Today, we continue to hear from the Bread of Life Discourse in John 6. Immediately prior to today’s passage, the people started to grumble about Jesus’ claim that he is the bread of life. Rather than back down, he is getting ready to double down.
He continues to explain how he is the bread of life. He starts to tell the people that they must consume this bread of life. And he is getting ready to really drop a bombshell on the people. He is not backing down.
This is not a Messiah who comes to affirm everyone where they are. Certainly, he comes to meet people where they are. But he calls them to something much more. This is clearly a Messiah that challenges us. This is a Messiah that shatters preconceived notions. The idea that we could say that Jesus was just a good man and nothing more is ludicrous. If he is not who he says that he was, then we should regard him as a complete fraud. But, if he is the Son of God as he claimed, then that changes everything. And Jesus does not just come to change things himself. He comes to fulfill God’s promises.
Eating another man’s flesh is a shocking idea. However, knowing of the Eucharist, it is not shocking at all. Seeing this whole discourse as a call to Mass and to the Eucharist, it makes sense. Of course, we have the benefit of 2,000 years of hindsight. For the first century Jew, this was an incredibly difficult message.
I am not sure how close we are to the end of this forced isolation. I am not sure when public Masses will return. I know that they will. But I do not know when it will happen and with what restrictions.
At this point in our time at home, we can take stock of what this forced abstinence has done for our faith. Do we hunger and thirst for Jesus’ body and blood in the Eucharist? Or do we find ourselves falling away from the Church and getting used to being away from the Eucharist?
One thing that distinguishes us as human beings is our rational nature. It means that we do not have to be a slave to our passions, our emotions, or our feelings. It means that we can make a decision that overrides those things. Perhaps it means that we “fake it until we make it” as the saying goes. Perhaps our feelings will take some time to catch up. But we can make that decision.
At this point in this time of isolation…with regard to our faith, what do we decide?