1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14, Psalm 111, Ephesians 5:15-20, John 6:51-58
By the Rev. Dr. Kim McNamara
Today’s gospel reading from John begins with the last sentence from the lesson we read last week; verse 6:51. Last week, we learned that Jesus had already angered the crowd with his statement, “I am the bread who has come down from heaven.” However, it is verse 6:51, the first sentence in today’s reading, that infuriated his listeners and turned many against him. “Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Our gospel reading from John, which began last week and continues this week comes from the teachings Jesus shared in the Synagogue at Capernaum. These teachings are part of the Bread of Life Discourse, in which Jesus attempts to explain who he is by identifying himself with bread. Like the manna God provided to the Israelites in the desert, Jesus gives bread. Jesus is bread. “I am the bread of life,” he says, “whoever comes to me will never be hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” As promised last week, the lessons become more and more difficult to understand. Even the disciples agree that these teachings are difficult.
Today’s Biblical scholars have come to the general conclusion that the bread Jesus is referring to is wisdom. However, this is not what those listening to Jesus understood. The reference to drinking his blood and eating his flesh sounds a lot like cannibalism. As the crowd became more confused and indignant, Jesus could have attempted to soothe them with some clarifying explanations, but, instead, Jesus chooses to make the lesson even more difficult. “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” The crowd goes wild.
To help us understand better what John’s Gospel is telling us about Jesus, we need to go back to the very first verses in John’s Gospel, John 1:1-5:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him, not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.
If we read just a little more of this first chapter of John’s Gospel (John 1:12-14), we get a clearer sense of who Jesus is from John’s perspective:
To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us.
As mentioned earlier, bread has become known as the symbol for wisdom. Jesus offers us the Word, which is wisdom from God; wisdom that will help us know and understand God, wisdom that will lead us to a greater awareness of the context of our lives, wisdom that will teach us to listen to and act on God’s priorities in our lives. The wisdom Jesus shares with us teaches us how to live closer to God and changes us with the knowledge of love and forgiveness. The wisdom Jesus shares with us feeds our souls and is the true bread of life. However, Jesus did not simply share wisdom with us. According to John, Jesus, who was filled with the Word and Wisdom from God, became a real flesh and blood human and joined us here on Earth to teach us about the good news of God. At the end of his ministry, Jesus gave up his very real life for us, experiencing humiliation and pain in a brutal crucifixion.
In this context, flesh takes on a stronger meaning than either bread or wisdom. Flesh is what Jesus gives us; a flesh and blood Jesus who has walked with us, experiencing our joys, and feeling our pain as we live as humans in our world. Flesh is also what Jesus expects from us. To be present to God in this life requires us to put our own skin in the game. It is not enough for us to talk and walk with Christ’s wisdom, we must live that wisdom in our daily lives. Loving and serving God and God’s people requires our flesh in the form of hands, feet, eyes, mouths, hearts, and brains. And, as you know, you cannot have living flesh without blood. Blood is the lifegiving energy that flows through us and turns our flesh to life. As humans, blood is our common denominator. Our flesh may point out our differences, but it is our blood that shows us we are all truly one.
As we reflect on the words of Jesus today from the Gospel John, we will find those words again in the sacrament of Eucharist; a sacrament we participate in most Sundays to remember the wisdom and life of Jesus. The Eucharist, also known as Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament and the Lord’s Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in our church. As Christians, we believe that the rite was given to us by Jesus at the Last Supper, the night before his crucifixion, when he gave his disciples bread and wine. Passages in the New Testament state that Jesus commanded the disciples to continue the Eucharist tradition and to “do this in memory of me” while referring to the bread as “my body, broken for you” and the cup of wine as “the blood of my covenant, which is poured out for many”. Being a disciple of Jesus means eating at Christ’s table and participating in his banquet; a banquet that is inclusive and welcoming.
During the Sacrament of Eucharist, which must be administered by an ordained priest, the bread becomes the flesh of Jesus and the wine becomes the blood of Jesus when the elements are consecrated. Some churches believe that through a process called transubstantiation, the substances of the bread and wine actually become the substances of the body and blood of Jesus Christ even though the appearances and physical characteristics of the bread and wine remain unaltered.
