You are what you eat. Hands up if anyone has watched this Channel 4 series on food and health? If you have, then you'll know how some things we eat and drink are much better for us than others. And that, in a very real sense, you are what you eat. If you and I consume a lot of food that is sugary or fatty, then this will be bad for our body's health. It's not always easy, is it? If - like me - you have a sweet tooth (never mind the main course, what's for pudding?!) then too much of a good thing will have negative consequences. For example, my childhood consumption of hard sugary sweets has certainly affected my teeth, and the number of times I have to visit the dentist!
You are what you eat. Yet that's not just true for food and drink, is it? Every day, you and I receive countless messages from the world around us. Whether on Facebook or Twitter, email or TV, radio or newspaper, these messages affect us, one way or another. For example, advertisements seek to stir up within us a sense of need, longing, or desire for a product, or a way of life that we don't have. Day by day, you and I are bombarded by a whole mixture of messages. Messages which can distort reality, destroy hope, and drive us to despair. If we swallow them uncritically, then they can fill our hearts and minds with things which will be bad for our spiritual health.
You are what you eat. In today's Gospel, Jesus invites us - just as he invited those first Jewish crowds - to feed on Him "the living bread that came down from heaven" (John 6: 51). This bread would not be like the manna that God sent to feed His people in the wilderness, bread which only nourished and sustained them for a little while. No, the "living bread" sent by God would be nothing less than Jesus Himself, His body broken and lifeblood outpoured, for the sake of the world: "The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh" (John 6: 51). And Jesus then goes on to say what happens when we do feed on Him: "Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day … Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them … Whoever eats me will live because of me" (John 6: 54, 56, 57).
No wonder we're told that even Jesus's disciples started to complain about this teaching! What Jesus was saying - with its striking claims and extraordinary language about eating His flesh and drinking His blood - was clearly offensive to many of His first hearers, and certainly challenging to all. Just as it continues to be to this day.
And so the Gospel we've heard today leaves us with this question: What does it really mean for us to feed on Jesus Christ, "the living bread that came down from heaven"? A little later on in this service, you and I shall be invited to come and share in Holy Communion - to "draw near with faith.. receive the body of our Lord Jesus Christ which he gave for you .. and feed on him in your hearts by faith with thanksgiving." In Holy Communion - what we do and share at the Lord's command in remembrance of Him - you and I are given some clear pointers as to what feeding on Jesus might really mean. And as we come to meet with Jesus - through His Word, Sacrament, and Spirit - so the Lord offers us a tangible reminder of what we are called to participate in. It is nothing less than these three interweaving realities about His life, and ours: His life for us; His life in us; and His life through us.
First, His life for us. In today's Gospel, Jesus makes it quite clear that "the living bread that came down from heaven" is nothing less than His life given for us, and for the world: "The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." Or, as today's Eucharistic Prayer puts it: "Embracing our humanity, Jesus showed us the way of salvation; loving us to the end, he gave himself to death for us; dying for his own, he set us free from the bonds of sin, that we might rise and reign with him in glory." In Jesus Christ, God has given you and me all that we shall ever need for our true health and wellbeing. In Jesus Christ alone, we find the Way to healing and wholeness, freedom from the shackles of sin, and life which cannot be destroyed, even by death.
Second, His life in us. In today's Gospel, Jesus reminds us that His death on a cross was not just a momentous event that happened once and for all in history. It is also about the present reality of His living presence with, and within, His people. "Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them." Holy Communion can powerfully remind us that the Living Lord seeks to make His dwelling within us. If we come in faith - however little it may seem - and are open to the Holy Spirit's working within us, so when we come to eat the sacrament - and the Greek word used for eating in today's Gospel literally means something like chew or munch - we receive the life of Jesus into us afresh.
As we feed on Him in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving, His life grows within us.
Third, His life through us. At the end of John's Gospel, we're told how the Risen Lord came to His disciples who were imprisoned by fear in the Upper Room, and said this to them: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you" (John 20: 21). Then, in the power of the Holy Spirit, that's exactly what happened. The doors were flung open, and out went those first followers of Jesus to share the good news. They found themselves caught up in the lifegiving impulse of God the Father's love - the sending of the Son, and then of the Spirit. Just as the disciples came to receive new life from the Lord, so they were sent out to share that life with all who would receive it. His life working through them.
At the end of today's Communion, we too shall be sent out with these words: "Go in peace to love and serve the Lord." They remind us that the life of Jesus Christ is for sharing. Just as Jesus was sent by His Father, so He now sends us out in the power of His Spirit. Wherever you and I find ourselves, and whoever we're with, our Christian calling is clear: As members of Christ's Body here on earth, we are called to let the life of Jesus work through us, in order to bring His blessing to this beautiful but broken world.
So what, then, does it mean for us to feed on Jesus Christ, "the living bread that came down from heaven"? First, it means coming to receive by faith Christ's life given for us. Second, it means allowing the Holy Spirit to grow Christ's life in us. And third, it means going out in the power of the same Spirit to let Christ's life work through us. As we learn to do so, day by day, so others will notice, for our lives will point to Jesus Christ the living bread.
John Barr
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