What do we really mean with "The body of Christ"?

[Ignatiusmeansfire]

Hey! As of late i have thinking alot about the meaning of the passion, the resurrection.

What IS really the Body of Christ, or “The flesh of Christ?”

I have been reading the gospels several times now and from my own reading i definitely do not find the accounts clear. Why do people not recognize Jesus after he is resurrected? On several accounts he is not recognized before he speaks. His “Appearance” does not seem enough.

This leads to the question: did the gospels really mean the physical resurrection of the body in the same state as before? It seems unlikely when he is not recognized. Still, his body was obviously gone. Tolkien approaches the same issue in lord of the rings when Gandalf comes back from the depths after fighting the Balrog. He is no more Gandalf the Grey. But now Gandalf the White. The same, but different. There is a change of character, attributes.

Is this the same way we should understand Jesus resurrection? But then, what meaning does this have for the last day, when we shall be returned our “Bodies”?

Also, i have been struggeling to put this into the picture of the Eucharist. What is really, the Body of Christ? Is it not the physical body as we normally understands it? That would mean i have to change my view of the eucharist.

I heard People say “The Body of Christ” is his teaching. What lives on when he is dead. Every part of Jesus lives on in all of his followers and His Body is part of our Body. This is, also as i understand not church teaching?

Simply put, please help me understand, what is the Body of Christ really? And why are the accounts unclear? I have been avoiding Eucharist while pummling this question. Both from a point of lack of faith in the resurrection But also from a lack of understanding of His true presence.

Best regards!

 

[Wesrock]

Jesus’s earthly body was resurrected and glorified, hence the wounds in his hands, feet, and side and why his body was missing from the tomb. Jesus wasn’t recognized at certain times because he didn’t want to be recognized at those times.

The body of Christ refers to the Church, who is mystically united to Christ who is its head.

The body of Christ also refers to the Eucharist, which is Christ’s real body made present under the appearance of bread and wine, and to how in communion we become one body in Christ as a community and in our union with Christ himself (see previous point about the Church).