August 19, 2018 - Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost - Eating His Flesh - Gnawing on Christ

This week I identified again with those in the crowd listening to Jesus in the Gospel verses. I imagined myself hearing his words in verse 51, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

Like the crowd, I probably would have disputed what he said. Without knowing anything about the Last Supper, the crucifixion and, perhaps, the resurrection; there is at best a cloudy cultural context for these metaphors. Most in this crowd never heard, much less participated in communion, so why these words at this time?

I admit identifying with the crowd in this way is vainglorious. I have a modern sensibility rather than an ancient one. I have not made animal sacrifices in my religious past as they would likely have done. I never worshiped a God that I felt required a blood sacrifice. I also don't have a flesh and blood Jesus speaking in front of me now like Jesus was speaking to them.

In Pastor Ray's sermon he told the story of a girl who took the words of institution literally and when her pastor said "The body of Christ given for you" the girl let out a loud, disgusted, "Ewww". Pastor Ray described the mixed reaction from the congregation by saying, at that moment, it was as if blood had been splattered across the altar.

Jesus / God / Christ on the cross is an offense and foolishness to many. Jesus talking about his upcoming death is intentionally a scandal. In verses 49-51, Jesus speaks about "eating" the bread from heaven, using the common greek word esthio. In verse 53, however, Jesus switches to a less common word, trogo, which has a meaning closer to "munch" or "gnaw."

It is a graphic word for the noisy eating of an animal. The sound of the eating is not so much evoked as far as what I read; but rather an urgency, a desperation in taking sustenance. Bob Dylan wrote about urgency and dependence like this in his song Solid Rock.  His lyrics first bring to mind what God says in Job, "I'm hanging on to a solid rock made before the foundation of the world" and then "And I won't let go and I can't let go" which he repeats three times.

Is eating the flesh of the Son of Man and drinking his blood as urgent and desperate as that word would suggest? As a Lutheran my faith in communion is that it is sacramental union as Martin Luther described in his 1528 Confession Concerning Christ's Supper:

Why then should we not much more say in the Supper, "This is my body," even though bread and body are two distinct substances, and the word "this" indicates the bread? Here, too, out of two kinds of objects a union has taken place, which I shall call a "sacramental union," because Christ’s body and the bread are given to us as a sacrament. This is not a natural or personal union, as is the case with God and Christ. It is also perhaps a different union from that which the dove has with the Holy Spirit, and the flame with the angel, but it is also assuredly a sacramental union.

Jesus, in John's gospel, speaks in metaphors. I understand metaphorical truth. The questions Pastor Ray asked last week stay with me however. Is Jesus who he says he is? and, basically, Do we become something different after communion? Put another way "Do we really become what we receive and, if so, what does that mean?" Communion for me is much more profound as a  reminder and recognition that we all are the body of Christ. The sacrament elements that start at the altar disappear through everyone's participation.  

Perhaps declaring my personal faith may help here. At times I become aware of Christ's presence during communion. When I do this awareness is not contingent on what is in my mouth or temporarily in my stomach. I don't believe what is important in our spiritual life depends on participation in Sunday communion or that sacrament must be performed in a particular way. I don't think someone who has never taken communion has no life.

I want this post to turn into my prayer. Let me see what is being revealed at this moment. I see that following Jesus is not simply about sentimental love or comfort since he argues with the crowd and is not spiritually comforting them. Physically feeding people is of secondary importance since he downplays the physical feeding with the next crowd he addresses after the 5,000 and does not feed them. Following Jesus is also not simply about reasoning or understanding each word that comes from his mouth since this crowd could not possibly understand or follow what he is asking be done.

As I referenced in my last post the manna of my ancestors may not necessarily sustain modern faith alone. When I look to scripture working in kairos time (God's time) rather than chronos (our time or chronological time) inspiration comes. For example the words about eating the flesh of Jesus and drinking his blood may not have made sense in chronological time but with hindsight there is a powerful truth to be discovered.

When I look the language of the Bible as metaphorical, even when it describes historical events, inspiration and faith fills my soul. Trying to determine how to harmonize, homogenize and make the Gospels all consistent in each literal detail presented is a trivial exercise. Using details to describe the overall message each Gospel is communicating makes more sense.

Also this moves the wisdom and counsel contained in the Bible naturally into the present. As Mark Hanson titled his book Lutherans are "Faithful, but Changing".