It’s not opinion. It’s straight from scripture. Here’s a hint.
John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
I highlighted it in red for you. “The flesh profiteth nothing”. Yet Catholics insist it is the flesh. Catholics directly contradict what Jesus is saying there. Notice He then says the words He speaks are spirit and they are life. It’s the words He speaks not His flesh that they are to eat.
Here’s another hint.
John 6:67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? 68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
So Jesus says “the flesh profiteth nothing” but Catholics say it’s the flesh that is needed. Peter affirms it’s Jesus words that feed them and give eternal life. In other passages of scripture reference is to eating the word.
Jesus also said.
Matthew 15:17 Do not you yet understand, that whatever enters in at the mouth goes into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
Here are some scriptural references to illustrate.
Jeremiah 15:16 Thy words were found and I did eat them; and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.
Ezekiel 3:1 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel. 2 So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll. 3 And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. 4 And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.
Deuteronomy 8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
The eating of his body and blood are the equivalent of ingesting his sacred instruction.
***** the flesh profiteth nothing:******
Jesus’ flesh profits us everything. What you don’t understand is that Jesus is saying here that it is HE, God and Man, heaven and earth, flesh and spirit that is everything.
It is the unity of the divine and the human which is everything. Jesus as mere human, merely the son of man, flesh alone profits nothing. It is the Spirit, the Holy Spirit within HIS body, the Eucharist, that gives life.
It is not I who contradicts Jesus, nor the Church, for Jesus had just said that the bread He will give is His flesh for the life of the world. Jesus says His flesh is bread, true food.
But, Jesus does not contradict here, He clarifies for those who believe. It is exactly the same as when He rebuked people for coming back after they had their bellies filled through the miracle of the loaves and fishes. He tells them do not work for food that is perishable but for the lasting food that gives eternal life. That is what the Eucharist is....food that gives eternal life. Not just flesh or bread, but Him, the Word of God.
Therefore, we do not receive Him in the Eucharist to sustain our earthly life, but to have eternal life.
*****Matthew 15:17 Do not you yet understand, that whatever enters in at the mouth goes into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?*****
True, except earthly food, perishable food becomes a part of us when we consume it. In the Eucharist, we become part of Him. He is not cast out like earthly food.
Also, Jesus here is not speaking of Himself. He is speaking of the heart of a man and how it is what men say that makes them unclean because they speak from their heart.
Jeremiah and Ezekiel are from the OT and foreshadow Jesus in the Eucharist.
******Deuteronomy 8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.******
Jesus quotes this when tempted by Satan. There is a reason He prefaces His Bread of Life discourse with comparison to the manna.
Jesus is the Word which proceeds from the mouth of God. Bread alone does not save, it is Jesus that is both, bread and Word that gives life.
These are hard sayings. Shocking as Jesus said. But, no more so than that God would come to us as a babe in the womb, to be led like a lamb to the cross so that we may have abundant life with Him for eternity.
And, for the record. You have not proven that the Apostles did not think the same thing as the ones who left after hearing Jesus speak such “hard” and “shocking” words.