52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. Many Disciples Desert Jesus
60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit[e] and life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”
66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Audacious, isn't it? One might even say it's The Audacity of Hope.
Thank you- that is the relevant Scripture.
How do we get from the wafer and the wine, though?
We ( the P’s) accept this symbolically. We are participants in the death and resurrection of Christ. We identify with Him in the process, which some of us would argue includes Him going to Hell for us in the process.
Transubstantiation asserts that the wafer becomes His Flesh, and the wine His blood.
We(I) would say that the difficult part is the Identification, where we as believers must die to ourselves, in order to apprehend Christ’s sacrifice.
Thanks again, as I am but a journeyer..
Thanks for the Scripture!
A convert’s teenage daughter had this to say about transubstantiation:
Jesus used a lot of material objects to describe Himself—He said, “I am the Light.” “I am the Door.” “I am the Shepherd.”
But He never said, “That light is Me.” “That door is Me.” “That shepherd is Me.”
However, He did say, “That Bread is Me. That Wine is Me.”
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I guess we have to decide. Do we believe Jesus?