It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. 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 to you that 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

In recent readings, Jesus has fed a multitude in the wilderness from a few loaves and some fish, after which the people wanted to make Him king.  He crossed the Sea of Galilee where the crowds followed  Him, and taught them to labor not for bread that perishes, but for the bread from heaven that endures to eternal life.  He has been teaching on the bread of life -- Himself:  "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."   Yesterday we read that The leadership in the synagogue 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.

  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 to you that 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 points out here that even His disciples took Christ's teachings on His Body and Blood as a hard saying, and many walked with Him no more.   It suggests that to reject Christ's own words regarding the sacramental eating of His Body and drinking of His Blood is to be out of step with His teaching.  It's a difficult Mystery; some attempt a rational explanation and some say the words are pure metaphor.   But my study bible comments that either extreme is dubious:  it's a sacramental teaching and one must accept it in the spirit of Mystery, as a mystical reality.   Such a teaching reflects  the "witness of Scriptures and the unanimous teaching of the Church throughout history."   We note again the hand of the Father that is necessary to faith in Christ, Jesus' remark that "I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been grated to him by My Father."

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.   In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus asks the disciples, "Who do you say that I am?"  But here in John, Jesus asks about their faith:  "Do you also want to go away?"   In Matthew's gospel, Jesus says that it is the Father who has revealed to Peter that Jesus is the Christ.  But here in John's gospel, Peter's explanation is a very human dependence upon the truth we know:  "To whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life."  In the Synoptic gospels, Jesus warns them immediately about what is to come -- betrayal, suffering, death, and Resurrection.  But here, it's more explicit and also linked to this faith:  "Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"

As we have observed in recent readings, everything goes back to the Father.  Here, Jesus enforces God the Father's mysterious working in us when He tells the disciples, "No one can come to Me unless it has been granted by My Father."  It seems that there is a tremendous linkage between all that happens in Jesus' ministry, and those who gather to Him, and the work of the Father.  It remains a Mystery, one more element of the divine at work in this mysterious Kingdom, and yet is linked intimately with us, and in our relationship to Christ.  Here, Jesus' reference to the Father is somehow negative in character:  those who go away are signs of the Father not having granted something.  Elsewhere, this is a positive statement:  Jesus exclaims that Peter's confession of faith in Christ was "revealed" to Peter by the Father.  Nevertheless, it is here, and the Father is at work in all of this ministry, and in us.  We can only assume that the mystery of faith is present to us in the same way:  the Father's work is in all of it.  Where Christ is, so is the Father, and the Spirit.  And I think that when we read about this ministry, these first human beings who gather to Christ, we have to consider it happening in our time as well.  All these elements are present.  And yet, because we are speaking about Mystery and the divine, this reality is also 'outside time' in other ways as well.  Christ has completed His mission, and it was a mission not only to those present in His time and place, but to all people of all times and places -- those "in the tombs" and those to come.  There is no limit to this ministry.  And what that means is that the saving work of Christ is complete and present to us all.  Our freedom is in our choice.  As has been stated by Jesus in this chapter of John's gospel, the work that remains to be done by us is just faith.  As in Peter's confession here, the work that's really to be done in order to work the works of God is simply faith in the One given by the Father.  Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent"  (John 6:28-29).   We've already been saved, that's the work of Christ, and He's completed His mission.   Our work is to have faith.  But His whole mission is defined and structured by the Father, and that link is also within us.  And there we come to the great sacramental teaching of today's reading, the linkage with His mystical body and blood.  As my study bible says, I don't think it befits anyone to rationally explain how such a divine Mystery happens, because we're not talking about the reality of "this world" of apples and oranges, so to speak.  Jesus' shocking words, the "hard saying," reflect a divine reality, present to us in this world, in which we are totally and completely dependent on the words of eternal life, as Peter puts it, and also on the fullness of His saving mission, in which He will give His flesh and blood for us.  It is something beyond what we can easily understand.  It requires a kind of faith that we can participate in Mystery, that God -- Father, Son, and Spirit -- does the work, but we participate via faith.  And that in itself is a great Mystery whose workings I cannot explain.  We can, however, see its effects.  As Jesus explains in John's chapter 3, when He says to Nicodemus, comparing the Spirit to the wind:  "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit"  (John 3:8 NIV).   In today's reading, Jesus teaches:  "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.  The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life."    It is with the Spirit that we understand what He teaches and what He does.  We don't direct this process, and rational explanations just don't quite cut it, try as hard as we might.   But we can see its effects in us and in others.  We have a whole history of the body of the Church and its effects in the world and on the world to look toward.  We know where  Christ leads by experience, even if we cannot explain it all.  Our work is the work of faith, and this is the Father's work in us as well.  We are bound up in that Mystery, and we must accept that this is so, that Jesus' work of saving mission is complete, but that we can feel and understand its effects alive and at work in us and among us.  We are bound up in Mystery as deep as any depth we can name, and yet it is also a living part of us, and of this world in the elements of bread and wine -- as deeply bound with our own lives as food of any kind we need.  Let us remember that which we are a part of, and which is a living part of us.  That life is in His word, and how that word takes root in us.   As Peter says, He is the Son of the living God.

