Lesson 5

And now, the topic we’ve all been waiting for... The most important part of the Catholic faith... The source and summit of the Christian Life: the Holy Eucharist.


On Monday nights, I teach a High School Confirmation prep class.  I always tell my kids that I don’t think every Catholic should memorize every verse in the Bible, but EVERY Catholic should know to go to John 6 when talking about the Eucharist.  “It is the most important chapter in the entire Bible” I tell them.  That, of course is my own opinion, not Church teaching.

Let’s walk through John chapter 6...

Now, I don’t usually put a whole scripture passage in these lessons; but I feel this one is so important, that, for emphasis, I will put the whole thing in here.

John 6:30-71

30

So they said to him, "What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do?

31

Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"

32

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.

33

For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

34

So they said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."

35

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.

36

But I told you that although you have seen (me), you do not believe.

37

Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me,

38

because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.

39

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.

40

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."

41

The Jews murmured about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven,"

42

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'?"

43

Jesus answered and said to them, "Stop murmuring among yourselves.

44

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day.

45

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.

46

Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.

47

Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

48

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.

60

Then many of his disciples who were listening said, "This saying is hard; who can accept it?"

61

Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, "Does this shock you?

62

What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?

63

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.

64

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.

65

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."

66

As a result of this, many (of) his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.

67

Jesus then said to the Twelve, "Do you also want to leave?"

68

Simon Peter answered him, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

69

We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God."

70

Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you twelve? Yet is not one of you a devil?"

71

He was referring to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot; it was he who would betray him, one of the Twelve.

After reading that it seems obvious how literal Jesus is when speaking on this subject.  But still, thousands of Christians who interpret the Bible privately for themselves, write it off as a metaphor.

At first, the Jews also thought Jesus was speaking in metaphor, as is seen in verse 41.
The Jews murmured about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven,"
They simply question His claim to be from heaven.  It doesn’t cross their minds that he could be literal about the “bread” part.

Jesus knows this.  So, He goes on to clarify...
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."
Now the Jews understand exactly what He means... “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Then, Jesus repeats himself with GREATER EMPHASIS, and adds the statement about drinking his blood!
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.
Now, this is quite a radical statement.  Leviticus 17 makes a very clear law that Jews can never drink the blood of an animal, for “the life of every living body is its blood.”  The Jews understood Jesus to be speaking literally.  This is evident from verse 60, "This saying is hard; who can accept it?"

But many protestants look at verse 63 and say, “See, Jesus just said that the spirit gives life and the flesh is no avail.  Why would he ask us to literally eat his flesh if it is of no avail?”

This line of thought is quite flawed for a Christian to subscribe to...  The whole basis of Christianity is that sinners were saved by the crucifixion of Christ.  But his spirit wasn’t crucified; it was his flesh.  So, obviously His flesh is NOT “of no avail.”  So, what does Jesus mean by this?  Jesus is talking about the faith of the audience of Jews (and, I would say, the faith of our modern day protestant).  He was merely explaining how they were thinking in the flesh (natural human reason), rather than spiritually.  Thinking in human terms, rather than Godly ones.

The other part of their argument uses the quote “It is the spirit that gives life...” to mean “What I just said is symbolic.”  This takes a lot of digging into the quote to understand in that way.  In fact, if one were reading it objectively, one would never come to that conclusion.  One only comes to that interpretation if he first holds the position of the protestant, and thinks it necessary to find a rationale, no matter how forced, for protesting the Catholic interpretation.

John 6:66 explains how many many of His followers left Jesus despite all the miracles, preaching, and prophesying he had done.   They left Him based on this one important doctrine.  And still, protestants will say Jesus wasn’t literal.  But if He was being metaphorical, wouldn’t He have corrected his followers’ mistaken ideas before they left Him?  That’s what He did in Matt 16:5-12.  The Jews thought He was talking about literal bread in this scenario, He explained how foolish they were to think such things, and corrected them.   He was referring to “the leaven of the Pharisees” but meant their teachings.  But in John 6, Jesus doesn’t say “wait, come back! Can’t you see I’m speaking in symbols and metaphors?”  Rather, He gives the Apostles the chance to leave, saying, “Do you also want to leave?”
But of course the leader of the Apostles, Peter, speaks up and says, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

Despite all this, people still say He was being figurative.  They quote John 6:35, in which Jesus says, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”  They argue that coming to him is bread, believing in Him is drink.  Thus eating his flesh and drinking his blood merely means believing in Christ.

But there is a huge flaw with such interpreting...
In his book The Faith of Millions, Fr. John A. O’Brien explains, “The phrase ‘to eat the flesh and drink the blood,’ when used figuratively among the Jews, as among the Arabs of today, meant to inflict upon a person some serious injury, especially by calumny or by false accusation.  To interpret the phrase figuratively then would be to make our Lord promise life everlasting to the culprit for slandering Him and hating Him, which would reduce the whole passage to utter nonsense.”  For a prime example of this usage, we can look at Micah 3:3.


Another key thing to look at is the words Jesus used when speaking.  In verse 57, the greek verb Jesus uses for “feeds” or “eats” is “Trogon.” Which literally means “to gnaw, munch, chew.”
Greek language sources:
http://strongsnumbers.com/greek/5176.htm
http://biblos.com/john/6-57.htm

This is a very visual and literal verb.  Not the type of word used in a metaphor as would be “phagete” which is used in other parts of this passage (verse 53) and merely means “eat.”  (same sources)

St. Paul confirms Jesus’ explanation of how important and literal the Eucharist is.  Read 1 Corinthians 11:20, 23-29
In verse 20, we see the whole reason the Christians gather together is to celebrate the “Lord’s supper.”   Then, St. Paul goes on to say that if you eat the bread unworthily, you have to “answer for the body and blood of the Lord.”  And, he says, if you eat the body without discerning your own conscience, you eat judgement upon yourself.  Those are harsh words if the bread is only a symbol of Jesus’ body.

Likewise in the book of the Acts of the Apostles, the author, Luke, says that the early Christians “devoted themselves to the teachings of the Apostles, to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread, and to prayers.”  (As a side note, it dos not say they devoted themselves to the Scriptures, as many of our modern day Protestant Christians do.)  That’s Acts 2:42.




Lastly, another thing to remember is that God does nothing on accident.  Keep in mind that Jesus was born in Bethleham, “the city of bread,” He was born in a manger, which is a feeding trough,  Bread from heaven (manna) was placed inside the Ark of the Covenant, while Mary is the New Ark (will be explained in a later lesson) and carried Jesus, the bread of life, for nine months, and Jesus performed several miracles where He fed multitudes of people (usually with bread), and when Jesus first appeared to the apostle Peter and a man named Cleopus, He was made known to them “in the breaking of the bread.” (Luke 24:13-35)  We Catholics believe that just as our bodies need food lest we die, and so our soul needs to be fed with the bread of life, the body of Christ.

Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.”



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Peace in Christ,
Luke