Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today's Mass Readings
Today we examine the history of the controversy of the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. The controversy as old as the gospels themselves. The crowds quarrelled, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (Jn 6:52) Jesus’ answer to that question stresses two things: First, “The bread that I will give is my flesh,” (Jn 6:51) and second, “My (his) flesh is real food and my (his) blood is real drink” (Jn 6: 55). And the controversy continues today. In a survey done, only 30% of the Catholics believed that the bread and wine they received at Eucharist was indeed the body and blood of Jesus. I bet you the 70% who do not believe do not read the scriptures and have certainly not read the John’s bread of life discourse. Let me providethe context in which John is emphasising the reality of the flesh of the Son of God. The gospel of John is written over a span of 50 years. While the other three gospels and the New Testament letters were completed by 75 AD at the latest, John was not completed till 95 AD. When John’s gospel was being composed, groups such as the Docetics and the Gnostics were inclined to emphasise the spirit in opposition to the flesh. As a result there were believers who were beginning to question the incarnation of Christ.
Now we know why John begins his gospel with “… In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (Jn 1: 1-14). Similarly, some people were beginning to doubt the reality of the body and blood of Jesus in the Eucharist, which, by now had a well-established ritual in the early Christian communities. Once again John makes the effort to counter the Docetic and Gnostic heresies by emphasising the reality of the bread and wine being the flesh and blood of the Son of Man. Thus Jesus is today’s gospel reading says, “For My flesh in true food and my blood is true drink.” (Jn 6:55)
The most serious implication of the words of Jesus in the bread of life discourse is this, “Unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” From a Christian perspective there is life and then there is life. Both of these are a gift from God. We have one life to live on the earth… just one… and each of us knows how precious and dear that life is.
However, God offers us the opportunity to take that life beyond this earthly life. In many ways our journey toward that life begins in baptism in name of the God of life. But as Jesus says in today’s gospel reading “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. Let us then, chose life.
- Fr. Satish Joseph