Study 10 - 2007: May 14th - 20th 2007

How can you eat the flesh of Jesus?

“Jesus said; “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. The bread that I give him is my flesh, which I also give that the world may live.” John Chapter 6:verse 51 (Good News Bible).

Golf leaves us with some unanswered questions. For example:

• Why do such great players as Ian Baker-Finch and Bill Rogers lose the ability to compete and give their career away?
• Why do most golfers who have a golf lesson, do not trust what they are taught, nor put into practise what the Pro has said? Why do they prefer their old bad habits?
• Why is the elusive perfect round of golf just out of our reach?
• Why do you see grown men in utter despair, about a game that is meant to be fun and a break from work?

No matter what we do, there are questions that puzzle us and we find hard to understand. For me, the greatest question is the reason of our existence, but many live life without seriously thinking about this.

In our reading this week, Jesus said some things that people found hard to understand; not only the crowd, but also those who followed him. They said; your teaching is too hard. Jesus talked about our need to eat his flesh and drink his blood in order to have eternal life.

We must admit that sometimes the things Jesus says to us are beyond our understanding and I believe this quote is one of them. It is worth reading the whole of Chapter 6 together, because this provides a wider perspective with the feeding of 5000 people and then some chasing after Jesus for more food. Jesus came to bring more than food for the hungry; he came to bring eternal life.

You may be aware that for Catholics this reading gives support to their understanding of the Mass while for other Christians, Jesus’ words are to be understood more metaphorically, not literally. It is one of those sayings of Jesus that is open to different understandings and is difficult to know exactly what Jesus meant.

However we understand the words of Jesus, what is clear is our need for Jesus is greater than our need for food in order to live. That says something because without food we will die. In the church there are two main ways to understand the words of Jesus;

1. We can understand that when Jesus says; “unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you will not have life” that we need to trust our lives completely to him for life. This is a metaphorical way of understanding this.
   
2. A sacramental way for others is that when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper or Mass we feed on Jesus through the re-enactment of his last meal with his disciples when Jesus broke bread and said; “This is my body” and took a cup and said “This is my blood”. Jesus said to eat and drink in remembrance of him.

There is some mystery when it comes to our relationship with God and Jesus words, but if we trust our lives to Jesus and get to church and celebrate The Lord’s Supper or Mass, then we will be able to feed on Jesus.

Prayer, Lord God, when we go to church or live our life, help us to feed on Jesus, the bread of life. Amen.