Text: John 6:51-58
51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall 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, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; 54 he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever.”
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.
Today’s Gospel lesson is the second-to-last of the six-week series from John about Jesus as the Bread of Life. Over the course of the last few weeks, we’ve noticed how the focus gets sharper and sharper, until today Jesus states flat out that “he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.”
This was a shocking statement. It was positively scandalous to those who heard him say it. Certainly for those folks from Nazareth who were still hanging around, it was already incredibly offensive that he said he was the bread from heaven. Imagine how they feel when he follows that up with the assertion that they had to eat him to have eternal life! This was the last straw. They, along with many others in that crowd, no doubt said in utter revulsion, “That’s it. This man has lost his mind. We’re outta here,” and went home in disgust.
And who could blame them, really? What Jesus is speaking about had always been regarded as an abomination by the law and the prophets, particularly as far as drinking blood was concerned. And we certainly don’t go around drinking blood, either!
So just what is going on here?
Let’s start with the first five words of this passage: “I am the living bread.” What’s he getting at? How is bread “living”? How is Jesus “bread”?
Pastor David Ewart tells us that there is something about bread that he is like. Bread is one of the most basic foods we have. We love the smell of baking bread. I understand that some realtors tell their clients to bake a loaf or two of bread before a showing, because nothing says “I’m home” quite like that smell. In Jesus’ time, fully half of a person’s daily caloric intake came from bread – bread which had been baked that day and earned that day – it really was the “staff of life.” Even today, in some parts of the world, if you miss out on your daily ration of bread, you starve. You can’t get by without it. So here Jesus says, in effect, “I am that one thing you cannot live without.”
Remember that he is speaking to a large crowd that had just a few hours before gone into the wilderness to find him, instead of going into the city of Jerusalem to observe Passover. They had been fed by him with those famous loaves and fishes; and they’d been all set to make him king.
In other words, this was a crowd of people who had a deep yearning gnawing at their insides, a yearning they did not know how to satisfy; and in Jesus they had caught a glimpse of the possibilities Jesus offered to get a deep and true satisfaction. But, as so often happens, they misplaced their yearning – they concentrated on “king.” Jesus wants them to concentrate on “bread.” “Kings come and go,” he says, “but I, the living bread, am forever.”
When we look at our longing that way, we see something much, much different. John wants us to see into Jesus, and through Jesus, to recognize that our real longing is not for kings – not for the things of this world – but for something that endures and is imperishable. The manna of the world feeds us for a day, but one day we all die, anyway, no matter how much of it we’ve ingested.
By saying these stark and blunt words, Jesus tells us to stop looking for earthly fixes and to set our gaze on him. Jesus wants us to see the relationship he has with the One who sent him and wants us to have that kind of relationship with him.
If there’s one key word that describes John’s Gospel, that word might be “abide.” In Chapter 15, Verse 9, for example, we read “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.” John is all about the abiding relationship Jesus has with the Father, and the relationship he has established with us.
So, to really get his point across, he uses words like “bread,” and “flesh,” and “blood.” He wants us to comprehend that this relationship is what God intends for us, desires for us, even longs for. It is the relationship that is as comforting and fulfilling as walking into a house full of that bread smell, and shutting the door, and knowing that you are home, truly home.
Abiding in him – this is what Jesus means when he says “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life … my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.”
As William Barclay writes, “Jesus is saying … ‘you must take my life into the very centre of your being – and that life of mine is the life which belongs to God.’”[1]
It’s kind of like this – imagine a bookcase full of books. Some of them you’ve read; some you haven’t. One day, you take a book you haven’t read off the shelf, open it up, and start reading. You’re thrilled and fascinated by what you read. What’s written in that book, whether it’s a story, or a biography, or whatever, sticks with you. It changes you. It is no longer external to you, something that is “out there.” It is now part of you.
That’s what Jesus was getting at. As long as he’s kept at arm’s length, he just remains someone who’s outside of us, like any stranger on the street, and no more important to us than such a stranger. But when he enters into our hearts, we are nourished and fed by the life and strength and vitality that only he can give us.
Today, as every day, Jesus stands before us, just as he stood before those people so long ago, and says, “I am the bread of life – drink of me and never thirst, eat of me and never be hungry again. I am the son of God; through me you can have abundant life, real life. Come to me, abide in me, and by knowing me, know God, my own parent, better. Then your longing will cease, you will find perfect peace, and you will have eternal life.”
What an invitation! What magnificent grace!
Let us again say “yes” to that invitation and go forth in hope and joy, abiding in him!
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.
[1] Quoted in Barclay, William, The Gospel of John, Volume 1, Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky, 2001