“Stop murmuring among yourselves…”
Throughout the Bread of Life Discourse, we see Jesus offering great love, but we also see that no matter how great the love, love can still be rejected. Saint Catherine of Siena in the Spirit Reading writes, “What an immeasurably profound love! Your Son went down from the heights of his divinity to the depths of our humanity. Can anyone’s heart remain closed and hardened after this?” [1]
Saint Catherine asks a good question. Can anyone’s heart remain closed and hardened after realizing that God became man? In John, Chapter 6 there are many people who have kept their hearts closed and hardened. These people did not recognized Jesus as the Son of God. These people lacked faith.
How do the people show a closed and hardened heart? Three ways:
First Way - “The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven,’ and they said, ‘Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” (John 6:41-42). The Jews were too focus on His humanity. They were so focused on Jesus as the “son of Joseph” that they missed the reality that Jesus is the “Son of God.” The Jews knew Joseph and Mary, but they did not know the Eternal Father. It can be easy at times to focus too much on the humanity of Jesus. Where do we see this in our society? What effect does it have on keeping us from knowing Jesus completely?
Second Way- “The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’” (John 6:52). The first example of a closed and hardened heart is an obsession on the humanity of Jesus. The second example stems from the first. The Jews say, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (John 6:52). If “this man” is not just man but also God, then of course He can give us His flesh to eat, for nothing is impossible for God.
If we do not recognize both the humanity and divinity of Jesus Christ, then we will not have faith in Jesus Christ, and we may not believe His words and the power and authority behind those words that bring about miracles. A running theme throughout the Gospel of John is the dual nature of Jesus Christ. In the Eucharist we see his divinity, but his humanity is hidden.
In the Crucifix we see His humanity, but His divinity is hidden. This reality is expressed in Saint Thomas Aquinas’s Adore Te Devote: “On the cross thy Godhead made no sign to men, Here [the Eucharist] thy very manhood steals from human kind: Both are my confession, both are my belief, and I pray the prayer of the dying thief.” It is only when we confess the humanity and divinity of Christ as the dying thief did, that we can ask for paradise.
Why do we believe the Eucharist is Jesus? Because Jesus said so! Jesus is God and God can neither deceive or be deceived. There are other mysteries of the faith, teachings we don’t understand, but believe because Jesus said so. Why do we believe in the forgiveness of sins? Because Jesus said so. Why do we believe in eternal life? Because Jesus said so. If we trust Jesus in one area, we should trust Him in all areas.
The articles of the Apostle’s Creed are based on the words of Jesus Christ, and we believe them, because He is not just man speaking, but God speaking, and God can only speak the truth. In the third stanza of Saint Thomas Aquinas’s Adore Te Devote it reads, “Credo quidquid dixit Dei Filius: Nil hoc verbo veritatis verius.” “What God's Son has told me, take for truth I do; Truth himself speaks truly or there's nothing true.”
Third Way - Many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” (John 6:60). The first two ways of closed and hardened hearts discussed above are both dealing with “The Jews”. This third way however is speaking of a different group, for there were Jews and disciples listening to Jesus as He spoke about the Bread of Life. The disciples were most likely made up of both Jew and Gentile, but they were disciples, followers of Jesus, rather than just bystanders. This group, “the disciples” differs from “The Jews” in two ways:. One, they were disciples, and two, they “were listening”.
What made this group harden their hearts? It was the difficulty of the teaching and their lack of faith. This group represents a person who is “in”. They belong to the group. They understand the teaching, but they lack the faith and perseverance necessary to accept the hard teachings. This group is similar to a Catholic, who calling himself Catholic, attends Mass and receives the Sacraments, but in regards to some teachings of the Church says, “This saying is hard, who can accept it?”
We accept the whole Christ, not part of Christ; we accept the whole Church, not part of the Church. The teachings of Christ and His Church will not always be easy, but they are true and this truth leads to freedom. “If you remain in my word, you will truly be by disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32).
What are some difficult teachings of Christ and His Church?
What can we do to accept the difficult teachings if we are struggling with them? Jesus says to us, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). We must first listen to what Jesus is teaching. The Church helps us to know the teaching of Christ, as she has been given the authority and has the guidance of the Holy Spirit to teach as Jesus taught. It is the job of the Church, especially through the Bishops, to uphold the teachings of Christ. The Bishops are responsible for rebuking false teaching as well as clearing up any teachings that have become confusing due to poor catechesis or practice.
Very often, instead of allowing Christ’s words to remain in us, we try to find someone to agree with us and our stance or interpretation of the difficult teaching. In regards to difficult teachings, we need to know why Christ and His Church teach what they teach.
