Math meets the Bread of Life Discourse

Photo courtesy of www.blamecommoncore.com

Hello, dear one!  I just want to take a moment to let you know how much I appreciate you as a reader and how much I appreciate you giving me an open forum within which to express my questions, fears, doubts, and insights about faith and life!  In truth, I used to keep scads of journals, but now I find that as I share what I learn...even in those areas where I wrestle to understand biblical truth...that I grow deeper as a result of dialoging with God's greater family of faith.  Truly, we are meant to grow in the context of a body of Christ--the Scriptures are very clear about that, all throughout its pages, as God calls a family, then a nation, and finally establishes a living and breathing Church!  And, likewise dear friend, I invite you to share what you know and how you have wrestled (or are currently wresting) with me.  You see, it is only as we wrestle that we are truly transformed--Jacob himself can testify to that as he forever walked with a limp after wrestling with God in the night (Gen 32)!

Well, I'd like to revisit a passage of Scripture that I have been wrestling with for the better part of four months now--that being, the Bread of Life discourse in John chapter 6.  (If you want the background on this, check out this post and this one here...and perhaps this one and this one will help, too.)  Here is a portion of the Bread of Life discourse that I will be focusing more on in this post:

"47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink."  (John 6:47-55 NIV)

I have read this passage and prayerfully considered it from all angles.  Was Jesus speaking metaphorically or literally?  Does this passage unlock the mysteries of the Eucharist, or does it merely parallel its theme as it pertains to the Passover?  Is this passage any different from Nicodemus and the woman at the well (found just a few chapters prior to this section) who also take Jesus' words to be "born again" and drink "living water" literally (and incorrectly).

In short, for me, the key to understanding this passage of Scripture has boiled down to understanding a simple mathematical law, namely the transitive property of mathematics:

If A = B

 And B = C

Then, A must equal C.

Let me explain.

As we can see above in John 6:47, Jesus states that whoever believes in me has eternal life.

So, Belief = Eternal life (A = B)

Later in John 6:54, we learn that whoever feeds on His flesh and drinks His blood has eternal life.

Eternal life = Eating/drinking flesh and blood (B = C)

Then, we must by the transitive property of mathematics stated above, understand "eating and drinking Christ's flesh and blood" to mean "belief in Jesus" (not belief in the True Presence of the Eucharist, but belief that He is the Son of God, in the context of this chapter).

One commentator puts it like this: "A very close union exists between Himself and those who are believers in Him.  Whoever eats His flesh and drinks His blood abides in Him, and He abides in that person.  Nothing could be closer or more intimate than this.  When we eat literal food, we take it into our very being; and it becomes a part of us.  When we accept the Lord Jesus as our Redeemer, He comes into our lives to abide, and we, too, abide (continually dwell) in Him."  (Believer's Bible Commentary, William MacDonald)

And so, dear friend, I have come to have peace and accept that in this particular passage, Jesus is not referring to the True Presence of the Eucharist, but rather the need to fully believe in Him as the Son of God with full faith.  I hope I have helped you to better understand this passage, too, and will continue to search the Scriptures prayerfully when it comes to this matter of faith!

Postscript
In truth, I was hoping that for me, the insight I have gained into this passage of Scripture would forever close the door on my recent "True Presence" quandary as it relates to the Eucharist.  Unfortunately, I have had no such peace.  Even though I do have peace about John 6 and what it does (and does not) explicitly say about the Eucharist, there is not much I can do with 1,500 years of church history that speak so pointedly to this matter of faith!  Quiet honestly, I am haunted by the fact that when I read testimonies from early 2nd century church fathers (Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp, etc) who had been converted and mentored by the apostles themselves, they speak to the mystery of the True Presence in the Eucharist as though it were unquestionable...and this would go on like that for the first 500 years of Christian history!  So needless to say, I have much more investigating to do!  Prayers appreciated!