Lord Jesus, bread of life, help us experience your abiding presence with us. Amen. |
My Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Gospel reading for this Sunday also remains centred on the theme of Jesus as “the bread of life” (Jn 6:51-58) Jesus continues to teach the crowds about the salvation he offers the world while the Jews continue to quarrel about the meaning of Jesus' words. As the first and second readings (Proverbs 9:1-6; Ephesians 5:15-20) insist, “wisdom is necessary” to grasp the full meaning of Jesus’ words.
The original audience who heard Jesus’ words (Jn 6:51-58) struggled to understand their meaning: The Jews quarrelled among themselves, saying “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” We too, as 21st Century Christians, give considerable pause when we hear Jesus say, “ Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood….Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood…” Much of the ancient and the contemporary debate lies in whether or not to take Jesus’ words literally. Is Jesus telling us to literally eat his flesh and drink his blood”? The answer to this question lies in the way Jesus expands on his words, “eat my flesh and drink my blood” in vv 55-58. Jesus speaks of his flesh and blood as “true” food and drink. What makes Jesus’ flesh and blood “true” food and drink is that it allows us “to remain” in him. This idea of “remaining” in Jesus will be an important image that Jesus draws upon in his farewell discourse with the disciples as he speaks to them about the vine and branches metaphor at the Last Supper (Jn 15:1-17) Jesus then says he who “feeds on me will have life because of me”. In today’s Gospel reading Jesus is providing us with the basis of our Catholic belief in the real presence of Christ in the bread and wine. The bread and wine in the Eucharistic meal is the flesh and blood of the resurrected Christ that assures us “whoever eats this bread will live forever”. The bread that came down from heaven for the Israelites in the desert sustained them only for their 40 year journey to the promised land. Jesus taught the crowds that this was a foreshadowing of the bread that God would be offering the world through him, not just for the journey here on earth, but also for the journey to eternal life.
It would be a mistake to take Jesus’ words literally here: Jesus is not endorsing cannibalism! However, Jesus’ words are “true”: we who “feed” on the Eucharistic bread – the bread which is the real presence of Christ – “remain” in Jesus and Jesus remains in us. In this way Jesus is “ the bread of life”.
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