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

 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 6:52-50

In Saturday's reading, we were told that the leadership then complained about Jesus, because He taught in the temple at Capernaum, "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.   We remember that in John's Gospel, the term "the Jews" most often refers to the religious authorities.  My study bible suggests:  "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 receive the grace of Christ's sacrificial offering by coming to Him in faith and by receiving Holy Communion in faith.  In Communion, we truly eat His flesh and drink His blood, and this grants the faithful eternal life, with Christ abiding in us and us in Him."  Hilary of Poitiers wrote, "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."

"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.  Jesus speaks here about a relationship of total dependence.  He is dependent on the Father for His very life, and in this "eucharistic" relationship, in which our very food is comprised of His substance, so we gain a life beyond our understanding.  Actually in the Greek, the words translated here as "live forever" literally mean "live to the age."  What we are hearing is about an eternal age to come, a "time" when this world is transformed by the life He gives into an abundant life we can only imagine.  But that "eternal life" is dependent on Christ who is the bread, the food, just as He is dependent upon the Father for His life.

On today's passage, my study bible points out that John never reports the details of the Last Supper such as those found in Luke 22:19-20, but instead, he reveals the significance and truth of these events (events that were already known to his hearers) by reporting here Christ's own words.  This mystical reality is revealed in this Gospel in the ways in which Jesus speaks of dependence and relationship.  Our lives are added to by His life, just as His live is sustained by the "living Father."  It's really amazing how this depth of relationship is portrayed in John; this Evangelist gives us at once the mystical reality of Christ into which Jesus invites us:  into relationship with the Father and the Son, a relationship characterized by its interdependent nature.  Jesus, as the bread of life, is that food that adds life to us, life to our lives, and promises that through the bread of heaven we will live to the age:  in an eternal time where "life in abundance" truly manifests in fullness.  The message is always life, life itself, the mysterious substance that comes from the Father, through the Son, and links and embraces us as we are fully dependent upon it.  It's a mistake, I think, to speak about "spiritual life" although we are talking about the bread from heaven.  But just as Jesus is God in the flesh, Incarnate, so the essence of our understanding of the "bread of heaven" must be that this is life that increases life in all ways in us, that informs life in every form in our own lives.  To speak of "spiritual life" would be to split this life in ways that are inappropriate from all the life in us:  mental, spiritual, physical, emotional.  It's the same as loving with God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength:  whatever life we have is fully enhanced by the bread of heaven into a greater life, even as we await the life in the age to come, the fullness of transfiguration.  What we can understand is the depth of this life added to our life in dependence on Christ through faith, right in the here and the now.  There are times when our faith adds such beauty to our understanding of life, and joy, and peace that doesn't really make sense, and a kind of confidence that surpasses our own "meager resources."  This is a life that revives hope when there is no hope, and provides a way when there seems to be no way.   It helps us cope with life when it's limited by pain or toil; it gives us mission when we lose our purpose.  This kind of dependence is the difference between a sort of limitation of life to our own strengths, and opens up the doors to what is beyond us, that which helps us in ways we can't call "our own" alone, giving us added life to what we have and transforming who we are.  That is the bread of life and what it does for us, helping us to overcome what limits and disappoints in this world.

Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal 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 to you that 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

In yesterday's reading, Jesus continues His discourse on the bread of life. He has just told them in the synagogue at Capernaum, "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." They dispute among themselves: "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?" Jesus said, "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."

Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?" Up until this point in Jesus' ministry, He has been quite successful in some populist sort of sense. Many people - especially from Galilee - follow Him because of the miraculous signs they've seen, such as healings and the feeding of 5,000 men in the wilderness. The opposition has been coming from the leadership. But here the opposition comes from among His followers.

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." The disciples (at least "many of them" John's Gospel tells us) are scandalized, and Jesus understands this about them. He then refers to the sight that the Apostles will see at His Ascension. What will it take for them to believe His words and teachings? In the Greek, the phrase translated "it is the Spirit who gives life," has directly given to the Church the text in the Nicene Creed, in which the Spirit is called the "giver of life" (το ζωοπoιον). So in some sense, it seems that He is contrasting "the flesh" in a worldly sense with the sense in which He is speaking of His flesh as "bread indeed" or "true bread." And finally, it is His very words which are spirit, and are life (note that it is not simply that they have life in them). Again, we have to note the Greek carefully: "words" is translated from a word that implies sayings, or that which is spoken. There are powerful meanings here; it is God who speaks things into existence; and we know already He is God the Word, Logos. So, what He speaks is life -- yet there are some who do not receive, do not believe. Again, we can take this to be a kind of layering of meaning. As His followers, His words spoken in our hearts are still that which give us life. And yet again, we look at the Greek, where to "believe" is a word that is more closely translated to trust, to put one's trust in something. In the Mystery of faith we may be drawn in, we may yet not know and not see, but faith is all about trust, where we place our trust, and in Whom we place that trust.

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 to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by My Father." If we understand belief as trust then this statement may come to have yet more meaning for us. We all know what it is to meet someone and have an instant sense of trust, or even mistrust. So imagine what it is to trust in this Teacher, and to follow, and we will have a sense of what it is to believe and have faith. We will also have a sense of what it is about trust that is so close to love. It is the Father who inspires this trust, God who is love.

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. Although many of His disciples leave Him at this point, Simon Peter makes his confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, speaking for all twelve of the Apostles. But of course Jesus knows what is in people's hearts, He is the heart-knower, and He knows who will betray Him, who is turning away.

It's important to consider the idea of trust. Trust is something we do when we put our faith in someone, in something. Here, it is most assuredly someOne. This is why we understand our faith as something linked to love. When we really put our trust in someone, we are on the road to love, we are there in that place where love can take root, and relationship can grow. Without it, this cannot really exist. So trust then becomes the root of the faith, the root of relationship to God. His disciples may not understand all that He is telling them, all that He is saying, but in their faith -- in their trust -- they follow. And that's really what faith and belief are about. They are about a relationship of trust. It's in trusting someone that you begin to believe them, to have faith in them, to form relationship and love. Without trust, love doesn't come into it. So, let's think about Jesus' living words, the words of spirit and life. They lead us somewhere. They lead the disciples somewhere, on a road they know not where, they don't know the end. But they trust. As long as we stay on that road, that road of trust, we don't know where we're going or the final outcome. But we know, we trust the One that leads us there, His Way. All along that route there is the life of love, and there is life itself. This is what He offers, this is how we learn and grow and how life is given to us. Bit by bit, in faith and trust, this is how we become who He calls us to be and to become.

