1 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:14,560 Hi everyone, welcome back to logical Bible study. 2 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:17,760 This is where we take a look at the Gospel reading from today's 3 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:22,080 Catholic Mass, and we give you the tools to do an exegesis on 4 00:00:22,080 --> 00:00:25,440 the text. What might the the literal sense 5 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:27,440 of the text be? What's the author trying to 6 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:29,560 communicate to the original audience? 7 00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:33,120 And that's where we always want to start as Catholics, because 8 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:35,760 that's where the true original meaning is. 9 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:39,600 And today we're looking at a really interesting text which 10 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:43,240 has generated a lot of discussion and informs Catholic 11 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:47,680 teaching a great deal. So we're looking today at John 12 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:56,720 chapter 6, verses 51 to 58. Jesus said to the crowd, I am 13 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:59,200 the living bread which has come down from heaven. 14 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:04,440 Anyone who eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that 15 00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:09,040 I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world. 16 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:14,080 The Jews started arguing with one another, How can this man 17 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:19,680 give us his flesh to eat? Jesus replied, I tell you most 18 00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:24,160 solemnly, If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and 19 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:27,160 drink his blood, you will not have life in you. 20 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:32,960 Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, 21 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:38,920 and I shall raise Him up on the last day, for my flesh is real 22 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:41,240 food, and my blood is real drink. 23 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:47,040 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I live 24 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:52,160 in Him. As I, who am sent by the living 25 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:57,720 Father myself, draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me 26 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:02,600 will draw life from me. This is the bread come down from 27 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:05,600 heaven. Not like the bread our ancestors 28 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:09,840 ate, they are dead. But anyone who eats this bread 29 00:02:10,039 --> 00:02:13,840 will live forever. So this is part of the great 30 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:18,240 bread of life discourse, and there's a whole lot going on in 31 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:21,280 this discourse and it spans about 30 verses, and we're right 32 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:24,520 in the heart of it here. So prior to this, Jesus has been 33 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:27,640 talking to the Jews about the manner in the wilderness because 34 00:02:27,640 --> 00:02:31,360 they placed a high value on that manner in the wilderness and 35 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:34,880 they saw it as bread that God himself had provided from 36 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:38,760 heaven, which is true. But now Jesus uses that to make 37 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:42,840 a new point. Verse 51 I am the living bread 38 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:46,360 which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will 39 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:52,760 live forever. So Jesus here says that unlike 40 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:57,560 the Manor, to eat the Son of God as the one that has come down 41 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:00,560 from heaven will give one eternal life, whereas the Manor 42 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:03,000 couldn't. So Jesus here says I am the 43 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:06,320 living bread, whereas the Manor was not really living bread. 44 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:09,400 What does it mean to eat this bread? 45 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:11,880 This is an interesting question, and of course we're going to see 46 00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:14,520 more of this as the teaching develops today. 47 00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:18,280 In today's passage to eat the bread, while on one level it 48 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:22,760 could refer to Jesus as taking Jesus in in a spiritual 49 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:25,760 nourishment way, feeding on Jesus in a spiritual way. 50 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:29,920 It could be that however, the words that Jesus uses in the 51 00:03:29,920 --> 00:03:33,080 coming verses, he kind of amplifies it a bit and it 52 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:35,960 suggests that it's a much more literal kind of eating that 53 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:40,480 Jesus has in mind. Notice Jesus says here, whoever 54 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:42,520 eats this bread will live forever. 55 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:46,840 Now that's probably deliberately a reference to the tree of life 56 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:49,920 in the Garden of Eden. The only other time we see this 57 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:53,480 phrase about eating in order to get eternal life is in reference 58 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:57,720 to the Garden of Eden. So Jesus opens up the way to 59 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:00,880 immortality, which was lost in the Garden of Eden, and he now 60 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:04,640 tells people that once again there is a way to enter eternal 61 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:08,560 life and it's by feeding on him. Now Jesus gets a bit more 62 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:11,000 specific in the second-half of verse 51. 