At the end of John Chapter 6, there is a great and dramatic moment - perhaps the most dramatic in all of the New Testament, where Jesus is willing to lose the foundation of his church - his disciples - if they do not truly believe what he says unto them in verses 53-56, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.” Christ is teaching at the synagogue in Capernaum when he says this unto all the disciples present, and upon hearing this message, the Bible says in verse 60, “Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?” Jesus knew some of them did not believe him, Jesus knew from the beginning who truly believed, those who did not, and who would betray him. The Bible does not give us an exact number of how many left him, but we can surmise it was in the dozens of men who departed from him that day and went back to their former ways of life. When Jesus initially gave this instruction to them, it was in the original Greek and the verb form changes to mean – chewing, munching, or gnawing - so it wasn’t a beautiful metaphor or expression he gave them. It’s an incredible moment, Jesus then turns to the twelve who remained - the 12 we all know today - and says unto them, “Will ye also go away?” At this point we’re all biting our nails feverishly, but Peter speaks up immediately and says in reply in verses 68-69, “We believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Phewwww! We can let out a sigh of relief at this point - but then, just as we let out our sighs of relief, Jesus goes on to tell them in verse 70, “Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” He is speaking of Judas Iscariot, the Son of Simon who will eventually betray Jesus.
Over 2,000 years later, we all must accept this same inner reality and divinity of Jesus preceding our acceptance of the Eucharist. Eating of the bread is his flesh, and the drinking of the wine is his blood - it is a call to faith and belief in him, that the eucharist is going to give us his life, and that we share and are united in him. Ephesians Chapter 5 gives us great aid to understand what is going on in the eucharist as well as what is acceptable to God - with instructions on how to please him and be a sweet-smelling aroma in his nostrils. St. Paul tells in verse 29, “For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord and the church; for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” The divine mysteries of Christs’ church, he’s saying in the sacrament of marriage, it is represented to us – that Jesus is acting in ALL the sacraments. When he is uniting a couple, he is strengthening their bond, it becomes in-dissolvable and divine. The mystery of God is infinite, it is incomprehensible, unfathomable - so Christ is the divine mystery, and his saving actions are mysteries as well. He instituted the sacraments because God is there working.
The word sacrament from the Latin root “mysterion” means “mystery.” The saving mystery of Christ today is presented to us in the sacraments, they are earthly material signs and elements of Christ, as well as the holy spirit at work. Marriage is a sign of the entire mystery of Christs union with us - the bridegroom and his bride - of him with us. The nuptial mystery is about giving ourselves to the other in order to become one. Jesus laid down his life on the cross, suffered and died for us – this is the deepest expression of giving of oneself – to the point of death for another, and this is all present in his giving in all sacraments - baptism, communion, reconciliation. He takes our original sin away though confirmation - the gift of holy spirit is deepened through communion in the Eucharist - he is giving us his body and blood to transform us into his mystical body in order to unite us to him. He gives this grace back in marriage - Jesus is present in the couples love for each other, and in holy orders, Christ is acting in these sacraments for us. So, the nuptial-spousal mystery is about union, and its union is especially symbolized in marriage because it’s God who is infinite, holy, not male, not female – he has no biological physical reality, but in marriage he brings us together complimentary with our differences, our expressions - the otherness of God united with us in the first place, for we are not pure spirit. In marriage of the male-female brought together, we see God’s holy transcendence with the finite, for love unites and gives life to the other, as well as also - supernatural life to souls. All that is image to us in marriage, the common experience, we have seen it every day, reminds us of what God is doing for us, in the liturgy - the work of our confession is accomplished in the Eucharist, giving us the gifts of the eternal life through a sacramental life.
“Do you also want to leave?” Is a question for all of us. Do we want to stay to be converted and have faith and share in him, his body and blood? Flowing from the pascal mystery the night before he was to die, he celebrated the first mass, making the one peace in cavalry. The sacrifice comes through the body filled with his holy spirit, divinized, and offered to us in bread and wine. It is not the dead flesh of Christ, yet him fully alive - and it transforms us - and marriage teaches us that it’s a covenant, a permanent love for us, that he is giving himself to us - and he wants to give us something greater than ourselves to bring us to his ternal life in heaven. Many refused him that day - he didn’t chase after them, nor ask them to come back - he was ready to lose the foundation stones of the church, this is the holy mystery. We have to get on board or start over. And Peter, and all his weakness we have seen from him in the gospels, speaks up! We can’t get it from the best job in the world, nor any amount of money, nor all the advantages of life - it only comes from God, through sacraments and the church - may we be faithful to this great gift and repent of our sins, to come to him in adoration, that we may have his strength, his peace, his joy, and live in union with him in life.
There’s so much attention and struggle in life today despite having so much relatively, he has the words of eternal life we cannot find that anywhere else.