After coming to knowledge of the truth, we must ask for the virtue of faith to accept the teaching. We must also ask for the virtue of charity, so that we can live out the truth, which we have come to know and accept. We ask for charity so that we can love the teachings of Christ, especially when they are challenging.
We will never stop sinning until we hate the sin, and we will never embrace the teachings of Christ until we love the teachings of Christ. When we know, accept, and love the teachings of Christ, they will not be a burden, but rather a rung on the ladder towards holiness and perfection.
We pray in the Collect:
O God, who causes the minds of the faithful to unite in a single purpose, grant your people to love what you command and to desire what you promise, that, amid the uncertainties of this world, our hearts may be fixed on that place where true gladness is found. [2]
It is the Church that helps us to love what God commands, to desire what God promises, and to fix our hearts on heaven.
Why would we not follow the teachings of Christ? The first reason is that they appear difficult. G.K. Chesterton wrote, “The Christian faith has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.” [3]
Another reason is that they are not popular. Most likely we also do not follow the teachings of Christ because we love something else more than what God commands. We desire something else more than what God promises. We fix our hearts on something else rather than heaven, where true gladness is found.
Jesus is not outside the struggle. He is divine and takes on humanity. He takes on the struggle in order to restore the dignity of our fallen flesh. Our flesh is fallen and in need of dignity, and as Saint Catherine says so beautifully to Our Lord, “Only your love could so dignify the flesh of Adam.” [4]
Jesus knows the struggle of our humanity and so says to the disciples, “Does this shock you?” (John 6:61). Jesus in a sense is saying, “Did you think this would be easy?” Do we think that in the Christian life, there will not be difficult teachings? Do we think that in the Christian life there will not be times when we have to accept something, even if we do not understand?
This question, “Does this shock you?” (John 6:61) shows us the need for both faith and reason. The Christian life is one of faith and reason. The disciples had reason, but now Jesus was introducing them to the life of faith. With reason alone, the teaching of the Eucharist would be shocking and difficult, therefore the virtue of faith is needed.
At the end of the Bread of Life Discourse, Jesus introduces another doctrine that will be shocking and difficult. Jesus says, “What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?” (John 6:62). Jesus is speaking of the Ascension, which once again does not make sense with reason alone; the virtue of faith is needed. Jesus promises us the Holy Spirit, “the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16) which gives us the gifts necessary to have and keep the virtue of faith.
What is the outcome for those disciples who follow the third way, explained above, that hear but do not believe? Jesus says, “But there are some of you who do not believe” (John 6:64). At this moment Jesus is giving a clear warning to the disciple, any disciple, would “follow” Him but not believe. In a specific way, Jesus is reaching out in mercy to Judas at this moment and does so again particularly when He addresses the Apostles saying, “Did I not choose you twelve? Yet is not one of you a devil?” (John 6:70). Judas is not alone in his disbelief; the other apostles also struggled with disbelief. Judas however is obstinate in his disbelief and lacks the humility and faith necessary to repent and believe. He is a follower, not a believer and in the end those who don’t believe, don’t follow.
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What happens to this group that does not believe? They “returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him” (John 6:66). To not believe is a rejection of the life of Christ, and when we do not live the life of Christ, we return to our former way of life, a life without Christ.
There is both the natural and the supernatural order. Christ came that we might have “life to the full” (cf. John 10:10), a supernatural life, full of grace. Saint Peter tells us that through Jesus Christ we “…come to share in the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). It is only in Christ that we can have a supernatural life.
Not only does this group deprive themselves of the divine life, they also cease to be with Jesus; they “…no longer accompanied him” (John 6:66). This group is not Christian because they are not following Christ. They not only are not accompanying Christ in this temporal life, but also will not accompany Him in eternal life. This group is not living out the words of our Lord, “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, abides in me, and I in him, says the Lord” (John 6:56). To not abide in Christ is the result of hearing, but not believing. Once again if we move from the Bread of Life Discourse in John, Chapter 6, to the Last Supper Discourse in John, Chapter 15, the outcome is the same, “Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned” (John 15:6).
Jesus says, “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” (John 6:53). Satan at this moment sows doubt in the hearts and minds of the crowds, almost whispering, “Surely you don’t have to eat His flesh and drink His blood to have life.” This lie is an echo of the original lie he spoke in the Garden, “You certainly will not die!” (Genesis 3:4).
Satan’s opposes the will of God in our life. When we were told not to eat or we would die, Satan tempts us to eat and told us we would not die. When we are told by Jesus to eat His Flesh and thus have life, Satan tempts us to not eat, and tells us that life can be found elsewhere.