Eating Jesus

Pentecost 12 / Lectionary 20, Year B.
Text: Prov 9.1-6; Eph 5.15-20; Jn 6.51-56

From July 26-August 23, the Lectionary follows one long story in John’s gospel. These 6 Sundays are often called the “Bread Sundays” because the story they follow begins with Jesus feeding the 5000 by the Sea of Gallilee and records his following discourse in which he says “I AM the Bread of Life.” This year, during the Bread Sundays, I have the opportunity to preach twice, so I decided to use the text as a jumping-off point to talk about some of our practices and beliefs surrounding the sacrament of Holy Communion.

---

If we kept reading, we would hear Jesus ask, “Does this offend you?” Does this make you sick, gross you out? If it doesn’t, maybe it should: it’s graphic, it’s vivid, it’s disgusting. What do we know that eats flesh? Predators like lions or wolves, scavengers like vultures or coyotes. What do you think of when you think of drinking blood? Probably vampires, mosquitos, or ghouls. These are not pretty images. Jesus is being intentionally shocking, disgusting for a purpose. But why? Maybe it’s to make sure we are paying attention.

You Are What You Eat

Sermon Series on the Sacraments #3
Text: Eph 4.1-16; Jn 6.51-58

You’ve heard the saying, “you are what you eat.” It’s true on many levels. As I have grown older, I have found that, much to my dismay, my body can no longer feel completely nourished on just ice cream and potato chips. If I eat too much sugar, I feel sick. If I eat too much food that has been overly processed and comes from cans or bags, my stomach lets me hear about it and my body feels worn out and used up, just like the empty bags and cans from which the meal came. In order to keep my body feeling fresh and whole, I need foods that are fresh and whole, full of protein and fiber, vitamins and minerals. What I eat has to do more than just fill me up, it has to nourish me.

On a deeper level, we really are what we eat. Our bodies need those proteins and carbohydrates and vitamins because those molecules that come from our food are what our bodies use to power our organs and to build our cells. The food we eat actually becomes the stuff that makes up our bones, our muscles, our skin, and our brains. That’s why in addition to carbs for energy, we need meat and fruit and vegetables, so our bodies can continue to grow and regenerate themselves.

The food we eat is both literally and symbolically what makes up our bodies. If we eat junk, we feel like junk, because our bodies aren’t getting the things they need to replenish themselves. By now you may have guessed where I’m going with this. This is true not just of the food we eat to nourish our bodies, but the food we eat to nourish our souls, and the food we have been given for our souls is the body and blood of Jesus given to us in Holy Communion.

We encounter this body and blood in simple elements of bread and wine, but in the sacrament, there is more than just the bread and wine present. What makes the sacraments is the elements plus the word of God: the word “This is my body, given for you; this is my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Our Roman Catholic sisters and brothers believe that the bread and wine actually change into flesh and blood in Holy Communion. While we Lutherans do not share this belief, neither do we believe that the bread and wine are merely symbols of Christ’s presence.

Luther believed and taught that Jesus Christ is just as fully present in the meal as he was on the cross. We believe that the bread and wine do not cease to be bread and wine, but we also believe that Jesus is there with them—“in, with and under” the elements. To deny that Jesus’ actual body and blood are not present in the elements is like denying that it was his actual body that hung and died upon the cross. If Christ is not in the meal, then there is no forgiveness of sins, just as if it were not actually Jesus hanging from the tree. To believe Jesus’ promise that his body and blood are given and shed “for us” requires us to trust that somehow he is actually in, with and under the bread and wine in Holy Communion.

Because this is meal is not just bread and wine, but Jesus’ actual body and blood, this sacrament gives us an amazing gift: we become what we eat. In this meal, Jesus transforms us into the Body of Christ, what we also call the Church. How Jesus’ body and blood are present with the bread and wine and how we are changed from a group of individuals into the Church are mysteries—we do not and cannot know how they occur. We simply trust Jesus’ promise that this meal is his body and blood given for us, and that because it is given for us, the meal forgives us from sin and prepares us for the work of God’s kingdom.

In baptism, God claims us and makes us holy, and prepares us for a task. In Holy Communion, Jesus gives us the means to do that task, just like the proteins and carbs and vitamins and minerals that come from our food strengthen and form us for life. The miracle that occurs in Holy Communion is that in addition to being purified and made holy so we can do God’s work, we are actually being transformed.

Each of us individually has a little bit of Jesus in us, which makes us able to be “little Christs” to those around us. All of us collectively become the Body of Christ. This is what sets the Church apart from the Kiwanis or the city council or a board of directors—we are more than just a collection of people; we are a collection of people in whom God is truly present.

This is what Jesus does. He is God-made-flesh, God-with-us in human form. Through Holy Communion, he transforms us. Through us, the meal makes God incarnate in the world again with the body and blood of Jesus and the hands and feet of the Church.

Along with these gifts of Jesus’ body and blood, we are given many other gifts from God through the Holy Spirit. Paul and others write about these gifts throughout the bible. In Galatians, Paul calls them the “fruits of the Spirit.” In Romans and 1 Corinthians, he describes them as many members of one body.

The author of Ephesians describes the gifts given by the Spirit to all who share in the one baptism into Christ. These gifts are given, he says, to equip the saints (that’s us) for ministry—for the work of God’s kingdom on earth—and to build up the body of Christ. Just as we are built up and transformed in the meal, we then go out to build up and transform the Church and the world around us. In a very real way, after we eat the bread and wine in which Christ is found at communion, we become the bread and wine in which Christ is found that is given for the whole world.

Not only are we the Body of Christ in the sense that we are the embodiment of Jesus for the world, we are also the Body of Christ given for the world for the forgiveness of sins. When our own bodies are working properly, each part works together to promotes the body’s growth. In the same way, when each part of Christ’s body is working properly, we each and all promote the body’s growth in building itself up in love. That is the purpose of these gifts of the sacraments: to equip the saints for ministry, so that together, we might build up the entire community in love.

As the Church, we are called to be stewards of these gifts, God’s servants working to build up the Body of Christ and the world. The way we care for and administer these gifts is what we call “stewardship,” and it is the guiding principle for how we treat the environment, the land we farm, the blessings we’ve been given, the money we have, and even the sacraments of God’s Church. All these things belong to God, and God has chosen and trusted us to use them wisely—so what will we do with them? If we hoard these gifts for ourselves, then they become useless and meaningless, like food rotting in a pantry. Instead, we are always asking ourselves how God wants us to use and share the gifts God has given us.

As we have already said, this is not a task we are able to accomplish on our own. Left to our own devices and our own desires, we will misuse and abuse God’s gifts. This is why God has claimed us through baptism and feeds us through communion: to make us holy for God’s work and strengthen us to do it—to equip the saints for the work of ministry.

We are what we eat. In this meal, we eat Jesus, and he becomes a part of us. Because he lives in us now, we are called and equipped to do that which only Jesus can do: to bring about God’s kingdom on earth. No mere bread and wine could do this, just as no mere human could hope to bring about God’s reign on earth. It is Jesus’ true presence—on the cross, in the meal, and in the Church—that makes all the difference. This is why we call this meal the Eucharist, a word meaning “thanksgiving.” In this meal, we give thanks to God for the gift of Jesus, who rose from death for us, and we give thanks that through us, he is still here, working for God’s will in the world.