For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed

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

In Saturday's reading, we read about the complaints in response to Jesus' statement that He is the bread of life. He's in the synagogue at Capernaum, and they say, "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 responded: "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. . . . 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?" It's a reasonable question - but one that has to be answered in the context of the Gospel, which the leadership haven't accepted in any form. Once again, we remember that the term "the Jews" in this Gospel almost always refers to the leadership and their followers in Jesus' time who actively opposed Him. My study bible says of this entire reading: "The eucharistic significance of this passage is indisputable. Jesus' declaration that He is Himself the living bread which brings us life is intended to reveal the eucharistic feast. His offering is not for His people only but for the life of the world."

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." We will see that even some of His disciples have trouble with these statements! But in the context of the Gospel message and His teaching, they tell us something of the power of His ministry, and all that He will do in His sacrifice. Again, it is linked to Judgment, and Christ's power of life and death which has been given by the Father.

"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." My study bible notes, "Christ's body was crucified and His blood shed on the Cross. We receive the benefits of Christ's sacrifice by coming to Him in faith, and by communion with Him: we eat His flesh and drink His blood. These words refer directly to the Eucharist, the mystery of Christ our life. . . . St. John Chrysostom teaches we must not understand the sacrament carnally, that is, according to the laws of physical nature, but spiritually, perceiving a true but mystical presence of Christ in the Eucharist." Of course we know that John's Gospel will continue to unfold these teachings, culminating in Jesus' discourse at the Last Supper. But we note especially the depth of relationship implied, and our complete dependence upon this life itself. He tells us literally in the Greek that His flesh is true food, His blood is true drink.

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 bread which came down from heaven is the life which He lived as human being, which He will sacrifice for all of us. That is, two natures united: one human, one divine. Therefore in the institution of Eucharist is a mystical reality, one in which we partake and in which we are filled with His life, upon which we are dependent, and through which we receive the gift of life He offers. My study bible also quotes St. Hilary of Poitiers: "What we say concerning the reality of Christ's nature within us would be foolish and impious were we not taught by His very words. . . There is no room left for doubt about the reality of His flesh and blood, because we have both the witness of His words and our own faith." It adds: "This reality, however, is a profound mystery of faith and grace."

My study bible notes that Orthodox theology teaches that in the Eucharist we partake not simply of the physical/material, but of the deified and glorified Body and Blood of Christ which give resurrection life. However we look at it, Christ's sacrifice provides us with the eternal life He shares with us. In this we take our sacrament. The Last Supper will be an institution of this Eucharist or "giving thanks." But Christ's sacrifice means so much more to us than even a mystical sacrament. Or rather, this sacrament contains so much more than we can know. Why the mystery of His death and crucifixion and also Resurrection? Why His terrible suffering? In Him, we have our life, and on Him we rely. If the world would hate His followers, He will teach, then we must know that the world hated Him first. The power of His life sustains us through all things. And there is the depth of faith to which His sacrifice can take us, into the very power of life itself, which really doesn't need the whole world's approval to build and support and create and live in His sacrifice for us. That is, our faith is in the gift of life itself, in the One who has in Himself the power of life and death. Whatever we experience in life cannot diminish this power. And that's what we put our faith in. That is His sacrifice and its meaning for us. In His flesh and blood, then, this mystery of His presence to us, we rely and take our sustenance. So as the Father gives Him life, so He gives us life. It is one in one, and all in all. The power in His sacrifice continues to build and grow and sustain. How does it call you forward out of your own experience and suffering? What does it help to build and create in you? How does His life call you ahead?