Anglican scholars describe our theology on the matter of the Eucharist as nuanced. In our tradition, Christ is spiritually present in the fullness of his person in the Eucharist; however, the Eucharist is not simply a matter of transubstantiation nor is it only a devotional and memorial reflection on Christ’s death. It is a much more complicated matter. So, the Church of England itself has repeatedly refused to issue an official definition of “the presence of Christ” in the elements of the bread and wine; church authorities in the Episcopal tradition prefer to leave it a mystery. Proclaiming the consecrated bread and wine to be “spiritual food” of “Christ’s Most Precious Body and Blood”; the bread and wine are an “outward sign of an inner grace”. Thus, as the Altar Guild knows very well, we treat the consecrated elements with great reverence. In fact, we have a separate sink in the sacristy just for the consecrated host – a piscina; so, the elements are never disposed of in the sewer, but are returned to the earth from which the elements came.
In her book, Take this Bread, author Sara Miles asks and answers some interesting questions about Eucharist. She asks, why are ordained priests the only ones who can preside over the Eucharist at the altar? Why? Because of church tradition, clergy power, institutional arrangements, and politics, but not because that is what Jesus required. Indeed, as we have learned, Jesus invited all to share in the meal with him and asked his disciples to continue sharing the meal with God’s people. It was the church that drew the line between ordained priests and ordinary people and determined that only the ordained were valid and official sacramentalists who could celebrate or preside at the Table, to call down the Holy Spirit on the bread and wine and speak the “words of institution” at the heart of the ritual. In our efforts to be more inclusive, the church has made it possible for ordinary people to become Licensed so they can serve the host to others, but only after it has been consecrated by a priest.
Last week, I ended my sermon by focusing on our ministry model here at St. Hugh. As I explained, we are a Total Common Ministry congregation in which our clergy are called from the congregation, trained locally, and then serve without pay. Last week, I also began my own discourse about the changes St. Hugh will need to go through in the next few years as our model of ministry transitions to a more sustainable model. As it turns out, today’s Gospel reading brings us right back to the topic of our ministry model and the role of clergy in our church.
According to the catechism in our Book of Common Prayer, a sacrament is defined as an “outward and visible sign of inward and spiritual grace, given by Christ as sure and certain means by which we receive that grace.” According to the rules of our church, every congregation must have a priest to preside over the seven sacraments, which include eucharist, baptism, confirmation, ordination, marriage, reconciliation of the penitent, and anointing the sick for the healing of spirit, mind, and body. In an effort to justify fulltime, family-wage positions for career priests, today’s churches have created robust job descriptions for their priests, including the leadership and administration of church operations and care of its facilities, along with teaching, community outreach, and pastoral care. As we go forward to discern our future, it will be important to remember that, according to the church, the only essential role priests are required to perform is to serve as sacramentalists.
As we go forward to discern our future, it is also important to keep in mind that we are not alone and we are not failing. Many churches in our country are being impacted by the declining numbers of churchgoers. The clergy of the Episcopal churches in Mason County recently gathered to talk about our congregations. The five remaining TCM congregations in our diocese also meet regularly. We are not the only church experiencing budgetary limits that restrict our ability to pay for a priest. Remember our past as we look to our future. In the early days of Christianity, the faithful met in each other’s homes, they did not own church buildings, and they did not have fulltime paid priests. The ministry models used by early churches offer us hopeful ideas. They often shared priests with other congregations and enjoyed the sacraments when it was their Sunday to be visited by the priest. The Episcopal church empowers us to worship, even without priests, by providing the liturgy for services led by church members when a priest is not present.
As we go forward, let us go with faith and grace as we listen for and discern God’s plan for the future of the church. Remember John’s words; “The light shines in darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.” Although we may find these days a little unsettling, and the changes ahead a bit intimidating, with God’s help, we will continue to feed God’s people. Amen.