63 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:14,160 The bread that I shall give is my flesh. 64 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:18,519 So notice this, the bread from heaven isn't Jesus in general. 65 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:20,880 It is his flesh that is the bread from heaven. 66 00:04:21,399 --> 00:04:26,080 So, so far Jesus has said to achieve eternal life one must 67 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:32,680 eat his flesh. And he then says the flesh that 68 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:35,160 I will give for the life of the world. 69 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:38,040 When does Jesus give his flesh for the life of the world? 70 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:41,240 Well, the obvious answer is through his death on the cross. 71 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:45,000 That was a substitutionary sacrifice where Jesus gave his 72 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:49,520 life for the world. However, that flesh that Jesus 73 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:53,040 used to die on the cross, that can't easily be eaten. 74 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:57,560 We can't really eat Jesus flesh on the cross as such. 75 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:02,240 So Jesus probably has in mind here a different event that's 76 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:05,960 closely connected to his death on the cross, but which does 77 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:08,920 enable us to eat his flesh. And that would be the Eucharist. 78 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:13,040 We see this obviously unpacked more at the Last Supper when 79 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:15,280 Jesus says this is my body given for you. 80 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:20,040 And that is, think about it. That's what Jesus says at the 81 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:21,800 Last Supper. This is my body. 82 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:23,360 It's the same kind of language here. 83 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:26,760 Jesus here says I will give my flesh for the life of the world. 84 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:29,120 And at the Last Supper he says this is my body. 85 00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:34,880 In fact, at the Eucharist, the same Greek word is used for this 86 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:38,120 is my body given for you? It's an interesting Greek word, 87 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:42,720 therefore, for. And so perhaps the implication 88 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:47,120 here is that when Jesus says I will give my flesh for the life 89 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:49,720 of the world, there's a deliberate connection here to 90 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:51,680 the Eucharist. He knows that he's going to 91 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:55,000 institute the Eucharist. So perhaps Jesus here intends to 92 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:59,160 teach that the way we partake in his flesh is through the 93 00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:00,640 Eucharist. And that is certainly the 94 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:03,080 Catholic Church's understanding of this passage. 95 00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:09,720 So that prompts the crowd now listed here as the Jews, sort of 96 00:06:09,720 --> 00:06:12,160 the crowd who's interested in believing in Jesus. 97 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:16,440 They start arguing with each other because he has just said 98 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:19,480 you need to eat my flesh. The Greek here. 99 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:21,360 For them, arguing is literally fought. 100 00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:23,760 It's quite an aggressive fight amongst the people. 101 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:26,040 There's a big disagreement. And they're probably 102 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:29,200 interpreting what he said in different ways. 103 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:34,520 So the thing they're arguing with each other about is this 104 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:37,240 phrase, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? 105 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:40,800 And that is a fair question. What do they mean by this? 106 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:42,440 Well, there's two possible meanings here. 107 00:06:42,840 --> 00:06:45,960 They could be saying, how can he physically give us his flesh to 108 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:48,480 eat, as in it's a physical science question. 109 00:06:49,280 --> 00:06:50,840 Or it could mean something like this. 110 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:53,200 Why would he want to give us his flesh to eat? 111 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:57,840 Because to the Jews, some of them would be quite appalled by 112 00:06:57,840 --> 00:07:00,640 this idea that Jesus would want people to eat his flesh. 113 00:07:00,640 --> 00:07:05,480 Because according to the Jewish law set out in the Torah, Jews 114 00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:10,360 are not allowed to eat flesh or blood, or particularly flesh 115 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:12,480 that has blood in it. And that's specified in 116 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:17,560 Leviticus 17 and 19. So to the Jews, eating flesh of 117 00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:21,280 a human would be unthinkable. Jews would not do that. 118 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:24,400 So they're just not sure why Jesus would suggest such a 119 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:27,120 thing. Now they're, if that's what 120 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:29,640 they're thinking of, they're thinking of it in terms that are 121 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:32,720 quite cannibalistic. Now, that's not what Jesus is 122 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:35,880 teaching. Jesus is not saying whatever 123 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:37,520 he's saying. He's certainly not saying you 124 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:40,320 need to physically eat my physical flesh that you see 125 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:43,600 right in front of you. He's not saying that. 126 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:47,160 And as we go on to see, Jesus is talking about a different kind 127 00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:50,960 of eating and in particular he refers to himself as living 128 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:52,880 bread. So it's not a cannibalistic 129 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:55,120 thing where the person is dead and you're eating their dead 130 00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:58,240 flesh. Jesus flesh is constantly 131 00:07:58,240 --> 00:07:59,720 living. He's the living bread. 