Pentecost 13 (6)
Notes
Transcript
51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” 52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.”
You are what you eat.
One of the possible explanations for why you are not as healthy as you could be - and by far the most important - is what you are putting into your body. The saying "You are what you eat" is literally true. Every one of your cells is replaced in about seven years, and your food is what those new cells are made from. So take a good look at what you have got on your plate. It is about to be a part of you. Are you really that attached to the chocolate cake? If you want your body to perform at a peak level, make sure you are giving it good quality material to work with.
Begin by taking inventory of what you routinely consume and ask yourself a few key questions. Do you eat whole foods full of vitamins, enzymes, and phytonutrients that will nourish you and provide the energy to keep you going all day? Or, do you consume empty calories that wreck havoc on your blood sugar and your waistline? How do you feel after you eat? Do you feel strong, comfortable, invigorated, or do you feel bloated, stuffed, queasy, or nauseated? When you wake up in the morning, are you bright, alert, and ready to greet the day, or do you feel sluggish, exhausted, or congested?
Answer these questions honestly, and be aware of the ways in which your body is trying to communicate with you about your food choices. If it is not totally happy, change what you are doing. How you go about it is completely up to you. There are a gazillion diet books out there. Some are better than others, but you need to find something that meets your specific needs.
When you eat consciously, you can eat whatever you want. You just need to think about what you are really doing. Are you eating because you are physically hungry or are you looking for something else? You never wolf down a box of cookies out of starvation. The hunger pangs that most of us are trying to squelch with our voracious appetites are emotional and spiritual in nature and can only be temporarily quieted with french fries. Feeding the belly is not feeding the soul. The annoying law of diminishing returns applies to both nachos and narcotics.
The first mention of the phrase 'you are what you eat' came from the 1826 work Physiologie du Gout, ou Medetations de Gastronomie Transcendante, in which French author Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote: “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what your are.”
Does this mean that it did not matter what people ate until that phrase was invented? Of course not. The Lord gave the Old Testament Israelites a long list of dietary instructions. Although the main intention was not for the physical health of the body, it does show a strong connection between eating and who they were. A more connected example comes from the book of Daniel 1:3–16 (NIV84)
3 Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility— 4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians. 5 The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king’s table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king’s service. 6 Among these were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. 7 The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego. 8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. 9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, 10 but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.” 11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days. 15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
Even so, given a choice many people would prefer red meat to steamed vegetables . . . most likely for the taste if nothing else.
17 Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred.
Jesus uses this connection between what we eat and the results to further his description of himself as the bread of life.
This section begins with statement of his origin. He has come down from heaven. Elsewhere the Bible teaches us that unlike others, Jesus existed before conception. Although some people believe that our souls existed before our conception and then entered our bodies, there is not teaching of this in God’s Word.
Pre-existence, preexistence, beforelife, or premortal existence is the belief that each individual human soul existed before mortal conception, and at some point before birth enters or is placed into the body. Concepts of pre-existence can encompass either the belief that the soul came into existence at some time prior to conception or the belief that the soul is eternal. Alternative positions are traducianism and creationism, which both hold that the individual human soul does not come into existence until conception. It is to be distinguished from preformation, which is about physical existence and applies to all living things.
Ancient Greek thought and Islam affirm pre-existence, but it is generally denied in Christianity.
So we do not come down from heaven. But Jesus did. As true God, he has existed from all eternity. At his conception, he also became true man. Jesus does not go into the theology here but states this here to teach that what he is teaching comes from God.
He then makes some profound statements but uses figurative language. John 6:51–52 (NIV84)
51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” 52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Jesus does this a lot in his teachings. He uses word pictures and illustrative language to teach important truths. We are familiar with this from his parables. He uses this technique to describe himself as the Good Shepherd, the Gate for the Sheep, the Living Water, the Bread of Life. He is referred to as the Lamb of God and the Lion of Judah. Using such language has led many a person to ask, “What does this mean?”
We have that question here. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus’ answer has left many people puzzled.
53 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.”
John (The Jews Disagree that Jesus is from Heaven / 6:41–59 / 100)
6:52–53 “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” Instead of directly telling them how he could give them his flesh to eat (6:52), Jesus reemphasized the necessity of eating his flesh and—he here added—also drinking his blood. No one could receive his life until the giver died by shedding his own life’s blood. Thus, Jesus wants us to accept, receive, even assimilate the significance of his death in order to receive eternal life. Christians do this frequently when they commemorate the Lord’s Supper and take to heart Jesus’ words, “Take, eat, this is my body … drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant” (Matthew 26:26–28 NRSV). But Christians should not limit this to only the celebration of the Lord’s Supper (or Eucharist); Christians can partake of Jesus anytime.
