On the 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B, we encounter one of the most puzzling and profound teachings of Jesus: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” These words can be shocking, and many people, both in Jesus’ time and today, wonder why He would say something like this. What does Jesus really mean? Why would He want us to eat His flesh?
To understand why Jesus uses this language, we need to look at the role of eating in the Bible. Eating is more than just a physical act; it’s a spiritual one too. In the very beginning, the Bible tells us that the first sin of humanity was related to eating. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and this act symbolized their attempt to take control of what belongs to God. It wasn’t just about satisfying physical hunger; it was about trying to grasp wisdom and power that weren’t theirs to take.
But the Bible also speaks of another tree in the Garden of Eden: the Tree of Life. Eating from this tree represents accepting God’s gift of life on His terms. Unfortunately, because of sin, Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden and couldn’t eat from this tree anymore. Since then, humanity has felt a deep longing for something more, a sense that we are not truly at home in this world.
God, however, has always desired to bring us back to Him, to our true home. Throughout the Bible, God uses meals to invite people into a closer relationship with Him. For example, He dined with Abraham and promised him a new home. He provided manna from heaven to sustain the Israelites in the desert. And later, He gave the people the Bread of the Presence in the Temple as a sign of His ongoing presence with them.
In the New Testament, Jesus continues this pattern. He feeds the multitudes with loaves and fishes, and He shares meals with His disciples. These meals are not just about feeding the body but about offering spiritual nourishment and pointing towards something greater.
Jesus’ words about eating His flesh come just before the Jewish festival of Passover, a time when the Jewish people remembered how God saved them from slavery in Egypt. During the Passover meal, a lamb was sacrificed, and the people ate it to complete the ritual. Jesus is often called the “Lamb of God” because He sacrifices Himself for us, just as the Passover lamb was sacrificed.
When Jesus speaks of eating His flesh and drinking His blood, He is speaking about the Eucharist, the sacred meal we celebrate at Mass. In the Eucharist, the bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus. This is not just a symbolic act but a real participation in Jesus’ sacrifice. By receiving the Eucharist, we are united with Jesus and share in the new life He offers. This new life is like eating from the Tree of Life that was once out of reach.
So why does Jesus want us to eat His flesh? Because He wants to bring us back to our true home with God. Just as eating the forbidden fruit led to death, eating the body and blood of Jesus leads to eternal life. It’s a way for us to enter into a deep, personal relationship with Jesus and to receive the grace we need to live as God’s children.
In the Mass, we are invited to a heavenly banquet, a foretaste of the eternal life we hope to enjoy with God in heaven. When we receive the Eucharist, we are not just remembering what Jesus did for us; we are actually participating in it. We are taking part in the new Passover, the new covenant that Jesus established through His death and resurrection.
In the Eucharist, Jesus gives us His very self, body and blood, soul and divinity, so that we might have life — eternal life — with Him. This is the heart of what it means to be a Christian, to share in this sacred meal and to journey together towards our true home with God.
Source: Benedictine College
