme of the living bread (in Saturday's reading; see above), so He develops here the understanding of the Eucharist; my study Bible calls it the revelation of the Mystical Supper of the New Testament Church.  It adds that St. John's Gospel does not report the details of the Last Supper (such as the "words of institution" found in Luke 22:19-20).  Instead, here is revealed the significance and truth of these events (which were already known to the first hearers of this Gospel) by reporting Christ's own words.  Moreover, Jesus now clearly ties in the Crucifixion to the Eucharist.  My study Bible notes 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 says that we receive the grace of Christ's sacrificial offering by coming to Him in faith, and by receiving Holy Communion in faith.  For the Orthodox and others, in Communion we eat His flesh and drink His blood, as Christ says here, and this grants the faithful eternal life, with Christ abiding in us and us in Him (verse 56).  St. Hilary of Poitiers is quoted:  "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."

 

 Jesus says, "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him."  Here He speaks about a depth of communion that cannot be minimized.  It is closer than two people can be, except when Jesus speaks of the communion between His Bride, the Church, and the Bridegroom, Himself.  For that wedding metaphor, we have Jesus' very words regarding marriage, referencing Genesis 2:24:  "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (see Matthew 19:5; Genesis 2:24).  St. Paul affirms this explicitly in his Epistle to the Ephesians:  "For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church" (Ephesians 5:30-32).  There is really no mistaking this language; that "the two shall become one flesh" is also a description of the communion between Christ and His Bride, the Church.  So it is affirmed here by Jesus in speaking of partaking of His flesh and blood, in saying that "he who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him."  We should not forget this primary and basic understanding of what the Church is and what it is for, and what the Eucharist is for:  the gift is to ally us fully and mystically within Christ, and He within us.  In this way, we are given eternal life.  In Jesus' words, "He who eats this bread will live forever."  It is with this communion Christ describes, this union, akin to a marriage, that this happens.  In this description of Holy Communion, Jesus makes it clear that therein lies salvation, and this -- as explicitly stated here -- was how the early Church understood it and passed it on to us.  This notion of union with Christ is something that begins with Baptism, and we are meant to grow through our lives into all the ways that may build and extend itself in us and into community.  Christ states it very succinctly, we are meant to abide in Him and He in us.  In St. Luke's Gospel, Jesus tells the Pharisees that "the kingdom of God is within you" (which may also be understood as "among you," in our imdst).  This is indeed the model for salvation, the way we are meant to be with Him.  For the Orthodox, this is understood as participation in Christ's grace, in what are called the "energies" of God.  Let us remember that the key to what Jesus describes is participation; this cooperation with grace is described as a process of synergy, in which He shares Himself in us, and we are meant to abide in Him.   This is a mystical reality, a gift given to us and made possible only through Christ.  

 

 

This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many

 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, "Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?"  And He sent out two of His disciples and said to them, "Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him.  Wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says, "Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?" '  Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared; there make ready for us."  So His disciples went out, and came into the city, and found it just as He had said to them; and they prepared the Passover.  In the evening He came with the twelve.  Now as they sat and ate, Jesus said, "Assuredly, I say to you, one of you who eats with Me will betray Me."  And they began to be sorrowful, and to say to Him one by one, "Is it I?"  And another said, "Is it I?"  He answered and said to them, "It is one of the twelve, who dips with Me in the dish.  The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!  It would have been good for that man if he had never been born."

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, "Take, eat; this is My body."  Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it.  And He said to them, "This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.  Assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."  And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

- Mark 14:12-26

 Yesterday we read that after two days (following Jesus' discourse on the end of the age and the destruction of the temple; see readings of Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday) it was the Passover and the Feast of the Unleavened Bread.  And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death.  But the said, "Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar of the people."  And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard.  Then she broke the flask and poured it on his head.  But there were some who were indignant among themselves, and said, "Why was this fragrant oil wasted?  For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor."  And they criticized her sharply.  But Jesus said, "Let her alone.  Why do you trouble her?  She has done a good work for Me.  For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always.  She has done what she could.  She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial.  Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her."  Then Judas Icariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him to the.  And when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money.  So he sought how he might conveniently betray Him.

 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, "Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?"   In Matthew, Mark, and Luke (the Synoptic Gospels), my study bible notes, the date of Christ's Crucifixion is the first day of Passover.  But John dates it on this day, the Preparation Day which is the day before Passover -- the time when they killed the Passover lamb.   Thus, according to John 19:14, the Lamb of God is slain at the same time as the Passover lambs.  My study bible says that while its impossible to determine which is historically accurate, both traditions have theological truth:  the Mystical Supper is the fulfillment of the Passover meal (as in the synoptic tradition in today's reading), while Christ's death is the fulfillment of the Passover lambs being slain (John's tradition).

