Lenten Reflection 16, A Challenging Mystery

Here is Jesus preparing the world for the Eucharist:

Then the Jews fell to disputing with one another, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?  Whereupon Jesus said to them, Believe me when I tell you this; you can have no life in yourselves, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood. The man who eats my flesh and drinks my blood enjoys eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. My flesh is real food, my blood is real drink. He who eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, lives continually in me, and I in him.  As I live because of the Father, the living Father who has sent me, so he who eats me will live, in his turn, because of me. Such is the bread which has come down from heaven; it is not as it was with your fathers, who ate manna and died none the less; the man who eats this bread will live eternally. (John 6:53-59)

Jesus does not pull any punches when he tells the Jews they must eat His flesh and drink His blood. He’s not speaking metaphorically, as some would have it: “My flesh is real food, my blood is real drink.”

These words were so shocking that upon hearing them many followers abandoned Jesus. As the centuries have rolled on, many more have likewise parted company with Christ because of this astounding revelation.

It is truly a test of faith to believe it. But also, it seems to me the height of arrogance for one to say, I will accept this teaching of Christ, but not that one, and slothful to say, I will accept the easy and agreeable teachings of Christ, but not the hard and disagreeable ones.

Jesus knew this teaching would drive people away, but He said it anyway. Why would He make a condition of belief so hard to accept? The Eucharist is an unfathomable mystery.

And yet, we can say that a faith that is easy to accept is a cheap faith.  A faith that demands nothing delivers nothing. Christ came into the world to deliver us from sin, which is not nothing; it is not something; it is everything. And so it follows that the conditions of salvation must demand from us not only something, but everything.

When I am confronted with the mystery of the Eucharist, what it really means, I have a monumental decision to make, and as I see a few verses later, straddling the fence is not an option.

“After this, many of his disciples went back to their old ways, and walked no more in his company. Whereupon Jesus said to the twelve, Would you, too, go away? Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom should we go? Thy words are the words of eternal life; we have learned to believe, and are assured that thou art the Christ, the Son of God.” (John 6: 67-70)

Reflection
Do I have the courage to believe? Can I go all-in?