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 they 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, following Christ's teaching on end times, after two days it was the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death.  But they 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 Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him to them.  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?"  My study Bible has a note that tells us that while the synoptic Gospels date the Crucifixion on the first day of Passover, John's Gospel dates it to the Preparation Day, the day before the Passover.  So, therefore, in the synoptic tradition, the Last Supper (which is part of today's reading) is the Passover meal.  But in John's Gospel, Jesus, as the Lamb of God (John 1:29), dies at the exact time the Passover lambs are being slain in the temple.  While it is not possible to determine which is historically accurate, we must keep in mind that both traditions are theologically accurate.  That is, the Mystical Supper is the fulfillment of the Passover meal (the synoptic tradition) and Christ 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 they came into the city, and found it just as He had said to them; and they prepared the Passover.  These two disciples are Peter and John (Luke 22:8).  Let us note once again, as in Christ's instructions for the preparation of His Triumphal Entry, the careful and deliberate planning by Christ even of the details that go into preparations for the Last Supper.  

 

 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 comments that Christ emphasizes here both that His betrayer is one of the twelve an that he is one "who dips with Me in the dish."  This is not so much to identify the person as to emphasize the deep level of this betrayal -- that this was 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 says that divine foreknowledge of the betrayal takes away neither Judas' moral freedom nor his accountability.  For God, all things are a present reality; He 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."  When Jesus took the cup, He gave it to the disciples only after He had given thanks.  My study Bible comments that the verb translated as "give thanks" (εὐχαριστέω) has the Greek word "eucharist" as its root.  This immediately came to refer to both the Liturgy and the sacrament of Holy Communion.  Before the end of the first century, it notes, a manuscript called the Didache ("Teaching") refers to the celebration of the Liturgy as "the Eucharist."  Also, my study Bible comments, in the year AD 150, St. Justin says 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."  Jesus also says, "This is My body."  In the Orthodox Church, it has always been accepted that Christ words are true.  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."  Let us note that this is a mystical reality of the sacrament; it is accepted that it is true by the power of the Holy Spirit, but without explanation as to how this happens.  This was the viewpoint of the unified Church of the first millennium, and remains the perspective of the Orthodox.

 

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

In today's reading, we can discern the sacrificial nature of Christ's impending death, both through His words and teaching, and also the events of the Passover and particularly the killing of the Passover lamb.  In modern perspective, especially perhaps in the West, even the word "sacrifice" tends to have negative connotations.  That is unless, of course, there is a payoff to be reaped, where sacrifice is an investment for a good return.  One "sacrifices," for example, to pay for schooling which hopefully will return the investment with a good job or career.  But perhaps we need to understand sacrifice in a different context and within a different definition in order to see more clearly what sacrifice, in this sense in the Gospels, meant to the ancient peoples.  Primarily sacrifice was an act of community, with the sacrifice making a communal meal which included the deity of the people.  In our context, we therefore call the Mystical Supper, the Eucharist, "Communion."  We share in the Body and Blood of Christ, who became the Lamb of God for us.  He became the One sacrifice that replaced all, so that we have communion in Him, and we as faithful are called the Body of Christ, denoting that communion.  So we give thanks, in effect, for that which brings us communion, makes us one body.  The Lord's sacrifice and subsequent Resurrection makes this possible for us, and we are to understand it in this sense.  It is akin to the slaughtering of the Passover lambs in that the blood of the lambs saved the ancient Hebrews, freeing them from death, and enabling their liberation from slavery.  Perhaps we could more closely understand this in a modern context if we considered the sacrifices people make for their families, for the life of the communion or body of the family.  So we see Christ's sacrifice on the Cross, and our communion as we participate by partaking of His body and blood, mystically present in the Eucharist.  This is not a question of defining how precisely this happens in a physical sense, but rather asks of us a true understanding of the nature of His sacrifice and His gift of the Eucharist so that we may participate in His life, including His Resurrection.  It is very important that we understand this as a mystical reality, for it is not possible to accept without faith and the work of God present within all of it, and the work of the Holy Spirit present with us and in the midst of our worship.  Our communion is not simply ourselves as faithful, but also the whole body of the saints, which includes the angels and heavenly hosts, as well as Father, Son, and Spirit.  It is for this communion that we give thanks, for this sacrifice of Christ, who became human by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that we may fully participate, in turn, in the life He offers through this cup and bread. Its mystical reality is made possible through God and God's work in the world, including the Incarnation, which incorporates the Cross and the Resurrection.  For God will experience human death, and as such He will defeat the death that would seek to enslave us in many forms.  In this way, the whole "family" of God is nurtured, built, expanded into the inexpressible knowledge of God's infinite perspective.  We give thanks in the communion, the Mystical Supper that allows us to be a part of His Mystical Body that is also the Church, in which we each may play a role and participate in God's saving work.  Jesus says, "This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many," meaning for all.

