He who eats my eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him.[1]
What a queer saying of Jesus, oft cited at ‘the fencing of the sacrament’ and yet more frequently neglected of its freakish intimation. The reader must bear in mind that this aphorism is given in the context of a miraculous meal (deed) and its ensuing instruction (word). What are we to make of this? Jesus is pictured by the beloved disciple here as rendering prophetic foretelling (i.e. looking toward the full unveiling of the sacrament). But how would that crowd have reconciled such a grotesque and bizarre teaching?[2]
The epistemic reconciliation for most came in the form of “exiting stage left”.[3] However, it is clear from the text that the acerbic saying did not swallow with facility to those who remained either.[4] What are we to make of such a saying, in its historical context and today? As the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is communicated in the context of the Passover supper, does this saying lose its freakishness or vivacity? If we follow something like Rahner’s suggestions concerning multiplicity and symbolic theology, then how should that affect our actual epistemic state in the act of this sacrament?
[1] John 6:56
[2] The chronology of John’s Gospel narrative is still unreconciled itself. However, the larger point of the grotesque nature of the sacrament is exaggerated here when viewed out of the context of the Passover meal.
[3] John 6:66 notes, “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.”
[4] John 6:60, “When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”
