Jewish dietary laws date back to the time of Moses. These laws, called Kashrut, meaning proper or correct, are in the Torah, the first five books in the Bible. Another term used to designate these laws is Kosher (which has the same root as Kashrut). One of the principal Jewish dietary laws forbids consuming blood because “the life of the animal (literally, the soul of the animal) is contained in the blood” (Judaism 101). And, blood is the symbol of life. Therefore, all blood is drained from kosher meat. So, when Jesus told his listeners in the synagogue in Capernaum “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you” (John 6:53), they were scandalized. Eating human flesh violates our most basic human values and according to Jewish law, drinking blood makes a person contaminated and ritually unclean. No Jewish person in his or her right mind would do this. It is no wonder they “quarreled among themselves” about what he was saying!
With these words, Jesus is challenging his listeners in Capernaum, his disciples, and us. He is challenging us to unite with him, to share his life, to join with his soul to be one with him and to have eternal life. We get a hint of what Jesus means in our first reading from Proverbs 9:1-6. Wisdom, the personification of God, prepares a magnificent banquet and invites those who lack understanding (practically all of us) to eat her food and drink her wine so “that you may live; advance in the way of understanding.”
Jesus isn’t offering us ordinary food. This food transforms us. The normal food we eat every day nourishes and strengthens our bodies. The food Jesus gives us, bread that is his “flesh for the life of the world,” nourishes and strengthens our spirits. This is the mystery of the Eucharist. We are invited to the table of the Lord to share his body and blood in the sacrament so that we absorb the life essence of Jesus into our own lives. In the New Jerusalem Bible translation Jesus says, “As the living Father sent me and I draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me will also draw life from me” (John 6:57). Having drawn life from Jesus through the Eucharist, we are commissioned to go out ourselves to be Christ’s “flesh for the life of the world.”
Our living God,
you let us taste and see how good you are
by giving us your Son Jesus Christ
as the bread and drink of life.
Give him to us today as our daily bread,
that with him we may pass from death to life.
Let his life flow in us and overflow
on our brothers and sisters,
that we may become his body to the world.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
you let us taste and see how good you are
by giving us your Son Jesus Christ
as the bread and drink of life.
Give him to us today as our daily bread,
that with him we may pass from death to life.
Let his life flow in us and overflow
on our brothers and sisters,
that we may become his body to the world.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen
