Word to the Wise
Friday, May 10, 2019 - 3rd Week of Easter - Fri
[Acts 9:1-20 and John 6:52-59]The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?" 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. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day." [John]
By the time the Gospel According to John was written, the early Christian community had begun to develop its liturgical practices. Indeed, by the time of St. Paul's letters, the teaching about the eucharist had developed well [1 Cor. 10:23-26]. These practices and the teaching about the reality of what came to be called "the Eucharist," placed them in tension with other Jews who began to expel the new movement from the synagogue. The Gospel According to John shows this tension in quoting Jesus on this subject. This gospel does not mention the establishment of the Eucharist at the Last Supper, but rather places the teaching at a synagogue in Capernaum.
What becomes clear from the text is that the Eucharist became a flashpoint and a turning point for the Christian faith. Some disciples turned away. Others, like the apostles, took Jesus' teaching to heart and the rest is history. This does not, however, take away the amazing quality of what Jesus teaches in today's gospel scripture. It is, indeed, the whole Jesus that is received. The traditional way of expressing this is, "body and blood, soul and divinity." The Eucharist is the sign of Jesus' continuing presence in our midst. To receive him worthily and in faith is to receive eternal life. We have his Word for it! AMEN