The Eucharist: Just a Symbol?

"Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?’(John 6:60)

Recently I heard that 60 percent of Catholics do not believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Well maybe it was only 40 percent. Either way that’s a large number of people who are not aware of the grace we receive each time we receive this precious sacrament.

With this article, I would like to provide some biblical basis for our belief in the Real Presence. And in doing so I hope that whoever reads this will feel compelled to share this with others and lead them to a closer relationship with Christ.

Let’s continue with John 6 where we read the words of Jesus:

²⁷Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you

Jesus then goes on to refer to the manna that God provided the Israelites as they sojourned 40 years in the desert.

³²Then Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven….³⁵Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Following this we begin to see the disbelief, the thoughts of incredulity that those in his audience feel as they listen to Jesus. Wait a minute they think. Isn’t he just the son of Joseph? What does he mean that he has come down from heaven? He is the bread of life? What?

⁴³Jesus answered them, "Do not complain among yourselves…..⁴⁷Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

Still, we see more angst. "My flesh"? Is he serious?

⁵²The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

At this point let us note a few things.

• Jesus’ listeners are taking him to be speaking literally. Not figuratively or symbolically. Why else the strong reaction, their aversion to his words?

• Jesus does not soften his words. He makes no attempt to clarify them in the manner his listeners would have expected. Instead what does Jesus say next?

⁵³So Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; ⁵⁵for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. ⁵⁸This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever."

Wow! Jesus becomes even more emphatic. In these five verses he mentions "eat my flesh" twice, "eat the flesh of the Son of Man", "my flesh is true food", "whoever eats me will live because of me" and "but the one who eats this food will live forever". He says we must drink his blood, that it is "true drink". In 1 Corinthians 11 we read of the institution of the Lord’s Supper. We also read the following:

²⁷Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. ²⁹For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves.

In 1 Corinthians we have the words of St. Paul. Surely, he took Jesus literally. Why should we worry about eating the bread and drinking the cup in "an unworthy manner" if we were simply eating and drinking a symbol? It would make little sense of Paul to mention we bring judgment upon ourselves by eating and drinking without "discerning the body" symbolically.

I began this article with verse 60 and I provide it here again:

"Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?’

Jesus responds with this:

⁶¹But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, "Does this offend you?.... ⁶⁶Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him…

Now we have a choice. Do we take Jesus at his word(s)? Or are we like his listeners in John 6:66 who refuse to believe? Let us continue to follow Him, be His believing disciples and share this good news with our brothers and sisters in the pews!