DAY 119
CHALLENGE
“Jesus was clearly speaking symbolically when he said, ‘This is my body’ and ‘This is my blood.’ His body and blood are not literally present in the Eucharist.”
DEFENSE
Other passages make it clear that Jesus was speaking literally.
We live in an age that is biased against miracles. It’s easy for us to interpret things as symbols rather than miracles. When faced with this decision, we need to check our instincts by making a careful reading of the text. Sometimes it will indicate what we are reading is symbolic, but sometimes it will indicate what we are reading is miraculous.
It is helpful to remember that Jesus instituted the Eucharist in a culture more ready to accept miracles than ours. Indeed, the apostles had seen Jesus perform many miracles, and he had empowered them to perform miracles, too (Matt. 10:1, 8; Mark 6:7; 13; Luke 9:1). They would have been more inclined to interpret his words as indicating a miracle than we are.
Other passages confirm that they took his words in this way. Paul states that the eucharistic elements are a participation in, not just a representation of, Christ’s body and blood (1 Cor. 10:16). He warns that those who profane the Eucharist “will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Cor. 11:27). He says that “any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself” (1 Cor. 11:29), and that the consequence of this can even be death (1 Cor. 11:30).
Similarly, in John 6, Jesus repeatedly stresses the need to eat his flesh and drink his blood. When challenged on how this can happen (6:52), Jesus becomes more emphatic, stating: “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (6:53) and “my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed” (6:55). After this teaching, “many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him” (6:66). Rather than clarifying the matter privately for the core disciples, as elsewhere (Matt. 16:6, 11–12, 17:19, 24:3; Mark 4:34; Luke 10:23), he asked if they, too, will leave (John 6:67). Jesus was willing to lose core disciples rather than weaken this teaching or explain it as symbolic.