READINGS: PROV 9:1-6; PSALM 33:2-3,10-15; EPH 5:15-20; JOHN 6:51-58
THEME: FOCUS NOT ON THE HOW BUT ON THE WHY
Dearest in Christ, we are still on the 6th chapter of John’s gospel which dwells strictly on the Body and Blood of Christ as the heavenly-given food for our nourishment. Today, in the gospel, Jesus and the Jews continue the discussion on what Jesus means by saying that his body is to be eaten.
a. How Can this Man give us his flesh to eat?
Jesus insistently speaks of his body and blood as the food meant to give life. He refers to himself as “the living bread which came down from heaven” (Jn 6:51). In the beginning of this dialogue, when Jesus told the people about the importance of seeking for food that lasts (cf Jn 6:27) which is the true bread that comes from heaven (cf Jn 6:32), the people replied to him:
“Sir, give us this bread always” (cf Jn 6:34). When the people made this request, they were hoping for a miracle greater than the Manna their forefathers ate in the desert which fell from heaven (Exodus 16). Jesus already promised them that this bread will be different from Manna because whereas their fathers ate Manna and still died, the bread that he would give them will keep them alive in eternity (cf Jn 6:49-50). The people needed this bread and wanted to have it
but they could not understand Jesus speaking of his flesh as the bread to be eaten.
For the Jewish people, eating of human flesh is an abomination. In fact, when God wanted to speak about a serious calamity that would befall the people which would in turn expose them to commit different atrocities because of their failure to obey the Lord, the eating of the flesh of one’s sons and daughters are used (cf Lev 26:27-30; Deut 28:53-55).
So when Jesus spoke of his flesh as a necessary food to be eaten, the people could not but pose the question: “How could this man give us his flesh to eat?” To the point that the people need a new form of bread, the people agreed with Jesus. But accepting the possibility of this bread being the body of someone became completely difficult. Jesus would then take time to explain to them what they had to understand about the new food.
But the point, dear brothers and sisters, is that the people did not waste time to react against an idea that they felt was contradictory to their belief, their practice, their life as a people. And they asked a question seeking for clarification and understanding.
It is not an abomination, dearest in Christ, to ask a question in order to understand what one is standing for and what one is going into. So many of us just take whatever they hear because it is coming from someone they hold in esteem. The Jews who came to Jesus, knew him to be someone special. In fact they wanted to crown him their king after the miracle of five loaves and two fish (cf Jn 6:15). But when Jesus started to posit something that was not so clear to them, they subjected the teaching to a critical reasoning.
Dear brothers and sisters, our Christian faith is not against reasoning and understanding. Our faith always seeks to be clarified and elevated. Yes, somethings are beyond our human comprehensive capacities but even these beg for acceptance through an understanding faith.
b. WHOEVER EATS THIS BREAD….
Instead of responding to the “how” question of the people, Jesus decided to speak of the “why”. The people were still having difficulty of how they would eat the flesh of Jesus, Jesus then responded by giving them the “why” that is, the reason they must have to eat of his flesh. While the people asked, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus says, “you have to do it because of what it will do for you”. And in his explanation, we find the reason Jesus provided for the necessity of eating his flesh
1. It is the life-giving bread: Jesus said to the people: “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (Jn 6:53). Jesus’ flesh is the life-giving bread. This life is not the life the world gives, it is not the life that is external to one, it is life that is found in oneself.
2. It gives eternal life: Eating of the flesh of Jesus merits one eternal life (cf Jn 6:54a)
3. Resurrection on the last day: Jesus promises that whoever eats of his flesh, he will raise him/her up on the last day (cf Jn 6:54b).
4. The mutual-inhabitation: “those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them” (cf Jn 6:56). When one eats of the flesh of Christ, the person’s life becomes the responsibility of Christ because the person will now live on account of Christ since that life in the person is the life of Christ.
c. Come and eat my bread…Leave your folly and you will live
In the first reading, we see Wisdom inviting us to come and eat the bread she has prepared and calls us to do away with our folly and embrace wisdom. Eating of the bread she has prepared for us will assist us in doing away with folly and gaining live. Jesus is the Incarnate Wisdom. He had offered himself as the food for us to eat and live, abandoning our cunny ways and embracing ‘the ways of perceptions’. It is not enough that we are receiving his body. We must move away from our evil lives for the life of Christ inherent in his Flesh which we receive to be effective.
We must abandon all our foolish ways and embrace the ways of perception, the ways of God’s love, peace and forgiveness. Eating of the flesh of Christ worthily enables us to be careful of the kind of lives we lead, as St. Paul calls us to do in the second reading. When we receive Christ with a heart ready to harbour him, He will fill our hearts with songs of thanksgiving and joy for the gift God has given us, the Holy Eucharist.
Dear brothers and sisters, today we must ask ourselves: “am I still receiving the Body of Christ?” “Are these values which Jesus speaks that follow those who receive him still evident in my life? Am I living the life of Christ, and is Christ living in me?
Rev. Fr. Henry Chukwuezugo Nnamah
Catholic Diocese of Aguleri