The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,
“How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?”
Bread and other forms of food were one thing. Food and drink were well known symbols, representing the reception of God's word and his wisdom (for instance in Sirach 15:1-3 and Proverbs 9:4-6). Jesus had deployed a similar metaphor when he said, "I have food to eat that you do not know about" and went on to clarify that "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work" (see John 4:32-34). The crowds therefore accepted the literal level of Jesus' meaning, which referred to the multiplied loaves. And they understood the context of the spiritual meaning about wisdom. Although the centrality of Jesus himself as bread in this context was still more than the wanted to accept. But when he shifted his metaphor to refer, suddenly, to Flesh, they were lost and disoriented as to what he meant. The purely physical was one thing. And the spiritual at least made sense. But the Sacramental and sacrificial dimension was beyond them. After all, it seemed to be at least superficially repulsive. It seemed inelegant compared to the pure abstraction of spiritual meaning. As far as they were concerned the incarnational element Jesus now raised placed too much emphasis on the carne, on the Flesh. They revealed their subconscious assumption that for them the world was divided into separate spheres of physical and spiritual that could not finally be bridged. The world of physicality seemed too messy God to truly dwell therein. Further, it seemed that consuming Flesh necessitated destruction, an inherently abhorrent concept. It required that the substance first be sacrificed before it could be shared. This was done with lambs and other animals precisely because it was too horrible and graphic to be done to men. We remember the angel that stayed the hand of Abraham when he was about to offer Isaac. All of this pointed to something necessary, but something as yet not accomplished. Isaac had not, in the end, been offered and "it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins" (see Hebrews 10:4). It was impossible to solve the problem from the physical side of things with mere representation. Even actual human life was insufficient to pay the unpayable debt owed by our race. But it seemed that the Spiritual side was too pure for it to somehow supply what was lacking. Until Jesus. Until he suggested that it was precisely him, precisely his Flesh that would do this.
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.
The Flesh and Blood of Jesus poured out would accomplish something that neither man, nor disembodied divine wisdom could do separately. Taken in the metaphorical sense, the bread of wisdom did point the way to immortality. But it did so because the bread was eventually revealed to be Jesus himself, the wisdom of God incarnate. Thus receiving that bread was receiving his self-sacrifice on the cross. Those who were wise in the ways of God before Jesus came into the world were led by wisdom to look forward to his coming, and to hope in him, as did the prophets. But those of us who have come after are invited to come to Jesus himself, to taste and see the goodness of what he did for us.
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.
Through the Eucharist Jesus gives us access to a higher and divine form of life. The communion that he naturally shares with the Father and the Spirit becomes a gift to those who share in the banquet of the sacrifice of the lamb of God, which reestablishes our own communion with God that had been offline since Eden. His Flesh becomes the source of a new and higher form of life that does not neglect of negate the physical but which will ultimately raise it up and transfigure it in the Resurrection of the Body on the Last Day. It is this food that finally undoes the curse incurred at Eden, and all of the subsequent curses as well. It even reveals that curse to have been a happy fault, since without it we may never have received a gift so great.
Damascus Worship Featuring MarySarah Menkhaus - Body And Blood
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