132 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:04,360 There's some other interesting things about this though that's 133 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:07,960 worth looking at. Jesus doesn't correct them. 134 00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:10,200 He doesn't if they have misunderstood, he doesn't 135 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:12,080 correct them. So when they say how can this 136 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:15,960 man give us his flesh to eat if they had misunderstood, this 137 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:20,520 would be his opportunity to correct them, which he does do 138 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:23,240 in other places. In fact, two chapters earlier in 139 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:28,080 John chapter 4, verse 32 to 34, Jesus is talking about bread and 140 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:31,480 they misunderstand what kind of bread he's talking about and he 141 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:34,520 actually corrects them here. He doesn't correct the crowd. 142 00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:37,440 He seems to think that what they're saying is basically 143 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:40,480 right. Their assumption that Jesus is 144 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:43,559 trying to give his flesh for them to eat is correct and he 145 00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:45,920 doesn't. He doesn't try to correct them 146 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:50,320 there, but he doesn't answer their question either. 147 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:52,640 How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 148 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:55,040 He doesn't really answer that in this discourse. 149 00:08:55,320 --> 00:08:57,840 He only answers that in the Last Supper. 150 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:00,600 And certainly at the Last Supper, a lot of the people that 151 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:03,400 were there would have been here in this scene as well. 152 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:07,360 So in the Last Supper they would have looked back on John chapter 153 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:12,040 6 and realised that the Last Supper is the fulfilment of what 154 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:14,000 He promised about giving them His flesh. 155 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:18,120 Verse 53 He says, I tell you most solemnly, which means he's 156 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:22,200 about to say something quite serious if you do not eat the 157 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:25,000 flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood. 158 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:29,280 Now let's pause here Jesus adds in a new element that hasn't 159 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:31,840 been in there before. So not only do people need to 160 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:35,320 eat His flesh to inherit eternal life, they need to drink His 161 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:38,440 blood. Notice the the physicalness of 162 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:40,880 it. The object of the eating is His 163 00:09:40,880 --> 00:09:45,520 actual flesh and blood. If you do not eat the flesh of 164 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:48,320 the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will not have life in 165 00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:51,200 you. So that means they won't have 166 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:54,440 God's divine life if they don't eat His flesh and drink His 167 00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:57,600 blood. Now Jesus clearly here can't be 168 00:09:57,600 --> 00:10:00,360 teaching cannibalism because he's talking, as we know from 169 00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:01,920 other places in the Gospel of John. 170 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:05,080 He's talking about divine life. He's not talking about physical 171 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:07,880 immortality. He's talking about divine life, 172 00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:11,560 living forever in eternity. That's the kind of eating that 173 00:10:11,560 --> 00:10:14,360 people can derive from his flesh and his blood. 174 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:19,600 So it's not cannibalism. Anyone who does eat my flesh and 175 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:21,520 drinks my blood has eternal life. 176 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:25,280 So on the other hand, if you do eat his flesh and blood, you do 177 00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:29,040 have eternal life. Now, what does it mean to say 178 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:32,240 eating Jesus flesh and blood? And this is the real question. 179 00:10:32,640 --> 00:10:34,520 There's two possible interpretations. 180 00:10:34,880 --> 00:10:37,800 It could mean something spiritual, as in it's meditating 181 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:40,880 on and following Jesus, recognising his identity, 182 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:44,240 believing in him, following him. That's one interpretation. 183 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:47,720 Or it could mean that Jesus is being a bit more literal here 184 00:10:48,080 --> 00:10:52,760 and Jesus is saying you need to literally eat his literal flesh 185 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:54,720 and literal blood, something like that. 186 00:10:56,320 --> 00:10:59,000 Is there a way that we can work out which of the two he means? 187 00:10:59,920 --> 00:11:04,200 There's arguments for both views and we want to look a bit about 188 00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:06,880 the pros and cons of each because this is such a an 189 00:11:06,880 --> 00:11:09,560 important text in understanding Catholic teaching. 