Crazy #6 “This is my body.,.. this is my blood” RUMC 6/3/18

Crazy #6

“This is my body.,.. this is my blood”

RUMC 6/3/18

 Jesus said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Communion is one of the most beautiful, unifying, fulfilling rituals in the Christian faith. From outside the faith, however, it is also one of the most bizarre things Christian do.

 Communion, in fact, seems so bizarre to some outside the faith and in the early church, it actually drew charges of cannibalism and even accusations that Christians eat their children. Now, we know that none of that is true, but what did he mean?

 In order to understand this much criticized and at least borderline crazy sounding teaching of Jesus, I want to go to John 6. Now Matthew, Mark, and Luke all have passages just about like the one we read this morning. John doesn’t have the story of the institution of communion per say, but I think as we begin to peel back the layers upon layers of meaning in the Eucharist, or Holy Communion John 6 is a key to our understanding.

John 6 starts with the feeding of the 5000, then Jesus walks on water, and then the crowd chases him down looking for more bread. That is when Jesus begins to speak symbolically.

 He says something like, “You came looking for me not because you believed, but because you wanted another free meal. Don’t look a free meal that will fill you for 3 hours, but ask for that which will fill you to eternity.”

Of course, no literal food that can fill us for eternity. Jesus is obviously slipping into symbolism here

The crowd is still stuck on real live bread. In verse 30 the crowd asks Jesus, “ What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness.”

Jesus argues back “I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that whic] comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Any idea what he is talking about? YES HIMSELF! 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

 Finally, Jesus gets to the punch line… “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. whoever believes in me has eternal life.” Jesus replies, “Don’t you get it?” I am the bread. I am the Manna sent to save the people. The bread is my body broken for you… to borrow words from the last supper.

You see Jesus is not talking about cannibalism. He is not talking about bread. In John and at the last supper, Jesus is talking about faith, salvation, and eternal life. That’s why we always have to look at the context of a Biblical passage, especially if it seems crazy… What is around it, what other passages in the Bible help us to understand it. Now we see that eating bread--- whether it is in John 6 or at the last supper in Matthew 26-- is the CONTEXT of the conversation, faith, salvation, and eternal life is the real SUBJECT of the conversation.

So using the words of Jesus at the last supper,

 To do this in remembrance of him is to have faith in Jesus. To have faith, not that Jesus was, but that Jesus is. To have faith that Jesus is really present… Really active… Really working in our lives and our world. To have faith that Jesus brings salvation just as the Manna brought salvation in the wilderness. To receive his body broken for you and his blood poured out for you is to receive the gracious gift of salvation from our gracious God. It is one thing to believe it in our heads, but we are material beings living in a material world, and a sacrament is God using material stuff to teach us about a spiritual truth. To take the material substance of the bread and the juice into our material bodies in remembrance of him makes the spiritual truth that Jesus is our savior real in a way that reading a creed, or singing a song just cannot. Jesus IS OUR SAVIOR.

 .Second, to do this in remembrance of him is to proclaim Jesus as the son of God.

49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is (I am) the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven.

He says twice, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.” To receive his body broken for you (in the material of the bread) and his blood poured out for you (in the material of the juice) is to also receive the holy and almighty God, the divine creator of heaven and earth, the one who is without beginning or end, who is the alpha and the omega, the one who is spirit and is beyond anything we can imagine or touch,… to receive the material of the bread and the juice is to proclaim that this God beyond all is in the flesh of Jesus Christ… in material form in Jesus Christ. It is one thing to believe the incarnation on the intellectually, but we are material beings living in a material world. To take the material substance of the bread and the juice into our material bodies in remembrance of him makes the spiritual truth of God’s incarnation in Jesus Christ real in a way that lighting advent candles or singing “love came down at Christmas” just cannot.  Jesus IS GOD INCARNATE.

 Finally, to eat the bread and drink the juice in remembrance of him to is to remember that God loves you personally.

The Jews continued to argue with Jesus about bread, and life, and just kept missing the point. Finally, Jesus says bluntly “I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; 55 for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.

This is a life and death decision, believe and live... Don’t believe and there is no life in you. To receive his body broken for you (right here and right now in this place) and his blood poured out for you (right here and right now in this place) is to understand that the life Jesus offers is not just for the Jews, or just for the righteous, or just for the good, or anyone else… it is for me. It is for you. To receive the bread and the juice-- the body and the blood-- into your own body is a very intimate experience of God abiding- living in us… and calls us to abide or live in God. To receive the bread and the juice-- the body and the blood-- into your own body is to know intimately that God loves you. It is one thing to believe that Jesus loves me on the inside, but we are material beings living in a material world. To take the material substance of the bread and the juice into our material bodies in remembrance of him makes the spiritual truth that God loves me very real and intimate in a way that prayer or scripture reading just cannot. Jesus loves you and lives in you personally.

Do this in remembrance of me… Jesus is our savior… the son of God … is intimately in love with you.

So, you see, that Jesus saying “this is my body broken for you, and this is my blood shed for you, is not just an isolated crazy thing to say. It sounds crazy but to those who experience it… truly receive the body and blood, it is an experience no sermon can ever explain. You only know by doing. So let’s share the body and blood of Christ.