Because it’s contrary to his history. He’s shown himself as a living being, and he always speaks figurativly. “I’m living water, the vine, the bread of life, give us this day our daily bread, etc” He’s trying to show us that he is the real “food” that sustains us and gives us life and only w/him in us (his spirit) we live. He’s not saying bread is him, but he is the "bread."There’s a difference in my mind. That we should stop focusing on material and start focusing on spiritual. Isn’t that what the point was throughout his ministry?
Unwittingly, you have hit the distinction between Catholicism and Protestantism on the head. That distinction lies in the realization that Catholicism is the Church of the Incarnation whereas Protestantism is split among denominations that focus on who has the right “spirit” of Christianity. The Son
became Man - He entered into History and the matter of which it is made; He didn’t come just to give us good feelings, beliefs about Him, but to enter into our lives and transform us into images of Himself. The prime way in which He transforms us is through Baptism into Him and feeding us with His very Self, the Living Bread of God, which sustains us on our pilgrimage to fulfillment in Him. We are thus built up in Christ through encountering Him in the gift of the Eucharist.
Salvation is not just a matter of hearing the Word, but of consuming the Word Who strengthens us to do His will and to be transformed by grace into He Whom we consume. The Church has preserved and presented The Word-Made-Flesh in obedience to His command His command for 2000 years.
Yes, the spirit gives life, thus it is that when enlightened by the Holy Spirit through the gift of supernatural faith, what seems mere bread and wine is perceived in the spirit to be what it truly is: the Risen Body and Blood of the Glorified Christ in which we partake at His command.
So you believe (at least at this point) that while Jesus is the Lord of all creation Who made the stars and planets, this same Lord of all creation supposedly instituted a merely symbolic ritual as the memorial of His New Covenant?
I don’t think so. Even Luther thought that was a silly idea.
All Apostolic Churches agree on the Eucharist. The denominations, relying on Scripture alone, do not agree with the age-old practice of Apostolic Churches and disagree with one another about the Eucharist. Now the Holy Spirit unites what was divided; He doesn’t divide what is one. The unity of belief of all Apostolic Churches on the Eucharist as the Risen Flesh of Christ and as a re-presentation of His Sacrifice points to the Holy Spirit uniting different times and different peoples in one Teaching and Truth, while the divided practice and teaching of “Bible Christians” on this central point shows those “Bible Christians” are slaves to a spirit of disunity, i.e. the Enemy.
