He Who Eats This Bread Will Live Forever
Introduction: May you continue to accept the Lord Jesus’
invitation to come and receive what He wants to give to you – His very self.
Jesus has so much
to give to us. He invites us to come to Him and learn from Him and be fed by Him.
Many people, however, do not take His invitation seriously. They take only what
they want. Jesus asks that we take all He offers. He offers Himself to us. Will
you accept His invitation and come to Him and receive Him: His word, His healing,
His Body and Blood?
One way to summarize
today’s readings would be to re-phrase today’s Responsorial: “Taste and experience
the Wisdom of the LORD.” The First Reading portrays Wisdom as a woman who is inviting
others to come to her table and eat what Wisdom has prepared and drink of the fruit
of the vine in order to gain an understanding of GOD’s ways. The Responsorial Psalm
urges the readers to join in the praise of the LORD and be enriched by all that
the LORD has to give. St. Paul’s letter urges the Ephesians and all the faithful
to drink of the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit rather than getting drunk on alcoholic
spirits. In the Gospel, Jesus informs the crowd that the true food and divine drink
are His own Body and Blood that nourish eternal life.
First Reading Proverbs 9:1-6: Wisdom builds her house and invites
all to eat her bread there
Commentary: In the Old Testament divine Wisdom is often
represented as a woman (the word ‘wisdom’ is feminine in both Greek and Hebrew),
inviting to her banquet all who are willing to come. The only qualification is to
be simple and open to learning, those whom Jesus in the gospel will call ‘meek and
humble of heart’. Especially after the Exile in Babylon the Israelites realized
that they could not rely on their own strength and wisdom, but must turn to God
in humility and confidence. Such lowliness is a feature of the post-exilic prophets
and their spirituality. It is seen to be exemplified also in the Infancy Narratives
of the gospels, especially in Luke, where all the characters are poor and destitute,
powerless to help themselves, and relying on the Lord’s favour: the parents of John
the Baptist and of Jesus, the shepherds, ancient Simeon and Anna. This invitation
prepares for the imagery of the messianic banquet and in the gospels especially
the meals where Jesus is seen feasting and relaxing with his often disreputable
and disadvantaged friends. It prepares also for Jesus’ invitations to the banquet
of the Eucharist, where we are those helpless and disreputable friends!
Responsorial Psalm 34:2-3,10-15: Taste and see that the Lord is
good.
The psalmist promises
radiant joy, and a life free from all distress. All that is needed is that one come
to the LORD and receive of GOD’s Goodness. If one begins to enjoy the great things
that the LORD bestows, then the response should be to give glory and praise to GOD.
Second Reading Ephesians 5:15-20: Be filled not with wine, but
with the Spirit
Commentary: Singing is a natural expression of joy
and united harmony which has always occurred in Christianity from the very beginning,
to express the joy and gratitude of Christians in the Lord. It seems that this instruction
in the Letter to the Ephesians only continues and encourages the tradition. Already
in Paul’s letters there are buried a number of hymns, unlikely to have been written
by him, but more probably heard and picked up by him from the different communities.
They are in a style far more rhythmical and balanced than his own excited and argumentative
writing. Special examples are the hymns to Christ in Philippians 2.6-11 and Colossians
1.15-20, but the letters to Timothy and Titus have several examples of snatches
of hymns. There is also a snatch of a hymn immediately before this reading from
Ephesians. The earliest outside witness to the Christian liturgy, a letter from
the provincial governor Pliny to the Roman Emperor, also describes the Christians
meeting on a set day (presumably Sunday) to sing hymns ‘to Christ as to a God’ before
having what he describes as a perfectly ordinary a meal together (presumably the
Eucharist). So the singing of hymns has a venerable tradition in Christianity.
Gospel John 6:51-58: My flesh is real food and my blood is real
drink
Commentary: This is the last of the readings from the
Bread of Life discourse. It moves on from seeing Christ as the Wisdom of God, who
must be accepted and believed, to the sacrament of eating the bread of life. These
correspond to the two halves of the Mass, first the service of the Word, then the
Eucharistic banquet. We are all so diet-conscious nowadays that it is quite obvious
that the food we eat affects us. By eating Christ, we are assimilated into him.
But, just as, if I am sick, food does me no good and can even harm me, so if I eat
Christ sacramentally without wanting to be moulded into him, it does me no good
at all. That is why Paul complained that the Corinthians were answerable for the
death of Christ. And drinking the blood of Christ? Blood is the sign of life – if
there is no blood, there is no life – and God is the Lord of life and death. So,
if I receive Christ’s blood, I take on his life, his divine life, as the gift of
God. That has alarming side-effects: it means I share Christ’s life with other Christians.
We all live with the same life’s blood. Do I really share my life, my talents, my
goods with others, knowing that I share the same bloodstream?
Reflection: Why did Jesus offer himself as "food
and drink"? The Jews were scandalized and the disciples were divided when Jesus
said "unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you."
