Sermon for the Lord’s Day

August 16, 2009

“Eucharist”

Rev. Lorelei Hillman

John 6:51-58

⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’

⁵² The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ ⁵³So 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. ⁵⁴Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; ⁵⁵for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. ⁵⁷Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. ⁵⁸This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.’

The Presbyterian church is one of the denominations which uses a lectionary, a list of readings in the Bible which covers most of the Bible over the course of three years.  I’ve been working from the lectionary this summer, in part because it makes the decision for me about what scripture to work with, and in part because I figured it would be easier.  I thought it would probably follow a theme.

And it did!  But I’m beginning to think I really over-rated the whole theme idea.  After all, we’ve been talking about bread for two weeks, and here it is again!  Frankly, I’m starting to feel like a Hebrew in the wilderness after the Exodus, “What, Moses, manna again!?”

On the other hand, it’s communion Sunday, and if bread has no meaning for us today, well, can’t say we have much claim on the sacrament, can we?  So let’s go on for this one more week and see what comes of it.

For starters, this is not an easy passage.  It’s short, but it’s pretty hard to ‘get.’  So often in Scripture, we are one jump ahead of Jesus’ protagonists – we know what their mistake is, we get that chance to enjoy our ‘insiders’ pang of glee when they go off on a tangent or misunderstand what Jesus is  saying.  But here, well, I’ve got some strong sympathy for them.

For one thing, the imagery is rather gruesome…  We can talk about metaphors, but this is pretty ‘in your face;’  and Jesus obviously means it to be.  After all, he’s talking to a group of Jewish people, both folks who’ve come to hear him and folks who have come to trick him.  Jewish food laws would have made what Jesus said, “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you…” absolutely revolting to them.  It may have been because of statements like this that, later, non-Christians would accuse Christians of being cannibals.

Then he gets into it a bit further.  He says, “Those who – the NRSV puts it nicely – eat – but it’s really more like chew or even gnaw – my flesh and drink my blood…”  He’s really looking for a confrontation here, almost forcing folks to reject what he is saying. 

Why might he do that?  Well, this is certainly quite different from the words Jesus uses in the synoptic gospels to institute the Lord’s Supper.  There he’s talking about forgiveness of sins and remembrance of who he is.  Here, he’s saying, very graphically, “eat my flesh and drink my blood.”  One commentary called this John’s ‘bitterness’ toward the leaders of the institutional Israel.  The thought is that this gospel was written toward the end of the first century, when the Temple had been destroyed and the Jews and Christians driven out of Jerusalem, and the hostility between the two groups was at an all-time high.  This may have been the author’s way of demanding that his audience either choose for Jesus or ‘get lost.’

But before we get too hung up on Jesus’ tone here, let’s look at one interesting thing.  Pick up your Bible or take the one from the pew rack in front of you and find the passage.  What one word do you count the most in this passage?  Is it flesh?  Is it blood?  Is it even bread?  No, it’s LIFE or LIVING.  Nine times, Jesus refers to life or living.  Not sin, not repentance, not atonement, but LIFE!  And it is in life that Jesus makes his point.

Anyone who eats the bread of his flesh (and drinks the cup of his blood) “will live forever.”  He will give the bread of his flesh “for the life of the world.”  If you won’t eat and drink, you “have no life in you,” but if you do you will have “eternal life” and be “raised up on the last day.”  It is the “living Father” who sent him, and just as he lives “because of the Father,” so will those who eat the bread of his flesh.  Finally he repeats the opening line, “…the one who eats this bread with live forever.”

Why the strong emphasis on life?  As far as the text is concerned, this is what Jesus is all about.  Jesus fed people – he cared about their physical needs and comfort; he cared, too, about their spiritual life, that they know the love of God which connected them to their Creator.  By his deeds, he has provided for the life of their bodies.  By his words, he has given them new spiritual life. 

Then there are two reasons for the life emphasis which can be associated with the author’s (not Jesus’) audience.  First, people reading this gospel would not have known the living Christ.  John is drawing meaning from the words of Jesus that will particularly reach the people John is writing to.  These people would have had no tangible connection to Jesus at all, never have seen him, or heard him speak, or sat to eat a meal with him.  It was imperative that John help them understand that Christ was fully alive, and human just as they were – not, as the Gnostics were teaching, merely appearing to be human.  So we get the heavy, but very effective, juxtaposition of the living Jesus and his earthly flesh.

