Jesus’ words are as shocking today as they were when he spoke them to the crowd. Eating the flesh of a human being is a taboo that has been condemned by most of the human race, and when it is permitted, it’s usually a religious act rather than a form of nourishment. And in the foundational scriptures of the Jewish religion, the people are told to go to great lengths to avoid consuming blood. Even today observant Jews will not eat meat unless it is ritually slaughtered and drained of all visible blood. Jesus' shocking statement, which he doubles down on when he is questioned, is one of the reasons we Catholics as well as the Orthodox believe in the real presence -- that Jesus is present body and blood, soul and divinity in what appears to be bread and wine. But the question comes up, why did our savior institute this sacrament? Why does his church continue to insist that when we receive Holy Communion we are eating and drinking Christ, and not just acting out a symbol?
When you look at the history of the Jewish people, you see that their scriptures recalled a time when God and man, at least some men, lived in an intimate relationship. Adam walked and talked with God. Later God and Abraham were like friends. There are hints that there were other close bonds between God and some of the ancestors -- Noah, Enoch, Melchizedek -- But none of these were like the bond between Adam and God. And as time went on that close friendship gradually disappeared from the human race, until God again intervened through Moses. God, for reasons only known to him, desired to enter into an intimate relationship with Israel, the descendents of Abraham. And as you read about this relationship it’s obviously mostly a one way street -- God keeps reaching out, the people keep rejecting the kind of intimacy He desires. In the Old Testament that relationship is compared to many things, but the marriage bond is paramount. Hosea devotes much of his prophecy to acting out what God desires -- and still, Israel does not respond.
In the past several Sundays we’ve witnessed Jesus feeding the five thousand in a miraculous way. He and his apostles leave in the middle of the night and the people find him, and we hear that dialogue -- Sir, give us this bread! And Jesus answers, “I am the bread come down from heaven. And that pretty much brings us up to this gospel, where it seems as though Jesus is saying, “I’m not speaking symbolically; I mean what I say.” No longer is the goal to establish a marital relationship; the goal is to establish a relationship between me and the food that I eat. God becomes my food, not just to nourish my soul, but also my body. Or to put it another way, for God there is no distinction between body and soul -- that’s a distinction we make. But I am not me if they are separated -- when I die the “me” does not go floating off into the distance, leaving my now useless body behind. We use a lot of terms to describe how things will be after death -- we talk about the particular judgment, the general judgment, the resurrection of our own bodies, spending eternity in heaven or hell. And these are all ways of trying to put into words what can’t be. Those saints who have caught a glimpse of the way things will be after death are at loss for words. Because if we really believe in the intimate relationship God wants to have with us, there is nothing in our own experience that we can turn to.
So God tells Abaham that he wants to be his close friend; and Abraham is willing to sacrifice his son to this God, a sacrifice God prevents at the last minute. Then God tells the people he wants to live in their midst and be part of their day to day lives; he will accompany them to a new land, he will give them food and drink along the way; and the people seek out other gods, because to them a real god requires sacrifice and is so far above us that all we can do is try to keep on his good side. And God tells his people he wants to marry them and that doesn’t do either, because the people have divided hearts -- what about money and power and all the things we would have to give up to be married to God? And finally Jesus says, I’ll be your food and drink, really and truly, I’ll feed your body and your soul, because that’s how much I love you and want you and I to be one.
And we, barely understanding this mystery, come forward once again to take the Lord as food and drink, and in our poor human way, approach that oneness. And we pray that we will become what we eat, that we will be sons and daughters of our God, sharing in his very being.
