Commentaries

Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) – Year A

John 6: 51-58

Food of Eternal Life

The passage comes near the end of Chapter 6 in the Gospel of John. Earlier in this chapter, we learn that “a large crowd followed [Jesus], because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick” (v. 2). He then multiplied five loaves of bread and two fish to feed over 5,000 people. In fact, the miracle was so great that the people wanted to carry him off and make him king (v. 15). And they were still not satisfied, so the next day, when they found out that he had left the area, they went looking for him. In the interval, Jesus also walked on the stormy sea to come to the disciples who had gone on ahead of him.

Yet, all of these miracles were not enough for the people to have faith in him. They asked for more as they said to him, "What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do?” (v. 30)

Receiving God’s blessings and witnessing the miracles done by Jesus did not appear enough to give the people faith. They could not move beyond their own ideas of Jesus. Even some of his disciples, who we can presume had witnessed both the miracles of the multiplication of bread and fish and Jesus’ walking on the sea, left him because they could not accept his teachings (v. 66).

The passage selected for this feast of Corpus Christi, taken against the background of the remainder of Chapter 6, then teaches us the supreme role of Jesus’ gift of himself in our faith journey. Nothing can replace this gift. No other miracles, and no blessings, even the ones we acknowledge as coming from God, can replace the Eucharist. It is the greatest of all God’s gifts.

We just can’t skip this gift of Jesus Christ himself if we want to receive God’s life. Here, two small details emphasize this aspect. First, Jesus uses the verb trogein in v. 54 when he says, “whoever eats my flesh.” This verb literally means “to chew” or “the physical experience, ‘to munch,’ ‘to crunch.’” Besides, this verb appears only here in 6:54-48 and 13:18, which is another passage with a Eucharistic background (in 13:18, during The Last Supper, Jesus predicts Judas’ betrayal, quoting Scriptures, “The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me.” ) Secondly, the phrase “eternal life” in “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life” is essential to our faith in the Eucharist. In the theology of John’s Gospel, eternal life is not limited to the life after our earthly existence, but it is God’s life, which through Jesus, God shares with us even now.

We can’t have God's life unless we “munch” on the Eucharist, the greatest gift of God. In the Eucharist, God Himself became flesh so that we can share in His divine life.