Victor R. Claveau, MJ
John 6:51-58—Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition[1]
“ I am the living bread[a] which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you;he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever.”
“In the sacrament of the altar, the Lord meets us, men and women created in God’s image and likeness, and becomes our companion along the way. In this sacrament, the Lord truly becomes food for us, to satisfy our hunger for truth and freedom. Since only the truth can make us free, Christ becomes for us the food of truth.”(Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, #2)
It is the Solemn Teaching of the Catholic Church that in the Blessed Eucharist Christ himself – His Body and Blood, His Soul and Divinity – is really, truly, and substantially, contained in the species (accidents, appearances) of bread and wine; that His presence is affected by transubstantiation, i.e., by a change of the substance of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ; that He is wholly present both under the species of bread and under the species of wine; that when the sacred species of the bread or the wine are divided, He is wholly present in each part or division; that the Real Presence begins, the instant the consecration is completed; that it is not restricted to the moment in which the Blessed Eucharist is being consumed; that it continues in the hosts that may be reserved after Holy Communion has been given; and that Christ in the Blessed Sacrament is to be worshipped with the supreme worship due to God alone.[2]
Matthew Henry’s Commentary[3]
Matthew Henry (18 October 1662 – 22 June 1714) was a British Nonconformist[4] minister and author who was born in Wales but spent much of his life in England. He is best known for the six-volume biblical commentary Exposition of the Old and New Testaments.
Henry’s well-known Commentary provides an exhaustive paragraph-by-paragraph (or section-by-section) study of the Bible, covering the whole of the Old Testament, and the Gospels and Acts in the New Testament.
Written in 1706, Henry’s Commentary has been in print for over three hundred years. The latest edition was published in 2009
Henry’s Commentary on John 6:51-52.
“[4.] Christ, having thus spoken of himself as the bread of life, and of faith as the work of God, comes more particularly to show what of himself is this Bread, namely, his flesh, and that to believe, is to eat of that, v. 51 — 58. where he still prosecutes the metaphor of food. Observe, here, the preparation of this food; The bread that I will give is my flesh; (v. 51.) the flesh of the Son of man, and his blood, v. 53. His flesh is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed, v. 55. Observe, also, the participation of this food; we must eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, (V. 53. and again, v 54. Whosoever eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood; and the same words, (v. 56, 57.) he that eateth me. This is certainly a parable, or figurative discourse, wherein the actings of the soul upon things spiritual and divine, are represented by bodily actions about things sensible; which made the truths of Christ more intelligible to some, and less so to others, Mark 4. 12.
(1.) Let us see, How this discourse of Christ was liable to mistake and misconstruction, that men might see, and not perceive. [1.] It was misconstrued by the carnal Jews, to whom it was first delivered; v. 52. They strove among themselves; they whispered in each other’s ears their dissatisfaction; How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Christ spoke (v. 51.) of giving his flesh for us, to suffer and die; but they, without due consideration, understood it of his giving it to us, to be eaten; which gave occasion to Christ to tell them, that, however what he said was otherwise intended, yet even that also of eating of his flesh, was no such absurd thing (if rightly understood) as, prima facie — in the first instance, they took it to be. [2.] It has been wretchedly misconstrued by the church of Rome for the support of their monstrous doctrine of Transubstantiation, which gives the lie to our senses, contradicts the nature of a sacrament, and overthrows all convincing evidence. They, like these Jews here, understand it of a corporal and carnal eating of Christ’s body, like Nicodemus, ch. 3. 4. The Lord’s supper was not yet instituted, and therefore it could have no reference to that; it is a spiritual eating and drinking that is here spoken of, not a sacramental. the lie to our senses, contradicts the nature of a sacrament, and overthrows all convincing evidence. They, like these Jews here, understand it of a corporal and carnal eating of Christ’s body, like Nicodemus, ch. 3. 4. The Lord’s supper was not yet instituted, and therefore it could have no reference to that; it is a spiritual eating and drinking that is here spoken of, not a sacramental. [3]) It is misunderstood by many ignorant, carnal people, who from hence infer that, if they take the sacrament when they die, they shall certainly go to heaven; which as it makes many that are weak causelessly uneasy if they want it, so it makes many that are wicked causelessly easy if they have it. Let us see therefore,
