I’ve heard this a few times, mostly by Rosalind Moss when defending the Catholic position on the Eucharist. About how God transformed the bread and wine into literal human flesh and blood for a doubting priest. I have a few problems w/this, firstly, this is supposed to be believed by faith, that Jesus is “sacramentally present”, secondly, in this case He is no longer “sacramentally present”, but “in the flesh”, if you will. Now we no longer have transubstantiation, but cannibalism!
Let us start of course with the Bible
John 6:31-69
please read before going on, read all of John 6 to make sure I am not taking it out of context.
A few times here Jesus says very clearly that we are to eat his flesh and drink his blood, and many left him. Why? Because they clearly understood him literally. As they were leaving did Jesus say “I am only speaking in a flowery way, I don’t really mean this.” No, he lets them go. Did he then turn to his 12 and tell them he was not being literal? No, he is so sure, he asks if they will leave him also. In a few other places in the Bible Jesus corrects people when they misunderstand his teachings, does he do that here? No, he in fact tells them, if this is hard for you, wait till you see what comes next.
Now to understand why this is not cannibalism, you need to understand what we are getting. We receive the resurrected and glorified body of Jesus, not his earthly body and blood. Remember that Jesus is our new lamb. What would happen if you were back in Egypt and you killed the lamb, sprinkled its blood, cooked it, and then decided your family does not like lamb, so you will only eat lamb shaped cookies? Well the next morning the first born would be dead. You had to eat the lamb in order to complete the contract with God.
The OT version of the Eucharist is the manna from heaven. This was not normal, but supernatural bread. And those who ate it still died. So the NT MUST be grater then bread from heaven, and it is, the new bread is the body of our lord. He who eats this bread will live forever.
So my brother in Christ, when our lord turns to you and asks “What about you, do you want to go away too?” What are your words going to be? Will you leave him because this is a hard teaching? I know what I answer him, the same words as my name sake, Simon Peter “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.” I don’t fully understand it, but I have faith in him.
Pax
