The Holy Gospel according to St. John 6: 56-69
Jesus said: 6:56 "Those who eat my flesh and drink
my blood abide in me, and I in them. 6:57 Just as
the living Father sent me, and I live because of
the Father, so whoever eats me will live because
of me. 6:58 This 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." 6:59 He said these things
while he was teaching in the synagogue at
Capernaum.
When many of his disciples heard it, they said,
"This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?"
6:61 But Jesus, being aware that his disciples
were complaining about it, said to them, "Does
this offend you? 6:62 Then what if you were to see
the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
6:63 It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh
is useless. The words that I have spoken to you
are spirit and life. 6:64 But among you there are
some who do not believe."
For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones
that did not believe, and who was the one that
would betray him. 6:65 And he said, "For this
reason I have told you that no one can come to me
unless it is granted by the Father." 6:66 Because
of this many of his disciples turned back and no
longer went about with him. 6:67 So Jesus asked
the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?" 6:68
Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom can we
go? You have the words of eternal life. 6:69 We
have come to believe and know that you are the
Holy One of God."
The Gospel of the Lord . . .
Our Source of
Life is Christ
This
sermon is entitled Our Source of Life is Christ
because Jesus knows that we are lifeless without
his presence abiding within us. Jesus therefore
desires that we take him into ourselves . . . and
this is what I am going to share with you in the
sermon this morning.
When we hear Jesus say that we must "eat his flesh
and drink his blood" it sounds like a DIFFICULT
command to follow! This kind of language sounds
too strong for us and it is no wonder we are not
surprised that the disciples cry out, "This is a
hard teaching Lord!" and many decide to turn away!
What about you and me?? Are we going to turn away
when we hear Jesus say these words about how we
must "eat of his flesh and drink of his blood?"
Before we become too upset about this
"difficult-sounding" teaching, let us consider why
Jesus says this and what could be the effect of
doing what Jesus says?? Actually it is our
physical & spiritual "selves" that Jesus' words in
today's Gospel lesson begin to address.
We live and have our very life breath, (our being)
because God has created us to be physical and
spiritual persons. The physical part of our being
relates to our bodies. We are made up of bones,
and muscles, and organs -- the heart for pumping
the LIFE Giving Blood and our limbs, such as:
hands, arms, legs and toes for doing things or
going places. We tend to understand our bodies
pretty well, some of us are more aware of the
problems we are presently experiencing with our
bodies . . . Legs that don't move as fast or as
coordinated as they once did. The back that is not
as strong nor as agile as it once was.
Most of us could write a book or two about our
various ailments!! -- But we have to admit that:
these old bodies have seen a lot of good use over
the years. And . . . most of us are quite thankful
for the numerous tasks that we have been able to
accomplish, because we have been blessed with good
health and strong limbs to do the many things we
have experienced in life. Indeed, God has blessed
many of you with special experiences that few
people today will ever learn how to do or have the
opportunity to experience . . . .
Your years of working with mules down on the farm,
your first experience of driving a new car or a
tractor, teaching your children to care for the
home or feeding the chickens or learning how to
work on farm equipment. Some of you built homes or
worked in the shoe factory; raising your children
was a lot of work(!) and a labor of love, some of
you have worked in hospitals and laboratories, and
others of you were typists or served our country
as soldiers or were public servants -- even
serving the Church as pastors and lay church
workers. By the physical body you and I are
entrusted with we are able to care for ourselves
and care for others, because you had or (still
have!) a healthy and able body you were and are
still able to work and to enjoy recreation - the
comforts of being a physical being.
So when we hear Jesus say, "Those who eat my flesh
and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them", We
recognize that Jesus wants us to identify with his
being with us (Abiding within us) in all of the
physical aspects of our lives.
As we eat of Jesus flesh and drink of his blood we
are becoming more like Jesus and Jesus is forming
us from within to be more like himself. We take
Jesus into ourselves when we Listen to his Word in
the Holy Scriptures and when we eat bread and
drink wine during Holy Communion we physically
take Jesus into ourselves - it is a physical
action with a spiritual connection. The Abiding
Jesus knows and understands our physical aches and
pains -- because he abides with us in the flesh,
he is more and more a part of us as we daily walk
with him.
On the other hand, there is a second part of our
being that makes us who we are and regulates the
way we do things -- each of us has a "mind." Our
brain enables us to think about what we want to
do. . . how we want to do it, and for what reason.
We use our brain for thinking, imagining and
making decisions about what we should do and how
we should carry out our actions.
