of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. The one who eats my flesh and drinks my
blood lives eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
My flesh is really food, and my blood is truly drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood,
live in me, and I in them. Just as the Father, who is life, sent me, and I have life from the Father,
so whoever eats me will have life from me. This is the bread from heaven; not like that of your
ancestors, who ate and later died. Those who eat this bread will live forever.”
Jesus spoke in this way in Capernaum when he taught them in the synagogue.
Reflect
The change in Saul’s condition is as shocking as it is sudden. One minute he’s got authorization
from the High Priest to arrest the Christians of Damascus and the next minute he has to be
led to Damascus by the hand, unable to see the way. Once in Damascus, he will fast for three
days, waiting for the healing that will come through Ananias, a man the earlier Saul would have
been happy to drag to Jerusalem in chains.
This reversal and the resulting dependence helped to shape Saul’s ministry. He would be an
apostle who reached out across boundaries and accepted hardship and suffering willingly.
Like Saul, we need to recognize our dependence on God and allow that dependence to shape
our way of living. As Jesus tells the crowd in today’s Gospel, unless we eat and drink of the
Lord’s Body and Blood, there is no life in us. We are utterly dependent on God. All we are
and all we have are God’s gifts to us. Following the example of Saul (Paul), let us place these
gifts at the service of the Lord.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2023