“Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
The Jews came to the Lord and said, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
“ Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
“Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”
“Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve?”
(John 6:27–70)
In the Gospel of John, this story comes immediately after the stories of the feeding of the five thousand and Jesus walking on the water. The crowd speaking to Jesus saw the feeding of the five thousand. They did not see him walk on the water, but they were puzzled that he could be on the other side of the lake without a boat. They come to investigate. Jesus tells them, “You are only interested in me because I do practical things for you.”
Jesus knew that he was “suspected” of being the Messiah. They wondered if they should make him a king after he fed the people. His reply to them was “You’re only interested in food,” but it was actually a roundabout way of saying, “You want me to create a new nation. You want me to resolve conflicts and bring peace and the rule of law and prosperity to our people. You want me to rescue the nation. You want me to be the messiah as you have imagined him.
I, however, want to give you something else – something from God. I do want to rescue you, but not in the way you imagine it.”
So they ask, “What should our vision be then? What kind of new nation are you going to create? How does it work?”
Jesus says, “Following me and trusting me is the new law and the new way of living. You must see me as your only hope. Then, you will be part of my new nation – the people of God. Being one with me is the solution to all your problems.”
They ask Jesus for a sign. We could express their question like this: “Can you prove that you truly are the one who is going to save our nation? Is there some kind of divine proof, like when God rescues the Israelites out of Egypt?” Incidentally the feeding of the five thousand happened right around the time of the Passover, according to John. All the miracles, plagues, parting of the Red Sea etc., these were called “signs” in the Old Testament. After the Passover, the people ask Jesus for a “sign.”
Jesus had just multiplied the loaves and fish and fed the five thousand! And they want him to convince them now by another miracle. Jesus says, “You have to make up your mind. At some point, it becomes evident that you don’t want to understand.”
The people talking to Jesus did not want to understand that the only possible explanation for Jesus’ miracles was that he truly was the Son of God. No one else could have done what he did. But if these people recognized his divinity, they would have to allow him to teach them and reshape their expectations.
When do we not want to understand? We love the stories of the lives of the saints. We don’t love the lifestyle of obedience, faithfulness, and prayer that those saints lived. Do we want to understand that the former is dependent on the latter? We pretend that faith is a matter of dogmatic statements and incense.
We pretend that we can separate theology from our mundane calling to make our spouses feel loved even when they are not acting like someone who deserves to be loved. When someone has hurt our pride and doesn’t give us the recognition we think we deserve, where is our unshakable belief in Christ’s way at that moment? We don’t want to understand that serving and forgiving others is the greatest miracle possible. We want “the divine” brought to us on a platter at a convenient time.
What the people in the gospel story needed was to go from being the people for whom miracles are done, to being the people who follow their God into the desert. At the first Passover, God invited his people to a meal in which they would eat the Passover lamb. They would paint the blood of that lamb on the doorposts of their houses, and wait for their God to deliver them.
Now, Jesus offers the same invitation, even though few of them would have the patience to accept it. In his Passover, the new Passover, the true Pascha, Jesus offers his flesh and blood. We offer our lives together with his. That is the great miracle, the sign that saves the world.
That meal is the place where the people for whom God has done wonders (previously the plagues in Egypt, at this time the healing of the blind and the casting out of demons), become the people who follow God and learn his commandments. Previously the people followed Moses into the desert on their way to the promised land. Jesus invites us to follow him on the road to the cross.
We know about this story, but we are often forgetful. What can we do to rediscover a sense of wonder at this calling? How can we see the difficult road to the cross as a miraculous sign of God’s strength? Can we be dumbfounded at the miracle that God has called us to drive the speed limit? God called me to do the dishes: Oh great wonder! How can we see this narrow path as miraculous, to the point where it pushes all ambivalence away?
The crowd that listened to Jesus expected their Messiah to recreate the ancient nation of Israel. Jesus says, “I am not going to call you into a geographical area to be a nation in the usual sense. I will perform a miraculous intervention in your life, but it will not be what you expect.
I am going to call you to be one with me. That is how you will be the invincible and blessed people of God.”
Jesus says, “How does God save his people? He sends me. I am what God is giving you. I am the bread of life. You can live and prosper if you have me.”
And he goes even further. “You must eat my body and drink my blood!”
Consider for a moment that Jesus teaches about the Eucharist to people who refuse to acknowledge the power of his miracles. God not only teaches us about the holy Mystery of the Eucharist, he also invites us to receive his holy body and blood – even though we do not always acknowledge his divinity with our actions, attitudes and words. Jesus offered his teaching and his miracles to people who were ambivalent about him at best. He allows himself to be received into the house of a sinner. In our case, he accepts being received into the house of our bodies though we are full of sin and faithlessness. This is his extreme humility and self-emptying. And the self-emptying is the proof of his Divinity. His love and patience is his awesome power! That is the sign that Jesus promises his people.
What kind of miracle happens in the Eucharist? Someone baked the bread we use in communion. You gave tithes to buy the wine and to pay for this building. Someone built the iconostasis. The choir showed up to sing. You showed up to pray. These are all divine miracles. The power of God to make humans holy is a miracle. Jesus describes the miracles with these words (go back and read the passage slowly): Come to me. Believe. “Look to me,” which means we rely on him. Be drawn (up) by the Father. We are taught and hear the Father. We eat!
The miracle is that God is working inside of you so that you may offer the sacrifice of the Eucharist. You and I offer these things to God. God sends down His holy spirit upon us and upon the gifts spread forth. The miracle is not only in the presence of Christ in the bread and wine, the healing is not only in your receiving it. The fact that you offer it is also a miracle. When you obey your calling to offer it, that is also healing for you. The miracle is both Jesus’ sacrifice that we partake of, and also your sacrifice. That is what happens when we receive the body and blood of Christ.
This is eternal life. This is theosis. Eternal life is offering your work, time and worship. Eternal life is a clean heart that Christ has created in you. Eternal life is coming back time and time again to that which is your only hope, receiving something that you cannot receive anywhere else: oneness with God and the presence of God within you.
Eternal life is saying “Where else can we go?” Jesus gives us moments of crisis in our life where we have to choose. We need moments when it’s do or die; moments that put you up against the wall and say, “make up your mind.”
Jesus’ teaching about the Eucharist at that moment, in that place, to those people, was just such a “make up your mind” moment. Most of the people left. But the ones who stayed came to the realization – you might say they received the revelation – that they had nowhere else to go!
You are in dire need of a crisis. You need to be put in a position of being forced to choose. You need to find out that Jesus really is your only hope. Whatever challenges God sends you, and whatever makes you suddenly “find religion,” this is for your salvation. That helps you not to be of two minds.
Then you have an easier time believing that the hard work God is calling you to is the only hope you have. Giving is the only hope you have. Faithfulness is the only hope you have. These are the words of eternal life that Jesus gave his disciples. This is what no one beside Jesus can offer us.