And He sent out two of His disciples and said to them, "Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him.  Wherever he goes in, say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says, "Where is the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?" '  Then he will show you a large upper room, furnished and prepared; there make ready for us."  So His disciples went out, and came into the city, and found it just as He had said to them; and they prepared the Passover.   These two disciples sent out to prepare for the Passover meal are Peter and John (Luke 22:8). 

In the evening He came with the twelve.  Now as they sat and ate, Jesus said, "Assuredly, I say to you, one of you who eats with Me will betray Me."  And they began to be sorrowful, and to say to Him one by one, "Is it I?"  And another said, "Is it I?"  He answered and said to them, "It is one of the twelve, who dips with Me in the dish."   My study bible encourages us to look at the language of the text.  Jesus says that His betrayer is one of you who eats with Me, a statement of fellowship, hospitality, and intimacy.  He says it is one of the twelve, who dips with Me in the dish.  These are not statements which point to the identity of the person as they are meant to emphasize the level of betrayal, and that His betrayer is in fact one of His closest friends (see Psalm 55:13-15). 

"The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!  It would have been good for that man if he had never been born."  My study bible comments here that Christ's divine foreknowledge of the betrayal does not take away Judas' moral freedom nor his own accountability.  For God, it says, all things are a present reality;  God foresees all human actions, but does not cause them.

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them and said, "Take, eat; this is My body."  Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it.  And He said to them, "This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.  Assuredly, I say to you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."  In the Greek, the word for given thanks has as its root the word eucharist (εὐχαριστέω).  This word immediately came to refer both to the Liturgy and to the sacrament of Holy Communion.  My study bible notes that before the end of the first century, the earliest teaching manuscript, called the Didache, refers to the celebration of the Liturgy as "the Eucharist."  In AD 150, St. Justin writes of Holy Communion, "This food we call 'Eucharist,' of which no one is allowed to partake except one who believes that the things we teach are true, and has received the washing [holy baptism] for forgiveness of sins and for rebirth, and who lives as Christ commanded us."  For the earliest Church and remaining today for the Orthodox and other denominations, Christ's words were accepted as true, as St. Justin writes, "that the food consecrated by the word of prayer which comes from Him is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus."

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.  The hymn they sung is a psalm from a group of psalms which were traditionally sung after the Passover meal (see Psalms 113-118).

 Jesus lives His life as a devout Jew.  He fulfills all of the proper duties of what it is to be a pilgrim at the Passover, and instructs His disciples to do so as well.  There is nothing left out here.  His quarrel is with the excesses of the leadership, and the ways in which the word of God is subverted through practices that hide selfishness.  But He is also here, as He has said, as the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets (see Matthew 5:17-20).   He adds something deeper, richer, a bond of covenant in the Eucharist which penetrates body and soul and spirit.  He gives us Holy Communion, through which we are invited to participate in His own life, even His life on earth which was sacrificed so that we are saved in Him.  He gives us the life of the Cross, and of the Kingdom -- and that is something that forms a deeper and stronger bond than law, penetrating to identity in ways that only the gift of grace can.  In all ways, Jesus takes us to this depth of bond, to the things of the heart.  In yesterday's reading (above), we read of the gift of the woman in Bethany, who anointed Him for burial.  Christ read her heart and declared her gift to be entirely worthy, objecting to all criticism of her.  Here in today's reading, the disciples and the whole of the Church are given the gift of Communion, a depth of life in Him, a linking of our own hearts to His -- and our identity in His.  To partake of this offering is to allow Him to become a part of us and we a part of Him, if we take His words seriously.  It is a way in which we may become united in heart and through Spirit, inviting Christ into the depths of who we are to change us, to challenge us, to help to form and shape us -- being saved precisely by becoming part of the Kingdom, abiding in Him, and allowing Him, together with Father and Holy Spirit,  to abide in us (Revelation 3:20).  These are the depths of meaning of this Kingdom and our capacity for participation in it that we read in Scripture.  The word for Christian repentance (as opposed to mere remorse, a different word) is metanoia.  It literally means to change one's mind.  This is not a mere question of coming to a different conclusion about something, but fully living something different, becoming a truly changed person.  This is the work of grace in us, a gift of our participation in His life and the life of the Kingdom.  He tells us that where two or three faithful are gathered, so He is in our midst (Matthew 18:20).  He teaches that the kingdom of God is within us and among us (Luke 17:20-21).  In today's reading He gives us the single cup from which all may drink.  Let us consider the synergistic work of God that may be active within us through faith; it mirrors the synergy of Christ Himself -- fully divine and fully human, the very Incarnation given to us to teach us what God can do.  As Jesus said of the encounter with the rich young man, "for with God all things are possible" (see this reading).   Through all things, we have a powerful mystical link given to us, grace at work, sacrament that takes the things of this world and consecrates them to God and God's purposes.  Let us remember, as He says, the gifts He has given "to many,"  to all of us, and be truly thankful.

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.