190 00:11:09,560 --> 00:11:12,960 In fact, Catholic teaching on the Eucharist is based largely 191 00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:16,160 on John chapter 6 here. And so in this podcast where we 192 00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:19,680 look at the literal sense, the very words of the text, we want 193 00:11:19,680 --> 00:11:23,320 to talk about the fors and against of different ways of 194 00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:26,600 understanding this text. So the first interpretation is 195 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:29,760 that his medi he means meditating on and following him 196 00:11:29,800 --> 00:11:33,200 in a spiritual way. That's what it means to feed on 197 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:36,120 Jesus. The biggest argument for this 198 00:11:36,120 --> 00:11:41,200 interpretation is, well, firstly because any physical 199 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:43,240 interpretation might suggest cannibalism. 200 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:46,000 I think we've dealt with that if we understand Jesus words 201 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:48,040 correctly, he's not implying cannibalism. 202 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:51,640 But the other argument for suggesting that this might be a 203 00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:55,640 spiritual meaning that Jesus is intending is the context of what 204 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:58,680 he's said so far up until this point in the sermon. 205 00:11:58,680 --> 00:12:02,000 His sermon has been about believing in him, believing that 206 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:04,720 he's the Son of man and that will give you eternal life. 207 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:08,760 So there is a strong case there. If he's continuing with the same 208 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:12,600 theme, that would make sense. But there's also some strong 209 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:17,200 arguments to suggest that Jesus here on the literal level, when 210 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:21,200 we look at what Jesus is trying to communicate, he is talking in 211 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:23,720 some sense about literally eating his actual flesh and 212 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:25,520 blood. So let's look at some arguments 213 00:12:25,520 --> 00:12:28,880 for that. So the Greek here suggests that 214 00:12:28,920 --> 00:12:31,960 Jesus is going for something a bit more physical than just a 215 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:36,520 spiritual eating of his flesh. The reason we say that is 216 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:40,840 because the word that's used for eat here is trogos, and that has 217 00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:43,200 actually changed from the word he used earlier. 218 00:12:43,640 --> 00:12:46,720 Earlier in the sermon he used a very general word for eating 219 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:48,760 when he was talking about the manner in the wilderness. 220 00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:52,800 But now at this point, from about verse 53 onwards, he 221 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:55,960 actually switches verbs. So his original hearers are 222 00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:58,760 certainly John's Original readers who read the Greek would 223 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:00,920 have noticed a shift in Jesus meaning here. 224 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:05,280 Trogos, the the verb that's used here for eat, is a very physical 225 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:08,240 word. So the fact that he's changed 226 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:11,480 verbs suggests that Jesus has actually shifted the 227 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:15,800 conversation to a deeper level. Trogos is a very graphic word 228 00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:20,520 and it means to gnaw or chew. So very graphic kind of chewing 229 00:13:20,520 --> 00:13:23,000 language. We know from other writings that 230 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:26,800 in this time period, trogos was used to describe how animals 231 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:28,760 eat. It's what animals look like when 232 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:32,880 they're eating. So that would suggest that Jesus 233 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:36,480 is communicating to his audience that he's referring to a 234 00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:40,840 physical eating of some kind. Another argument that would 235 00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:46,120 suggest that he's talking here about physical eating is because 236 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:48,560 if you follow the conversation up till this point, although 237 00:13:48,560 --> 00:13:51,600 it's true that he's been talking about following him up till this 238 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:55,680 point, it seems that by this time most of the crowd that are 239 00:13:55,680 --> 00:13:57,680 still there already believe in Jesus. 240 00:13:57,680 --> 00:14:02,040 They believe that he is the Son of God, but it's this additional 241 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:04,960 teaching that he's presenting about eating his flesh and blood 242 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:09,000 that they're struggling with. So they, it seems that a lot of 243 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:11,640 the crowd doesn't have a huge problem with believing his 244 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:13,880 identity. Now that might not be correct, 245 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:16,400 but that's one thing to consider here. 246 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:19,960 Another interesting point, and I think that this is quite 247 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:23,360 convincing actually, is that if we want to say that when Jesus 248 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:26,280 says you need to eat my flesh and drink my blood, that that 249 00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:29,840 has a metaphorical meaning. The problem with that is we know 250 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:33,200 that at that time period, the phrase to eat flesh and drink 251 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:36,160 blood already had a metaphorical meaning to the Jews. 252 00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:39,760 In fact, if you look at the Old Testament, the phrase to eat 253 00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:43,680 flesh and drink blood is used in a metaphorical way, but it 254 00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:47,160 describes going to war. It describes the physicalness of 255 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:50,480 going to war as in killing people, leaving blood in the 256 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:52,440 streets. We see that in Deuteronomy 257 00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:58,360 chapter 32, verse 42 and Ezekiel chapter 39 verses 17 to 18. 