Eat My Flesh and Live My Word

Jijo Kandamkulathy, CMF

Claretian Publications, Macau

Jn 6:41-51

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year B

Gospel Reflection

We are continuing our meditation on Jesus, the bread of life that we began two weeks ago. In the last two weeks, we discussed solving the food crisis and hunger in the background of the miracle of the loaves. Today, we move our meditation to the mystery of the Eucharist expressed in this text.

Jesus offers himself as a wholesome meal in an act of unexplainable love. Nothing communicates love like a meal. The manner of serving food is indicative of the intensity of our love. When we are in a social relationship with the co-workers of our company, or sports club, on a special occasion we might give them a treat in a restaurant. If we love a little more than ordinary, we make some food at home and invite them. If I love someone still more, I make some delicious food from the vegetables I sprouted in the kitchen or the priciest meat I handpicked from the supermarket. If I loved intimately, I give myself. That love I share only with the one who stays with me forever. The mother gives herself to her infant. She gives by instinct, the brew of her body as milk. The infant gains all its energy for growth from the mother. It is eating out of its mother! The husband gives himself to his wife and vice versa. Their spirit and energy are spent nourishing each other.

You become what you eat! The infant becomes like the mother! The husband and wife become one! When we eat his flesh and drink his blood, we become Christ. When Jesus offered himself as food, he was communicating his ultimate expression of love. The body is given as the symbol of love. My body should be given to another only as an expression of ultimate love.

“Take and eat; this is my body.” Jesus gives them a shocking symbol. What does he mean by asking us to eat his flesh? His listeners questioned; how can he offer his flesh for us to eat? Can we stand to such cannibalism? They felt repulsive! Wait! Perhaps there is more to his words than meets the eye! When he was starving, his temptation was to make bread out of stones. He responded, “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). Word of God is a replacement for food? Well! It does not fill the stomach but satisfies the spirit. So, Jesus is speaking about eating the Word of God? Yes,” there is the point. John begins the gospel by establishing that Jesus is the Word-become-flesh and dwelling among us! (Jn. 1:14). So, the invitation is to eat the Word of God. Eating the Word of God implies living by the Word of God, living the values that Jesus stands for, the values of the gospel. Eating the little wafer of host at the time of the mass transforms no one unless one is willing to be transformed by God’s message. Once that lifestyle transformation occurs, consuming that wafer of host at the mass truly becomes symbolic of becoming one with Christ. Then, “it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).

When the food that symbolizes divine love is consumed, divine love becomes part of our physical metabolism. It does not happen by magic but by our choices. Our love for the one who offers the body is expressed by living his values in our lives.