Gospel Commentary: Jesus' Worst Sermon

By Fr. John Riley
HERALD Columnist
(From the issue of 8/17/00)

The synagogue at Capharnaum is crammed to the gills. People are spilling out into the streets. It is a bright clear morning in the early spring, and in the distance the sapphire Sea of Galilee is gleaming. Jesus Christ, after walking on the waters of that same sea the night before, is basking in the wake of His greatest miracle until the present moment. Yesterday He had fed close to 20,000 people with five loaves and two fishes. At the crest of His popularity [this same crowd had tried to carry Him off and make Him king], Jesus destroys the fruits of a year’s labor in a matter of minutes, with the most devastating homily ever delivered.

"The bread I shall give is My flesh, for the life of the world!"

"What!" … "He’s crazy!" …. "What is He talking about?!" Shocked and appalled, the people that a moment before had been ready to crown Jesus king, fights among themselves and grumble against this "messiah gone mad."

"Amen, Amen, I say unto you," Jesus speaks firmly and with a boldness sufficient for all to hear. The crowd hushes and gives Him its attention. "Amen, Amen" …a solemn formula for swearing an oath….now the Nazorean would clear things up and explain what He really meant by that strange statement.

Christ continues, "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you; he who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." Jesus not only affirms the stark reality of His earlier statement; He goes even further! John’s Gospel, written in Greek, drives this shocking truth home even more violently. The Greek verb "fagein" which he employs up to this point is translated simply -- "to eat," In verse 54, where Jesus re-emphasizes what He had said before, the verb "fagein" is replaced by "trogon" -- to munch, chew, or gnaw. No possibility of interpreting this passage symbolically or metaphorically -- Jesus is talking about a gritty, physical process by which His body is to be eaten and His blood is to be consumed.

As the crowd lapses into a confused comatosis, Jesus relentlessly thrusts the mind-piercing truth even deeper into the memories of His congregation. "My Flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink; He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in me, and I in him."

"Enough!" "This sort of talk is hard to endure! Who can take it seriously?" In a few moments, Jesus had stunned His apostles, alienated His disciples, and effectively destroyed His following. His worst sermon was at an end. The crowd abandons Him.

Some people reckon the success or failure of a sermon or homily by how they feel after it. Entertainment…a few good laughs…some warm fuzzy consolation…affirmation in the choices and lifestyle one happens to be living at a particular time -- these are their criteria for a "good homily." By this mediocre standard of reckoning, Jesus’ "Bread of Life Discourse" would indeed be considered a crashing failure.

But for those who seek something more from a homily … instruction, edification, a challenge to be holy -- Truth -- these words, delivered in a dusty synagogue at Capharnaum, rank among the most wonderful ever spoken. When, by the power of the Holy Spirit we find the faith and courage to believe in these words of Jesus Christ, they become for us a promise of an intimacy with Him we could never hope for in this life without the great miracle they prefigurE transubstantiation. His flesh IS real food; His blood IS true drink. We receive Him, and He abides in us -- really, wholly, and substantially.

At the Last Supper the apostles understood for the first time what those cryptic words of Christ actually meant. His Body and Blood were indeed to be consumed -- but under the forms of bread and wine. At every Mass the Last Supper and Calvary are made present. We have the opportunity to do what Jesus has commanded us to do in memory of Him -- to eat His Body and drink His Blood. We may not fully comprehend the magnitude of this mystery, but we can place ourselves in company with the confused but faithful Peter, who observed as the crowds disappeared in the distance after Jesus’ "worst" sermon, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life!" Amen.

Fr. Riley is administrator at St. Louis Parish in Alexandria.

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