Road to Emmaus Twentieth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Aug 12, 2009

First Reading – Prov. 9:1-6

Responsorial Psalm – Ps. 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7

Second Reading – Eph. 5:15-20

Gospel Reading – Jn. 6:51-58

 

In last Sunday’s Gospel reading from the extremely important sixth chapter of John, Jesus said, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh” (John 6:51). Jesus makes a clear connection with regard to his being the bread of life, and that bread being his flesh. And yes, he said we must eat this bread/flesh.

 

His listeners, to some degree understood what he was saying. They already murmured once before, now they “disputed among themselves, saying ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’” (John 6:52). This is where this Sunday’s Gospel reading picks up.

 

Notice what Jesus does not say after this. He does not go on to say, “I do not mean my literal flesh. I mean this symbolically.” What he does say stands in stark contrast to what he does not say: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (John 6:53-56).

 

When Jesus says flesh he means flesh. When Jesus says eat he means eat. First, we might ask, what will Jesus give for the life of the world? He offers himself completely upon the cross for us and for our salvation. He offers himself, body, blood, soul and divinity. He does not offer a symbol on the cross; he offers the fullness of his humanity and the fullness of his divinity upon Calvary.

 

When he says eat he means eat. The Greek word for eat in this passage is “trogos.” It literally means to gnaw down upon, to chew vigorously. This word does not carry with it a symbolic meaning of eating. It is the most graphic word for eat in Greek.

 

The emphasis all along, in John 6, has been upon eating. How?

 

First, there is the overall context in which the chapter takes place, namely the Passover. One of the crucial aspects of the entire Passover liturgy given by God to the Israelites so as to protect them from suffering the death of the first-born sons was that they not only sacrifice the lamb and sprinkle the blood of the lamb, but that they eat the lamb. All the stipulations given about how many lambs to offer are “according to what each man can eat” (Exodus 12:4). They are to sprinkle the blood of the lamb, not on every house, but “on the two doorposts and the lintel of the house in which they eat them (lambs)” (Exodus 12:7). The whole point of sacrificing the lamb was so they could eat the lamb: “They shall eat the flesh that might” (Exodus 12:8). They are instructed on how they are to eat the lamb: “Your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste” (Exodus 12:11).

 

Beyond this we have the context of the provision of the manna in the desert during the Israelites’ 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. The provision of the manna was so they could eat it.

 

In John 6 there is also the context of the feeding of the five thousand. Again the context emphasizes eating.

 

So in this Sunday’s readings we cannot magically take what Jesus is saying out of its larger context. The larger context also gives us Jesus challenge to believe what he is saying. Eating is not a metaphor for believing. They are clearly distinguished in John 6 from one another. Jesus precisely wants use to believe what he is saying about eating his flesh and drinking his blood.

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He is preparing us for what he will do at the Last Supper his third and final celebration of the Old Covenant Passover, but the beginning of the New Covenant Passover meal where we called to eat the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.