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Date:         Mon, 16 Nov 1992 13:09:57 CST
Reply-To:     bradk@isdgsm.rtsg.mot.com
From:         Brad Kaiser <bradk%isdgsm@RTSG.MOT.COM>
Subject:      Re: Re>Second Interp. Q
              92 12:47 pm

Leo writes on John 6:

> [Jesus] was not referring to a Lord's Supper or a
> Sacrifice of the Mass ...
...
> Rather than bolstering the imagination of the sacramentalist, this passage
> clearly teaches the opposite.
...
> 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).

As one might expect, I disagree rather emphatically.

First, note when Jesus was speaking -- near Passover (Jn 6:4).  Since
the Eucharist under the New Covenant is precisely the fulfillment of
the Passover feast which prefigured it, the time of Christ's discourse
is extremely significant.

Second, note that He had four distinct opportunities to make His
"metaphor" (if that's what it was) clear (after v. 34, v. 41, v. 52,
v. 59; arguably, v. 65).  Yet v. 66 says that "as a result of this"
(i.e., the verse Leo points to as explaining Christ's "metaphor", and
the teachings which precede it) "many disciples returned to their
former way of life and no longer accompanied Him".  Why didn't He
clarify His words, if He was only speaking metaphorically?

Third, view v. 63 in context.  Jesus is explaining why people are
having difficulty with His teaching, in this case, His teaching on the
Eucharist.  It's simple: they have no faith.  They are fleshly, in the
sense used in Rom 7:18, for example.  For Jesus to assert that His own
flesh is "useless" is impossible, unless He intended to deny His own
substitutionary death on the Cross; He is referring to the lack of
faith of His hearers.  (Remember, in the very next verse He says, "But
there are some of you who do not believe.")  Moreover, in v. 63, where
He says "The words I told you are spirit and life", the "words I told
you" in context, are not His teachings in general, but His immediately
preceding teachings, about which these unbelievers are grumbling; the
teachings where He says:

    For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
                  -- Jn 6:55

Fourth, view Jn 6 in the context of the rest of Scripture, where we
see that New Testament Christians took their Eucharistic liturgy
seriously; or at least, were supposed to.  For example:

    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 judgement on himself.
                  -- 1 Cor 11:27-29

In Christ's Love,

Brad Kaiser
(bradk%isdgsm@rtsg.mot.com)

          Those who trust in Him shall understand truth,
          and the faithful shall abide with Him in love;
          Because grace and mercy are with His holy ones,
          and His care is with His elect.
                    -- Wis 3:9 [NAB]
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