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Gospel: John 6: 60-69
Many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said,
“This saying is hard; who can accept it?”
Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this,
he said to them, “Does this shock you?
What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending
to where he was before?
It is the spirit that gives life,
while the flesh is of no avail.
The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life.
But there are some of you who do not believe.”
Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe
and the one who would betray him.
And he said,
“For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me
unless it is granted him by my Father.”
As a result of this,
many of his disciples returned to their former way of life
and no longer accompanied him.
Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.
We have come to believe
and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Once in an interview, the French philosopher, Jean Paul Sartre, a cradle Catholic, was asked if the rumor were true. “Have you left the Catholic Church?”
“Yes,” he replied, “that is true.”
“Have you joined another religion?” the interviewer inquired.
“No,” he says, “I have lost my faith. I have not yet lost my reason.”
Sartre felt like many in today’s Gospel did. After Jesus presented himself as, “The bread come down from heaven,” whose “flesh” we are supposed to eat, the crowds replied: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat? This saying is hard; who can accept it?”
Notice they took Jesus literally, as we should, too.
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Today’s Gospel is the final excerpt from chapter 6 of John’s Gospel, commonly referred to as the, “Bread of Life Discourse.”
We’ve been reading through this same chapter for the last five weeks, which might seem repetitive. But John is trying to make abundantly clear what Jesus is doing: he is establishing a new, eternal covenant between God and his people.
A covenant fulfilled by the spilling of Christ’s own Body and Blood.
The use of blood to seal a covenant was not foreign to the Jews; this happened multiple times throughout their history. Consider the two most significant covenants in the Old Testament – the Passover and the giving of the Ten Commandments.
Both were sealed in blood.
With the giving of the Ten Commandments, for example, Moses was commanded to sprinkle blood on the altar, then on the Israelites, which meant, if either side were unfaithful to the covenant, then blood must be shed.
Because no Jew could keep the commandments perfectly, the Lord later proclaimed through the prophet Jeremiah:
“The days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel. They broke my covenant. But I will be their God and they shall be my people.”
Jesus is claiming that this new covenant is fulfilled in him. “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.”
Unable to accept his words, the crowds abandon Jesus in droves, prompting him to ask his disciples: “Do you also want to leave?”
Peter doesn’t fully understand what Jesus is saying, either. Still, he responds in good faith, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
Unlike the crowds, Peter and the other disciples have given up everything to follow Jesus. At this point, they’re all in.
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At the Last Supper, Christ’s words begin to make sense to them.
As he celebrates the Passover, Jesus takes a loaf of bread and a cup of wine, and says, “Take this, all of you and eat of it… this is my Body… This is my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant. Do this in memory of me.”
Thus, the Eucharist becomes the new covenant promised through the prophet Jeremiah.
It’s why attending Mass matters. Here we receive Jesus. Here God recommits himself to us – and we to him! Here we say with our ancestors, “As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD… for he is our God.”
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Still, many wonder, why must Jesus give us his “flesh” to eat? Why is his Word not enough?
The Eucharist reverses the ancient curse caused by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Remember, they break their communion with God through a disobedient act of eating.
God said to Adam, “You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden, except from the tree of knowledge. When you eat from it, you shall die.” As a result, sin and death entered the world.
At Mass, we restore that communion lost through our first parents also through an act of eating. “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life,” Jesus says.
With our “Amen,” we become what we receive.
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Unlike Sartre, who claimed to have lost his faith – what did he really gain? – when we reach the edge of reason and mystery alone remains, may the words of Peter become our own, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”
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Image credits: (1) (2) Medium (3) St. John the Baptist Catholic Church
