While Jesus desired that all of his disciples may be of one accord, he did not back down or dilute his message when they threatened to walk away from him.
This as especially the case when he began to explain the concept of the Eucharist, where people would eat his “flesh”:
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; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever.”
John 6:53-58
A hard saying
In response to Jesus’ words, his disciples were scandalized, asking him how such a concept could be possible:
Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”
John 6:60
Unfortunately, many decided to walk away, “After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him” (John 6:66).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church compares this division among Jesus’ disciples with the way the cross was a “stumbling block”:
The first announcement of the Eucharist divided the disciples, just as the announcement of the Passion scandalized them: “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” The Eucharist and the Cross are stumbling blocks.
CCC 1336
St. Paul used similar words when writing to the Corinthians:
For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
1 Corinthians 1:22-24
A crucified savior doesn’t make sense from a worldly point of view, and continues to be a difficult teaching to accept.
Will you also go away?
The Catechism then presents Jesus’ words to us today, asking us if we will also walk away:
It is the same mystery and it never ceases to be an occasion of division. “Will you also go away?“: the Lord’s question echoes through the ages, as a loving invitation to discover that only he has “the words of eternal life” and that to receive in faith the gift of his Eucharist is to receive the Lord himself.
CCC 1336
The Eucharist remains a difficult teaching, but one that is essential to the Catholic faith, reminding us that God remains with us and loves us with an everlasting love.
And today we celebrate...