 

 

 

 

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 

In yesterday's reading, we read that the Jews 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 is in the synagogue at Capernaum, we must infer that the term the Jews refers to the rulers in the synagogue (and not to the common people).  My study bible tells us that the Eucharistic significance of this passage is indisputable.  Christ's declaration that He is the living bread that gives life (verse 51, from yesterday's reading, above) reveals the Mystical Supper of the New Testament Church.  It notes that as John's Gospel does not report the details of the Last Supper (such as the "words of institution" which we read in Luke 22:19-20).  But instead, John gives us Jesus' revelation of the significance and truth of these events, which by the time this Gospel was written, were already known to its hearers in the Church.  Therefore, John reports Jesus' own words to an audience already familiar with the Eucharist.  My study bible further 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.   Therefore we come to Him in faith (verse 35) and receive Holy Communion in faith in order to receive the grace of Christ's sacrificial offering.  When Christ says, "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood . . . " He speaks of a mystery, a mystical presence which makes possible eternal life through faith, as He abides in us and we in Him.  My study bible quotes St. Hilary of Poitiers:  "There is no longer 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."

 The issue of Christ's "real presence" in the Eucharist is one upon which many churches and denominations have varied answers and positions.  For the Orthodox, generally speaking, the answer is left up to mystery.  That is, we have these words of Christ given to us by John, in the witness of the early Church.  As John's Gospel was the last of the four Gospels to be written, it gives us a picture of the understanding already developed in the early Church at that time (sometime during the last decades of the first century).   In the picture the Gospel paints for us today, that is clearly a depth of Eucharistic understanding that was well-developed and deliberate.  We are given the Eucharist in a "mystical supper," one which not only affirms Christ's sacrifice on the Cross, but also gives us a depth of participation in His life, death, and Resurrection that feeds body, soul, and spirit.  Through faith, Christ enables us to fully participate in His life and His work.  John's chapter 6 is filled with affirmations of this theological perspective of the early Church.  Christ speaks of the "work of God" in which He encourages all to labor by saying, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent" (6:29).   Without faith, how is it possible to accept the teachings in today's reading?  Jesus affirms that to "eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood" is to abide in Him and He in us.  Jesus speaks of a dependency within which we dwell as faithful:  "As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me."  Therefore, this Eucharistic mystery is meant to enable us to live a full life -- body, soul, and spirit -- in dependency upon Christ, He in us and we in Him.  These words, it seems to me, are unmistakable, and they are meant to be deliberately so.  This, then, is the understanding of the early Church.  It is a way of life that integrates and permeates all aspects of what it is to live as fully human, with full potentials as endowed by Creator, and with a purpose encased and embedded, if you will, in the Incarnation itself.  As Jesus calls Himself "Son of Man" in this passage, it is deliberately indicated that only through the Incarnation is this possible, and only through this flesh and blood of the Incarnation, and the entirety of what that means in terms of life, Passion, Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension.  And all of these things are therefore meant and deliberately understood to be a part of the Mystical Supper, the Eucharist.  One may search to find explanations, but the fullest and best explanation is the one that acknowledges that there are things about God, and about the holy, to which we are not privileged to have access, which we don't fully understand, and should not claim to do so.  We should be satisfied and accepting of notions of mystery.   There is a familiar formula in the Orthodox tradition that puts it this way:  for now, we accept this understanding, and we hope to know more in the future.  That may not always sit well with what people might term a "scientific understanding" of how to live life.  But if every scientist only accepted as valid and real and true what has already been proven to his or her satisfaction, then I would say science would be limited indeed.  For all new scientific exploration rests upon faith of some kind, and the assumptions that are always required in testing new hypotheses constitute a form of faith in themselves.  If this holds true even for scientific testing, then think what room there is in pursuing an understanding of a both visible and invisible cosmos -- and even beyond, to the things of God.   As Jesus has said to Nicodemus:  "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" (3:12).   Let us consider what we have been given, especially in light of the nature of mystery and the holy.  As we will see in the following reading, Jesus' own followers will find these words most difficult indeed.

