What Does It Mean To Eat The Flesh And Drink The Blood Of Jesus?
Good Morning Friends,
This last week I have been laboring through a bout of food poisoning. I ate something I should not have eaten. So, in reading today’s scripture, in awareness of the Jewish dietary laws and Christ’s metaphors on eating scripture, I began to contemplate, with more than a passing interest, what we consume, what we labor for and what fruit we produce and eat. Yes, we have a way of becoming what we eat individually and collectively. And so, before the labor of Mary and the fruit of her womb the nation of Israel was preparing for a Messiah. But they did not expect to consume him. They had eaten manna and milk and honey in the Promised Land. But they also ate from the spirit of rejection. The fruit of what Isaiah calls a suffering servant. And the nature of this suffering is manifested in today’s passage from John. And it is such difficult scripture that most took the talk of eating flesh to be gruesome. But when the crowds took offense Jesus exposed their unbelief. Jesus was bearing the fruit of spirit and life if people would just see. So too we need to understand.
So today we ask,
What Does It Mean To Eat The Flesh And Drink The Blood Of Jesus?
Scripture: You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be happy, and it shall go well with you.
Psalm 128:2 (NRSV)
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.
John 6:52-59 (NRSV)
Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”
Acts 9:1-20 (NRSV)
Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future? For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the Lord shall prosper. Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
Isaiah 53:4-11 (NRSV)
Message: For Jesus, eating is believing and drinking is believing that goes beyond consuming the fruit of our own labors. For if we are to be transformed we must believe in something more than the work of our own hands. You see, Jesus promises eternal life to those who believe in him and trust in him. But we are not promised an easy ride. We are to believe that Christ’s death pays in full the penalty for our sin and that his perfect righteousness is freely given to us in exchange for our unrighteousness. But we are also supposed to enjoy life and be joyous even in its suffering…even in the labor before the birth of something new. So, believing this is how we eat Jesus’ flesh (strength) and drink his blood (life). And that is why Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper as the foundation of the story so we would not forget the very core of what we believe.
For in the end, we all become stories, hopefully intertwined with Jesus as stories of conversion and transformation and of love. Luke saw these stories as important. In fact, he shares Saul’s conversion three times…one of which is in today’s text. And so too through our stories our eyes are meant to behold what is holy, good, true, and beautiful. Unfortunately, worldly things that are unholy, false, and ugly bombard our eyes and can become part of the story too. To rectify that Jesus came to do the unique work of bearing our sins and sorrows. So, what we should be concerned about is not valuing the fruits of our own labors more than Christ’s work. That is why each of our stories need to reflect the fruit of Christ and not our own. And so, to become a story that heals and is one to remember, we need a story that reflects the Eucharist and our own belief. Friends, in the end we all become stories.
Pray we have joyous stories to tell. Pray however that we enjoy the fruit of Christ’s labor more than the fruit of our own works. Pray we seek a labor that glorifies God and produces a ripe fruit that is delightful to the soul. Pray we find the best fruit of the labor in our Lord Jesus Christ. Pray we do not waste time desiring the fruit of our own labor or that of any other. Pray we draw to Jesus and enjoy the fruit of His labor. Pray we realize that the fruit of our own labor can never be good enough. Pray we have a story worth telling that honors God and feeds the soul. Pray we recognize true food. Pray we take eat and drink and believe.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 