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Date:         Mon, 16 Nov 1992 14:06:35 -0500
From:         Eric James Ewanco <ewanco@MLO.DEC.COM>
Subject:      Re: Re>Second Interp. Q

Excerpts from christia: 16-Nov-92 Re>Second Interp. Q Leo
W@QM.CIRCA.UFL.EDU (3126)

> Everyone who thinks that eating the flesh (body and blood) of Christ in
> the form of a piece of bread and a sip of drink gives them life (from
> above) should memorize this verse: "It is not the flesh that gives a
> person life.  It is the spirit that gives life.  The words I told you
> are spirit, and so they give life" (6:63).  Don't seek to eat miracle
> bread, as the unbelieving Jews did. Seek to eat His words and believe on
> Him and His finished work accomplished in His death, resurrection, and
> ascension.

Your argument from this verse is without merit.  You are suggesting that
Jesus says, "Eat my flesh and blood, but you'll find out it is a waste
of time."  Clearly Jesus did not intend to negate what he just said.
You are taking this verse out of context and applying it to the wrong
idea.

Jesus is not talking about the Eucharist when he refers to "it is not
the flesh that gives a person life."  He is referring to the mind of the
unspiritual man (e.g. the Jews) who refuse to understand this mystery.
I might also point out, that the Real Presence says that Christ is
present in SPIRIT in the Eucharist, not in matter (flesh), and it is
this SPIRIT that gives life. Anyway, Jesus tells you what he means by
"The flesh profits nothing, and it is the spirit that gives life."  He
is referring to his words -- "The words I have spoken to you are spirit
and they are life.  Yet ther are some of you who do not believe."  Jesus
is emphasizing the importance of what he said.  The disciples were
thinking according to the flesh -- they did not believe that this made
sense or was possible.  Jesus exhorts them to believe what he has said
about the Eucharist -- pointing out that Judas would not believe in the
Eucharist -- and not to think according to the natural mind, or flesh.

Let's review Jesus's words.  The disciples say, "This is a hard
teaching. Who can accept it?"  Jesus replies, "Does this offend you?
What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!"  Here
Jesus is not rebuking them for thinking the wrong idea about what he
said, he is rebuking them for their lack of faith in believing what they
heard! In essence, he says, "If you think what I have told you is
unbelievable, consider how much more unbelievable would be to see the
Son of Man ascend into heaven!"  Having rebuked them for doubting him,
he goes on to explain that if they find that offensive, they are
thinking according to the flesh and not according to the Spirit.  "The
Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing.  The words I have
spoken to you are spirit and they are life.  Yet there are some of you
who do not believe."  Jesus's message here is vitally important to the
Christian faith -- the words are spirit and life.  Those who doubt this
truth he has spoken are of Judas's unbelief.

Let's also remember that in a metaphorical sense, to eat someone's flesh
and drink someone's blood meant to revile someone.  If Jesus were
speaking metaphorically, he would have been saying, "He who reviles me
has eternal life."

Now let's examine the other objection. "He who comes to me will never go
hungry, he who believes in me will never be thirsty."  To jump to the
conclusion from this one verse that "to eat" Jesus means to come, and
"to drink" he means to believe, is a big and IMO unjustified step.  I
could equally argue that when Jesus says, "He who comes to me will never
go hungry," he means, he who comes to me through the Eucharist will
never go hungry, and he who believes in me will receive the Eucharist
and never be thirsty.  Everywhere else in this passage, Jesus equates
the bread to himself, either as a whole or his flesh.  Never does he
intimate that the "bread" is coming to Jesus, or his words, or anything
else. Since He IS the bread, he can rightly say, "He who comes to me
will never go hungry," that is, he who comes to the table of the bread
of life [and presumably eats it] will never go hungry.

Eric
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU