By JOE SIXPACK
Part 1
As you’ll recall from last week, the people were amazed to find Jesus waiting for them on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. They said, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” But Jesus cut right to the chase.
He said, “You seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you; for on Him has God the Father set His seal.”
Then they said to Him, “What must we do to be doing the works of God?”
Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
Indignantly they replied, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat’.”
Incredible! After all they’d seen Jesus do, they still wanted yet more signs!
As incredible as it was, though, this is exactly what Jesus was waiting for. So Jesus responded, “It was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.”
The people then said, “Lord, give us this bread always.”
Jesus responded, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. For this is the will of my father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life; and I will raise Him up at the last day.”
The Jews then murmured at Him, because He had said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
But Jesus doubled down. He said, “I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
The Jews disputed among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” That’s when Jesus became very forceful.
“Unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink His Blood, you have no life in you….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. As the living Father has sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me.”
Many of His disciples said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”
Jesus’ followers rightly believed He was speaking literally, and after this many of His disciples drew back and no longer went about with Him. If they misunderstood what He meant, Jesus was under a moral obligation to explain things more clearly. But He didn’t do that. He let them forever walk away.
Then Jesus asked His apostles, “Will you also go away?” Speaking for the others, Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
In other words, Peter was saying they didn’t understand and how Jesus would give them His flesh, but they believed He would do as He said. Now you know why Jesus earnestly desired His final meal (Luke 22:15).
At the Last Supper He said, “This is my Body” not “This symbolizes my Body” or “This represents my Body.” He said, “This is my Body.” Imperative. Literal. So we now understand why the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.
We’ve shown from Sacred Scripture the main body of theological/scriptural evidence for the Holy Eucharist being the actual Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, true God and true man. Next week, we’re going to look at some very extraordinary proofs for this reality, then the week after that I’m going to tie all this together for you. I assure you, you’ll never again see the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in the same way!
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