An Exposition of John (Chapter Twenty-Three: Christ in the Capernaum Synagogue (John 6:41–59))
This passage in John 6 is a favorite one with Ritualists, who understand it to refer to the Lord’s Supper. But this is certainly a mistake, and that for the following reasons. First, the Lord’s Supper had not been instituted when Christ delivered this discourse. Second, Christ was here addressing Himself to un-believers, and the Lord’s Supper is for saints, not unregenerate sinners. Third, the eating and drinking here spoken of are in order to salvation; but eating and drinking at the Lord’s table are for those who have been saved.
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Chapter 6)
The truth really conveyed here is no other than that expressed in Jn 6:51, though in more emphatic terms—that He Himself, in the virtue of His sacrificial death, is the spiritual and eternal life of men; and that unless men voluntarily appropriate to themselves this death, in its sacrificial virtue, so as to become the very life and nourishment of their inner man, they have no spiritual and eternal life at all. Not as if His death were the only thing of value, but it is what gives all else in Christ’s Incarnate Person, Life, and Office, their whole value to us sinners.
What does this mean?
Certainly not literal cannibalism.
Most likely not a reference to the Lord’s Supper although some of the terminology is similar. Why would Jesus refer to something that hasn’t been instituted yet?
Some commentators take it to mean believing in Jesus.
Others go further and emphasize complete connection to Jesus. Galatians 2:20 (NIV84)
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
10 Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Importance of being connected to Jesus.
Sometimes in confirmation class I ask the students to list famous people and why they are famous. I then ask, “Why is it important that you know about this person?” In most cases it doesn’t really matter. It has no immediate impact on our lives. I use this as an introduction to teaching about the most important person of history and that is Jesus Christ. It is important not only to know about him, but to believe in him and to be as close to him as possible. I believe that is what Jesus is saying here. He is calling to people to become so invested in him that they will be blessed as a result.
It is like knowing about food and whether or not we appropriate it to our bodies. It can be wise to know the health benefits of what we do or do not put into our bodies, but if we don’t make use of that knowledge, it has no benefit.
Over 50 years ago my parents must have agreed that having a small pox vaccination would be beneficial to me. So I was lined up with the other children in my class and injected with a vaccine using a very large needle (I still have the scar.) I doubt I know what was going on but I received the benefit by receiving the vaccine. On the other hand, I may know the benefit of certain diets, but if I continue to eat fattened calves and drink choice wines, that knowledge does me know good.
Jesus knows how beneficial having a relationship with him will be for our lives. Here, in a figurative way, he uses the illustration of eating and drinking to make some astounding promises:
We have eternal life. (Now and in the future)
We will be raised on the Last Day.
We will live forever.
So how do we eat and drink the body and blood of the Lord?
Since this is not a reference to the Lord’s Supper, it is more than receiving the sacrament on a regular basis. In the next section Jesus will ask his disciples if they were going to desert him as many others did that day. There answer? “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the word of eternal life?” They understood right then and there what Jesus was saying. Eating his body and drinking his blood meant to hear, believe, and act on what he was teaching as they trusted that he would give his life in death so that they might live.
We eat and drink of the body and blood of the Lord when we trust in him as the atoning sacrifice for our sins and feed on his word through our use of God’s Word. We pray for this at the end of our worship service many times:
Blessed Lord, you have given us your Holy Scriptures for our learning. May we so hear them, read, learn, and take them to heart, that being strengthened and comforted by your holy Word, we may cling to the blessed hope of everlasting life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
1 How precious is the Book Divine,
By inspiration giv'n!
Bright as a lamp its doctrines shine
To guide our souls to heav'n,
To guide our souls to heav'n.
2 Its light, descending from above
Our gloomy world to cheer,
Displays a Savior's boundless love
And brings His glories near,
And brings His glories near.
3 It shows to us our wand'ring ways
And where his feet have trod,
And brings to view the matchless grace
Of a forgiving God,
Of a forgiving God.
6 This lamp through all the tedious night
Of life shall guide our way
Till we behold the clearer light
Of an eternal day,
Of an eternal day.