Living Bread

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever...” John 6:51-52

God’s Word is creative and if He says, “Whoever eats this bread will live forever,” we better ask, “What can He mean? How do we eat Him if I want to live forever?” 

If we read it in the original Greek, Jesus uses the word “trogain” which means to GNAW, as a lion would eat the meat off the bones of its prey. “Unless you GNAW me, you will not have life within you.” This was very disgusting to the Jews because they were taught from childhood, from the Law and the Prophets, that they should never eat animal flesh with blood. Many followers left His side at this point. Did Jesus tell them, “Come back! I did not mean what you think! I only meant that you eat me symbolically!”? No! He let them go. 

The Words of Jesus transforms reality. After all He is the Word became flesh for the life of the world. God made light by saying, “Let there be light.” Jesus says, “I am the bread of life... I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” 

Do we hunger for this living bread just as we hunger for food when we are deprived of it? Saint Augustine writes in his Commentary about the 6th chapter of John: “This bread, indeed, requires the hunger of the inner man...The Lord said that He Himself was the Bread that came down from heaven, exhorting us to believe in Him. For to believe in Him is to eat the living Bread. He that believes eats; he is sated invisibly, because invisibly he is born again.” 

Today, as we receive the Holy Eucharist, let us know that we are obeying Jesus’ admonition for us to eat the living Bread, the Word made flesh!