258 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:02,400 So that is the Jewish metaphorical meaning at the time 259 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:04,680 of Jesus of eating flesh and drinking blood. 260 00:15:05,400 --> 00:15:07,800 But that meaning doesn't make sense in this context. 261 00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:11,400 So I think that is a pretty strong indicator that we should 262 00:15:11,400 --> 00:15:13,920 rule out that the original readers would have understood 263 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:17,760 this metaphorically. And then the last argument to 264 00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:21,280 make about this is the way that this is later understood in the 265 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:23,760 Bible itself. So later in the Old, in the New 266 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:28,320 Testament, Paul explicitly says that communion meal is a 267 00:15:28,320 --> 00:15:31,320 participation in the body and blood of Christ. 268 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:34,160 So that's in one Corinthians 10, verse 16. 269 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:38,320 And then in one Corinthians 11, the next chapter, he gets even 270 00:15:38,320 --> 00:15:40,760 more explicit and emphatic about communion. 271 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:43,560 He says that if you don't eat communion properly, you're 272 00:15:43,560 --> 00:15:45,600 guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 273 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:48,760 That's one Corinthians 11, verse 23 to 29. 274 00:15:49,440 --> 00:15:54,200 So certainly Paul understood at least the Last Supper, when we 275 00:15:54,200 --> 00:16:00,480 do communion at the Last Supper, that that is in fact about Jesus 276 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:02,880 flesh and blood. And so there is a reasonable 277 00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:06,160 connection between Paul's teaching and Jesus own words 278 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:08,360 here. If Jesus mentions flesh and 279 00:16:08,360 --> 00:16:13,360 blood in John chapter 6, and then Paul mentions flesh and 280 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:16,520 blood in one Corinthians 11, it probably means they're both 281 00:16:16,520 --> 00:16:19,320 thinking of the Last Supper. I think that's a strong argument 282 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:21,800 to make here. So if we add in all those 283 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:24,960 different factors, it does seem that on the literal level, Jesus 284 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:29,680 is talking about some sort of physical, literal feeding on his 285 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:32,240 flesh and blood, though not in a cannibalistic way. 286 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:36,240 And that latter interpretation, that it's a physical eating, is 287 00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:39,720 the Catholic teaching. The Catholic teaching, as most 288 00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:42,800 of you would know, is that Jesus really is talking about the 289 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:45,240 Eucharist here. That's the Catholic teaching. 290 00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:50,120 Jesus offers his flesh and blood on the cross, but then his body 291 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:53,760 is resurrected to glory and it's his glorified flesh after he's 292 00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:57,160 resurrected and gone to heaven. That's the flesh that's given to 293 00:16:57,160 --> 00:16:59,520 us in the Eucharist. So in the Eucharist we're not 294 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:01,680 eating Jesus bloody flesh on the cross. 295 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:05,079 We're actually consuming in a sense when it's probably 296 00:17:05,079 --> 00:17:08,800 understood we're consuming his body that has been resurrected 297 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:11,480 and glorified. So it's the real substantial 298 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:15,000 presence of Christ. And the Catholic phrase for the 299 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:17,920 Eucharist that's often used to describe it is it's the source 300 00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:19,599 and summit of the Christian life. 301 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:23,359 So Jesus finishes by saying that if you eat my flesh and drink my 302 00:17:23,359 --> 00:17:26,319 blood, I shall raise him up on the last day. 303 00:17:26,599 --> 00:17:29,480 And that's been discussed in previous days when Jesus used 304 00:17:29,480 --> 00:17:35,480 that same phrase, verse 55 for my flesh is real food and my 305 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:39,720 blood is real drink. So Jesus is probably contrasting 306 00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:43,160 this food with the manner. The manner in the wilderness 307 00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:46,920 wasn't perfect and in a sense it's not real food and drink. 308 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:49,720 Whereas Jesus flesh and blood is real food and drink. 309 00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:51,600 It's the true source of eternal life. 310 00:17:52,400 --> 00:17:55,080 On the other hand, it could be that Jesus here by using the 311 00:17:55,080 --> 00:17:58,680 word real, he's emphasizing that his body and blood really are 312 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:02,760 food and drink. Verse 56, He who eats my flesh 313 00:18:02,760 --> 00:18:05,760 and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in Him. 314 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:10,600 So this is quite a deep theological teaching. 315 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:13,360 Jesus is saying that for those who choose to eat his flesh and 316 00:18:13,360 --> 00:18:17,640 drink his blood, whatever that means it mean it brings about a 317 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:20,480 real divine communion between themselves and Jesus. 318 00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:23,640 Not a fake communion, not just a spiritual nice idea. 319 00:18:24,400 --> 00:18:27,280 Someone who chooses to eat his flesh and blood actually brings 320 00:18:27,280 --> 00:18:30,480 about a real communion between themselves and Jesus. 