Many non Catholic Christians do not believe that the Communion elements, and in actuality many Catholics don’t either, are the Body and Blood of Christ in truth, but are just a symbol. Let’s start talking about that.
First, in Genesis 14:18 we have the bread and wine offered by the priest-King Melchizedek which prefigures the bread and wined offered by the eternal priest-King Jesus at the Last Supper.
The same victim that was offered up to save the lives of the first-born of Israel was also the victim consumed as food for bodily nourishment as the Israelites began their journey to the promised land (Exodus 12:1-20), and this prefigures the Eucharist in the same victim, the Paschal Lamb, Jesus, who was offered up for our sins to save us from the spiritual death in which He consumed in the Eucharist to provide spiritual nourishment for the journey to our promised land of heaven.
John 6 is the strongest indication FROM GOD, that the Eucharist is the living flesh of Christ Jesus:
In John 6:32-51 Jesus EXPRESSLY applies Himself to the Old Testament manna. The manna from heaven sustained the Israelites throughout their pilgrimage in the desert, but ceased to fall when they entered the Promised Land (Exodus 16:35). Similarly, the Eucharist nourishes us spiritually in this life of pilgrimage, but ceases (as do all other sacraments) when we enter the promised land of heaven.
John 6:51 – I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.
John 6:53 – Truly, Truly, I say to you, unless you eat (the Greek word used in all variations found is masticate, or chew/grind with teeth vs. “eat”) the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.
John 6:55 – For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
In reading John 6, one has to agree that Jesus was speaking literally and not figuratively. His followers had been following him at this time, living, eating, and walking with Jesus, for nearly two years. They spoke the same language and dialect as Jesus. Day in and day out, they heard Him use different figures of speech. They heard Him speak symbolically, using parables, allegories, and analogies (such as calling Herod a fox). They also heard Him speak literally, meaning exactly what He said. Many of His disciples heard Him there, “live”, and quit following Jesus Christ – never even asking Jesus to explain Himself. They understood perfectly that Jesus meant precisely what He said. In fact, instead of explain that His listeners were misunderstanding what He said, that He was only speaking figuratively, He, in very strong language, emphatically REPEATS the literalness of this teaching, six times in six verses (53-58). Verse 55 saying “For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed”, this is NOT the language of symbolism!
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