From the Daily Lectionary for Monday in the Twelfth Week after Pentecost
John 6:41-59
Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 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. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 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 for ever.” He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.
There is a persistent tension in this Gospel between Jesus’ radical teaching and the hearers’ ability to understand. For me, that tension exemplifies the fact that the Gospel of Jesus is intensely counter-cultural, and counter to the institutional representation of the faith. Institutions tend to acquiesce to the allure of the status quo. I believe that tension still exists in our own day and age. The status quo is a powerful reality. The status quo insists that we stay in our comfort zones; that our personal well-being is our first priority; that we don’t make waves; that we mind our own business. It’s the reason in our culture faith is considered “personal.”
Jesus is in fact calling us to a radical way of life in and for community. The word “radical” comes from the root word “radix,” which means “roots.” Jesus is calling us back to the roots of our humanity, a ground of being that is sustainable, not just for ourselves, but for the society in which we live and move.
Remember, Jesus is the exemplar of our true humanity. We, therefore, are nurture for the world. Our very bodies and blood, the very whole of who we are, our life and labor, only exist for the good nurture of the whole. The teaching here is that we, like Jesus, are to be eaten and drunk, a jarring image to be sure, but the reality here is that unless we give our all for the world’s redemption, then there is no life. Without our sacrifice the world languishes in darkness. A formidable responsibility.
At the Eucharist, on the altars of the church, we bless, break, and give Jesus’ body and blood for our own renewal and for the life of the world, but make no mistake, our bodies and blood are there on the altars too, blessed, broken and given for the world’s sake. Perhaps the most dramatic moment in the Eucharistic liturgy is at the dismissal, when we leave the building, when we go out into the world bearing God’s life that restores the very goodness of the created order. Our lives are sacramental, outward and visible signs of God’s gracious presence in the world. Love requires the proximity of our flesh and blood. It demands all that we are and all that we have, in person, as it were… But Love is eternal. It is never depleted, and it will stand against all manner of evil and falsehood that would prevent it. And to be in Love is to be granted the gifts of fortitude and courage necessary for Love’s mission.
If the notion of having a “personal” relationship with Jesus means anything, it means that we too are given to the world as a “ransom,” that our sacrifice for our neighbor is the means of God’s liberating grace. That means that the Incarnation has as much to do with us, followers in the Way, as it has to do with Jesus. In a world starving and thirsty for life, be the food and drink, good people. Such is the way, and the Truth, and the Life.
A Prayer of the Holy Eucharist (BCP p. 252)
O God, whose Son Jesus Christ in a wonderful Sacrament has left us a memorial of his passion: Grant us so to venerate the sacred mysteries of his body and blood, that we may ever perceive within ourselves the fruit of his redemption; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