2. Let us see how this discourse of Christ is to be understood.
[1.] What is meant by the flesh and blood of Christ. It is called, (v. 53.), The flesh of the Son of man, and his blood, his as Messiah and Mediator; the flesh and blood which he assumed in his incarnation, (Heb. 2. 14.), and which he gave up in his. death and sufferings; my flesh which I will give to be crucified and slain. It is said to be given for the life of the world, that is, First, Instead of the life of the world, which was forfeited by sin, Christ gives his own flesh as a ransom or counter-price. Christ was our Bail, bound body for body, (as we say,) and therefore his life must go for ours, that ours may be spared. Here am I, let these go their way. Secondly, In order to the life of the world, to purchase a general offer of eternal life to all the world, and the special assurances of it to all believers. ‘ So that the flesh and blood of the Son of man denote the Redeemer incarnate and dying; Christ and him crucified, and the redemption wrought out by him, with all the precious benefits of redemption; pardon of sin, acceptance with God, the adoption of sons, access to the throne of grace, the promises of the covenant, and eternal life ; these are called the flesh and blood of Christ, 1. because they are purchased by his flesh and blood, by the breaking of his body, and the shedding of his blood. Well may the purchased privileges be denominated from the price that was paid for them, for it puts a value upon them; write upon them pretium sanguinis — the price of blood. 2. Because they are meat and drink to our souls. Flesh with the blood was prohibited (Gen. 9.4.), but the privileges of the gospel are as flesh and blood to us, prepared for the nourishment of our souls. He had before compared himself to bread, which is necessary food; here to flesh, which is delicious. It is a. feast of fat things, Isa. 25.6. The soul is satisfied with Christ as with marrow and fatness, Ps. 63.5. It is meat indeed, and drink indeed; truly so, that is spiritually; so Dr. Whitby; as Christ is called the true Vine, or truly Meat, in opposition to the shows and shadows with which the world shams off those that feed upon it. In Christ and his gospel are real supply and solid satisfaction; that is meat indeed, and drink indeed, which satiates and replenishes, Jer. 31. 25, 26.
[2.] What is meant by eating this flesh, and drinking this blood, which is so necessary and beneficial; it is certain that it means neither more nor less than believing in Christ. As we partake of meat and drink by eating and drinking, so we partake of Christ and his benefits by faith: and believing in Christ includes these four things, which eating and drinking do. First, It implies an appetite to Christ. This spiritual eating and drinking begins with hungering and thirsting, (Matt. 5.6.) earnest and importunate desires after Christ, not willing to take up with any thing short of an interest in him; “Give me Christ or else I die.” Secondly, An application of Christ to ourselves. Meat looked upon will not nourish us, but meat fed upon, and so made our own, and as it were one with us. We must so accept of Christ as to appropriate him to ourselves; my Lord and my God, ch. 20.28. Thirdly, A delight in Christ and his salvation. The doctrine of Christ crucified must be meat and drink to us, most pleasant and delightful. We must feast upon the dainties of the New Testament in the blood of Christ, taking as great a complacency in the methods which infinite wisdom has taken to redeem and save us, as ever we did in the must needful supplies or grateful delights of nature. Fourthly, A derivation of nourishment from him, and a dependence upon him for the support and comfort of our spiritual life, and the strength, growth, and vigour of the new man. To feed upon Christ is to do all in his name, in union with him, and by virtue drawn from him; it is to live upon him as we do upon our meat. How our bodies are nourished by our food we cannot describe, but that they are so we know and find; so it is with this spiritual nourishment. Our Savior was so well pleased with this metaphor, (as very significant and expressive) that, when afterward he would institute some outward sensible signs, by which to represent our communicating of the benefits of his death, he chose those of eating and drinking, and made them sacramental actions.”
Eucharist as a “stumbling Block.”
“The first announcement of the Eucharist divided the disciples, just as the announcement of the Passion scandalized them: “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” The Eucharist and the Cross are stumbling blocks. It is the same mystery and it never ceases to be an occasion of division. “Will you also go away?”: the Lord’s question echoes through the ages, as a loving invitation to discover that only he has “the words of eternal life” and that to receive in faith the gift of his Eucharist is to receive the Lord himself.” (CCC 1335).
[1] The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[2] Council of Trent, Thirteenth Session, 11 October 1551, Chapters 1-6, Canons 1-11.
[3] Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible. Vol. V. Matthew to John. (McLean, VA.: MacDonald Publishing Company,), pp. 954 – 955.
[4] In Anglican Church history, Nonconformists (Dissenters in Ireland) were Protestant Christians who did not “conform” to the governance and usages of the state church—in England, and in Wales until 1914, the Church of England (and in Ireland until 1869, the Church of Ireland).