Homily: 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

     I once heard staggering statistic that only 45% of Catholics who attend Mass truly believe in the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. That means that 55% either do not believe or do not understand fully the reality of the Blessed Sacrament. This Sunday we get the meat and potatoes as it were of Jesus’ discourse on the Eucharist. In past weeks we have been building up to this teaching. Jesus has been stressing the importance of deep and lasting faith. That is because this teaching requires such faith in order to accept it. 

     Often times, we will hear arguments against the True Presence in the Eucharist by individuals who claim that Jesus was merely speaking figuratively. However, this is frankly incorrect once we examine the context of John’s 6th chapter in the life of Jesus and his manner of teaching. 

     First of all, we must consider the vocabulary used. Jesus not only uses the term “flesh” several times but the Greek word used for “eat” is very specific. Like English, the ancient Greek language had several ways of referencing eating. In English we may say, “eat,” “dine,” “chow down,” and the like. Jesus uses the term which literally means to eat as a wild animal would, to gnaw on something. Thus, His words are even more specific and graphic that we can understand on the surface. 

     Secondly, we can look to Jesus’ pattern of speech. How does He usually teach? When does He ask questions? When does he repeat Himself? When examining these things in the Gospel of John, we can recognize several patterns in Jesus’ other teachings. For instance, when Jesus speaks figuratively and his listeners misunderstand Him, he corrects them. An exampled occurs when Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus in JOHN 3:3-5:

     "Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a person once grown old be born again? Surely he cannot reenter his mother’s womb and be born again, can he?” Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.

     In other cases, Jesus speaks literally and his listeners understand. Jesus’ reaction to this is to repeat and confirm what He said as a sign that they have correctly understood what he has said. For example  in JOHN 8:56-59:

     Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad. So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.” So they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid and went out of the temple area.

     So if we look at the pattern of Jesus’ teaching in today’s Gospel, we see the crowds taking him literally and becoming angered at such a teaching. However, Jesus repeats Himself 6 times in 8 verses! This is because he was not speaking figuratively, but was being completely forthright in His presentation. 

     Furthermore, the expression of “eating flesh and drinking blood” in the Hebrew Scriptures had a specific usage as referring to persecution and assault. Clearly, Jesus was not teaching that in order to have eternal life one must persecute Him, this would make no sense. However, in the Jewish mindset at the time, that is exactly what would be understood if these were were meant to be figurative. 

     An even simpler yet no less convincing form of evidence for the truth of Jesus’ words is the reaction of His listeners. Even disciples who would have been following Him for several years, could not accept this teaching and walked away. Furthermore, Jesus doesn’t stop them and correct their misunderstanding because they did not misunderstand. They understood, and yet rejected Him. 

     Ultimately before us is placed a challenge. A challenged to grow in faith to better believe and interiorize the belief and understanding of the Eucharist that we have been taught. This is not always easy, but with God all things are possible. We must pray for the Grace of faith, so that we may never grow lax in or belief in the Eucharist, that we may never take for granted this great mystery that we celebrate and receive here from this Holy Altar. our prayer must take the form of the man with the possessed son in the 9th chapter of the Gospel of Mark: “…the boy’s father cried out, “I do believe, help my unbelief!”