Letters From Timothy

This reading is one of passages in the Gospels that the Catholic Church invokes to explain the sacrament of Eucharist. In it, like the scene at the Last Supper, Jesus offers up his flesh and blood for his disciples and followers to “eat” and “drink,” offering immortal life. The demand seems to echo ancient sacrificial religions and cannibalism, and it even sounds a bit horrific-indeed, the Broadway musical “Lestat” about a vampire played off of this quote, and had a tagline that read “Eat of me and live forever.” But if anything, this reading serves to emphasize that rarely do Jesus-or the Bible-speak literally.

When Catholics are asked to explain what the Eucharist-also called Communion-is, they may give many different answers. As the primary practitioner of Eucharist, the Catholic Church officially endorses a doctrine of “transubstantiation.” This means that Catholics officially believe that the bread and wine that they eat and drink during Communion contains, through the priest’s blessing, the actual essence of Jesus’ flesh and blood. This concept is a bit difficult to wrap one’s head around. The best way that it has been explained to me is that the act of Eucharist is a physical representation of something that is happening spiritually. That is, when one eats a piece of bread (usually an unappetizing, dry wafer) and drinks a sip of wine during Eucharist, they are spiritually receiving the Flesh and Blood of Jesus. But this explanation fails to answer the more basic question? What do we mean when we’re talking about the “Flesh” and “Blood” of Jesus? His actual skin and muscle? His actual blood, with platelets and red blood cells and everything?

This is when the multiple interpretations come in. And it isn’t limited to Catholics-other denominations have their own interpretation of this reading and the reading of the Last Supper. Many denominations support the doctrine of consubstantiation, which, unlike transubstantiation, offers that the essence of Jesus’s flesh and blood are present alongside, but not as, the wafer and wine. This does some work to remove the unpleasant association of the Eucharist with cannibalism. In Jesus Christ, Superstar, Tim Rice offers that Jesus refers to his flesh and blood as bread and wine to show how little his disciples truly respect him. I want to state that I do not believe that Jesus is actually talking about his skin and muscle and his platelets and red blood cells. Not only is that a disgusting idea to me, but it also doesn’t make any theological sense. Nowhere else in Judeo-Christian tradition is the idea that a literal consumption of a person endows one with that person’s essence. These beliefs were held in the more ancient polytheistic traditions and, yes, in cannibalistic cultures.

Note how just prior to this reading Jesus invokes the memory of the manna given to the ancient Israelites in the desert as they searched for the Promised Land. In the reading Jesus seems to launch into the present passage with this as an allegory. As he says, “Your ancestors ate manna in the desert and they died; this is the bread that came down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die.” The situations are similar. The Israelites were physically starving and dying in the desert, so God sent them food directly from heaven to nourish their bodies. Humankind was spiritually starving and dying in the desert of sin and worldliness, so God sent them Jesus so that they might live. And, since Jesus is a spiritual version of manna, they are nourished not temporarily in the flesh, but eternally in the spirit.

But, like us, the listeners of Jesus’ speech were confused by his strong word choices and imagery. As the Gospel indicates, the listeners said “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” Jesus responds that “It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” Basically, he says “No, I’m not really talking about my flesh, since flesh fades and is not one’s true essence. Rather, I was talking about spirituality. It is my spirit that you need to take within you.” Of course, Jesus is also not implying that we need to cross into even more fantastical territory and feed on his soul like Dementors in the “Harry Potter” books. Jesus is saying that we need to embrace his teachings and his lessons for us, and indicates that he has indeed come to save our souls.

-Timothy