20th Sunday of Year B
✠ A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 6:51-58
Jesus said to the crowd:
‘I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever;
and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.’
Then the Jews started arguing with one another: ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ they said.
Jesus replied: ‘I tell you most solemnly, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you. Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.
He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood
lives in me and I live in him.
As I, who am sent by the living Father, myself draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me will draw life from me.
This is the bread come down from heaven;
not like the bread our ancestors ate: they are dead, but anyone who eats this bread will live forever.’
1. For four consecutive Sundays, we have been following the controversy between Jesus and the Jews on Jesus’ teaching on his body and blood being real food and drink that guarantee eternal life. Four four sundays, neither of the two has conceded an inch in their positions. Jesus continues to affirm that his flesh is food that assures eternal life and the Jews continue to reject such teaching. In today’s episode, Jesus declares solemnly that “if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you.”
2. How can eating Jesus’ flesh give life? To answer this question, Jesus evokes his relationship with his Father: “As I, who am sent by the living Father, myself draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me will draw life from me.” Logically, if the life of christ comes from his unity with the Father, it follows that being united with the Son by eating his flesh transfers the same quality of life to the person. This life is an undying life, eternal life. It means that the person will never die. Jesus emphasises this point by affirming: “Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise him up on the last day.”
3. But the Jews were not moved by this above promise. They stock to their position. As a final submission, Jesus reminded them of the desert experience of their ancestors who ate manna but still died. He assured them that the his flesh that he was proposing to offer them is one that gives life without end. In spite of the brilliant logical exposition, the people refused the offer and abandoned Jesus. It is from this point that today’s first reading (Proverbs 9:1-6) comes in. Wisdom has prepared a banquet and has invited people to come and feast, but stupidly people continue to argue. Such people are described by today’s first reading as fools. “‘To the fool she says, ‘Come and eat my bread, drink the wine I have prepared! Leave your folly and you will live.
4. Who are the fools? At the time of Jesus, the fools are those who, in spite of being taught by God, refused to believe the teaching on the Eucharist. Today, in our own context, the fools are those who refuse to believe that the Eucharistic Bread and Wine truly contain the soul, body, blood and divinity of Jesus, given for our salvation. This unbelief is manifested today either by outrightly denying the fact or by disrespecting Jesus in the Eucharist. This disrespect is visible when one receives the Eucharist without adequate preparation and the required reverence, attention and decorum.
5. Today, some people use the reception of the Eucharist to prove to others that they are holy even when they are conscious of having committed a mortal sin. Some unfaithful wives or husbands, to avoid being accused when participating at the Eucharistic celebration with their conjoint, would receive the Eucharist as proof of their holiness. Some young men and ladies do the same to prove their innocence to their colleagues.
6. You know that the Eucharist is certainly a bread of heaven, bread of angel (panis angelicus) but it is God’s gift to weak, sinful mortals like you. You have, therefore, the authorization to receive Jesus in the Eucharist even as a sinner, but you must recognize what you, in your unworthiness, are receiving, by your willingness to resemble what you are receiving. In as much as it is right and even mandatory to stay away from receiving the Eucharist when in state of mortal sin, you should constantly make effort to receive Jesus in every Eucharistic celebration in which you participate by cleansing yourselves of mortal sin through the sacrament of reconciliation before the reception or immediately after the reception if you have had a perfect contrition for your sin without having the opportunity of sacramental reconciliation. If you need life, you must eat the Bread of life. If you receive the Bread of life, you must remain in thanksgiving to God, by constantly participating in the Eucharistic celebration as today’s second reading teaches( Eph5:15’20).
@ Vitalis Anaehobi
