Zeal for your house will consume me.
At this the Jews answered and said to him,
"What sign can you show us for doing this?"
Occasionally I've heard people talking about their intense affection for others, especially for babies, and say, "I could eat them with a spoon." The expression seems a bit excessive to my way of thinking, but I'm sure it's harmless. We can hope that doting aunt or grandparent, when the time comes, might allow the same growing child enough space to become themselves. But in the meanwhile, they're wrapped, if not smothered, with affection.
The disciples also used the metaphor of digestion when they saw the Lord create a one-man riot in the Temple. But, in this case he was being consumed, rather than consuming. His zeal for God and his house overwhelmed the natural instinct of self-preservation; and would soon lead to his passion and death.
But not before his disciples had consumed him during the last supper. On that most sacred evening he had said, "Take this, all of you, and eat of it, for this is my Body, which will be given up for you;" and, a moment later, "Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my blood...."
His body and blood with the bread and wine were consecrated in a single formula and become one thing. The Church has often wondered how the bread and wine could become his flesh and blood; and what exactly the word is means in that context.
But that seems to overlook the more important expression, my body and my blood. Jesus was that healthy man who would be nailed to a cross, suspended in the air, and left to die of exposure and the loss of blood. By eating his flesh and drinking his blood, his disciples are also consumed with zeal for his house.
The same Holy Spirit which has driven Jesus from Bethlehem into Egypt, from Nazareth into the desert, from Capernaum to Jerusalem drives us to go with him; it has consumed us and we have become his Real Presence. And if our sins seem to render us unworthy of this consummation, they too will be consumed by the gracious fire of his love as we are purified.
As we celebrate the Dedication of Pope Leo's cathedral, we thank God that we too are consumed by love for the Church for which Jesus died.
