What if I told you John 6 is commentary on John 1. Because John 6 is application of Incarnational theology where Jesus explains that in coming from heaven he has come to nourish us and set us free. He is the bread from heaven as he is the word from heaven (John 1:14) so that when people read John 6:63-64 and think that Jesus is speaking metaphorically the whole time and that the flesh doesn't give life meaning he is just speaking spiritual are missing that the flesh giving life is not about denying the eucharist. It is about denying that we can give ourselves life to speak of John 6 as being purely metaphorical is to miss the incarnational theology because, if Jesus was speaking symbolically and physical matter is meaningless then what of him saying that he says "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."- John 6:51. With the physical importance proven and showing that he could not have been speaking on a purely spiritual plain since this is detailing John 1 we must then ask "Is this Eucharistic?" I would argue yes because a.) The greek used in John 6 for "eat" literally means to Chew or to gnaw "τρωγων verb - present active participle - nominative singular masculine
trogo tro'-go: to gnaw or chew, i.e. (generally) to eat -- eat." b.) if Jesus is speaking about a literal reality then we must recognize that in the Old testament if you did not eat the sacrifice you did not find forgiveness. c.) Paul makes this same connection in 1 Corinthians 10:16-20 "1 Corinthians 10:16-20New International Version (NIV)
16 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.
18 Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 19 Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons." So go ahead and deny the eucharist but in so doing you draw questions to the meaning of the cross and the incarnation
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