The Bread of Life

As Catholics, we believe in the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.  Jesus himself made it plainly understood in John 6:26-66.  Please read His words below:

Jesus answered them and said, "Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal."  

So they said to him, "What can we do to accomplish the works of God?" Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent." 

So they said to him, "What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"  

So Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." So they said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."  

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst. But I told you that although you have seen (me), you do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it (on) the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him (on) the last day."  

The Jews murmured about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven," and they said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, 'I have come down from heaven'?"  

Jesus answered and said to them, "Stop murmuring among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: 'They shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 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."  

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?" 

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. 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. 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.  

This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.  

Then many of his 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.

Analysis

I do not want to be contentious, but how can you argue that Jesus meant anything else than what He said?  He says He is "the bread of life" five separate times. He says we have to "feed on the bread" three times. He says "the bread is his flesh" twice.  He says we have to "eat his flesh" three separate time. And then to remove any ambiguity, He says "my flesh is true food and blood is true drink".

The Jews also offer some helpful insight.  Three separate times they raise objections to what Jesus is saying.  They believed He was speaking literally.  And Jesus had three separate chances to clarify and say he was speaking in parables, but instead each time he reiterates all the more plainly that He means what He says.

The followers abandon Jesus.  He had just performed a miracle and fed these 5000 men the day before!  And now they leave Him.  Do you really think they would have left if they thought He was speaking figuratively?  And wouldn't have Jesus have clarified Himself if He was about to lose thousands of disciples over a misunderstanding?

Lastly, on a fun gruesome note, in this chapter Jesus uses two different Greek words for "eat that have very different connotations.  He uses "phago" which means "to eat or devour" when talking about the manna from heaven.  But he uses "trogo" which means "to chew or gnaw" when talking about eating his flesh.  This visceral word choice was deliberate.  Jesus wanted the audience to really feel it when He said they had to "gnaw on His flesh."  This distinction is huge and further corroborates that Jesus meant what He said.


Keep pursuing,