321 00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:35,160 The word therefore remain, remains in me and I in Him, is 322 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:37,920 meno. In Greek and in John's Gospel, 323 00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:41,360 that word meno designates this mutual indwelling of the Father 324 00:18:41,360 --> 00:18:45,080 and the Son, this eternal relationship between the Father 325 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:47,680 and the Son which people are invited to be a part of. 326 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:50,760 We see similar language when Jesus talks about the vine. 327 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:54,000 I'm the vine, your other branches remain in me. 328 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:55,720 So that's a very similar language. 329 00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:59,080 And what we see here in John chapter 6 is a similar thing, 330 00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:00,520 but it actually takes it further. 331 00:19:00,760 --> 00:19:04,080 It's Jesus saying that to remain in me, you must consume the 332 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:06,040 Eucharist. That's how we put all this 333 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:08,720 theology together. Verse 57. 334 00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:13,000 As I, who am sent by the living Father myself, draw life from 335 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:16,680 the Father, so Jesus as the Son, the second person of the 336 00:19:16,680 --> 00:19:19,800 Trinity, derives all of his energy and his teachings. 337 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:22,240 And in fact, his very life comes from the Father. 338 00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:27,360 So whoever eats my, whoever eats me, will draw life from me. 339 00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:29,720 Now that's a pretty radical claim. 340 00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:32,880 Jesus says that through participating in his flesh and 341 00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:36,400 blood in the Eucharist, people will actually draw divine life 342 00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:40,280 from Jesus in the same way that he draws it from the Father. 343 00:19:40,600 --> 00:19:43,520 So it's like passing on that divine life down to us. 344 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:49,200 That's brought out later in John chapter 17, verse 26, when he 345 00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:53,040 said Jesus says the love with which you loved me may be in 346 00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:56,120 them and I in them. So that's what Jesus wants. 347 00:19:56,120 --> 00:19:58,720 He wants us to be a part of this communion that he already has 348 00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:03,800 with the Father. We can say that This is why the 349 00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:06,200 Father instituted the Eucharist in the 1st place. 350 00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:10,080 It wasn't just a nice idea. God the Father actually wants 351 00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:13,080 all believers to have real physical access to this divine 352 00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:15,440 life. That's their inheritance. 353 00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:18,480 That's our inheritance as Christians, as his sons and 354 00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:21,920 daughters, to have this access to the to the divine life. 355 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:24,160 And he's instituted the Eucharist so that we can have 356 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:28,000 regular access to that, to the very flesh and blood of Jesus. 357 00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:31,560 Verse 58, This is the bread come down from heaven. 358 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:34,960 Not like the bred our ancestors ate, they are dead. 359 00:20:35,120 --> 00:20:37,600 But anyone who eats this bread will live forever. 360 00:20:38,720 --> 00:20:41,560 So Jesus is summarising his entire discourse. 361 00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:45,040 He's finishing up now and he sums it up by returning to the 362 00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:48,080 opening scriptural text. You remember this whole 363 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:50,840 conversation started by talking about the manner in the 364 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:52,840 wilderness. And so Jesus returns to that 365 00:20:52,840 --> 00:20:57,320 here. Jesus main point is that unlike 366 00:20:57,320 --> 00:21:00,840 the manner in the wilderness, as good as it was, it could not 367 00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:03,760 give people everlasting life, even though it was bred from 368 00:21:03,760 --> 00:21:06,800 heaven. Whereas Jesus flesh is the true 369 00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:09,640 bread from heaven and it can bring eternal life. 370 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:14,400 Notice that phrase here. Anyone who eats this bread will 371 00:21:14,400 --> 00:21:17,520 live forever. That will live forever phrase 372 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:19,680 sounds like a kind of a fairy tale phrase. 373 00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:22,040 It's not used very often in the Bible. 374 00:21:22,040 --> 00:21:26,080 It only occurs three times, twice in this discourse in John 375 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:31,120 chapter 6, and one other place is in Genesis chapter 3 verse 22 376 00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:33,160 in connection with the tree of life. 377 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:35,840 Anyone who eats from the tree of life will live forever. 378 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:38,960 The fact that that's the only place where these are mentioned 379 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:42,200 implies a strong connection to the tree of life. 380 00:21:42,560 --> 00:21:45,640 So the tree of life originally bore fruit to the broad about 381 00:21:45,640 --> 00:21:49,040 physical immortality. And the bread of life, according 382 00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:53,160 to Catholic tradition, is called the medicine of immortality. 383 00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:56,080 That's what the Eucharist is. It brings about divine, 384 00:21:56,080 --> 00:22:01,280 supernatural, eternal life. So I want to include this quote 385 00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:04,440 now from the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture for the 386 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:07,400 Gospel of John, which I think sums up this teaching on the 387 00:22:07,400 --> 00:22:11,720 Eucharist really well. It says the Holy Eucharist is 388 00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:13,960 the source and summit of the Christian life. 389 00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:18,160 It is the real substantial presence of Christ among us, the 390 00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:21,080 Body and Blood, together with the soul and divinity of our 391 00:22:21,080 --> 00:22:25,520 Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore the whole Christ is truly, 392 00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:27,800 really and substantially contained. 393 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:32,560 According to the Council of Trent, at every Mass, Jesus gift 394 00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:36,320 of Himself to the Father on the Cross is made present again 395 00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:40,320 sacramentally in the Eucharist and offered to us as our food 396 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:43,360 for eternal life. Not only does the Eucharist 397 00:22:43,360 --> 00:22:47,320 unite believers to Christ, it also unites us to one another. 398 00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:53,560 As Henri du Lebak writes, the Eucharist makes the Church. 399 00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:57,520 If the Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church, the Eucharist is 400 00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:00,440 its beating heart, pumping Christ's blood through the 401 00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:04,560 members of His Body, the Church. If we are to grow in holiness 402 00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:07,760 and love, we must make the Eucharist the centre of our 403 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:12,880 lives, because in doing so we make Christ the centre of our 404 00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:15,920 lives. If we receive Christ worthily in 405 00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:20,240 the Eucharist and worship Him in Eucharistic Adoration, He will 406 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:23,680 fill us with His grace and enlarge our hearts to love and 407 00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:27,080 serve more perfectly. Eucharistic worship and 408 00:23:27,080 --> 00:23:30,200 adoration does not detract from works of love. 409 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:33,840 On the contrary, it is what enables us to do them. 410 00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:38,240 In the 1st place, consider these words of Blessed Mother Teresa 411 00:23:38,240 --> 00:23:40,800 of Calcutta. If we truly understand the 412 00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:43,960 Eucharist, if we make the Eucharist the central focus of 413 00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:48,520 our lives, if we feed our lives with the Eucharist, we will not 414 00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:53,280 find it difficult to discover Christ, to love him and to serve 415 00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:57,960 him in the poor. So that's an extended quote and 416 00:23:57,960 --> 00:24:01,040 it brings together Church teachings and various quotes 417 00:24:01,040 --> 00:24:03,720 there, but I think it summarises the Catholic teaching on the 418 00:24:03,720 --> 00:24:08,360 Eucharist very well. So obviously, because this is 419 00:24:08,360 --> 00:24:13,080 such a central text in helping us understand the Catholic 420 00:24:13,080 --> 00:24:16,320 teaching on the Eucharist, as you would expect, there's a lot 421 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:18,320 of catechism references which talk about it. 422 00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:21,600 So I just want to talk about a few of the ones you may not have 423 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:25,120 heard before or possible connections to this verse that 424 00:24:25,120 --> 00:24:27,480 maybe aren't as obvious or that we haven't talked about in the 425 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:30,160 previous days. So let's start with paragraph 426 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:35,200 2837, and this is a commentary on the line from the Our Father, 427 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:39,880 which says give us this day. Our Daily Bread, daily epiusios 428 00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:42,960 occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. 429 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:47,640 Taken in a temporal sense, this word is a pedagogical repetition 430 00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:52,640 of this day to confirm us in trust without reservation. 431 00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:57,040 Taken in the qualitative sense, it signifies what is necessary 432 00:24:57,040 --> 00:25:00,720 for life, and more broadly every good thing sufficient for 433 00:25:00,720 --> 00:25:05,400 substance. Taken literally, epiusios is 434 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:08,200 super essential. It refers directly to the bread 435 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:12,480 of life, the body of Christ, the medicine of immortality, without 436 00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:16,920 which we have no life within us. So that's a really interesting 437 00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:19,720 one that in, if you look at whether our Father is given by 438 00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:23,280 Jesus, the word that's used for that's translated daily is 439 00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:26,800 epiusios in Greek. And there's some discussion 440 00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:29,320 about what that word means. And one of the legitimate 441 00:25:29,320 --> 00:25:31,760 connections that's been made because it basically means it's 442 00:25:31,760 --> 00:25:34,800 super abundant bread. It could be a reference to the 443 00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:37,160 Eucharist. And so that paragraph links it 444 00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:41,640 here to John chapter 6, where it says without if you do not eat 445 00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:44,440 the flesh of the Son of man, you do not have any life in you. 446 00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:48,040 So that's an interesting one. Paragraph 1406. 447 00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:50,320 This is a summary of the teaching on the Eucharist. 448 00:25:51,280 --> 00:25:54,280 Jesus said I am the living bread that came down from heaven. 449 00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:57,480 If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. 