Second, John’s audience would have been living under persecution.  They would have known what it meant to lose their life for their faith, to be killed, and in dying to give witness to the living Christ they believed in but had not met.  In 2002, I took a trip to Turkey and to Syria with Fuller Seminary.  At the top of the temple mount in Pergamon, within sight of the Altar of Zeus, we gathered for communion.  As our leader said the words of institution, a squad of Turkish police marched past us, guns at hand.  It was the only time I have ever shared the Lord’s Supper in fear.  Although this passage does not have the Eucharistic specifics we find in the other gospels, the elements are here.  What we have a hard time grasping is that the act of sharing communion, which Christ promised would give life, for John’s audience was also life-threatening.[1]

Jesus’ reference to his flesh would have connecting with these people in a very powerful way.  In their suffering, they could know that Christ himself had also suffered; his humanness meant that he was not some distant, unsympathetic god, but a person like them who knew pain and fear and the wild sorrow of loss that they were experiencing.  When he spoke of his blood and eternal life in one breath, he brought together their darkest reality with the only kind of promise that could give them any hope at all.  Persecuted is persecuted; tortured is tortured; dead is dead.  But not in Christ.  In Christ, all these things are only the tiniest part of the story.  “Eat my flesh, drink my blood,” becomes a defiant cry of confidence.  He is saying, “If you believe in me, you no longer live by the rules of suffering and annihilation.  You are filled with my life, and the only rule you live by is that the Father will not let you die.  I am your assurance.  I’ve been there before you and can tell you how it will truly be.”

Jesus said, “I am the living bread, share my life, be fed by my living Spirit.”  “My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.”  Dare to accept what I am offering you, imbibe of my being, and lose your fear.”  “In me, you will not die, but live forever.”

We have said, over the last two weeks, that if we ingest Christ, if we really take the time to digest what he teaches us, who he is, what he shows us, then we will become more like him.  As John Mossi points out, Jesus was “both bread-giving and life-giving.”[2]  And the question is, are we?

It is a tremendous commitment to sponsor and host programs like Paz de Cristo, I-Help, and Family Promise.  The people who run these programs, and others our church members are involved in, like UMOM and Tumbleweeds and Humane Borders, have to show up week after week, year in and year out.  If they don’t, the program collapses and the ministry fails.  When funds run short, they have to dig a little deeper, or go out looking for funding.  If someone doesn’t show up, they have to stay the extra hour, or two, or overnight.  They have to know that for every group of people through the door, a percentage will be back, or will get lost in the system without making it out to a better life.

These programs are, functionally, “bread-giving.”  They could be done without ever really making personal contact.  Homeless folks could be fed, and housed, and gotten jobs, without ever really touching their lives in any significant way.  It is when we ourselves become the bread that nourishes their spirits that we begin to give life as well.

We have to take a heavenly, or eternal view to be life-giving.  We have to look beyond the symptoms to the causes of suffering.  While we serve bread at the table, we also have to be looking toward the future, and asking, how do we promote life? 

One issue that is on the top of the list right now is health care.  Our government is trying to work out health care reform that will help and not harm.  You can go to www.whitehouse.gov to find out more about the proposals being made; then contact your elected officials and let them know what you think is best.

Is the issue homelessness?  We need to find out how our government is handling the challenge.  Read the statistics, but when you do be discerning – how are the statistics formed, do they really say what the report claims?  Then consider possible responses.  Do we agree with the approach that is being taken?  Let your leaders know if we support their efforts or if we think they could do better.

What about immigration reform?  What’s the best way to deal with the economic imbalance between America and Mexico?  How do we honor the rights of those who labor in our own country?  How do we encourage healthy employment in other nations so people have good income at home?  We have a voice with our government, we cannot be passive and also claim Christ.

How do we, as a nation, help to promote development for all people.  Do we give bread in a way that makes others dependent on us, or do we give life by sharing with them the means for a sustainable economy?  Do we withhold technology, materials, education in order to maintain our own lifestyle, or are we truly ‘giving blood’ to help others live?  There are two bills – one before Congress, one before the Senate, which are aimed at the reform of America’s foreign aid process.  You can find more information about it, including connections to the texts of the bills, at the website of Bread for the World, www.bread.org.  Do your best to think through what is being presented, and then communicate with your representatives.

In the Eucharist, what we eat and drink are the character and wisdom of Christ.  We become the body of Christ.  We become the hope of the world.  Hope does not come by half-measures.  It requires all – and the best – of us.  The Eucharist is the bread and blood of Christ’s commitment.  The Jesus of John’s gospel might say, “Take it or leave it.”  When we eat and drink at this table, it becomes our commitment.  At this table there is no middle ground.  Amen.