What Is It About This Bread? True Food and Drink
Jesus is truly the Bread of Life. The discourse immediately follows the miracle or signs in John which were - the feeding of the 5000 with 2 fish and 5 loaves and then Jesus walking on water to the disciples when their boat was tossed on the waves so they were afraid.
Jesus in this gospel doesn’t go into the how of communion but the why of sharing This Bread. The discussion continues. Listen for God’s living word in -
John 6: 51-58 (NRSV)
51 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.”
52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 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. 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; 55 for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 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.”
What Is It About This Bread? True Food and Drink
You’re invited – you will be welcomed. Come to the feast. What type of feast will it be? Will it be normal everyday dinner, or will it be so fancy you have to figure out how to use all those extra forks and spoons laid out around your plates? Just a hint – start at the outside and working your way in is a safe bet. Will it feel like you have fallen down the rabbit hole into The Madhatter’s Tea Party? Hurry, hurry – you’re late. Or maybe a feast of great imaginings like the Hogwarts welcome dinner for wizards and warlocks, where every delicacy imaginable is yours at the snap of a finger – all your favorites delivered specifically for you. On a train or on a plane – is the food green? I will not eat that here nor there!
Why is this meal – this feast Christ invites us to - different? How is it the true food and drink? What have we done to the feast- denominations have fought and divided over communion. What is that all about – well, it is about how we understand what Bread of Life is.
How do our beliefs compare? In a Roman Catholic worship – Holy Communion is so vital that the main point of mass and is observed every time they worship as an essential part of maintaining right relationship with God. A feast they prepare and make right before partaking in. They believe that the altar must be consecrated so that it is appropriate to hold the literal body and blood of Christ – yup transubstantiation. They believe that the priest’s blessing of the elements literally transform the bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood and so the wine and bread must be handled accordingly. A Catholic friend said this is why outdoor services have been so difficult during this time of pandemic because the consecrated altar is central to proper observance.
Orthodox Christians believe that Jesus is mystically present in the bread and wine. Lutherans believe in what many of them call a sacramental union where the bread and wine are fully united with God. I asked my husband who grew up Lutheran how he understood this, and he shared that in communicants class, the priest taught him the bread became the body the instant it touched your tongue – of course 6th grade Pete then asked, “So, if I spit it out after my tongue touches it, Jesus is on the floor? Ugh! Prayers for our family always appreciated. That poor minister danced around the subject then said – once bread and wine are ingested – they are Jesus body and blood in you.
The Baptist belief is a bit harder to discern because, as their denominational name indicates, they are more focused on baptism and more unique from church to church in some of their beliefs and practices – at a high level for them communion is symbolic to bring people together in community and to remember that he died for our sins.
I could go on trying to figure out how we are the same and how we differ, but I quickly run the risk of misinterpreting if I haven’t already. A search for meaning can so easily offend and that is not at all the point here. What do we as Presbyterians believe? To simplify John Calvin’s words – communion is an outward sign of a grace within given to us by God. It is a physical act that points to the spiritual relationship. We are seeking meaning – but maybe not the meaning I have been talking about in describing our observances. Rather we are seeking a deeper meaning. Jesus is answering that deeper meaning that renews us and claims us. And then marks us for service. US not you – but I will come back to that.
We are still left with one really big ‘why’ in John – why does The Bread of Life discourse differ so drastically from the other gospels’ portrayal of last supper instructions for what eating the Bread of Life means? John isn’t only writing to correct things he thought the others got wrong but possibly or instead to expand on areas we humans were arguing about, already in his time. And more importantly to challenge us to open our imaginings of The Bread of Life and all it means to us – how it is here for us. This telling is so gritty and offensive because our first instinct is to try to fit Jesus into our understandings, welcome him into our lives in the carefully prepared places we have. No surprise that we drift to the easy paths detouring around conflict when we can.
