This is a hard saying, probably one of the hardest. Jesus lost most of his followers as a result of this saying. In the next sentences it says that most of His disciples left him. But He did not say “hey you misunderstood me, I was just being symbolic and talking in metaphors…, come back!” He actually doubled down, and he said that this is a true saying and you must believe it.
Many of our protestant brothers and sisters have trouble with this reading, and often skip this chapter in their studies, or claim that it is just a metaphor. But it is not metaphor! This teaching is the whole reason that Jesus came here to save us, and the whole of our faith hangs on this truth, because if this is not true then nothing else in the bible matters, or as Flannery O’Connor once said, “If it’s just a symbol, to hell with it,”
There are other places in the bible where He does use metaphor… Like “if your tongue causes you to sin cut it out, and if your eye causes you to sin pluck it out”, It is abundantly clear that this is meant to be taken symbolically, otherwise the world be left deaf and blind. One of the things that God clearly taught us in the Old Testament said was that if we teach an eye for an eye, then the whole world will be left blind. God does not contradict Himself, so it is clear that Jesus does not want us blind and mute. But this is not so with today’s reading. We must understand that this is a real command, and not symbolic.
But Why? Because we believe the constant and ongoing participation in the sacrifice of the last supper and Jesus’ death on the cross. Scott Hahn in his book “the fourth cup” explains that Jesus’s mission on earth was to free us from sin. His life was about teaching us how to live in His divine will, His sacrifice and death on the cross was to provide a new exodus. This time for all of the people of the world, and this time he would lead us all to freedom from slavery to sin, and out of this world and into the promised land of God’s kingdom in heaven.
But it does not happen at one moment in time, His sacrifice was not just for those that were alive at that time, it was for all of us, all that have ever lived, and all that ever will live. And so the eucharist is how we participate. At mass we do not re-crucify Jesus, we are actually transported back in time, to that moment 2000 years ago, we break bread with him, and we stand with Him as he dies for us to free us from our sin. And He does that by making Himself truly present in the eucharist at mass. We eat His real body, and we drink His real blood, and we participate in that same meal at the last supper, and we are then saved by His loving sacrifice on the cross. A symbol cannot do that, only the real presence of Jesus can, body, blood, soul, and divinity!
This is the celebration of the eucharist that we catholics re-participate in at ever mass. This is a required teaching of Jesus, we must do it, and He is dead serious about. As such, we as His followers have to take this very seriously too. Even if we dont understand it, we must still believe. And as a result of doing so, you will come to believe. And you will be lead out of slavery and into the promised land of heaven. Alleluia!