450 00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:01,960 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and 451 00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:06,240 abides in me, and I in him. And that's the entire paragraph. 452 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:09,200 It's just a quote from John chapter 6. 453 00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:12,960 And the Church sees that as a great way of summarizing the 454 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:14,400 Catholic teaching on the Eucharist. 455 00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:18,800 Paragraph 1524 is about Vyadicum, which is a special 456 00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:21,880 kind of Eucharist that's given to people just before they die. 457 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:25,280 So that paragraph says in addition to the anointing of the 458 00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:29,000 sick, the Church offers those who are about to leave this life 459 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:32,800 the Eucharist as Vyadicum. Communion in the body and blood 460 00:26:32,800 --> 00:26:35,920 of Christ received at this moment of passing over to the 461 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:39,240 Father, has a particular significance and importance. 462 00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:43,080 It is the seed of eternal life and the power of resurrection. 463 00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:45,320 According to the words of the Lord. 464 00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:50,000 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I 465 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:52,280 will raise him up at the last day. 466 00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:56,240 The sacrament of Christ, once dead and now risen, the 467 00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:59,560 Eucharist is here, the sacrament of passing over from death to 468 00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:02,200 life, from this world to the Father. 469 00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:06,440 So the Church says the most appropriate thing you can do 470 00:27:06,960 --> 00:27:10,640 just before someone passes away is to give them the Eucharist so 471 00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:14,400 that they have eternal life as Jesus says here and can be 472 00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:19,800 raised up at the last day. Paragraph 787 talks about that 473 00:27:19,800 --> 00:27:23,040 phrase in John chapter 6 about he lives in me and I in Him. 474 00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:27,160 Jesus spoke of a still more intimate communion between him 475 00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:31,000 and those who would follow him. Abide in me, and I in you. 476 00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:33,440 I am the vine, You are the branches. 477 00:27:34,120 --> 00:27:37,040 And he proclaimed a mysterious and real communion between his 478 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:41,360 own body and ours. He who eats my flesh and drinks 479 00:27:41,360 --> 00:27:43,960 my blood abides in me, and I in him. 480 00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:49,040 And then in paragraph 1391, we'll finish with this one. 481 00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:53,280 This talks about what taking Communion actually does for us 482 00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:56,720 in our life. Holy Communion augments our 483 00:27:56,720 --> 00:28:00,120 union with Christ. The principle fruit of receiving 484 00:28:00,120 --> 00:28:04,080 the Eucharist in Holy Communion is an intimate union with Christ 485 00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:07,600 Jesus. Indeed, the Lord said he who 486 00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:11,600 eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. 487 00:28:12,360 --> 00:28:15,120 Life in Christ has its foundation in the Eucharistic 488 00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:19,480 banquet as the living Father sent me, and I live because of 489 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:23,600 the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. 490 00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:28,120 So a whole lot of really interesting stuff there. 491 00:28:28,120 --> 00:28:30,240 And there's some more paragraph references. 492 00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:32,320 I'll include all of those in the show notes. 493 00:28:33,240 --> 00:28:35,000 Thanks for listening. I hope you learned something new 494 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:38,160 about this really pivotal passage in John Chapter 6. 495 00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:41,880 Please continue to share this podcast around, keep this 496 00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:45,520 ministry in your prayers. And if you believe it's a 497 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:48,120 ministry worth supporting, please consider becoming a 498 00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:51,760 financial supporter. And there's details for that in 499 00:28:51,760 --> 00:28:53,960 the show notes. And there's heaps of information 500 00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:57,280 there about all the awesome benefits you can get if you do 501 00:28:57,280 --> 00:28:58,960 decide to become a monthly giver. 502 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:03,040 Thanks for tuning in to our exploration of the key part of 503 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:06,240 the Bread of Life discourse. Tomorrow we'll look at something 504 00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:08,040 a little different. But if you're interested in 505 00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:11,080 going through the entire Bread of Life discourse systematically 506 00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:15,280 all through John chapter 6, verse by verse, the best time to 507 00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:19,680 do that is in week 3 and week four of Easter Tide. 508 00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:22,520 So the third and 4th week after Easter. 509 00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:24,120 And we've done that in our podcast. 510 00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:27,240 So if you'd like to go through that systematically, go back and 511 00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:30,840 have a look through the podcast archives for Easter Tide week 512 00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:32,840 three and four, and you should find it there. 513 00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:35,480 Thanks. And we'll see you tomorrow.