BreadOfLife
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- Jan 2, 2017
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We don’t eat literal human tissue – muscle, veins, etc. Jests gave us a sacramental way to consume Him at the Last Supper. We consume His glorified Body and Blood. It’s the SAME body that hung on the cross and bled for our sins. When Jesus said, “This IS my body” and “This IS my blood” (Matth. 26, Mark 14, Luke 22) – He wasn’t pretending.You are right...the definitions for cannibalism and vampirism never change.
Paul reiterates this and peaks to the reality of the Eucharist - and the severity of the consequences to those who take this lightly . . .
1 Cor. 11:27-30
“Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many among you are ill and infirm, and a considerable number are dying.”
This is pretty harsh language for something that non-Catholics claim is only a “symbol”.
It directly correlates to the Bread of Life Discourse in John 6, where Jesus stated in NO uncertain terms:
John 6:52-56
“Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”
In FOUR short verses, He tells His disciples THREE times that they must eat His flesh and drink His blood.
THEN, He explains that it is REAL food and REAL drink.
The usual Greek word used for human eating is “phagon”. However, this is NOT the word used in these passages. John uses the word, “trogon”, which means, “to munch or to gnaw “- the way an animal eats. Jesus was again using hyperbole as he often did to drive his point across so that the crowd would understand that he was NOT speaking metaphorically. He meant what he said.
Just as the Paschal Lamb was to be eaten, it is also true for the Lamb of God.
In verse 60, his disciples said, "This saying is hard; who can accept it?"
Did Jesus explain what he "really" meant? NO - He said: "Does this shock you?"
He knew that some couldn’t believe because they didn't have true faith from the Father. They were as disgusted and confused as YOU are – so they walked away from Jesus and returned to their former way of life (John 6:66).
After they left Him - Jesus turns to the Twelve and asked them:
"Do YOU also want to leave?" (John 6:67)
If it was just a "metaphor" - why didn't Jesus explain it to the Twelve like He usually did?
"Cannibalism" and "vampirism", indeed . . .