This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me

 When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him.  Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."  Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."  And He took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."  Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.  But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table.  And truly the Son of Man goes as it had been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!"  Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing.

- Luke 22:14-23

In our current readings, it is Holy Week, the final week of Christ's earthly life as Jesus.  Yesterday we read that in the daytime Jesus was teaching in the temple, but at night He went out and stayed on the mountain called Olivet.   Then early in the morning all the people came to Him in the temple to hear Him.  Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover.  And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him, for they feared the people.  Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve.  So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them.  And they were glad, and agreed to give him money.  So he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude.  Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed.  And He sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat."  So they said to Him, "Where do You want us to prepare?"   And He said to them, "Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters.  Then you shall say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says to you, "Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?"'  Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready."  So they went and found it just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover.

 When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him.  Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."  My study bible says that Christ has a fervent desire for this Passover because this meal will give the mysteries of the new covenant to His follows.  Also,  it will inaugurate the deliverance of humanity through the power of the Cross.    In this solemn moment He is clearly acknowledging His suffering and death to come, and Resurrection in the kingdom of God.

Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes."   My study bible indicates to us that this first cup is a conclusion of the Old Testament Passover meal that Christ eats with the disciples in order to fulfill the Law.  Until the kingdom of God comes is about Christ's Resurrection -- at that time He will eat and drink with His disciples as noted in the Scriptures (24:43; Acts 10:41).

And He took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."  Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you."  The root of the Greek word for gave thanks is "eucharist."  My study bible says that this word immediately came to refer both to the Liturgy and the sacrament of Holy Communion.   Before the end of the first century after Christ's birth, a manuscript called the "Didache" ("Teaching") refers to the celebration of the Liturgy as "the Eucharist."  In 150 AD, 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 the forgiveness of sins and for rebirth, and who lives as Christ commanded us."  Christ tells His disciples, "This is My body."   From the beginning the Church accepted Christ's words as true, "that the food consecrated by the word of prayer which comes from Him is the flesh and blood of that incarnate Jesus" (St. Justin).  For the Orthodox East, this was and remains simply a mystery, as was the Incarnation itself by the power of the Holy Spirit.

"But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table.  And truly the Son of Man goes as it had been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!"  Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing.  We note that Judas is also invited to the table for this mystical supper.  My study bible notes that Jesus is trying by all means to save Judas.  It is Judas' unworthy participation that leads to his destruction (see 1 Corinthians 11:27-30; compare Esther 7).

