“EAT AND DRINK TO ETERNAL LIFE”

20th Sunday after Pentecost B 2006

John 6:51-58

Let us pray:  Lord Jesus, you offer to us the greatest gift of all, yourself.  Be our food and drink this day, so that our lives might be filled with your real presence, and thereby, be strengthened in our faith and commitment to you.  Feed us with the living bread from heaven, your body, your blood, so that we may be brought to eternal life on the last day.  In your name we pray.  Amen.

              “The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat.”  How indeed?  People have been disputing among themselves about this very thing for centuries, faithful people, Christian people of differing traditions.  “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”  We continue today with the “Bread of Life” discourse in the Gospel of John.  If you have been here in worship the last several weeks, you have heard the unfolding drama taking place between the crowds of people and Jesus in the wilderness.  At the heart of the drama is Jesus’ startling statement, “I am the bread of life.” 

It all began when the people came out to see Jesus and have him heal their sick.  As the shadows of evening crossed the sky, Jesus became concerned that the people might be hungry.  So taking five loaves of bread and two fish, Jesus miraculously fed the 5000 people, satisfying their hungry stomachs.  When Jesus left the crowds with his disciples, crossing the lake in boats, the crowds of people followed them, looking for Jesus.  Knowing that they were looking for him to give them more to eat, Jesus gave them something else of far greater importance.  Jesus gave them himself as their food, so that he would satisfy, not only their physical hunger, but their spiritual hunger which would lead them to eternal life.  Jesus said, “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.”

              Up to this point, this encounter between Jesus and the crowds is filled with double meanings and misunderstandings.  Searching for more bread to eat to satisfy their physical hunger, Jesus offers himself as “the bread of life.” If the people understood what Jesus was saying at all, they probably understood it as a metaphor, that Jesus’ flesh is like bread and his blood is like drink.  How could it be otherwise?  For many of the Christian churches, this is how they understand the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, that the bread and wine represents the flesh and blood of Jesus and that when you eat and drink the bread and wine, it is a spiritual representation of what Jesus did for us on the cross.  But in what Jesus says about himself today, it is much more to the point and his meaning much more clear.  Jesus says, “my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.”  For me, I cannot, not see in what Jesus says a clearer reference to the saving power of the Eucharistic meal, the Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion.  Certainly for the disciples, it would not be clear until after Jesus’ death and resurrection and in his sharing of the meal with his disciples, but it should not be lost among us today that his body broken and his blood outpoured is indeed our food and drink that leads to eternal life.  In response to their question, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat,” Jesus does not give an answer or an explanation as much as he makes a statement.  “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.”

              I admit that what Jesus says to us is a difficult thing to understand.  How can this be?  For us Lutherans, we don’t try to explain it as much as we accept it as a matter of faith.  How can the bread be Jesus’ flesh and the wine his blood?  We don’t know.  Martin Luther talked about it as being a mystery of God, and that the flesh and blood is “in, with, and under” the bread and wine.  It just is and we are told to just do it.  The important thing is that we don’t loose sight of the promise contained in the eating and the drinking.  Jesus says, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.”  The purpose of our eating and drinking is to receive life, Jesus’ life, as he gave himself up for us on the cross and was raised from the dead by the power of God.  Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we, too, will be raised as we eat and drink in faith.

              Four times we hear this same promise from Jesus in this dramatic chapter six of the Gospel of John: 

• v39 “And it is the will of the One who sent me that I should not lose any of all those given me, but that I shall raise them all to life on the last day.”
• v40  “This is the will of my Father, everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life.  And I will raise them to life on the last day.”
• v44  “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me; and I will raise them to life on the last day.”
• v54  “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them to life on the last day.”
• This is the very heart of the Christian faith, that there is new life in Jesus’ saving action through his death and resurrection. We believe that Jesus will do what he promises, raise us up to new life on the last day.  This is the promise contained in Holy Communion.

Martin Luther said in the Large Catechism “When Jesus says, ‘Given for you’ and ‘shed for you’ it is as if he said ‘This is why I give it and bid you eat and drink, that you may take it as your own and enjoy it. ‘Whoever lets these words be addressed to him and believes that they are true has what the words declare.”  We are invited to eat and drink to eternal life.

A number of years ago, a young man came to my office.  He wanted to talk about his life.  It wasn’t going all that well.  He was divorced.  It was hard working out the schedule with the kids.  His job wasn’t going all that well, either.  As we talked, I reminded him that God was with him to help him in his life.  In fact, God is the God of new beginnings and new opportunities.  God could help him get his life back on track.  He then surprised me by asking if he could have communion.  I shouldn’t have been surprised, because the Lord’s Supper is one of the greatest gifts Jesus has given to us.  It is the most tangible, visible way of sharing in the Lord’s presence and of receiving the Lord’s promise of forgiveness and eternal life.  He said it had been a long time since he had had communion.  So we went through the Service for Individual Communion.  We went through the order for confession and forgiveness.  I spoke the Words of Institution and we prayed the Lord’s Prayer together.  I then gave to him the bread and said “This is my body, given for you” and the wine, saying, “This is my blood, shed for you.”  He ate and drank the Lord’s body and blood, and when we were done, he said, “Thank you.”

              Dear friends, this gift is also for you.  As you come to Lord’s Table, do so in faith that Jesus will give you what Jesus promises.  Eat and drink to eternal life.  Amen.