I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; 50 this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” 52 The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] flesh to eat?” 53 Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” 59 These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
Jesus again told the crowd in the Synagogue that he is the bread of life, spiritual food for all who believe in him (v. 48). He told them that their forefathers ate manna in the desert which sustained them physically for a time, but they died because it was not the true bread from heaven. The Manna in the desert was the promise of the Eucharist that was to come through Christ's sacrifice. He is the living bread sent by the Father with the power to give eternal life to those who eat the bread he will give (Jn. 6:32-33). Whoever eats the bread of life has the gift of eternal life conferred upon them by the fruit of the tree of life. Jesus’s flesh is truly flesh and his blood is truly blood, the true source of nourishment and sustenance for believers. Their hunger and thirst will be satisfied by the Bread of Life (Jn. 6:35). The gift is not immediate, but it will be given at a future time. The bread he will give is his flesh for the life of the world. The Jews misunderstood what Jesus told them and it caused shock and dissension. His comment foreshadowed his sacrifice on the cross.
Jesus emphasized (amen, amen) that in order to have eternal life, they must eat his flesh and drink his blood so that he can raise them to new life on the last day. This foreshadowed the institution of the Eucharist. Drinking blood was prohibited by the Law (Lev. 7:26; 17:14). There will be an intimate union between Jesus and those who eat his flesh and drink his blood, a fusion between the individual and Christ. Just as Jesus shares in the Divine nature of the Father who sent him, so too all who eat his flesh and drink his blood will share in God’s Divine nature. There is no salvation or sharing eternally in God’s Divine nature without consuming the body and blood of Christ.
Almighty God, help us to accept the command of your Son to eat his body and drink his blood so that we may be nourished spiritually and raised by him on the last day to share eternally in Your Divine nature. This we pray through the same Christ our Lord. Amen!
__________________________________
References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
Orchard, Bernard, et al. A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. Feb. 1953.
Comments