Thursday after Laetare
Posted on March 18, 2021 by under
Scripture: St. John 6:52-59 (NKJV)
6:52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?”
53 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”
59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
Devotion
Jesus had just declared Himself “the bread of life,” then pushed it further by equating that bread with His flesh. The grumbling of the Jews then turned to vehement arguing. “How can He be flesh that must be consumed?” Then came the final straw as Jesus included His blood that must be drunk. This was particularly galling to the Jews, recalling these words from Leviticus: “No one among you shall eat blood, nor shall any stranger who dwells among you eat blood” (Lev. 17:12). But they failed to appreciate the previous verse: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul” (Lev. 17:11). Unless Jesus gives His flesh and sheds His blood, there is no atonement for sin. And without our faithful “consumption” of Jesus’ sacrifice, there is no salvation.
With this organic description of faith, Jesus emphasizes the intimate nature of our relationship with Him. Faith is not a mere intellectual exercise, but a union between God and man. And nowhere else is this more evident than in our literal, physical consumption of Jesus in Holy Communion as we partake of His true Body and Blood.
Prayer: Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of Thy grace may mercifully be relieved, through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
