John 6:51
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."
Some things in this life are difficult to grasp, especially in the mysteries of this world. How do we perceive color? How does the earth spin? Why are trees green? We can prove these things by science. Some things of this world are a bit more difficult to understand. Such was the case in John's gospel reading this weekend. Jesus says, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." This troubled the Jews, for they understood that Jesus was the son of Joseph the Carpenter, and Mary. They thought, "who is he to proclaim that he is from heaven?" Jesus tells them to stop their murmuring and remember that the bread that their ancestors fed on came from heaven, yet that bread was temporary. He is the new covenant, the new sacrifice. We have to remember that this was around Passover, so the Jews were aware of sacrificing a lamb. Little did they know that Jesus would be the ultimate sacrifice that was to come, the Lamb of God. But the people were not ready to accept this yet. They weren't ready to accept that he was the living Bread of Life that has come from heaven. It was all too deep, too much to grasp….too much to comprehend. They had believed that the redeemer, promised by God would come riding in as a great king to wipe all of the foes away and right the injustices that their people had endured for a millennium. The people were hungry for hope. The same can be said of us today. Many people, even Catholics, have trouble grasping that Jesus is the bread of life, that his flesh is food for the world. This is part of the great mystery of our faith. Our minds cannot comprehend eating human flesh or drinking blood. Jesus is the spiritual food that helps us in the material, physical world in which we live. In order to live as Christ would want us to, to have a life in the Spirit, we must take in this life-giving bread, Jesus. Then we can go out and courageously transform the world.
