June 11, 2023 (Year A)
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. The miraculous food sent to us by God through Christ which grants us, more than just nourishment, but eternal life.
We hear an introduction to this tradition from Moses in the First Reading (Dt 8:2-3, 14b-16a). In this passage the Israelites are near the end of their journey to the Promised Land. Moses is reiterating for them some of the miraculous actions the Lord has performed for the people during this trek. The one most important was the food God provided so that they would not starve in the desert. The reason for the affliction was to test their loyalty to God.
Moses reminds them how for forty years they had been journeying in the desert and when they complained about the lack of food, God provided them with a substance called “manna.” Moses tells them, “Do not forget the LORD, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery; who guided you through the vast and terrible desert with its seraph serpents and scorpions, its parched and waterless ground; who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock and fed you in the desert with manna, a food unknown to your fathers” (Deut. 8:14-16).
The manna was not meant to just be physical nourishment. It was a demonstration of the promise of the Lord to always care for the Israelites and provide for their needs. Here the Lord urged them to remember all that God did to help them prosper as they traveled so many years before getting to the Promised Land. Without this food they would have perished.
In the Gospel (Jn 6:51-58) we hear Jesus remind the people how the Lord cared for them by providing manna in the dessert. Though they complained about the food, they would not have fared well without it. Jesus uses some strange language which startles those who are listening to his speech. He tells them, “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” (Jn. 6:51).
Jesus presents himself as the true bread from heaven, replacing the former bread from heaven, the manna of the Law. The believer must accept the revelation of God that will take place in broken flesh and spilled blood, a never-failing nourishment that the Son of Man will give. But this sounds too much like cannibalism to the present crowd. They quarrel with one another. But Jesus assures them, “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. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him” (Jn. 6:54).
The Jews cannot comprehend how Jesus is to give his flesh to eat and his blood to drink. In John’s narrative this is the institution of the Eucharist. We do not have the scene of the Last Supper with the cup of wine and the bread where Jesus offers these as part of a new covenant. This is why the institution narrative in John seems so complex. The disciples have nothing to compare it to like the night of the Last Supper.
Yet Jesus promises that whoever “eats his flesh, and drinks his blood, will have eternal life.” Unlike those in the dessert who ate the manna and still perished. This blood and flesh of Jesus will bring eternal life. In the verses that follow this passage we hear how many of the followers of Jesus desert him after this speech. They simply cannot comprehend nor accept what he is telling them. Only his closest disciples remain with him. When Jesus asks them if they want to leave as well, Peter responds for the group, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn.6:68). Even though they may not comprehend, his closet disciples stay with Jesus understanding that he follows through with all that he has promised. And they have witnessed so many miracles from him that they dare not question what he tells them about his flesh and blood.
Of course, when they get to the Last Supper they get a further explanation from Jesus (in Matthew, Mark, and Luke) when he passes the bread and says, “Take and eat; this is my body.” (MT. 26:26) And when he passes the cup, saying “Drink from it, all of you” (Mt. 26:27). They do remember that he commanded that they imitate this practice after his death and resurrection. For this is no ordinary bread and wine. Rather through the working of the Holy Spirit it becomes spiritual nourishment which helps followers of Jesus receive forgiveness for sins and earn their way to heaven.
After his death and resurrection Jesus met the disciples in the breaking of the bread and drinking of the wine and they remembered the words that he told them, “Do this in memory of me.” Imagine, this is a tradition which the church has continued for over two thousand years. Every time we attend Mass and take part in the Eucharistic celebration we are, indeed, consuming the very body and blood of Jesus through the process of transubstantiation. We are privy to the reception of the Holy Spirit and the forgiveness of sins. But then we must make a decision how to behave accordingly once we leave the Church. Are we a pilgrim people journeying to bring the words and love of Christ to others or are we just taking up time and space in the Church pew. When it’s difficult to decide just remember the words of Peter to Jesus, “you have the words of eternal life.”
