John 6:51-69

True Food!

            There are just some things that you couldn’t pay me enough money for me to ever do in my life. Being covered in spiders, tight roping between skyscrapers, eating bugs, etc. I’m sure you can probably add a few more yourself. These are things that either make us deathly afraid or are completely against our common sensibilities for what is normal and right. Part of this is our care for self-preservation. Yet, there are things that we know wouldn’t harm us, wouldn’t make us afraid, and still deep down, we know we shouldn’t do it. Now take one of those things which I just said and imagine… imagine that Jesus walks up to you and says you have to do it. Not only do you have to do it, but it’s mandatory if you want to have eternal life! Would you do it? Would you shrug it off as hopefully a scam or a test to see if you’d give in? Would you walk away completely because of it? For consider that the way we talk about the Lord’s Supper bears much the same connotation as… cannibalism. We talk about eating flesh and drinking blood. These things aren’t normal for the average person. I’d even wager that cannibalism, that is, eating another person is one of those things that none of us would ever do regardless of the incentive. And yet, in the church, something that should sound so strange to our ears is very common. When we think about the Sacrament, we should still have this understanding… that what we eat and drink is true body and blood. Though this body and blood aren’t just any but is true food for our souls.

            In our Gospel lesson, Jesus instructs the crowd about partaking of the true bread from heaven… his own flesh! When Jesus tells everyone that it’s his body and blood that give life, people are troubled and walk away. Yet, let us today learn: 

THE BREAD IS JESUS’ FLESH AND IN HIS FLESH IS LIFE ETERNAL!

I.

            As we’ve been following the discourse of John 6, it has been pretty tame so far. Jesus has been arguing with the Jews about the bread that comes from heaven. The Jews have long misunderstood the miracle which Moses performed in the wilderness, the manna from heaven. This was the bread that in a sense, gave life to Israel. Or more correctly, preserved their life while in the wilderness so they could inherit the promised land. This is the basis for Jesus saying, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever…” John 6:51. Up until now, even though Jesus has been somewhat abrasive, the conversation has been about bread. Very normal, edible bread. What we often miss is that Jews were already interpreting these Old Testament miracles in the context of the coming Messiah. The issue is, they misunderstood. Their interpretation doesn’t come close to Jesus’. As Jesus says, “And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh,” John 6:51. The Jews’ response is as you would expect… confusion. How did we get from bread to eating flesh?

            This is where we must understand our common sensibilities. When something confuses us, or doesn’t fit with what we know to be “normal”, then we often default back to what we know. We’ll toss aside that which doesn’t fit. That’s what the Jews did here. They scoff at Jesus’ remarks and become offended because Jesus would propose something so preposterous. Eating flesh? Drinking blood? Who would do such a thing? Especially since it was prohibited in the Old Testament. But this isn’t the only thing that offends people today. People’s common sensibilities today have become so far afield of the scriptural truth that many people walk away from Christ offended. “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him,” John 6:66. Shall we join them? If something doesn’t instantly fit with our modern sensibilities, should we toss it aside? I hope not. And yet, that’s what our world has done. The moment Jesus says anything hard; we decide to discard it rather than trying to understand. 

II.

            This calls for wisdom. Wisdom isn’t always understanding. It’s not saying we suddenly have the knowledge to know how something so miraculous could work according to our laws of nature. No, wisdom is knowing how to use the knowledge we’ve been given. As Solomon writes in Proverbs, “Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars… The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight,” Proverbs 9:1,10. It’s not up to us to tell God what makes sense or not. For when we encounter a hard truth like this, it’s not up to us to discard it if we can’t understand. Rather, we need to say, “This my Lord has told me and I know his word is sure. How this or that can be I don’t know, but I trust that he tells me nothing but the truth!” This is why we call our Lord’s Supper a Sacrament. Sacrament comes from the Greek word for “mystery”. It’s a mystery how our Lord could make bread and wine into his body and blood. It’s a mystery how such a meager meal could grant us such amazing blessings. Yet, we know he does! This is the wisdom given us by faith!

            This is what Jesus seeks to teach us. The bread of life, the bread which comes down from heaven is himself. He’s the one who has come to feed us with his word. He’s the one who has come to satisfy our thirst with his righteousness. For so Jesus gives us his body and blood to feed us. He offers his body upon the cross for our sins. He pours out his blood for our righteousness. This is what gives us life. It’s feasting upon Jesus in both senses… literally and figuratively. Jesus feeds us through his word and actions on our behalf. He feeds us literally by taking bread and blessing it, and giving us a cup and blessing it too. For when we partake of this blessed meal, this sacrament, we receive this true heavenly food that shall grant us forgiveness, life and salvation! As Jesus says, “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day,” John 6:54. This bread is Jesus’ flesh… his flesh on the cross, his flesh shed for your sins, his flesh raised from the dead and living evermore. And in Jesus’ flesh, in his blood is the power of God to forgive us of our sins, sustain us in faith, and raise us unto life everlasting!

            So, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, may our common sensibilities not be offended when Jesus tells us… Come, eat. This is my body. Come, drink, this is my blood! For this is the bread of life, Jesus’ own flesh and blood given for us on the cross so that we may eat of it and have life everlasting! In Jesus’ name! Amen!