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

Over the course of the past several readings, Jesus has been giving His discourse on "the Bread of Life." This part of the Gospel of John began with the sign of the feeding of five thousand men on the mountain top. The crowd wanted to make Him king, but He eluded them and went alone to the mountaintop as it grew dark. His disciples got into a boat to cross the Sea to Capernaum. They were followed by the crowd in many small boats. As they rowed, the wind blew fiercely and the sea was so rough they feared they would drown. Jesus appeared to them, walking on the water, saying, "It is I; do not be afraid." When the crowd saw Jesus in Capernaum, they wondered how He got there. He told them they sought to make Him king not because they saw a sign, but because they were filled. He taught them labor not for the food which perishes but for the bread that leads to eternal life. Jesus said, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent." He also taught them, "The bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world" and "I am the bread of life." In yesterday's reading, He continued this teaching; He said, "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." Those who are gathered to Him will live in Him. "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?" John's Gospel will continually teach this way: people ask the obvious questions based on the surface or "worldly" meaning of the words Jesus uses to teach. Jesus then teaches, going beyond a worldly understanding. "The Jews" usually refer to the religious leadership in John's Gospel. Everyone in this story, including all of His disciples, are also Jews. Jesus is teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

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." Jesus moves from teaching about the "work" of faith (see the past several readings, especially this one) to the depth of relationship in faith, to communion. It is this communion, in which He abides in us and we in Him, in which we are "raised up" and have eternal life. These words give us the Eucharistic significance of true communion, and imply the power in His sacrifice, made "for the life of the world."

"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 power of the Eucharist is present in the words and teachings of Christ. My study bible cites St. John Chrysostom who taught that we must not understand these words (and the sacrament) carnally; that is, according to the laws of physical nature, but spiritually. It quotes St. Hilary of Poitiers: "What we say concerning the reality of Christ's nature within us would be foolish and impious were we not taught by His very words." My study bible adds, "This reality, however, is a profound mystery of faith and grace." However we may read these words, the implication of the most profound relationship is unmistakable: Christ becomes a part of us, and we become a part of 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." Our relationship to Him is to be as that of His to the Father, from whom all life proceeds and begins and is, and who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.

"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 spirit of Communion runs deeper than anything that we can know. The mystery of faith and of the Eucharist, of His sacrifice ("My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world") is intermingled within us, and becomes a part of our lives. Thus faith, sacrifice, Eucharist -- abiding in Father and Son as they abide in us -- all become a part of this "work" that is the work of faith in us, the "work" of eternal life and the mystery that works in us by this gift of love.

Jesus' Eucharistic presence in these words teaches us more than we know and understand. But the words are there for us -- to think about, to ponder, and to accept, even in their mystery. What we can understand is the power of life and love in these words: the sacrifice made for the life of the world, the power that draws us to Him which is in both Father and Son, the depth of union and communion with Him that leads to eternal life. Ultimately, faith is a relationship of a depth that is the deepest mystery to us; it is a union of love, so deep that we are a part of it and He is a part of us. We remember Jesus' parables about the kingdom of heaven. It is like leaven mixed in with the measures of meal that changes the whole. This dynamic force will change us, live in us. It is like a tiny seed sown in us that may grow into a great and sturdy bush, or one that -- if given good ground and nurturing -- may produce great fruit. It is that which may make us the salt of the earth, and the light of the world. Let us remember the power of the work of faith, the flesh and blood of Eucharist and sacrament, and most importantly His teaching of love and this great, profound, endlessly mysterious relationship: He abides in us and we in Him. There are endless, infinite ways that life and that relationship can be at work in us, in our lives. They begin with the "work" of faith, they lead to the "flesh and blood" given to become a part of us. How deeply can this go in your life? What do you need to heal? Can we abide in Him? The very "life" He offers is unlimited, and its mystery may grow endlessly, exponentially in us, even as we may not understand the workings of grace -- but we will know its fruits. In Jesus' promise to us here in John's Gospel, there is always more to come, a deeper abiding, life forever. It is the "living" bread, a promise of eternal presence, here and now, at work with us in our faith.