It is interesting in the end of today's Gospel
story that Peter takes a moment to Think, and
Peter Considers what is most important about Jesus
in spite of this difficult teaching: After
considering the difficulty of what it might mean
to "eat Jesus' flesh and Drink his blood," Peter,
"uses his head," and makes a profound decision:
"Lord to whom shall we go? You have the Words of
eternal life." Indeed, by being thoughtful, Peter
has come to the right conclusion!
Through our thinking we get to know a lot about
others, with this knowledge we can do good things
and we can help other folks, yet we also know that
with our knowledge, we sometimes we do bad things
or we may tear others down. But whatever our
intentions: the abiding Christ, who lives within
us by the Holy Spirit, is always seeking to direct
our thoughts and actions toward thinking and doing
good toward our neighbors -- the Abiding Spirit of
Christ seeks to reveal to us the Wisdom of God. In
essence Christ says to us, "Take and eat my flesh
and drink my blood and you will be filled and
inspired by my being in you."
Now somewhere in between the mind and the body we
understand ourselves to possess a spirit. This is
the spiritual part of who we are and in our
spiritual nature we understand ourselves to be
children of God. It is from our spiritual self
that we recognize ourselves to be members of God's
family -- the Church! Christ gives us His Body and
Blood as a kind of Spirit-filled food, ("The words
that I have spoken to you are spirit and life")
and as we partake of Him we become spiritually
stronger -and- we increasingly recognize the
spiritual union that we share with all other
Christians.
When we partake of the spiritual food that Christ
offers to his brothers and sisters we recognize
that we are participating in a kind of spiritual
family, the Church, made up of all our brothers
and sisters who are, not just "leaning on Jesus,"
but feeding on Jesus! We recognize all persons who
have been "feeding on Christ," to be our true
family members -- brothers and sisters in the
faith. Thus, we grow in the spirit as we grow in
faith and all of this is made possible by Jesus
giving himself to us through the Word and by his
living presence in the Sacraments.
Jesus offers his body and blood in order to
nurture us -- not only to help us to grow in faith
and in spirit, but Jesus comes to abide with us in
the fullness of who we are -- Body, Mind and
Spirit!
I can remember going to my Grandmother's house
when I was a little boy. The trip always seemed so
long and we would pester my Dad, "When are we
going to get there?" Of course, it was always just
another hour away. But the one thing that made all
the waiting worth while was knowing that Grandma
would be waiting for us with an apple pie she had
baked.
Of course, when your mother or grandmother bakes
you an apple pie there's something extra special
about it. As you probably know, things that
grandmothers make for their children and
grandchildren have something extra special about
them - it just tastes better than anything anyone
else in the world could have made! It must be the
love and the caring and the Wisdom that is baked
into that pie that makes it so special. Perhaps
this is just an "inkling" of what Jesus means when
he says we must "eat his flesh and drink his
blood." Partaking of the Lord's Supper and
listening to God's Word are "extra special"
because there is so much love outpoured to us in
them.
Jesus wants us to take his whole presence into
ourselves, in this way we become more like him.
Just like when we ate Grandma's Apple Pie and
recognized that is was more than flour and sugar
and apples . . . (there was all of her love and
caring baked in too!) So it is that when We eat
the bread and drink the wine and listen with our
ears in order to TAKE IN Christ. Then his Word
becomes LIVING inside of us and we recognize that
his Love is OUTPOURED to us, After all -- "You Are
What You Eat!!"
And as recipients of the grace-filled meal of Word
and the Holy Eucharist we begin to draw closer to
Jesus and he draws CLOSER (nigh) unto us.
Now we're beginning to get closer to what Jesus
meant when he challenged the disciples to eat his
flesh and drink his blood. We need a steady
in-filling of Jesus' word and presence in order to
maintain a healthy spiritual life and continually
develop and nurture our Faith -- this is Christ's
Abiding and Living inside of us - it is spiritual
- we must only embrace Christ within us, and it is
physical, Christ is working in us and through our
actions in the world.
So we must take and eat Christ as often as we
gather, it is not just to remember him or to
reenact what Jesus did, but it is to LIVE and MOVE
and find our very selves -- Body and Mind and
Spirit -- to be made alive and always growing into
the fullness of who Christ is.
Let us pray, Come to us Lord Jesus, fill us to
overflowing with your life giving body and blood,
make in us the life giving power of the Gospel in
order that we might go and share the Good News
with others. Thank you Lord that you feed your
children and give to us a full measure of the Holy
Spirit, for it is in Christ's name that we pray.
AMEN
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more writings of Pastor Jon