On the Back Porch
Reading, pondering and studying God’s Word is sometimes best done “on the back porch.” Each week we will try to offer something for you and your “back porch time.”
20th Sunday, Year B
What We Celebrate
For the last three Sundays we have been reading from John 6. The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves of bread has occurred, the people follow Jesus to other side of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus has challenged them about what they are seeking and what they are seeing because of the miracle. The people’s response is “what do we have to do to get more miracle bread?” Jesus’ discourse has layers of meaning. Such layers confused Nicodemus (John 3) but not the Samaritan Woman at the Well (John 4). How will the people understand what Jesus is offering them in action and word? What does it mean for Jesus to speak of the gift of his flesh for the life of the world?
As always, a lot going on in the gospel reading. Grab a cup of your favorite beverage and take a moment on the back porch with the Word of God.
Full Text of the Sunday Readings
Detailed Commentary
The Feeding of the Five Thousand by William Hole (1846-1917) | Edinburgh University Library | PD-US
Flesh and Blood
Jesus said to them, “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. (John 6:53-54)
The language is graphic and direct, including images and actions that would have been abhorrent to faithful Jews. But is the language meant to be realistic or one of metaphor? “To eat someone’s flesh” appears in the Bible as a metaphor for hostile action (Ps 27:2, Zech 11:9). In fact, in the Aramaic tradition, the “eater of flesh” is the title of the devil. The drinking of blood was looked upon as a horrendous thing forbidden by God’s Law (Gen 9:4, Lev 3:17, Dt 12:23, and Acts 15:20). Outside Temple rituals, its symbolic meaning was that of brutal slaughter (Jer 45:10). In Ezekiel’s vision of apocalyptic carnage (Ez 39:17), he invites the scavenging birds to come to the feast: ‘You shall have flesh to eat and blood to drink.’ Thus if Jesus’ words in v.53 are metaphor, it argues against a very strong grain in biblical understanding.
In the video below, Bishop Barron speaks to deep mystery of eating “flesh of the Son of Man” in the Eucharist.