Prov 9:1-6; Ps 34; Eph 5:15-20; Jn 6:51-58
COMMENTARY
“My flesh for the life of the world”
Continuing our reflection on the Sermon on the Bread of Life from the past two Sundays, we now arrive at the culmination of Jesus’ teaching in this regard. Declaring Himself to be the Bread coming down from heaven as food for the world, Jesus now reveals the full meaning of this declaration in the mystery of the Eucharist, his flesh and blood to be eaten and drunk for eternal life. This “sacramental” Eucharistic perspective of Jesus’ teaching will be the subject of our further in-depth analysis. In our reflection, it is essential to keep in mind what we have previously learned, particularly the aspect of Jesus’ teaching as the Bread offered to humanity. Today’s liturgy also emphasizes this point, with the first reading serving as the Old Testament background and a starting point for a deeper understanding of the Gospel.
1. From the Offering of God’s Wisdom to That of Jesus
The discourse of the Wisdom of God in the first reading provides authoritative guidance for fully understanding Jesus’ words about the Bread of Life. We mentioned this in our previous meditations, referencing the same passage from Proverbs, where the personified Wisdom invites all to partake of Her bread and wine as a metaphor for embracing Her teachings, essential for true living: “Come, eat of my food [literally, bread], and drink of the wine I have mixed! Forsake foolishness that you may live; advance in the way of understanding.” (Prov 9:5). Wisdom, therefore, offers Her teachings as life-giving nourishment to everyone, especially to those who are “inexperienced” and “without sense,” meaning the most in need. From this perspective, the Old Testament underlines Wisdom’s role and action to nourish the faithful with the bread of intelligence and quenches their thirst with the water of wisdom (cf. Sir 15:3). The Scripture also highlights the necessity for everyone to continuously partake in Wisdom, in order to be sustained throughout life (cf. Sir 24:20). To truly live, one must constantly consume Wisdom, that means, enter into and maintain an ongoing communion with Her by embracing Her life-saving teachings.
The wisdom texts referenced serve as the foundation for Jesus’ declarations and teachings as the Bread of Life in the Gospel of John, as we noted at the outset of our journey of four meditations on this profound evangelical passage. In Jesus’ language, one can easily discern the voice of personified Wisdom. Just as divine Wisdom in the Old Testament invited people to partake in its nourishment, so too does eating the bread that Jesus offers imply a deep adherence to His teachings and His person, entering into intimate communion with Him. Jesus reveals Himself as the fulfillment of God’s Wisdom. As the biblical scholar R. Brown explains, “In chapter 6 [of John’s Gospel], within the context of Galilee, Jesus seeks to show that the banquet offered to the five thousand just before Easter was messianic in a way they had not recognized: it was a sign that Wisdom had come to offer food to all who seek it” (Brown, Giovanni, 354). Jesus now personally offers His banquet, with His bread being revealed, in this culminating part of the Discourse, as a more concrete, tangible, and accessible gift. Alongside His saving and life-giving teachings, He offers His own “flesh for the life of the world.”
2. The Gift of the Flesh and Blood of Jesus for All
As we delve deeper into Jesus’ words in the Discourse, particularly in today’s passage, we begin to see the unique nature of the Bread Jesus offers, especially when compared to the personified Wisdom of the Old Testament. This dynamic is evident in Jesus’ statement in verse 51 (“I am the living bread…”). On one hand, it encapsulates the key points discussed so far in the Sermon regarding the nature of the Bread: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever” (v. 51a). Here, we see the three defining characteristics of the Bread that is Jesus: it is “living,” it “comes down from heaven,” and it “gives eternal life” to those who partake of it. On the other hand, there is a noticeable shift from the concept of believing to that of eating, which occurs three times in verses 49-51 (although believing and eating remain closely linked notions in the passage). The language gradually becomes more concrete and “sacramental,” reaching its climax in the almost surprising declaration in verse 51b, which opens up a new dimension of the theme: “And the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
Jesus is no longer speaking about the bread that is Himself, but about the bread that He will give. Moreover, the absolute novelty here is the use of the term “flesh,” qualified by the phrase “for the life of the world.” The specific preposition “for” directly connects this statement to Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice on the cross for humanity and to the formula of Eucharistic consecration over the bread, which is His “body offered for us.” The bread of life thus becomes the flesh of life. Here, the word sarx “flesh” corresponds to the Hebrew basar which also indicates “body” or generally physical existence, that is, that which belongs to the earthly-human, transitory sphere, clearly distinct from the divine-spiritual world (cf. Jn 3:6; 6:63; also 8:15). The term “body” therefore goes together with “blood” in which, according to the biblical-Jewish tradition, lies the life of every living being (cf. Lev 17:10-14). (This leads to the prohibition on eating meat with blood [cf. Gen 9:4: “Only meat with its lifeblood still in it you shall not eat.”], and therefore the perplexity of Jesus’ listeners, since He does not speak of drinking wine in reference to his blood, but directly of drinking his blood!)
