And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but that man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna which your fathers did not know,
Today's Song of Praise is taken from the Psalm 147 (Ps 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20):
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion.
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;
he has blessed your children within you.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
He has granted peace in your borders;
with the best of wheat he fills you.
He sends forth his command to the earth;
swiftly runs his word!
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
He has proclaimed his word to Jacob,
his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
He has not done thus for any other nation;
his ordinances he has not made known to them. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
Today's Epistle is from the 1st Letter of Paul to the Corinthians, beginning at the 10th Chapter, and the 16th Verse (1 Cor 10:16-17):
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
+ A Reading from the Gospel of John, beginning at the 6thChapter, and the 51st Verse (John 6:51-58):
I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh." The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" So Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say unto you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever."
All three of today's readings
point to the theme of the Body and Blood of Christ -- and the first is
the source for Jesus' quotes in the Gospel. Unlike some stories,
which would have Him an illiterate carpenter, Jesus shows a thorough knowledge
of the Jewish Scripture, and a mastery of language -- He was VERY well
educated.
There is evidence that He
knew Greek and even some Latin -- His favorite phrase to indicate an important
subject: "Amen, Amen, I say unto you" (Amin, amin, lego
umin) works too well in Greek to be something a later editor added.
Then there is his pun on Peter's name -- in at least 4 languages (Hebrew,
Aramaic, Greek, and Latin). Also, in talking to Pilate, He probably
used Koine Greek -- the common trade and administrative language of the
Eastern Mediterranean -- the likelihood of Pilate knowing more than 5 words
of Aramaic is very low.
The point of this little digression is that, even as merely a human being, Jesus was direct, sophisticated, and a master of language. He said what he meant, and meant what He said.
In the Last Supper narrative, Jesus says: "This is my body." ; and a little later: "This is my blood." The Greek word He uses in both places -- estin -- is 3rd person singular active and indicative ( a fancy way of saying that it means exactly what we mean when we say "This is a chair" or "This is a glass of water"). No funniness, no shading, no symbology, no fooling around. Very direct -- He knew what he wanted to say, and said it the way he meant it. "Is", not "symbolizes"
St. Paul reflects this understanding
of the Eucharist in his letter to the Corinthians: "...participation
in the blood [and a little later: body] of Christ..." Literal
blood; literal body -- how else would we really participate?
In imagination? In some airy-fairy undescribed symbolic way?
Not likely -- the attacks
of the pagans (accusations of cannibalism) which the early Apologists reply
to show that the early Church -- in the 2nd Century, a hundred or so years
after the Resurrection -- certainly believed in the literal presence, else
why would the pagans (like modern-day Protestant fundamentalists) attack
us on that score? There was never any serious question of this understanding
until the era of widespread Traditions of Men dawned in the 16th Century.
Today's First Reading, from
Deuteronomy, is a foreshadowing of the Eucharist: "...man does
not live by bread alone, but that man lives by everything that proceeds
out of the mouth of the LORD..." The Word of the Lord. And
just who is the "Word made Flesh"? Yup -- Jesus.
And it is by the Word --
first Jesus, who "In the beginning was the Word" as St. John's Gospel begins
-- second the Word of the Lord in Scripture -- and third, in Jesus' Word: "This
is my body." -- that we live, and move, and have our being. In Genesis,
the Lord says "Let there be light." -- and there is light; the same for
all the Universe -- it comes into existence at the Word of the Lord, and
the Son is there: "...Through Him all things were made.", as the
Creed says.
And He says: "This
is my body." -- and in today's Gospel, He says: "Amen, amen,
I say unto you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his
blood, you have no life in you;". He is repeating the Word from the
Last Supper (or foreshadowing it, in this case -- telling his Apostles
and Disciples what it will mean when he declares the bread to be His Body,
and the wine His Blood)
And as the LORD led Israel "...through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought [them] water out of the flinty rock, who fed [them] in the wilderness with manna which [their] fathers did not know...", so Jesus leads us through the terrible wilderness that the 21st Century has become, full of violence and terror and filth, and feeds us with the "Bread of eternal Life, and the Cup of Salvation". What a marvelous Gift Jesus has given us -- His own Body and Blood -- let us keep on ceaselessly praising Him . . .
In the Name of the Father + And of the Son + And of the Holy Spirit + Amen.