Often, as a
knee-jerk reaction to the Catholic use of John 6 to support their theology of
the Eucharist (i.e., Transubstantiation; Mass as a propitiatory sacrifice),
some reject John 6 as containing any
Eucharistic theology. This, however, is, absurd, and results in a lot of
eisegesis of the text. I addressed this at:
Catholic
scholar John Bergsma wrote the following showing that it is pretty clear,
exegetically speaking, that John 6 contains much Eucharistic theology:
First of all, notice that John records Jesus
performing this miracle on the Passover (Jn 6:4), the east on which the Last
Supper would later take place (Mt 26:17). Secondly, note that the occasion for
the miracle is Jesus sitting own on a mountain with his disciples (6:3), just
as later, he will sit down with his disciples on Mt. Zion to celebrate the Last
Supper (c. Lk 22:30). Thirdly, note that Jesus commands the people to “lie down”
(Greek anapipto). The only other
times this verb occurs in the Gospel of John are in reference to Jesus (13:12)
and the apostle John (13:25, 21:20) reclining at the Last Supper. Fourthly,
note that at the heart of the miracle account (v. 11), John describes Jesus
multiplying the loaves by using five words that occur in the Last
Supper/Institution narratives of the other Gospels: take (lambano), loaf/bread (arton),
give thanks (eucharisteo),
give/distribute (didomi) and recline
(anakeimenos). Then, he escribes the
bread that remains after everyone has eaten using the rare word klasmata, literally “breakings,” which
echoes the Last Supper accounts that speak of Jesus “breaking” the bread.
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Common Words in John 6 and the Institution Narratives
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John 6:11-12
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Matthew 26
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Mark 14
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Luke 22
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Paul (1 Cor 11)
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Take/lambano
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v. 26
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v. 22
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v. 19
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v. 23
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Bread/arton
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v. 26
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v. 22
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v. 19
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v. 23
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Give
thanks/Eucharistein
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v. 27
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v. 23
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v. 19
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v. 24
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Give/didomi
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v. 26, 27
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v. 22, 23
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v. 19
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-
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Recline/anakeimenos
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v. 20
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v. 18
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v. 27
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-
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Break/breaking klao/klasmata
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v. 26
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v. 22
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v. 19
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v. 24
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In the discourse that follows (John 6:16-71),
more themes from the Last Supper/Institution of the Eucharist crop up. Jesus discusses
the idea of eating his flesh and drinking his blood, and other places in
the New Testament where eating Jesus’ boy and blood are mentioned are in the
Last Supper accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Paul. In particular, nothing in
John 6 prepares the reader for the introduction of the idea of “drinking blood”
in verse 53, and it adds nothing to the discourse except to reinforce the Eucharistic interpretation of his words.
Jesus also discusses his desertion by his own disciples (vv. 60-66) and
predicts the betrayal by Judas (vv. 70-71), both of which are major themes in
the Gospel accounts of the Last Supper.
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Common Themes in John 6 and the Institution Narratives
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John 6
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Matthew 26
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Mark 14
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Luke 22
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Paul (1 Cor 11)
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Eating
Jesus’ flesh (Greek phago sarx)
(vv. 51-53, 56)
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v. 26
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v. 22
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v. 19
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v. 24
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Drinking
Jesus’ blood (Greek pino haima)
(vv. 53-54, 56)
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v. 27-28
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v. 23-24
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v. 20
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v. 25
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Desertion
of the Disciples (vv. 60-66)
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vv. 31-35
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vv. 26-31
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vv. 31-34
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Cf. vv.
17-22
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Betrayal by
Judas (v. 70-71)
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vv. 21-25
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vv. 18-21
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vv. 21-23
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Cf. vv.
27-32!
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One can’t reasonably
argue that all the connections between John 6 and the accounts of the Last
Supper and the Institution of the Eucharist are merely coincidental. Any
trained Bible scholar will concede that, by the standards of modern exegesis,
one must acknowledge a connection. (John Bergsma, Stunned by Scripture:
How the Bible Made Me Catholic [Huntington, Ind.: Our Sunday Visitor, 2018],
81-83)