Did the pharisees understand Jesus or misunderstand Him?

Question

In the bible it speaks of one one particular instance when the pharisees took offence at the words of Jesus. There are, of course, many times when they got angered over His words , but the particular time I refer to is when Jesus spoke of how one must " eat His flesh." It appeared from the pharisees reaction that they misuderstood Him, as they usually did, and they took Him to mean that they must eat His atctual flesh, as if they meant Him to say to " gnaw on My arms and legs and hands and feet". And so, many, who also misunderstood walked away. So, the question is, why do certain sects of religion , namely catholicsm, also think thats what Jesus meant when it is obvious that is not what He meant becasue the Pharisees thought that's what He meant and they misunderstood and took offence? He even explained what He meant to the 12 disciples when He said " its the WORDS that I speak , they are spirit and they are life" Even peter said " thou hast the WORDS of eternal life. "

Answer 1

As with all parables that Jesus spoke He gave the true meaning to each one. The Eucharist was not a parable,He did not go back and say no this is what I meant. He meant what he said, it was not a parable., it was literal.


The Jews knew that He was speaking literally. Jn 6:52 "How can this man give us his Flesh to eat?" On other occasions when our Lord spoke of Himself as a Jn 10:9 "door" or a Jn 15:1 "vine," nobody said, "How can this man be made of wood?" or "How can this man be a plant?" They recognized these as metaphors. But when Jesus insisted, Jn 6:53 "Unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of man and drink His Blood, you have no life in you; he who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life." The Jews who heard this said, Jn 6:60 "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?"


Our Lord Jesus Christ is really present in the Eucharist

Answer 2

The Roman Catholics do not believe that they must cannibalize the incarnate Jesus of Nazareth. It is unlikely that the Phrisees understood Jesus to mean the Eucharistic sacrament, because there was no equivalent practice in Judaism.

Otherwise, it looks like the Pharisees probably understood Jesus most of the time, but simply disagreed with him.

Answer 3

Food falls from the sky.
Manna. He gave of Himself while the chosen people wandered in the desert. He considered Himself one with us, and not apart from us at all. He is close. So close, that we are within one another. Acknowledge it. Revel in it.

Makes you wonder what "flesh" really is.