Church goers who are fast food addicts might be having a hard time with the Sunday lectionary this month.  Here we are, still in Chapter 6 of the Gospel of John and still hearing about eating bread from heaven.  Enough already, we might hear them say!  We spend five consecutive Sundays with selections from chapter 6 of the Gospel of John.  We will be in this same chapter next Sunday.  Why so much attention to this passage in Scripture?  Well, it’s dense with meaning.  Forgive me if today’s sermon is a bit dense for your Sunday morning.

This chapter 6 has been discussed and debated through the centuries more than any other passage of the Gospel of John, except possibly the Prologue, the opening words of the Gospel.  You know them.  They have the famous line we hear at Christmas: "And the Word became flesh and lived among us.”  Chapter 6 of the Gospel of John is multi-layered with meaning -- meaning about who Jesus is, what he does, and how we are to respond.  Reading this chapter, slowly, pondering each phrase, is not unlike savouring a fine meal, a meal which would be utterly wasted on someone gulping it down as fast food. 

The chapter begins with the feeding of the 5000.  This is one of the "signs" in the Gospel that points to Jesus as Son of God.   Two weeks ago we heard how most of those 5000 wanted to enthrone Jesus, make him their king.  They liked the free lunch and were interested in continually satisfying their recurring physical hunger.  But Jesus is offering more than bread for the stomach, as necessary as that is.   

We all know that in addition to the hunger of the stomach is the hunger of the human heart, the hunger of the soul.  We yearn for connection with something beyond ourselves.  We are created that way.   Jesus as the bread of life satisfies that hunger.   He enables us to be truly alive, truly to live. 

Last week the crowd asked, "How can this flesh and blood son of Mary that we all know be bread from heaven?"   We might ask that same question with different words, something like: "How can a mortal be inhabited by God?"  And then from Jesus’ words this question easily leads to another:  "What does it mean to live forever through Jesus?" 

Most of us are old enough to realize that God meets us in the materiality of the world, in the stuff of our existence in this world.  For some of us this realization has been a gentle, gradual awakening.  For others, not so much.  Many of you have heard me say how I did not start to mature as a Christian until I was suddenly a single parent with two young children in an adopted country.  I was being spiritually awakened rather abruptly in the midst of my material existence.   Some of us realize the presence of God more in the mouth of the dragon, so to speak.  Whatever. We come to recognize the Divine Presence and, if we are introduced to him, we recognize that divine presence in the person of Jesus.

Last week's reading ended with the same verse that begins this week's gospel reading: "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."  So much to ponder.

Jesus as the bread of heaven and the living bread -- we can take this metaphor to mean the Word of God, the teachings of God, the very presence of God in the person of Jesus nourishing our lives.  But now Jesus is pushing the metaphor to its limits.  Jesus’ words have taken a dramatic turn.  He speaks of eating his flesh.   The original Greek word here for "flesh" is sarx, the same word as is found in the Prologue: "The Word became flesh and lived among us."

Jesus' immediate listeners think of no more than cannibalism. Obviously, this is not what Jesus means.   But what does Jesus mean?  It is possible to interpret this teaching in purely Eucharistic terms.  That is not a bad idea. 

In the sacrament of Holy Communion, we consume together the elements, the gifts of bread and wine, that symbolize, that remind us of, that participate in God's gift to us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ.  We are following our Lord's teaching when we do this.  To quote from First Corinthians eleven: "Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it and said, 'This is my body which is for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.'  In the same way he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood.  Do this in remembrance of me.'"     

But we can take this passage from the Gospel of John as also referring to the person of Jesus himself, not just to the Eucharist.  How might we eat his flesh and drink his blood separate from thoughts about Eucharist?  I didn't consider this at first, but scholarly commentaries intrigued me.  The word translated as "flesh," is sarx in Greek, in the Gospel of John, and not "body," soma in Greek, as it is in First Corinthians eleven that I just quoted.    

Let's go back to those fast food eaters in my introduction.  They would have a hard time thinking of eating as being a religious act.  But it was, and is, in the Jewish tradition.  Eating and drinking are not to be separated from experiences of soul and spirit.    Each of those gathered to share a meal together are to receive not only something of God's creation to nourish their bodies, but also something of the blessing said over the food before it is consumed with the others present.   

Our contemporary Christian culture participates in that same reality, as well it should, since early Christians ate together, if nothing else, to witness to Christ.  The "grace" said over the meal is for everyone.  And "a grace" is to be maintained.  Most of our parents told us as children at the dining table to slow down, to chew our food before swallowing, not to gulp.  We in turn tell our children and grandchildren to take small bites, to chew with the mouth closed, and not to talk with food in the mouth.  Meal times are not only for good digestion but also for blessing, for social cohesion, for sharing, .   .   .   and for intimacy. 

I think I read somewhere that first dates should not be a full meal.  A coffee date is best.  There's just too much intimacy in a full meal for a first date. 

Here in chapter 6 of the Gospel of John, Jesus is talking about full intimacy with him, union with him, abiding in him and he in us.  Believers are to take Christ into themselves and make him part of their very essence.  We say, "You are what you eat."  We are to eat Christ, as it were, to internalize his love, his teachings, be open to God's grace through him, see Christ in other human beings, be in a faith community relationship with others open to that same intimacy with Christ, and be Christ for others.  God is to be as close to us as the physical food that nourishes us.                

In our Gospel for today, Jesus speaks three times of eternal life or life forever. Some of us, myself included, may struggle with the meaning of “eternal life” and ‘live forever.”  After all, no one knows with any scientific certainty all that happens to us after we die.  I have found it helpful to remember that in the Gospel of John the phrase "eternal life" doesn’t have to be taken only as a term denoting quantity of life, endless life.  It can be taken as referring to quality of life.  Jesus prays to God, quoting from John 17:3: “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” 

We live eternal life here and now when we understand ourselves to be God's children living in relationship with God in Christ. This life is eternal in the sense that it feeds off of the Eternal God.  It is harmonious with what the Eternal God wants for humanity. 

In a few moments we will participate in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.  Today I invite you to approach the bread and wine perhaps a little more slowly and thoughtfully than usual.  I invite you to eat the bread a little more slowly than usual, paying attention, savouring it, feeling its texture in your mouth.   I invite you to meditate on the taste and texture of Christ as you experience him in your lives.  And I invite you to sip the wine, if you are accustomed to receiving Communion in both kinds, sip the wine a little more slowly than usual, being aware of Christ's life going into you and into everyone here and throughout the world sharing the Cup. 

What a gift we have in Jesus.  And how wise he is to make his spiritual presence so concrete in our lives so that we can know it.  I close with some words from a sermon by Augustine.  "Take, then, and eat the body of Christ, for by the body of Christ you are already made members of Christ.  Take also and drink the blood of Christ.  Lest there be division among you, eat of what binds you together.                                                                                                                        Amen.

 

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