Hi, Schanick,
One of the most important elements of taking scriptural verses OUT of context is that you can have them say anything you want them to say! You see, for Christ to say (after having about 20 statements telling His listeners that His Flesh is their Food) that “…
THE flesh counts for nothing…” would be a TOTAL CONTRADICTION of what He just finished saying. Please note, He did not say
HIS FLESH counts as nothing. So, let’s take the time to actually put this in context…
I would say that no man alive truly understands what the make-up of Jesus was before or after HIS ressurrection.
Yes Jesus did say this is my Body and Blood- but look back at John 6 specifically:
58This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever."
…
63The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
48
I am the bread of life.
49
Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died;
50
this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.
51
I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."
52
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?”
53
Jesus said to them, “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.
54
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.
55
For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
56
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.
57
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.
58
This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
59
These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
60
Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”
61
Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you?
62
What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
63
It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
64
But there are some of you who do not believe.” Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him.
65
And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”
66
As a result of this, many (of) his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.
67
Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”
68
Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
69
We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”
Look at v 60: the Jews understood Christ for what He said - you must eat My Flesh - and they rejected Him based on His Own Words. The did not reject Him because of a mataphor or a figure of speech or a play on words that offended them. He says you must MUST eat His Flesh - they (including His Disciples) reject this and - He does not say something like, “You misunderstood me!” Christ stands by what He said - even though many left Him.
Your understanding of ‘flesh’ and ‘spirit’ is more appropriate in John 3:5-8
5
Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.
6
What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit.
7
Do not be amazed that I told you, ‘You must be born from above.’
8
The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Read the entire John 6 - you see that Christ can create an abundance of food, that Christ has total control over nature and finally, that He brings these two elements in focus with the Eucharistic Discourse. Note how your interpretation flys right in the face of everything that preceeded it. Just read for comprehension as you read the words. I really think that Christ’s Own Words prove the point - and this is where the action is. But, you know, if it were that easy - the Jews would have never walked away and refused to believe. I do not really know what the excuses for this non-belief are today.
God bless
