I'm a little confused by this. Are you saying that Jesus death on the cross wasn't necessary as long as you eat the bread and drink the wine? Or are you saying that it was both His death and your subsequent eating of bread/drinking of wine that save? If the latter, are you saying that Christ's death was not sufficient?
I'm not trying to be cantankerous here, I'm seriously asking.
No, that is not what I am saying.
I am saying that Christ said to have eternal life, one must eat of His flesh and drink of His blood.
Christ’s sacrifice on the cross in atonement for our sins opened the gates of heaven after they had been closed by Adam and Eve’s sin. The sin which separated all those who came after them from eternal life with God.
Let’s be clear here.
I DID NOT SAY THESE WORDS.
JESUS SAID THEM!
WHY?
He knew how those words would be taken. And not by some future Church magisterium, but by the very people He spoke them to. They walked away, He didn’t stop them and He does not retract what He said.
And He does not mitigate it. He does tell them that the flesh is useless, but what flesh is useless? His? I don’t think so, otherwise, why did He have to suffer and die?
No, the flesh is useless without the spirit of God. That is why the Church defined the doctrine that Jesus is truly God and truly man.
It all connects and one cannot simply take a grab bag approach to Scripture. It doesn’t work. Each bit stands together to make the whole.
Jesus did indeed die for our sins, and it is only because of that that we have even shred of hope to spend eternity in heaven.
But, His death is not a get out of jail free card. It opens the door but we must walk through it.
The Eucharist is an article of faith. We believe and partake because Jesus has said we must if we want life.
Allow me to elaborate even further.
In the story of Exodus, God’s people are told to slaughter a perfect lamb, the blood is then to be smeared over the door frame and then they must eat the lamb that was slaughtered.
So, here we see that it was both the blood of the lamb and the eating of the lamb that saved them.
After they were free, they wandered in the desert for 40 years. During that time, some fell back into the worship of false gods. Some never made it to the promised land. And during that time, they were hungry and called upon Moses for sustenance. So, Moses pleaded for the people to God and God gave them manna(bread).
So, we see here our own lives. This life is our wandering in the desert. We have been freed from the bondage of sin, but we still need sustenance to give us strength until we reach the promised land.
Jesus is the Lamb who died for our freedom and the Manna which came down from heaven to sustain us as we await His coming.