The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ So Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live for ever.’ He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.
The biggest phrase that stands out for me in this passage is “my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.” I think we spend a lot of time trying to literalize the text, rather than discerning what it is saying to us.
If we understand, acknowledge, and accept that Jesus gave the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf - (his death as atonement for our sins), then the text becomes an invitation and opportunity for us to participate in the everlasting life only offered by Jesus. We can then embrace the fact that his embodied flesh in some way nourishes us. However, this is not nourishment in a conventional sense of 'sustenance for the body.' This nourishment is 'sustenance for the soul.'
As Christians, we believe that we fully participate in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection at our baptism. After that, we are nourished by the bread and wine of the Eucharist. I like to think of our nourishment as viaticum (our food for the journey). Just as the Israelites were nourished on their journey in the desert by manna, quail, and water from the rock, which only provided them with bodily necessities, we are nourished on our journey with the bread and wine which is Christ’s body and blood - the spiritual necessities for our full participation. Unlike the provisions given to Israel which are finite, our continued reception of the shared bread and wine of the Eucharist provides us with infinite nourishment for our eternal souls, and connects us with God (by our participation in Jesus) in a very profound way. In the Eucharistic feast, the bread and wine becomes for us “true” food. It is an anamnesis, where we experience the presence of Jesus in a very tangible and tactile way. It is not simply a passive ritualistic process of going through the motions, but an active process by which we can actually enter into the Paschal mystery - by acting as he did.
The text calls us to participation… participation with each other in Christian community, in taking the bread and wine, and in participating fully as a community in God’s promises of salvation and everlasting life. We are simply creatures of God acting out the divine mysteries of God with ordinary things that God makes holy. Yet, from these ordinary things, we receive exponential spiritual benefits from God that are very hard to understand with our ordinary minds or explain with our ordinary words.
If we understand, acknowledge, and accept that Jesus gave the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf - (his death as atonement for our sins), then the text becomes an invitation and opportunity for us to participate in the everlasting life only offered by Jesus. We can then embrace the fact that his embodied flesh in some way nourishes us. However, this is not nourishment in a conventional sense of 'sustenance for the body.' This nourishment is 'sustenance for the soul.'
As Christians, we believe that we fully participate in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection at our baptism. After that, we are nourished by the bread and wine of the Eucharist. I like to think of our nourishment as viaticum (our food for the journey). Just as the Israelites were nourished on their journey in the desert by manna, quail, and water from the rock, which only provided them with bodily necessities, we are nourished on our journey with the bread and wine which is Christ’s body and blood - the spiritual necessities for our full participation. Unlike the provisions given to Israel which are finite, our continued reception of the shared bread and wine of the Eucharist provides us with infinite nourishment for our eternal souls, and connects us with God (by our participation in Jesus) in a very profound way. In the Eucharistic feast, the bread and wine becomes for us “true” food. It is an anamnesis, where we experience the presence of Jesus in a very tangible and tactile way. It is not simply a passive ritualistic process of going through the motions, but an active process by which we can actually enter into the Paschal mystery - by acting as he did.
The text calls us to participation… participation with each other in Christian community, in taking the bread and wine, and in participating fully as a community in God’s promises of salvation and everlasting life. We are simply creatures of God acting out the divine mysteries of God with ordinary things that God makes holy. Yet, from these ordinary things, we receive exponential spiritual benefits from God that are very hard to understand with our ordinary minds or explain with our ordinary words.
I have read this scripture many times, shared and discussed it in Bible studies. This is very informative and in keeping with God's message, a source for sharing His word with our family. It is also a source for Bible study, Sunday school and sharing with others.
ReplyDeleteThis is a must read in everyones daily devotion.