The language now adopts a more sacramental and sacrificial tone. However, the phrase “my flesh for the life of the world” could also echo the well-known line from the Prologue: “And the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us” (Jn 1:14). This connection underscores the reality and significance of the Incarnation of Christ, the Word of God, who was given as a gift. The bread that Jesus offers for the life of the world is the sacrifice of His entire corporeal existence, beginning with His becoming “flesh” in the womb of Mary, His mother. Eating this bread can be understood, first and foremost, as an act of faith in Jesus – a complete acceptance of His earthly and heavenly life, along with all His human and divine words. This act, then, is intrinsically linked to drinking His blood, which signifies mystically partaking of His entire being – body and soul – offered as a gift for humanity in the bloody sacrifice of the cross and sacramentally in the mystery of the Eucharist. In this context, we are commanded by Jesus to celebrate the Eucharistic mystery in memory of Him, meaning in remembrance of everything He “said, did, and suffered,” as saint Francis of Assisi expressed in a redundant yet profound way to emphasize the need to “receive” or “internalize” the passion of Christ as the culmination of Jesus’ life-giving self-offering.
3. “The One who Feeds on Me will have Life because of Me:” Eucharist as Source and Summit of Christian Life and Mission
In the final sentence of today’s passage (v.58: “This is the bread that came down from heaven.”), which serves as the concluding declaration of the entire discourse, it is noteworthy that the statement about the bread is made in an almost impersonal manner. The emphatic “I” of Jesus is absent here, and the focus is entirely on the saving function of the “bread” (“whoever eats this bread will live forever”). This sentence effectively encapsulates the imagery of bread, flesh, and blood that has been used throughout the discourse. To eat the bread that is Jesus, means to partake of Him, which is equivalent to consuming His flesh and drinking His blood. The stylistic figure of merismus – using two opposites to express a whole – is evident in the phrase “eating-drinking,” which emphasizes not the individual acts of eating or drinking, but the singular act of nourishing one’s life with His. Therefore, the language here points not to the physical consumption of food, but to the communion of life, or rather, the act of entering into this communion. Jesus Himself emphasizes this aspect of communion in v.56: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them,” much like when He speaks of His relationship with His disciples by using the vivid and powerful metaphor of the vine and the branches (cf. Jn 15:5-7).
Here, the focus is on the divine life that Jesus desires to communicate to His followers through His self-sacrifice, continually offered in the gift of the Eucharistic bread. Jesus highlights the transmission of life from the Father to the Son and from the Son to those who partake in Him: “Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.” This statement is similar to one in which Jesus will later instruct His disciples to continue the mission entrusted to Him by the Father: “As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (Jn 20:21). Thus, Eucharistic communion with His Bread leads to communion with His life, a life entirely dedicated to the mission received from the Father. Consequently, those who partake of Jesus will live through Him, just as He lives through the Father who sent Him into the world. Moreover, those who fully live through and in Him will be compelled to live as He did, wholly consumed by the divine mission entrusted to Him.
Therefore, we, as His faithful, are called once again to renew our gratitude and awe before the mystery of the Eucharist. Let us always prepare ourselves in the best possible way to receive the gift of the “whole” Eucharistic Bread of Jesus, which is both His Word of life and His Flesh-Blood offered for us. By doing so, we will experience the Eucharist more and more as the source and summit of Christian life and mission, in memory of all that He said, did, and suffered. And so be it. Amen.
Useful points to consider :
Pope Francis , Angelus , Saint Peter’s Square , Sunday, 8 August 2021
[…] I am the bread of life, He says . Let us pause on this beautiful image of Jesus. He could have offered a rationale, a demonstration, but – we know – Jesus speaks in parables, and in this expression: “I am the bread of life”, he truly sums up his entire being and mission. This will be seen completely at the end, at the Last Supper. Jesus knows that the Father is asking him not only to give food to people, but to give himself, to break himself, his own life, his own flesh, his own heart so that we might have life. These words of the Lord awaken in us our amazement for the gift of the Eucharist . No one in this world, as much they might love another person, can make themselves become food for them. God did so, and does so, for us. Let us renew this amazement. Let us do so how we adore the Bread of Life, because adoration fills life with amazement. […]