Roman Catholic Theology:Does the Bread and Wine Become the Physical Body and Blood of Jesus?

The passage that seems to be used to support the RC view that the sacraments (bread and the wine) become the actual body and blood of Jesus is John 6:53-58. Also, I was just reading the Zenit Catholic news, and the Roman Catholic church claims to have scientific evidence to support their claims. First, we would do well to remember that Pharoah's magicians also did a number of "miracles" in challenge to Moses' acts. Were the magicians' works of God? No. Is it possible for a miracle to be performed by Satan? Clearly, yes. Therefore, it is possible to be misled by miracles and so we must test them against the Word of God. Also, we must remember that Mark 13:22 states that "false Christs and false prophets would arise, and will show signs and wonders, in order to lead asray, if possible, the elect." Returning to John 6:53-58, we would do well to re-read the whole chapter -- here are some of my notes:

The main focus of chapter six is bread (Earthly and Heavenly). The first thing we encounter is Jesus feeding 5000 men (plus women and children) by physically multiplying 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish from a young boy's lunch. We are told that this crowd was following Jesus because of the miracles of healing which He had performed earlier on the people. We also note that Jesus was testing Phillip in the feeding of the people. Jesus asks Phillip a provoking question (hoping to evoke the right answer -- one of faith), for either way -- whether God provided the funds to buy the bread, or provided the bread itself -- a miracle would have to be performed. Phillip fails the test by merely stating the obvious, not showing any sign of faith (even after all the other miracles that Jesus performed showing that He clearly can do the impossible). Instead, Andrew steps out and shows the faith that Phillip was lacking. It is also interesting to note that after Jesus performed the miracle, He asked that the leftovers be picked up so that nothing went to waste. I think that this becomes particularly interesting later in chapter 6 when a parallel is made between bread and the Word of God.

Jesus immediately goes to be by Himself to avoid the crowd making Him king by force. Later that evening, He walks on water to the disciples who are out in the boat crossing the sea. Interestingly, after He had already demonstrated His power over demons and disease, and His ability to multiply food to feed many, they became afraid when they saw Him walking on water. Obviously, they still didn't quite get the fact that Jesus was the very author of creation and could exert full control over all of it any time He pleased. The next miracle was that they immediately were at the other side without having to row another stroke. The whole day had really been a bizarre departure from reality. Really, I can't blame the very natural reactions of the disciples.

Now we come to the scriptures in question. Jesus essentially repeats the message in various ways that it is He Himself (Jesus) who is the bread of life. First, Jesus tells the people that they are seeking Him not because of the miracles but because of the food that they ate by His hand. He admonishes them not to work for physical food, but spiritual food which will be administered to them by Jesus. Second, Jesus reminds the people that it was not Moses who gave them the bread from heaven, but it is the Father that gives the true bread out of heaven. Thirdly, He identifies Himself as the bread of life: the one who comes to Him will not hunger and he who believes in Him will not thirst. It should be crystal clear at this point that we are not talking about physical food and drink, but rather spiritual food and drink.

Note verses 47-50: "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die." So, if we must eat of Christ to not die, then what happened to all those who did not do so, such as John the Baptist, Moses, Elijah, Abraham, David, etc.? Are they spiritually dead because they did not eat of Jesus' flesh and blood? Obviously, Jesus is not talking about physical death here because even all the popes and cardinals who partake of the eucharist have died.

It is verses 51 onwards that make the statements about eating the flesh and blood of Jesus. But I assert that these do not speak of His physical flesh and blood. It is very clear that unless you eat of His flesh and drink of His blood you will not have eternal life. What of the criminal on the cross beside Jesus to whom Jesus said would be in paradise that day? What about all the protestants that do not believe this -- rather that these are symbols to remind us of the great penalty Jesus paid for our sins? Clearly, from the preceeding passages, it is in coming to Jesus and believing on Him that we are saved -- this is what He is referring to.

Here are some points to consider:

1. Jesus clearly makes us aware that the bread that we are to 'eat' is what came down from heaven (John 6:32, 41, 58). What came down from heaven was not the physical body of Jesus (he was born of the virgin Mary), but the spirit called the Word (John 1:1, 14).
   
2. Jesus makes it clear that eating and drinking are equated with coming to Christ and believing in Him (John 6:35, 47). Jesus then says that His words are spiritual (John 6:63). How could Jesus say that the flesh profits nothing if He is talking about eating His physical flesh?
   
3. The Jews were the ones who misunderstood Jesus thinking that He was talking about eating His physical body and drinking His physical blood (John 6:52).
   
4. The disciples had already had many experiences with Christ using physical references to represent spiritual matters (i.e. plucking out your eye if your eye causes you to sin, Jesus being described as a door, etc.). It would have been unheard of for Jesus' disciples to misunderstand Jesus as talking about the physical here since it was against the written word of God for the Jews to drink blood. Jesus could not have been telling them to break God's law by drinking blood.
   
5. The offense to some of the disciples from the words of Jesus was not about eating the flesh (see point 4) but that Jesus claimed to come down from heaven (John 6:41, 42) and that a person must come through Jesus for eternal life (John 6:33-40, 50).
   
6. The only way that we can know what the disciples took offence at would be by Jesus' words because Jesus knew their thoughts (John 6:61). This is an important point. Jesus answered their objections not by talking about the eating of the flesh but states the fact that if they were offended by His saying that he came down from heaven, would they not take further offense when He returns to heaven (John 6:62, 63)? This clearly points to the fact that the offense was that Jesus was more than just a man and that He came down from heaven and he was able to give eternal life to whoever comes to Him. Some of the disciples of Jesus followed Jesus for one reason or another, but they had a self-righteousness and did not believe that Jesus was necessary for eternal life (John 6:64).
   
7. Jesus did not go after the disciples that left, not because they did not understand Him and needed Jesus to explain Himself, but because they lacked belief in Him and that is the reason they left Him (John 6:64). Jesus does not chase after those who refuse to believe. He let them go because you cannot force someone to believe against their own will.

In Summary, while I confess that there are many things I do not know and certainly that I could be wrong here, I firmly believe that if we study the Word in order to seek the truth that we will find it. While agreement with the Catholic view on these matters does not necessarily mean you are unsaved (salvation has to do with coming to Christ and believing on Him -- such faith produces works in accordance with repentance), why would you want to believe an error? Should we not desire to seek the truth? If we allow ourselves to believe what we know are errors or doubtful, then we are entering into dangerous territory. For instance, believing that the bread and wine become the actual body and blood of Jesus has led to idolatry (the worship of the elements).