'Son of Man as Our Spiritual Food' is a dimension of the mystery of the Son of Man that is often inadequately understood if not totally misunderstood. Jesus has given us the Eucharist that is the bread come down from heaven giving eternal life to all those who eat it because it is his own flesh that we eat when we eat the heavenly bread. The Jews could not understand these words and there was a great dispute among them about how he could give his own flesh to eat. "Jesus replied, 'In truth, in very truth I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you can have no life in you' " (John, 6: 53). It is very clear from here that in order to understand the meaning of the Eucharist where we eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus Christ, we must first understand the implications of the title 'Son of Man'. The Son of Man is the spiritual food nourishing our spirit as against the material food nourishing our body. Moreover, the material food nourishes us by its absorption by the body, whereas the spiritual food nourishes us by our being absorbed into it. In this case, the Son of Man being our spiritual food we shall be nourished spiritually only when we are absorbed by him into his realms when we consume in faith the heavenly food and drink. Transformation of the believer into Jesus Christ is the ultimate objective of this spiritual food of his body and blood whereby the Body of Christ grows into the Temple of God The Eucharist has reference both to the Last Supper and to the sacrifice on the cross that was accepted by the Father by raising Jesus from the dead. Since he cannot die again we receive Jesus in the Eucharist in his glorified state filled with the Holy Spirit sanctifying the believer.
Jesus was teaching in the Synagogue of Capernaum, when even his disciples murmured about his teaching saying that it was something more than they could stomach. "Jesus was aware that his disciples were murmuring about it and asked them, 'Does this shock you? What if you see the Son of Man ascending to the place where he was before? The spirit alone gives life; the flesh is of no avail ; the words which I have spoken to you are both spirit and life. And there are some of you who have no faith'. For Jesus knew all along who were without faith and who was to betray him" (John, 6: 61-64). Jesus himself referred to the over-arching reality of the Son of Man to solve the difficulties of his disciples concerning eating his flesh and drinking his blood as spiritual food and drink. Besides, he reminded them that he was not speaking of any crass material way of eating and drinking , although we do it by means of real physical eating and drinking. That is why he added a note of caution about the real implications of this food and drink, which are both spirit and life. Since the spirit alone gives life and flesh is absolutely useless to be a source of eternal life, the physical should be subsumed under the influence of the spirit. We have other instances in the Bible where Jesus resorts to the reality of the Son of Man to clarify the minds of his perplexed listeners that also enlighten us on the role of the Son of Man in the plan of God. Nathaniel was taken aback by the knowledge of Jesus about him even before they met, which prompted Jesus to reveal the role of the Son of Man as the sole mediator between God and all the creation by the imagery of the angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man (John, 1: 48-51). To the High Priest who questioned Jesus whether he was the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One, Jesus revealed his role as the Judge of the whole world. " Jesus said, 'I am; and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of God and coming with the clouds of heaven' " (Mark, 14: 62).
It is clear from the above-mentioned references by Jesus about the Son of Man that without believing in what is going to happen in future, no one can really understand the Son of Man. If we are satisfied with merely material things and are anchored to our roots solely on this earth without reference to the coming world, the Son of Man can play no role in our lives. Our faith in the Son of Man is firmed up by our hope in his future role as the sole mediator before God and as Judge of the whole Universe. (To be Cont'd).
Jesus was teaching in the Synagogue of Capernaum, when even his disciples murmured about his teaching saying that it was something more than they could stomach. "Jesus was aware that his disciples were murmuring about it and asked them, 'Does this shock you? What if you see the Son of Man ascending to the place where he was before? The spirit alone gives life; the flesh is of no avail ; the words which I have spoken to you are both spirit and life. And there are some of you who have no faith'. For Jesus knew all along who were without faith and who was to betray him" (John, 6: 61-64). Jesus himself referred to the over-arching reality of the Son of Man to solve the difficulties of his disciples concerning eating his flesh and drinking his blood as spiritual food and drink. Besides, he reminded them that he was not speaking of any crass material way of eating and drinking , although we do it by means of real physical eating and drinking. That is why he added a note of caution about the real implications of this food and drink, which are both spirit and life. Since the spirit alone gives life and flesh is absolutely useless to be a source of eternal life, the physical should be subsumed under the influence of the spirit. We have other instances in the Bible where Jesus resorts to the reality of the Son of Man to clarify the minds of his perplexed listeners that also enlighten us on the role of the Son of Man in the plan of God. Nathaniel was taken aback by the knowledge of Jesus about him even before they met, which prompted Jesus to reveal the role of the Son of Man as the sole mediator between God and all the creation by the imagery of the angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man (John, 1: 48-51). To the High Priest who questioned Jesus whether he was the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One, Jesus revealed his role as the Judge of the whole world. " Jesus said, 'I am; and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of God and coming with the clouds of heaven' " (Mark, 14: 62).
It is clear from the above-mentioned references by Jesus about the Son of Man that without believing in what is going to happen in future, no one can really understand the Son of Man. If we are satisfied with merely material things and are anchored to our roots solely on this earth without reference to the coming world, the Son of Man can play no role in our lives. Our faith in the Son of Man is firmed up by our hope in his future role as the sole mediator before God and as Judge of the whole Universe. (To be Cont'd).
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