To Inherit Eternal Life, We Must Become What We Eat!

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi

St. Mary of Assumption Church, Whittier, CA

Sunday, June 18, 2017

Today’s Gospel (John 6:51-58) is a continuation of Jesus’ long discourse that follows the multiplication of the five loaves and two fish. The Jews who participated in that meal really enjoyed it. Why did I say that? Because they returned to Jesus later and like the famous Oliver Twist, asked for more. More bread! More fish! But Jesus used the occasion to turn their attention to what is far more important than food and drink. After all, several years before Jesus was born, Moses had told their ancestors that, “…not by bread alone does one live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3b), a passage that Jesus later referenced to when the devil asked him to turn stones into bread (Matthew 4:4). 

Jesus’ audience was hungry, but their hunger was mostly a spiritual one— a sense of emptiness they attempted to fill up with food and other material things. So, Jesus said to them, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” Permit me to rephrase those words this way: “I know you are hungry, but your hunger is mostly spiritual. I am the living bread that can quench and satisfy that hunger. If you humble yourself and accept me, you will not be hungry again, in fact, your satisfaction will be eternal. And guess what? The bread I will give you is not like the one I gave you previously. It is my flesh.” Ol boy! When the people heard that, they murmured and quarreled. But Jesus was emphatic and forceful about the necessity of eating his body and drinking his blood. He did not mince words: “Amen, Amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them on the last day.” 

Friends, those words of Jesus can easily be misunderstood if they are interpreted in isolation. When Jesus said, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day,” is it automatic? Does it mean that we have already gained eternal life simply because we have received his Body and Blood in the past and will receive them again today? I don’t think so! There are other commands from the Lord that we must also obey to inherit eternal life. No one passes an examination simply by getting the first question right and then failing the rest of it.

Today is the Solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. Today, we celebrate   in a special way the Lord’s finest gift of himself and his life to us. At every Mass, we commune with the Lord. We hear his Word proclaimed and preached to us. We encounter him. The climax of this encounter and communion happens when we step forward to receive him in the form of bread and wine. But after the Mass is over, we should carry him along, not leave him behind in the church. We should live, talk and act like him. We should become the Body of Christ after receiving the Body of Christ, for so indeed we are. We have to become what we ate in order to rightfully lay claim to eternal life. St. Augustine said it more eloquently, “If you receive him in the right disposition, you become what you receive.” 

But what does it mean to become what we eat? It is to become like Jesus who was human but also humane. It is to become kind, gracious, and gentle like Jesus. To become what we eat is to become selfless, sacrificial, patient and holy just like the One we have received. Jesus loves everyone- saints and sinners. He never despised or discriminated anyone. He was all things to all people. To become what we eat is take seriously what Jesus took seriously. Just as obedience to his Father, our Father, was his food, our source of joy and peace should come from our obedience of the Father through Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

You know, littered in the Gospel of John is the word, “remain.” In 15:4, Jesus said, “Remain in me and I in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.” To remain is more than a physical presence, it’s personal and abiding relationship. It’s about accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and living according to his will, not personal will or worldly will. If Jesus’ food is to do the will of his heavenly Father, our food should be likewise. In John 6:56, Jesus says, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” To remain in Jesus means to be everything about Jesus.

The question then is why is it that so many of us who receive the Eucharist do not experience real transformation? This story may help us understand why. A team of Russians and Americans were on a common mission. Among the items of food was Russian black bread. It was a tasty bread but hard on the teeth. It happened that at their meal, one of the Americans decided to have a bite of the bread, and immediately had a crack on his tooth. He threw the bread overboard and grumbled, “Lousy communist bread.” But the Russian countered, “It’s not lousy communist bread, but rotten capitalist tooth.” If we do not experience the transforming power of the Eucharist, it is probably not on account of a lousy Eucharist but on account of our rotten faith.

God bless you!