John 6 and Last Supper go together. Combo unlocks Christ's seeming obtuseness

[whosebob]

Dear fellow forum enthusiasts,

The thread that LetsObeyChrist started on the Eucharist in this forum, which was then moved to the Non-Catholic Religions forum, has been closed by the moderators.

I for one respect them and trust in their wisdom. But, buried in that discussion was a post in which I really wished to share with all of you my thoughts on this important subject – which are not really my own ideas, they just reflect what I’ve been taught by much wiser folks.

I’m hoping that some of you might give me your feedback on this matter. And maybe it can rekindle a fruitful thread on the subject – it seems that the thread mentioned above had become quite “tit for tat.” Let’s avoid that in God’s grace.

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LetsObeyChrist frequently insisted on something similar to this: “While some find it hard to believe Christ said eating flesh, meaning His flesh, does not profit or give life, it is clear that must be what Christ said as He would be a loon if He did not respond to the very teaching about flesh that scandalized them. Then He is sincerely answering objections with irrelevancies, something the sane don’t do.”

Please allow me present an alternative view:

The quoted statements represent a very “weak link” in the associated non-literal interpretation of Jesus’ teaching in John 6. Yet they are the most strongly stated and restated (in various ways) elements of this analysis. Particularly the idea that Our Lord would have been a “loon” to respond with irrelevancies.

So one way to correct this misunderstanding of Jesus’ “Bread of Life Discourse” in John 6 would be to prove, or at lease to make a strong case, that the Catholic understanding of Jesus’ response to his listeners’ objections does NOT place “irrelevancies” into His mouth . . .

 

[whosebob]

. . . I would argue that there are a number of notable times in the Gospels when Jesus does respond in a seemingly obtuse manner, BUT the clarity was to come when His statements were actualized. For example, Jesus predicts the torture and death of the Son of Man several times, and the Gospels tell us that the disciples did not understand His words; Peter in fact rebuked Jesus in one such circumstance. When Our Lord suffered and died on the Cross on Good Friday, His teaching was actualized. Even still, true understanding of these events wouldn’t come to the Apostles until the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.

Now . . . Our Lord told His listeners that His words are “spirit and life.” And so they are, for by them we are filled with and confirmed in a holy faith that our eating and drinking the flesh and blood of God’s Son will bring us to everlasting life.

But His words in John 6 don’t give us the Eucharist per se. Our Lord and Savior instituted the memorial of His Passion and Death at the Last Supper. The teaching in John 6 therefore is actualized the night before He died. Though, again, the Apostles’ understanding of Our Lord’s actions will be limited until Pentecost; indeed 20 centuries later we have still not exhausted this sacred mystery nor the words of Our Lord that present it to us.

Our Lord was not stating irrelevancies, nor was He a loon. It was simply beyond any human genius, even one intimately familiar with the Jewish Scriptures, much less those with hard hearts, to imagine that God would institue such an awesome rite to fulfill the Jewish Passover and indeed all of the God-ordained OT sacrifices. So John 6 isn’t enough to “get it.” Nor even Jesus’ words at the Last Supper, though that is where his seemingly obtuse or irrelevant statements are realized and actualized. In fact it is, as always, the Spirit that gives clear meaning to Jesus’ words – the Holy Sprit acting in the Church’s Magisterium which has infallibly interpreted John 6 across 20 centuries; the Holy Spirit acting in the heart, mind and soul and body of each Christian that believes what Jesus and His Church teach us about the Eucharist and in good faith receives Holy Communion; and the Holy Spirit acting through the ministry of ordained priests that changes the bread and wine into His body, blood, soul and divinity when the words of the consecration are spoken, that is when the Catholic Church obeys Jesus’ command “do this in memory of me” by offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

So that’s my stab at it anyway. What do ya’ll think?

In the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.