The Scripture
readings, above, are from the appointed
'paired' readings for the principal service of the day from the Church of
Ireland while hyper-links to the readings are taken from the New Revised Standard
Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © http://nrsvbibles.org
(Year B: Twelfth Sunday after Trinity, 22
August 2021)
And so, after we come to the close of a
long discourse in the sixth chapter of Saint John. Let’s recap on what we have
heard, read and mediated in our hearts over the last five weeks including this
Sunday’s passage:
- Jesus feeds all of those who come to him (John 6:1-15)
- The crowds ask for a sign. Jesus declares (verse 35): ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty’. (John 6:24-35).
- And then he goes a step further (verse 51): ‘Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’ (John 6:41-51)
- And unless anyone still has not got it he says (vs 54-55): ‘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.’ (John 6:51-58)
The words in John from today’s passage are
challenging. It sounds very much like a meditation from an early Christian
community already familiar with a primitive form of the Eucharist or Holy
Communion. First, this is about the giving of Jesus – his body, blood, humanity
and divinity in the sacrifice of calvary.
By this He is risen and gives life to us from the cross and from his resurrection. This said, the chapter in its entirety speaks
to us of the communion instituted by Jesus and told in the other (synoptic gospels). In other words, John 6 does not present an
either-or choice as between a eucharistic interpretation and something else
concerning his Word and his sacrifice.
All are linked and explicit in this chapter. For as often as we eat this bread and drink
the cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes (refer to 1 Corinthians
11:26).
Whatever the exact circumstances in which chapter
6 of John was written and what lies behind it, we can trust that it represents God speaking to us today – not by
means of some direct transcript but through the mediation of
memory, story and evolving understanding. We are in holy company listening to
the living word and this word is at work in our hearts each time we seek to
listen and to be open to the word of God.
At the end of this important chapter we
have encountered Jesus in his word and in his sacramental signs of living bread
which is his body. This not an easy teaching to grasp or an easy one to explain
and live by as witnessed by the tone of controversy in verses 60-69. It might be all too convenient to turn this
passage into a harbinger of reformation and post-reformation controversies many
centuries later. We would be missing the point if we were to focus on a
relatively modern controversy about how to explain the mystery of the Lord’s Table.
At the centre of this discourse is the unity of life, word and living bread. We
do not know just how but we believe all the same.
We can walk away from teaching that is hard
to grasp or apply in our lives. Like the
chosen people in today’s first reading we have a choice: we can cling to life
and the ways of faith in God and in his ways or we can follow the other nations
to use an Old Testament way of saying. But
do we really have a choice? Where else
would we go as Peter declares.
You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God. (John 6:68-69).
May we believe this, proclaim it and live
it out in our daily lives.
