Jesus came to that point many years ago. He was with His disciples and followers and in conversation He said " I am the bread of life ... unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them." (John 6: 25 onwards).
Very confusing words indeed. If I were there at the time I would have said "Hein? What are you talking about?"
Actually, this is what some of Christ's followers said. They asked "What does He mean? Eat His flesh and drink His blood?"
They thought that this time He had gone too far. Of course, He often spoke in parables and it was left to them to interpret what He was saying ... but this time it was clear. He said, more than once, that we should eat His flesh and drink His blood.
Not surprisingly, quite a few felt that this was too much. Better to distance themselves from this Man who is talking way beyond any sensible person can take. They decided to leave Him and stop being associated with Jesus.
So what did Jesus do?
Did He call them back and say "Wait a minute ... let me explain what I meant. It was only a figure of speech. Don't take it too literally ..."
No. He just let them leave.
He knew what He was saying. He was sure of His facts. He said them clearly and left it at that. Take it or leave it. The choice is yours.
In fact, He gave His twelve disciples the choice to leave too if they felt this was too much for them.
Peter replied for them all when he said "To whom shall we go. We believe in You".
Today, years later, nothing has really changed.
We have His words. And we have a simple choice.
To believe (without questions and without trying to understand) ... or not.
You are SO right in your assessment of that passage in Scripture Victor! I would like to add that there were TWO words for "eat" in the Aramaic tongue which Jesus spoke...one word means "eat" as in "to eat/consume food". The other word for "eat" is a much more LITERAL term and it meant "the chewing and gnawing of flesh". THAT is the word that Jesus used each time He said "eat the flesh of the Son of Man". This is WHY those people were SO shocked and KNEW that He was being LITERAL. This is why they said "this is too much for us" and chose to leave...they thought He was absolutely NUTS.
ReplyDeleteThere was never a doubt in those people's minds that Jesus was being literal because He specifically chose the literal term to give them this teaching.
One more quick thing, if I may, to add to your already wonderful post...I heard a priest say once, "I will take Jesus' word that it IS before I take any man's word that it's NOT". (truly His flesh and blood)
Thanks for sharing this! Great post.
Thanx Judy. It's quite understandable that even today many people find it difficult to understand what Jesus meant.
ReplyDeleteBut He doesn't ask us to undertsnad. He asks us to believe and trust Him.
God bless.
Thank you Victor for sharing. Blessings.
ReplyDeleteThanx JBR.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Victor,
ReplyDeleteThis is why Randy converted to Catholicism. No matter how he tried to get around this passage on the Eucharist, he could not. So he gave in gracefully :) He said he didn't want to be one of the people who walked away.
Excellent post.
I love how cut and dry you made this. I'm going to use this often.
ReplyDeleteGod Bless you.