My study bible comments that it is Judas' "unworthy participation" in this first Eucharist, the mystical supper given by Christ, that leads to his destruction.  He has a chance to repent, to "change his mind" (as the Greek word for repentance in the Gospels, metanoia, literally means).  He intends to betray Christ, and he follows through.  He does not return to the flock, He does not return to Christ when he realizes what he has done, but takes matters into his own hands.  He does not return for confession and even possible reconciliation (Matthew 27:3-5).   To our modern ears this seems harsh, unmerciful.  How is it possible that the endlessly merciful Christ would not somehow manage to save Judas?  Why does he meet his own self-destructive end, even for the betrayal of Christ?   It seems to me that our modern ears somehow do not take the mystical reality of Christ's words and teachings for great substance.  That is, the realities behind the teachings, the words, the actions, the choices of each of us somehow do not register as significantly as they should.  Judas eats of this first Eucharist, even while he plots to betray Jesus to His suffering and death.  What we might fail to grasp within each of our choices is the significance of the betrayal of spiritual truth and power.  Does Christ's mercy simply mean that we can ignore our own sins?  Does it mean that we don't need to take seriously the power of our own words and choices,  because Christ's mercy is always present to us?   Somehow, it seems to me, we frequently tend to diminish the power of spiritual truth because of our understanding of Christ's infallible and unfailing mercy, always present to us and always reaching to us.  It is as if this inexhaustible mercy negates any need for self-responsibility, our own process of change and transformation -- metanoia in the Greek, "change of mind."  A change of mind is a depth of change within that is more than simply a decision that we have erred.  It is a commitment to do differently, to be different, to think differently.   Christ's mercy does not negate the power of our own choices.  It does not mean that our refusal of such mercy is without consequences in our own lives.  In a modern context, we quite frequently have an understanding of what it means to be a decent and good person, but outside of the spiritual realities of the teachings of Christ.  We know what it is to be good and kind to others, to be respectful of persons.  We know the importance of charity.   We debate about healthcare and the right of healing to all.  We have a proliferation of social rules governing how we should behave toward one another.  All of this is complete outside of any context of faith or religion at this point in a secular society.   But where does that leave our understanding of the power, authority, and consequences of spiritual truth and our refusal to hear it?   Where does that leave us in terms of the realities of our souls, what touches us most deeply, and especially the true power of choices?  Because we understand behavior that is derived from the use of abstraction, principle, reason, it seems that we can discount the spiritual reality behind these truths.   Where is the soul, and where is the spirit?  How does all of this truly impact us at levels deeper than that which we normally perceive and perhaps ignore completely in our day-to-day lives?  These questions remain important, because as long as God or faith is a concept that remains outside of intellectual reasoning or abstract thinking, we can easily discard God as just another concept, a different way of thinking, an abstract idea, a theoretical model.  And that is to discard the reality of the spiritual underpinnings of our very lives and creation.  The Incarnation itself teaches us something essential about God:  part and parcel of our lives, inseparable from all that we are.  So it is with the mystical supper, and the work of the Holy Spirit in this mystery.  We may not be able to prove this reality under scientific conditions, we might not be able to make a study of what is truly a mystery, but that very mystery is part of our very lives.  As St. Paul said to the Athenians of their unknown god, quoting two Greek philosophers:  "'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'" (Acts 17:28).  It is the reality behind the truth taught that we are concerned with here, and without participation in and awareness of that reality, we lose.  By mere abstraction, by subjecting everything to our own perspective of reasoning alone, we lose, because we lose our participation in that which we don't see and control, and which may be constantly seeking to get our attention, to help us to grow in understanding, and deepen our spiritual awareness of who we are and need to be -- and where we need to go.  Christ's mercy is never-ending.  It is always there.  He died on the Cross for all, for each, and for Judas as well.  But without our attention, we fail to realize what we do, where we really are.  Outward works can so easily become mere hypocrisy, good intentions devolving to harmful practice.  What we truly need is something deeper and bigger than we can reduce to our own abstracts.  Let us consider what we lose when we fail to take that seriously.  Mystery means there is more than meets the eye, more than we can quantify or reduce to an abstract -- and yet even that remains present and working within and among ourselves.  Let us never take it for granted or fail to acknowledge and respect it.

