The Jewish people who listened to Jesus teach about his feeding them himself, well, they ended arguing amongst themselves about how he dare speak to them in such ways. Cannibalism was out of the question, as it still is today, and hopefully will be until after the Lord returns. At that point, our eating his flesh and drinking his blood will take on the look of what we lovingly call the Beatific Vision. We will be fed wholly by the vision of God in our forever midst. Which, of course, is hard to contemplate with much success.
The Jewish people were practical folks in the first century when our Lord Jesus, who was one of them, walked around from village to village proclaiming that God’s Kingdom had now arrived in Him. In his Person. Quite a startling statement by Jesus, would you not agree? Who could ever believe that the part of life we cannot see in this world, the part that awaits our vision and experience until after we die, was now visibly present in the man from Nazareth who stood in their midst? What would it take for the good Jewish people, and some Gentiles too, to accept this incredible statement that God was to be found, touched, and known in this one man whose geographical starting point was a place that even one of his future Apostles would say about the town, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Such obscurity is not supposed bring forth a Person who can bring us back into a justified relationship with the God who created the universe, and us too.
But it did. Nazareth produced “the greatest story ever told.” A story that continues on in our hearts, minds, and our souls, hopefully consuming the better portion of what we consider to be on the top of our list as we journey through life. Nazareth produced for the world a man who could – and did – speak words that penetrate the human heart far deeper than the words of the greatest orators who have walked the earth. Words that could – and do – make Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address: “With malice toward none, with charity for all,” and John F. Kennedy’s one and only inaugural address: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” and Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have A Dream,” making these words, as great as they are, seem rather small when placed aside, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.”
If Lincoln, Kennedy, King, or any other famous person offered to the world a great speech, and they spoke such words of self-importance as Jesus did, well, they would know what Jesus had to deal with in the 1st century. They would have produced much quarreling and arguing from the masses directed back at them. Were Lincoln, Kennedy, and King wiser than Jesus by not making their speeches focus on themselves, but rather on the national situations which existed before them in their respective times? Possibly. But they were also wise enough to understand and accept they were not pretenders of God. They allowed God to be God, while they addressed the seriousness of issues in front of them in 1860’s and 1960’s America. Between a Civil War and Civil Rights (along with Vietnam), Lincoln, Kennedy, and King had their hands full. As did Jesus. Our Lord seemed to always have his hands full once he began his public ministry. But with the Gospels condensing what we believe to be a three-year public ministry into a handful of pages and events, we can rest assured that Christ had his down times too.
Preaching to the first-century Jewish masses, however, brought about questions and concerns about what Jesus spoke and taught in person. The towns, villages, and cities of ancient Israel were his classrooms, and when he entered any given location, he did not speak softly to them. He certainly carried a big stick from heaven, a stick better known as “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” The stick of repentance and belief in him might have been accompanied by walking softly from here to there, but his presence was not accompanied with speaking softly all the time. Sure, there were times such as his teaching on the mountain of beatitudes when Jesus spoke “softly,” in nice tones, easy to understand, even if his words were difficult to apply in their lives. “Blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are the peacemakers; blessed are the clean of heart; blessed are they who show mercy; blessed are they who are persecuted for my name,” and such. Words falling from heaven through the lips of the Jewish man from Nazareth. Words that entered and penetrated the deepness of human hearts, causing a stir that leads people to repentance and conversion.
However, there were times when the words of Jesus were not soft, but much more direct, if you will. “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” From peace, mercy, and clean of heart one day, to consuming his body and blood another day. One set of words seem sensible and doable; the other set of words seem impossible. One set of words led to thoughts of heaven; the other set of words led to quarreling and a stiff-arm against what the Lord spoke. “Whoa, whoa, wait a minute here. Did you just say what we think you said? You want us to eat what? Or who? Hmm. We’ll think about this one on our way home as I can hear my wife calling me for dinner. So, goodbye Jesus. Maybe we’ll see you tomorrow. Or likely not.”
At least the good Jewish people who heard these words from the lips of Jesus, words that pertained to eating his flesh and drinking his blood, at least it can be said in their favor that they stood there and quarreled with him first. Heck, if I believe a person speaking words to me pertain to cannibalism, I suppose I would quarrel for a moment or two before I shifted my legs into high gear and scooted away from the crazy person as fast as my feet could go. I would make the Road Runner look rather slow. But at least the good Jewish people of 1st century Palestine stood their ground for a short while before many of them shifted their feet into high gear, left Jesus, very likely never to return to him because of his apparent cannibalistic demand. They were sensible people in one sense, but lacking comprehension in the ways of God in another, much more important way. My advice? When God wants to literally feed us himself, allow yourself to be fed. There are times we are to trust in the workings and ways and words of the Lord way before we trust in our human sensibleness. A sensibleness that falls woefully short when placed aside of how our good and loving God cares for us, guides us, and feeds us.
I keep hearing the sad figures of how, apparently, so many present-day Catholics act more like the quarreling Jewish people rather than the trusting sort who believe the words of Jesus for what they are. And what they mean to us Catholics. And have meant for 2000 years and running. Or even trusting the words of St. Peter later in this same chapter, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of everlasting life.” Maybe it’s because of God’s grace working in my life on the topic of Eucharist, and what’s true and what is not, that I have the hardest time accepting the sad figures of how a high percentage of Catholics deny the words of Jesus in John, chapter 6. It’s a personal conundrum, as I write for myself only. But I’m sure most all other priests feel the same as I do. What does it take to bring God’s people around to worshipping, bowing to, and swallowing whole this eating and drinking teaching of Jesus in John, chapter 6?
I suppose I could show some folks the blood on the host of a Eucharistic miracle I was graced and blessed to perform in persona Christi in 2010 while assigned at Christ the King Parish. Photos that have not been doctored, changed, altered, or played around with, with no intent of trying to trick some fearers of God into believing what they actually receive at any given Mass. Photos that reveal – for real – the Blood of Christ dripping on a consecrated piece of bread now in a monstrance. Would such truthful photos lead to the conversion of a Christian from lack of belief in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, to believing that Christ Jesus is truly present in his flesh and blood? I’m not convinced it would have such power to alter a person’s present non-belief in the Eucharist, but such things are left up to the Holy Spirit, and not moi.
The sadness, of course, is that the lack of belief in the literal truth of Jesus’ words to the good Jewish people is, at its essence, a quarrel with God. Symbolism in the Eucharist is a quarrel with God. Real presence in the Eucharist is a trusting submission to God on the part of a believer. For us personally, which one is it? Who’s going to tell Jesus he didn’t mean his words when they meet him face to face at death? Count me out on that one. Embrace the Eucharist for the truth and power of Who it is we receive. Pray for the grace of true belief if you’re one of the ones who think Jesus was referring to cannibalism back then, and symbolism today. Pray for the grace to not walk away from him on this most central belief in our Catholic faith, while remaining with him on other, dare I say, lesser teachings. Important teachings no doubt, but lesser ones than our actual reception of Christ Jesus in his literal fullness. If we’re on the incorrect side of the central teaching in our faith, then how does this not open the door for other incorrect understandings of what God has given to us in Christ? Either way, the Eucharist is what Jesus taught; his Body & Blood given to sustain us on this journey. As I like to say, I want nothing less than the real man from Nazareth. No thank you to grape juice and Pepperidge Farm.