11th Sunday after Pentecost (Pr. 15) August 20, 2006 “Series B”
Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Let us pray: Dear Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for your gift of creation and for establishing life on this planet we call earth. We thank you for revealing your will for our life, through the words of the Torah and the Prophets, spoken by those whom you had anointed to speak on your behalf. But most importantly, we thank you for coming among us in the person of Jesus the Christ, who is your Word made flesh, who through his gift of life, has redeemed us from our sin, and offers us the hope of new life in your heavenly kingdom. In Christ’s name we thank you. Amen.
This morning, our Gospel lesson continues the Bread of Life Discourse, as is recorded in the 6th chapter of John’s Gospel. This chapter began with our Lord’s miraculous feeding of over 5000 people with just five small loaves of bread and two fish. When the people whom Jesus had fed followed him to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, he challenged them to look beyond the physical aspect of the miracle, to behold it as a sign, an event that pointed out to the people that in Jesus, the kingdom of God had come into their midst.
In light of this, our lesson for last Sunday focused on Jesus claiming to be the Bread of Life that came down from heaven. And as I pointed out in my sermon, by the time that this was written, the Word of God had come to be associated with bread, the basic staple of life, which needed to be consumed on a daily basis, in order to sustain our spiritual life and relationship with God. Thus, in referring to himself as the Bread of Life, Jesus was claiming to be God’s incarnate Word, God’s creative and authoritative revelation of his will for our life, in human flesh.
Throughout the past few weeks, I have also stated that even though John does not record Jesus instituting the sacrament of Holy Communion, this 6th chapter of John’s Gospel reflects the author’s understanding of the Eucharist, and its place in the worship life of the church. In our lesson for this morning, this chapter becomes rather specific.
So let us start with our opening verse, the verse that ended our lesson from last Sunday. Jesus says: “I 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.”
I believe that this chapter in John’s Gospel contains a double message for our life of faith as Christians. First, John tells us that in Jesus, the very Word of God has come to live among us. This means that as we behold the life and teachings of Jesus, we are, in reality, beholding the will of God for our lives.
Jesus was not simply another prophet. As he interpreted the Scriptures of the Torah and the prophets, Jesus was not simply giving us another way, among many, to view these ancient texts. He was giving us God’s interpretation, the truth of God’s will for our lives.
But in addition, through this dialogue of Jesus, we are told that the Word of God has become flesh. This means that the Word of God is not just symbolically present in the life of Jesus. When Jesus says that he is the living bread that came down from heaven, he is not inferring that he has received some special revelation from God that he has been asked to pass on to us.
Nor is Jesus indicating that the Word of God is just spiritually present to us through him. We can not look at Jesus in the way that a lot of this New Age theology does, which would assert that the human Jesus had somehow received the incarnation of God’s Spirit. God is not simply using Jesus’ body to proclaim his Word to us. In Jesus, the Word of God has truly become flesh and blood.
As Gail Ramshaw pointed out in her commentary on our lesson, “Christ is both the preached word and the sacramental word, both wisdom and flesh.” (New Proclamation, Year B, 2003, Fortress Press)
This brings us to the crux of the issue. As the incarnate Word of God, the Bread of life which came down from heaven, Jesus not only spent his life proclaiming God’s Word in truth, so that we might truly know the will of God for our life. Jesus also gave his life in obedience to the will of God, to redeem us from our sin, and to restore us to a right relationship with our Creator.
This chapter of John’s Gospel helps us to realize that the incarnation of the Word of God enveloped the whole person of Jesus. It was not just the words that he spoke, which revealed the wisdom of God. It was not just the miracles that he performed that gave us signs of God’s presence acting through him. Jesus was, in flesh and blood, God’s incarnate Son, the Bread of life from heaven.
And here, in this dialogue with the crowd of people whom Jesus had fed by multiplying the meager lunch of a small boy, he makes it clear that it is not just his teaching, not just his ability to perform miracles that reveals the grace of God in their midst. Jesus tells them that he is also going to give his life, his very flesh, in atonement for their sins.
Is it any wander, then, that as Jesus said to the crowd, “I 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,” that the people cried out in shock, “How can this be?” The language is shocking, even cannibalistic.
Of course, those of us who have the advantage of reading these words of Jesus from the perspective and knowledge of his death and resurrection, understand this dialogue as reference to the Eucharist. We have come to realize that Jesus is not asking us to literally eat his flesh and drink his blood, in order to know God’s redeeming grace and live in the faith and hope of eternal life in God’s heavenly kingdom.
Still, we may need to be reminded that this meal which forms a central aspect of our worship every Sunday, is a means by which we consume, and are united with, the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. In order for us to fully realize the forgiving, redeeming grace of God, Jesus had to give his life, his flesh and blood, in a horrible death on a cross, for us.
As Christians, we can not allow ourselves to forget what Jesus has done for us. And so, we focus on his Word, his teachings and the example that his life provides for us, as we strive to live in relationship with God. But above all, we must always remember, and never forget, that Jesus gave his life as a sacrifice for sin on our behalf.
As Paul points out in his Letter to the Corinthians, a statement that we use each Sunday in our celebration of the Eucharist, “As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim our Lord’s death, until he comes.” Holy Communion not only unites us as a family in Christ, it is not only a celebration of thanksgiving for all that God has done for us, it is a means by which we recall, remember, and consume the grace of God, poured out for us on the cross, in which Jesus gave his flesh for our redemption.
So, let us consume with our ears and hearts, our Lord’s spoken word for us this day. And then let us come to his table, to remember his death on our behalf, and feed on his presence as he comes to us in the form of bread and wine, to nourish us in faith. For the Bread of Life that came down from heaven feeds us in both Word and Sacrament.
Perhaps this post communion prayer sums it up: “Almighty God, you gave your Son both as a sacrifice for sin, and a model of the godly life. Enable us to receive him always with thanksgiving, and to conform our lives to his.”
Amen.