Jesus words here create significant conflict both communal and internally with his listeners. Not only do they have to wrap their heads around God who is the Bread of Life that provides the Bread, but Jesus assaults their norms further with graphic gritty imagery. In case you wanted to gloss over God incarnate with a human body – he replaces the innocuous term body with flesh. A child-like honesty wants to spit that out. No doubt many a kid when confronted with that in learning about the sacrament had the same thoughts as those first listeners - jumped to a dirtier, edgier meal - Lord of the Flies imagery with thoughts of cannablism, eat flesh – yuck!
Perhaps even more offensive to the Jewish listeners would have been the idea of drinking blood – blood was the height of unclean. Food preparation and cleanliness laws did much to remove blood, and it would have shocked those in the synagogue in Capernaum to even imagine drinking a human’s blood. Dr. Seuss’s protestation has nothing on this crowd – nope, never, not gonna happen. But not only does Jesus say this is the way to eternal life – he calls it out with that idiom – ‘Very Truly’- literally ‘amen, amen’ – listen to this key point I am telling you Jesus is saying – unless you do this you have no life in you. This is John’s invitation to table – remember most languages have plural and singular forms of you so I’ll do repeat it again Southern style saying – Ya’ll listen – unless ya’ll do this ya’ll have no life in ya’ll! You together – a corporate eating not a meal designed for one on one experience but a crowded table that still has enough. Listen to this all of you!
That meaning, the wholeness each and every one of us seek – this is how you get it. In case you doubted what Jesus says next is the summary/crux of the whole. THE meaning around which Jesus’ discourse all revolves are captured in these three verses addressed to all ya’ll. 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; 55 for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.
Jesus switches here from a soft ‘eat’ that is polite in good company to a different verb that we clean up in translation – polishing it for good company. Rather than eat flesh here –what Jesus says is more a ‘chew’ my flesh, ‘smack’ your lips like at a southern bbq – edgy, pushing our boundaries and sensibilities – but Jesus loves us that much – not a dainty nibble of tea sandwiches here but thoroughly chew the flesh so that it gets in our guts, coats our insides and is no longer possible to be pulled out of us or separated from us in any way. We squirm but Jesus is ready to throw out the challenge of imagining a new feast – he isn’t done yet!
I love you so much Jesus says that those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life – have – yes, HAVE. IT. NOW. Now and later – I will raise you on the last day. Eternal life – relationship with one another and God now breaking our concepts of time, our definitions of when. True food and true drink don’t just fill our bellies – they fill our souls.
In John, the feast that is true food and true drink are Jesus’ flesh and blood in life. And, the feast is not mournful waiting until a last supper but a feast of abundance and life in Jesus. A crowd of thousands fed by God now. John is not replacing our images of the last supper but challenging us to imagine a broader, more abundant feast. Jesus life with us, coming to us in the flesh - just as important as the resurrection. Both inseperable in showing God’s love for all of us. Sitting side by side challenging us again. God’s love is so much bigger than our imaginings – Guess what else is in present tense?
“Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.” We abide in God NOW – God is in us now. Abundant life now available for all – all ya’ll together in a radical feast that doesn’t require we get dressed up or made ‘right’. It meets us where we are even in the wilderness of our lives. Jesus, The Bread of Life – living in us now. A friend who officiates at communion at youth conferences helps with this edgy inviting Jesus to abide in us by welcoming people to the table asking them to ‘tear off a big ol hunk o Jesus’. It used to make me squirm thinking he was being cutesy for the kids. But maybe it is time to imagine a feast where we don’t set the parameters but are welcomed by the Bread of Life, Living Word – living in and with us.
Celebrate abundant life now – let it abide in you. We have tamed the sacrament – domesticated it to an acceptable dinner. Imagine more. What will it be – dare you open the invitation to the feast? All who put their faith and trust in The Living Bread are welcome here. Abundant life is here – and it is specifically and especially for you. Amen.
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