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For My Flesh is True Food




For My Flesh is True Food
Jn 6: 51 – 58
20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

In today’s reading, Jesus continues to reveal himself as the living bread come down from heaven. But he goes further in saying that the bread he gives is his flesh. This causes some commotion among the crowd as they did not understand what he meant.

Our reading starts with a stark revelation from Jesus as he declared to the crowd: “ I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world. “
Understandably so, the crowd who heard him speak this way quarreled among themselves saying: “ How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”  Jesus then goes further, saying : “ Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of  the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day."
            The crowd must have been really stunned at hearing what Jesus said. This whole discussion about Jesus being the bread come down from heaven was already hard to understand as it was clear to them that Jesus was just a man who came from the vicinity and not from heaven.
Now, he tells the crowd something more incredible – that they have to eat this bread because this bread was his very flesh. He then further adds that his blood was real drink; and that whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood has eternal life. 
It would not have been surprising to see the crowd quarreling among themselves because of such talk. Their minds simply could not understand what he was talking about. To believe in Jesus was one thing. To be asked by Jesus to eat his flesh and drink his blood was simply too much.

This discourse about Jesus giving his flesh and blood so we may eat and drink his body and blood has always been a difficult matter to understand. To eat his flesh and drink his blood is simply not possible to understand in its plain and simple sense. Like the Jews, we too could be asking ourselves the same question: “ How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 
But what we fail to see perhaps is the fact that Jesus’ body and blood, given up as our food, brings us back to the reality of his sacrifice on the cross. There on the cross, he gave up his body and blood as a sacrifice for our sake.
So when Jesus offered himself up on the cross, he gave up his body and blood in the real and true sense of the word. As we hear from our reading, Jesus never hesitated to offer to us his flesh and blood. He wanted us to take his body and blood because that is exactly what he did on the cross. He offered himself up as a free and loving offering.  And because of that free and loving offering of himself, we can claim forgiveness for our sins and the hope of eternal life.
Every time we partake in the breaking of the bread, in the Eucharist, we remember the Lord who gave up his body and blood for our sake on the cross. There on the cross, Jesus could really say: “ This is my body, this is my blood that is given up for you. “
This reading perhaps, instead of making us confused, should leave us with a sense of gratitude because we know that we are loved. So loved in fact, that Jesus was willing to give himself up totally for us without any fear, without any hesitation. In doing so, Jesus showed us the loving face of God who is self-giving and self-sacrificing. 
The certainty of Jesus giving himself up for us should give us the firm belief that no amount of sin could really make Jesus give up on us; no amount of weaknesses or mistakes which we may have done in the past, could ever stop Jesus from giving himself up for our sake, even if that would mean giving up his body and blood to us as food and drink so that we may have eternal life. Amen. 


"Taste and see the goodness of the Lord. " - Psalm 34: 8



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