The text this morning is from the Gospel according to John, the sixth chapter:
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 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. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
This week, our lectionary gives us the last week of the Bread of Life discourse. And it’s very simple: Jesus is the Bread of Life. He is the Living Bread come down from heaven, and if anyone eats of His flesh, they will live. This week though, Jesus also includes His blood. We have to eat His flesh and drink His blood. We have to, we get to.
This is so weird. You know, the Christians in the early Church were accused by Romans of being cannibals. Among many other misconceptions, people didn’t understand what the Church was doing during this time. Have you ever wondered why you see the heading of “Service of the Word” and then “Service of the Sacrament” in our hymnals and bulletins? That’s actually a 2000-year hold over from the early Church. It used to be that all people were invited to the service of the Word, to hear the Scriptures, to meditate upon them in the sermon and in the prayers, to join in song, to hear the Absolution of sins pronounced upon them. But, then the Service of the Word ended and the Service of the Sacrament would begin. Everyone who was not baptized, catechized, and confirmed in the faith would be asked to leave the church, the doors would be locked, and they would celebrate the Lord’s Supper.
Now, if that sounds weird, know this: this was to be done because we take seriously the dictates that the one who is not able to discern the body and to prepare oneself for Communion, eats and drinks damnation upon themselves. We still believe this, but we don’t remove people. This was also borne of necessity because of those spies sent to infiltrate the churches to report on who was being unfaithful to Caesar and it eliminated their influence during the high point of the service.
Rumors began to spread though, because people didn’t understand it, that the Christians were eating the flesh and drinking the blood of a man when the doors closed; they were cannibals. Of course, they also thought we were weird because we worshipped a man as a god. They were used to gods being spiritual, invisible beings; the thought of God in human flesh was completely foreign to them and they even accused us of being atheistic because of it. It’s true though; they thought we were cannibals because our Lord tells us to eat His flesh and drink His blood.
And the Jews were really no different. How can we do this? How can He ask us to do this reprehensible thing? Jesus’ response isn’t much different than it has been over the last few weeks. He tells them that if they were to actually figure out who they were talking to and seek Him out, they wouldn’t take offense at this, but depend on what they would believe in their spirit and have life. But they would not believe.
Remember, if you do not eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus, you have no life in you. And if you have no life in you, you have no resurrection. And if there is no resurrection, there is only eternal and everlasting death. This is not a fun thing, but it is true. The Lord’s Supper gives us a taste of the resurrection. This is what the theologians call the Now/Not Yet Paradigm. Here’s what I mean: are you holy or are you being made holy? The answer is yes. Both. Jesus declares that you are holy, and He continues to make you holy through your sanctification. You are sanctified in Christ, and at the same time you are being made sanctified in Christ. You have sanctification now, and you don’t have it yet.
It’s the same way with the resurrection. In your Baptism, you were granted faith to believe and the promise of life everlasting. It was given to you; you have it. But it has not come yet fully to you. It will come and you have it. It’s perhaps a bit of a paradox, but it’s true. The Lord’s Supper brings you the feast of life everlasting, yet it is only a foretaste of the feast to come. You have the feast of life, and yet you don’t have it yet. But, you must have the one to receive the other. The Lord’s Supper and the resurrection are tied together; Jesus says so.
And people can’t take this. The reason so many walk away from the Lord’s words today in the text mirror the reason they walk away from the Church: they do not believe. If they were seeking after Christ, they would grasp onto His promise that if they eat His flesh and drink His blood He will abide in them and they will abide in Him. If they were seeking after Him, they would want this gift as often as it was given. If they were seeking after Him, they would say, “How can we do this, Lord? What will you give us?” Instead, they walk away with their own doubts and their questions and their own answers. They think they know better than Jesus.
But the truth is no one does. There is no better way of keeping a disciple than the Lord’s Supper. There’s food, there’s drink, there’s forgiveness, there’s the strengthening of faith, there’s the consolation of the brethren, there’s the foretaste of the feast. It’s an amazing thing, all given in bread and wine. And Jesus says to do it often, as often as you can. And yes, people will walk away because they’d rather rely on themselves, but some will say with Peter, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life!” Every time I say that, I want to sing it. The words spring up inside me and I want to get them out because, Lord knows, I don’t understand a thing about the Lord’s Supper, but I want it, I need it, I gots to have it.
How is it His real body and real blood when I see and taste bread and wine? I don’t know, but I know Jesus says it is. How can I eat of Him, the bread of life, for the forgiveness of sins, when that seems to be so cannibalistic sounding? Well, I mean, it’s not cannibalistic; it’s not so crass. But, How does Jesus do it? I don’t know.
Here’s what we believe: we believe, teach, and confess that in the Holy Supper Christ’s body and blood are truly and essentially present, and that they are truly distributed and received with the bread and wine. We believe, teach, and confess that the words of Christ’s testament are not to be understood in any other way than the way they read, according to the letter. So the bread does not symbolize Christ’s absent body and the wine His absent blood. But, because of the sacramental union, the bread and wine are truly Christ’s body and blood. We believe, teach, and confess that Christ’s body and blood are received with the bread and wine, not only spiritually through faith, but also orally. Yet not in a “Capernaitic” way, but in a supernatural, heavenly way, because of the sacramental union.
We believe, teach, and confess that not only the true believers in Christ and the worthy, but also the unworthy and unbelievers receive Christ’s true body and blood. However, they do not receive them for life and consolation, but for judgment and condemnation, if they are not converted and do not repent. We believe, teach, and confess also that there is only one kind of unworthy guests: those who do not believe. About these guests it is written in John 3:18, “Whoever does not believe is condemned already.” And this judgment becomes greater and more grievous, being aggravated by the unworthy use of the Holy Supper. We believe, teach, and confess that no true believer—as long as he has living faith, however weak he may be—receives the Holy Supper to his judgment. For the Supper was instituted especially for Christians weak in faith, yet repentant. It was instituted for their consolation and to strengthen their weak faith. We believe, teach, and confess that all the worthiness of guests of this heavenly feast is and is founded on Christ’s most holy obedience and perfect merit alone. We receive these for ourselves by true faith, and by the Sacrament we are assured of them. Our worthiness is not at all in our virtues or inward and outward preparations.
I know these are heady statements, thick. They’re straight from our Lutheran Confessions. There’s a lot we reject, too. We reject that you can buy your way to the altar, we reject any explanation for how all this happens, we reject the idea that the bread and wine are mere symbols, and we reject the idea that we get to take bites out of Jesus’ flesh and it’s just the same as any other food. But these are all good things, good things the Scriptures teach, for you.
Where else can I go to get what I get here? Yes, the Word of God alone does forgive my sins, too, but our Lord has given us tangible things to grasp onto so that we might be comforted, not only in our ears or our minds, but in our bodies. This is amazing stuff and not easily dismissed.
When someone walks away from it, they walk away from the goodness of the Lord, the Holy One of God, the one sent by the living Father. They do not believe. Be not one of them. Believe our Lord’s words, that on the night which He was betrayed, He took bread, and when He had given thanks, He gave to His disciples, saying, “Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, also, He took the cup after supper, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you. This cup is the new testament in my blood which is given for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do in remembrance of me.” They reject this, but you believe it. Believe it is bread and wine which bring to you the body and blood of Christ. Believe your sins are forgiven, believe your faith is strengthened. Believe and come. Where else, or to whom else, would you go? Here are the words of eternal life. Take, eat. Take, drink. It is for you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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