What a hard saying, unless you understand who Jesus is and why he calls himself
the bread of life. The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves (John 6:3-13),
when Jesus said the blessing, broke and distributed the loaves through his disciples
to feed the multitude, is a sign that prefigured the superabundance of the unique
bread of the Eucharist, or Lord's Supper. The Gospel of John has no account of the
Last Supper meal (just the foot-washing ceremony and Jesus' farewell discourse).
Instead, John quotes extensively from Jesus' teaching on the bread of life.
In the Old Covenant
bread and wine were offered in a thanksgiving sacrifice as a sign of grateful acknowledgment
to the Creator as the giver and sustainer of life. Melchizedek, who was both a priest
and king (Genesis 14:18; Hebrews 7:1-4), offered a sacrifice of bread and wine.
His offering prefigured the offering made by Jesus, our high priest and king (Hebrews
7:26; 9:11; 10:12). The remembrance of the manna in the wilderness recalled to the
people of Israel that they live - not by earthly bread alone - but by the bread
of the Word of God (Deuteronomy 8:3).
Jesus made himself a perfect offering and sacrifice to God on
our behalf: At the last supper when Jesus blessed the cup of wine, he
gave it to his disciples saying, "Drink of it, all of you, for this, is my
blood of the covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew
26:28). Jesus was pointing to the sacrifice he was about to make on the cross, when
he would shed his blood for us - thus pouring himself out and giving himself to
us - as an atoning sacrifice for our sins and the sins of the world. His death on
the cross fulfilled the sacrifice of the paschal (Passover) lamb whose blood spared
the Israelites from death in Egypt.
the Apostle tells
us that "Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed" (1 Corinthians
5:7). Paul echoes the words of John the Baptist who called Jesus the "Lamb
of God who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29). Jesus made himself
an offering and sacrifice, a gift that was truly pleasing to the Father. He "offered
himself without blemish to God" (Hebrews 9:14) and "gave himself as a
sacrifice to God" (Ephesians 5:2).
The Lord Jesus sustains us with the life-giving bread of heaven:
Jesus chose the time of the Jewish Feast of Passover to fulfill what
he had announced at Capernaum - giving his disciples his body and his blood as the
true bread of heaven. Jesus' passing over to his Father by his death and resurrection
- the new Passover - is anticipated in the Last Supper and celebrated in the Eucharist
or Lord's Supper, which fulfills the Jewish Passover and anticipates the final Passover
of the church in the glory of God's kingdom. When the Lord Jesus commands his disciples
to eat his flesh and drink his blood, he invites us to take his life into the very
center of our being. That life which he offers is the very life of God himself.
Do you hunger for the bread of life?
Lord Jesus, you
nourish and sustain us with your very own presence and life-giving word. You are
the bread of life - the heavenly food that sustains us now and that produces everlasting
life within us. May I always hunger for you and be satisfied in you alone.
Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: Abiding in Christ,
by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.: " Jesus recommended to us His
Body and Blood in bread and wine, elements that are reduced into one out of many
constituents. What is meant by eating that food and taking that drink is this: to
remain in Christ and have Him remaining in us." (excerpt from Sermon on John
26,112)
“all were filled with the holy spirit” (acts 2:4): “Be
filled with the Spirit.” —Ephesians 5:18. At our Baptisms, we became temples of
the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19). The Lord wants us to be filled with the Spirit (Eph
5:18; see also Acts 2:4). St. Paul taught that those filled with the Holy Spirit
do the following four things. They:
1) address “one
another in psalms and hymns and inspired songs” (Eph 5:19),
2) “Sing praise
to the Lord” (Eph 5:19) in their hearts,
3) “Give thanks
to God the Father always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”
(Eph 5:20), and
4) submit to one
another out of fear of the Lord (see Eph 5:21).
Those filled with
the Holy Spirit have set their hearts on higher realms (Col 3:1). Spiritually, they
inhabit the throne room of God. They have entered “His gates with thanksgiving,
His courts with praise” (Ps 100:4). Those filled with the Spirit upbuild, encourage,
and submit to those around them. They can love their neighbor in this way because
they love themselves (Lk 10:27). They love themselves because the Holy Spirit cries
out in their hearts “Abba!” (“Father!”) (Gal 4:6) Secure in their Father’s love,
those filled with the Spirit are a people of praise, thanksgiving, submission, and
love. Accept the grace to be filled and stay filled with the Holy Spirit.
Prayer: “To the One seated on the throne, and to the
Lamb, be praise and honor, glory and might, forever and ever!” (Rv 5:13). “I Myself
am the living Bread come down from heaven. If anyone eats this Bread he shall live
forever; the Bread I will give is My flesh, for the life of the world.” —Jn 6:51.
Glory to You, risen Jesus, our Lord, our Teacher, our Example, and our Brother.
Alleluia!
The personal question for today: What do I seek when
I come to be fed at the table of the Lord Jesus? How have I been nourished by taking
and receiving what GOD offers to me? What is my understanding of “Communion” or
“Eucharist”? How can I reach out more to those with whom I am in communion?