The entirety of Jn 6 focuses on the eucharist. The nearness of the Passover (v 4) ties the occasion both to the celebration of God’s deliverance of his people in the past, and to the fulfillment of Jesus’ sacrifice in his death and resurrection. The multiplication of loaves and the walking on water unite Jesus’ power as the Son of God to the elements of nature — his is not a dominating and manipulating power but a perfecting and liberating power. The elements — bread, wind, sea — in obedience to him become more truly what they already are: instruments of grace.

Those miracles are a prelude to Jesus’ teaching about himself as "bread of life," of which this passage is the concluding section. The word "flesh" is unmistakable in its concrete meaning. Jesus is no longer speaking metaphorically of "food" — as in "I am the bread of life" (vv 35, 48) — but now is calling his disciples to participate intimately in the incarnation itself. The word "incarnation" means "enfleshment," and Jesus’ words here recall the beginning of John’s Gospel: "The Word became made flesh and made his dwelling among us" (1:14). Jesus is "God-in-the-flesh" fully and really.

These words are not "merely symbolic," but neither are they merely literal. They are symbolic in the fullest sense of the word. To eat and drink, as the action of the eucharist, is the sign of intimacy of the union with the human and divine Christ in the sacrament, as well as the means to it. This action brings us into the family relationship of the Trinity (v 57). By uniting with Christ totally ("in the flesh") we share in the same life-receiving relationship he has with the Father.

Obviously, "flesh" here does not refer to the corrupting tendencies of lower nature, as St. Paul uses the term. (See Rom 8; Gal 5.) Instead, the flesh encompasses the total humanity of Christ as the dwelling place (Jn 1:14) of the divinity.

God is closest to his people in times of suffering and trial — just when he seems farthest away! In the midst of "the test" he sustains those who are faithful to him by the continuance of his creative Word. This type of sustenance is symbolized by the manna. God’s work is not finished in creation alone; he remains active in history, bringing his creation to perfection.

We can no more "test" God than we can prove his existence. He is fidelity itself, and what is self-evident is incapable of test or proof. On the other hand, God has the right to test us, so that through trial we may be led to the perfection that he seeks for us. The faithful, tried and true, become the strongest evidence for God’s existence and his fidelity.

These verses, from the second half of a two-part song, praise God for his goodness to his people. Response: "Praise the Lord, Jerusalem."

Pagan mystery religions held that the worshiper who shared in a sacrificial meal participated in the power of the god being worshiped. St. Paul both compares and contrasts this to the Christian eucharist. Sharing the one loaf and the one cup of the eucharist make us one with the whole Christ. And this participation cannot be half-hearted, divided among other "gods" as well. The union signified and brought about in the eucharist must permeate every aspect of our lives.

1. How is sharing Christ’s body and blood in communion an act which affirms our union with one another as well?

2. Discuss the eucharist as the continuation of "God-with us" —Emmanuel.