²⁴ and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for^[a] you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

⁵³ So 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.^{(A) 54} Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day,^{(B) 55} for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them.^{(C) 57} Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which the ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

Partaking of the Supper Unworthily

²⁷ Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord.^{(A) 28} Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup.^(B)

³ and all ate the same spiritual food,^{(A) 4} and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.^(B)

¹⁶ The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? ¹⁷ Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.^(A)

An Invitation to Abundant Life