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

In recent readings in John's Gospel, events have unfolded after Jesus fed 5,000 in the wilderness.  The people wanted to make Him King by force, but He escaped them, eventually coming to Capernaum.  The people followed Him there.  He began to speak to them about the food which endures to everlasting life.  He taught them that He is that bread of life.  As He continued this discourse in the synagogue at Capernaum, the religious leaders then complained about Him,  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 came 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 is teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum, we recall that in John's Gospel the term "the Jews" is most often used in order to denote the religious leadership (all the people in this story, including Christ Himself, are Jews).  My study bible says that the eucharistic significance of this passage is indisputable.  Out Lord's declaration that He is Himself the living bread that gives life is a revelation of the Mystical Supper of the Church.  It notes that John does not include in His Gospel the details of the Last Supper such as the "words of institution" (Luke 22:19-20).   However, John reveals the significance and truth of these events.  We keep in mind as we progress through that the readers of this Gospel already knew these events.  To do so, here John reports Christ's own words.

As often happens in John's Gospel, Jesus moves from words that, interpreted literally, will miss the mark, to an understanding of those words that gives spiritual truth.  He says, "My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed."  We can well imagine that some of His listeners would have been beside themselves to hear this.  How could they comprehend this mystery?  And then He goes far further.  He says, "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him."  What we understand in terms of true religious or spiritual significance here is participation.  Jesus is talking about the fullness of relationship with Him, and participation in Holy Mysteries via this fullness.  We don't just share His life in some symbolic way.  Rather we are truly invited to this Mystical Supper in which we participate in relationship, and grow in likeness to Him in all kinds of ways, including the keeping of His commandments and the understanding of His teachings.  As the depth of relationship indicated by such words (as that who does so "abides in Me and I in him") would teach, this extends to life itself.  Jesus says, "He who feeds on Me will live because of Me."  So we have to ask ourselves, what is this eternal life?  What is this life itself that is on offer?  Surely we would look around ourselves -- as would His immediate hearers there in the synagogue at Capernaum -- and see that there are those "living" among us without eating His flesh and drinking His blood!  So the question we must ask ourselves is, if Christ is not a crazy person speaking, to what life is He alluding here?  He has already spoken of this life as everlasting.  It's also a life in which relationship runs so deeply that He lives in us and we in Him.  Here's a deeper clue to this reality of life:  "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 life has a kind of dependency; Christ is sent by the Father and lives because of the Father -- so will the relationship be between those who feed on Him and Himself.  This is meant by abiding in Him and He abiding in us.  It is a kind of life on offer that is conferred through this depth of being one in another, and therefore the kind of life He's talking about is more than physical life in the world.  It is a depth of spiritual life, and a life that doesn't have limits put onto it.  Not only is it about a life that is forever and is therefore outside of time and its effects, but it is about a kind of life that confers an inner reality in which Christ accompanies all that we are and do.  It's as if He lays down the fullness of a foundation, a mystical conjoining, within ourselves that allows us to grow in this "abiding" -- and will therefore come to affect all that we think, that we are, that we know.  That means our relationships to the world will change, the meanings and significance of our lives will grow in this abiding, and so will our understanding of our own identities and even of ourselves as persons.  It is a lifelong sort of a growing, abiding, learning -- particularly if we take into context all the teachings in the Gospels regarding His mission, His commandments, His Way.  This relationship becomes the essence of Truth, as it confers Himself to us, and we live in Him.  That is the core of the faith and of the Eucharist.  This is a true mystical reality, a mystical substance conferred in the bread and wine that is "body and blood" and not mere symbolism in the colloquial use of that term.  It is a mystical reality that links us also with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and it is meant to be a kind of journey throughout our lives, as is indicated by the words "everlasting" and "forever."  This is far more than simply doing good things or working for the "progress" of the world.  It is about a change that affects even what we see as good, or as progress.  It is about growing and learning and maturing in spiritual understanding, in relationship, and in the practice and participation in love.  That is, a long road from a worldly point of view, and one in which our own understanding will be examined and subject to pruning and growth.  Let us be attentive to the Gospel.