Christ’s Emphatic Claim

Fr. Frederick Edlefsen

At the Last Supper, on Holy Thursday, Jesus instituted the Sacrament of the Lord’s Body and Blood, the Eucharist.  In Chapter 6 of John’s Gospel, Jesus made an emphatic claim at the synagogue in Capernaum, leaving no doubt about what he meant when he said at the Last Supper, “This is my Body, which is given up for you.”   When the priest consecrates bread and wine at Mass, these things – the “fruit of the earth” and “work of human hands” – substantially become the Body of Blood of Jesus Christ.   In John 6, Jesus puts a ninefold emphasis on this point, which is perhaps the most emphatic thing he says during public ministry.  Look at what he says:  

(1) “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die” (John 6:48-50).  

(2) “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever.” (John 6:51)

(3) “The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” (John 6:51)

The crowd quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat” (John 6:52)?   They doubted.   But Jesus doubled down on his teaching: 

(4) “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) 

(5) “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.” (John 6:54) 

(6) “For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” (John 6:55) 

(7) “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” (John 6:56)

(8) “Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.” (John 6:57) 

(9) “This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Simon Peter answered Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall go?  You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68)