Pentecost X, Cycle B
"Eat My Flesh, Drink My Blood!"
August 17, 2003
The Rev. Dr. David M. Wendel
Saint Luke’s Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado
It's no surprise, really, that from the very beginning on, there have been those who have disputed among themselves, about whether or not Jesus' flesh and blood are truly present, in, with and under the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper. It ought not surprise us, because from the beginning, even before Jesus formally instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper, while he was still teaching and preparing his followers to receive the Lord's Supper, there were those who heard about it, and right away, began to dispute, to argue, to contend with Jesus' words and intention.
In our gospel lesson for this morning, as we continue our reading from St. John 6, about the bread of life, we hear, already, how his words about him being, the living bread come down from heaven; his words affirming that the bread that He would give for the life of the world, is His flesh, were stirring up a response. St. John tells us, after Jesus said these things, "the Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat?' " And, why wouldn't they dispute that? The words of Jesus about himself as the bread of life, would've been offensive to Jesus' fellow Jews, for several reasons. First, they already understood that the Torah, the Word and Wisdom of God, was the bread of life. The devout knew they were to consume the teachings of the Law and the Prophets, and it would fill their every need. For Jesus to suggest that He was the bread come down from heaven to give life to the world, well, you can see how that would contradict with what the Jews had already believed. And not only did it conflict, it was blasphemous! Jesus was suggesting that He was the Word of God, become flesh, become the bread of God! For Jesus to claim that He, himself was divine, was a terrible sin. And if that wasn't enough to irritate Jesus' hearers, he sealed his fate, so to speak, by his plain talk about "the bread that I will give, is my flesh". He assured that he would offend Jewish religious sensibilities, by saying, even more explicitly, "Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day." This, flesh-eating, blood-drinking talk sent the Jews reeling, because in flesh and blood was the essence, the life of a being--to eat the life of another human, was repulsive--in the same way that cannibalism is repulsive to us. And yet, Jesus doesn't hem or haw; Jesus doesn't try to soften his words, to make his meaning more palatable. In his whole discussion of the bread of life, of his followers eating his flesh and drinking his blood to have him, in them--He just lays it right out. And the Jews who heard him, immediately disputed what he was saying. And that…was just the beginning. The Jews who reacted negatively to Jesus' words about "giving his flesh to eat", were only the first in a long line of "dispute-ers", who couldn't accept Jesus' words about His flesh and blood; who just couldn't believe Jesus when he said, "This is my body--this is my blood".
Dr. Martin Luther, and the Lutheran reformers in the sixteenth century, for example, contended against those who denied that we could eat Jesus' flesh and drink his blood. Unfortunately, it was Luther, himself, who opened the floodgates to those who would reject the real presence of Jesus Christ in the sacrament--because they couldn't accept Jesus' words, "for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink." Although there were a number of abuses in the medieval church that Luther wanted to correct, the belief in the real presence, in the mass, was not one of them. In fact, in our chief confessional document, the Augsburg Confession, the Lutherans stated, "Concerning the Lord's Supper it is taught among us that the true body and blood of Christ are truly present under the form of bread and wine in the Lord's Supper and are distributed and received there. Rejected, therefore, is the contrary teaching." Indeed, the Lutherans in the sixteenth century strongly condemned those who disputed the eating and drinking of Christ's flesh and blood, in the sacrament, affirming, instead, what Jesus himself taught, and what Christians had believed for 1500 years--that unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have his life in you! In one of our other confessional documents, the Formula of Concord, of 1577, the Lutherans stated, "We reject and condemn as false, erroneous and deceptive, all who do not believe the words of institution to mean what they say, (i.e., that this is Christ's literal body and blood in the supper); we reject and condemn all who teach that we do not orally partake of Christ's body and blood, but only receive Him spiritually, through faith; we reject and condemn those who believe that the bread and wine are only symbols, types, and figures of the absent body of Christ, which is actually far away, or those who believe that the bread and wine are nothing more than tokens or reminders of the absent body of Christ." For Luther and the Lutheran reformers of the 1500's, it was not enough that they believed in the real presence of Christ in the sacrament, but they rejected and condemned all those who believed otherwise--they rejected and condemned those who did not believe, that when you eat the bread and wine, you consume the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, who is not absent, not distant, not far away, but right there, in, with and under the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper! Luther, and Lutherans believe and teach Christ's real presence in the sacrament, because we believe and teach Christ's own word and promise regarding His presence--that unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood--you have no life in you. That when Jesus says, "This is my body--this is my blood--DO THIS FOR THE REMBRANCE OF ME", He meant what He said, and He said what He meant. That God has incarnated himself, in Jesus Christ, and Jesus has incarnated, en-fleshed himself in the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper, so that when we eat His flesh and drink His blood, we receive Him; He abides in us and we abide in Him; we receive new life, and eternal life, not because we have earned it or deserve it, not because we are sinless and perfect--but because we have Jesus Christ's real, true presence in us. Because we have eaten of Jesus' flesh, and consumed His blood, He is one with us--literally. He is inside us, and becomes part of our flesh and blood, so that as He will live eternally, we will live eternally. Because it is just as He says, "the one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood will live forever." And, "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have this life in you". This is what Jesus taught--this is what Jesus instituted, when He instituted the Lord's Supper--this is what Lutherans and other catholic and orthodox Christians have always believed--that life, and eternal life comes from eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus Christ, the bread of life come down from heaven. And similarly, we should still be willing to say, "we reject and condemn those who teach otherwise".
It's no surprise, that people, even well-meaning Christians, continue to dispute Jesus' words in John 6, Jesus' words at the Last Supper, and catholic and apostolic Christian teaching of the past 2000 years, with regard to the real presence. It's no surprise that Jesus' words about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, continues to offend and confuse and confound, even some Christians, who just can't take Jesus at His word. But as clearly as we affirm Jesus' word and promise, that this is indeed, his body and blood, that eternal life comes from eating his flesh and drinking his blood--we need to clearly reject and condemn those who dispute that fact. We need to clearly reject and condemn those who teach that Jesus is NOT, truly present in the Lord's Supper--we need to clearly reject and condemn those who teach that we are NOT eating Jesus' flesh and blood in the Lord's Supper. And why must we reject and condemn that as false, erroneous and deceptive? Because it is false, erroneous and deceptive! Because new life, and eternal life, and living forever after death, comes from eating Jesus' flesh and drinking His blood--in the sacrament. Because if you do not eat His flesh and drink His blood, you have no life in you! And Jesus gave His flesh, on the cross, for the life of the world. Jesus came, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved. Jesus wants all people, to feast on His presence, in the Lord's Supper. Jesus wants his disciples to receive, not mere bread and wine; not simple symbols that have no power to forgive and absolve; Jesus offers to his disciples, and to the world, His incarnate presence, in the bread and wine, that become His flesh and blood--His presence that brings, once you eat it and digest it, forgiveness, salvation, life and eternal life! To dispute His presence, or to believe otherwise, is to deny Jesus' word, and to refuse to accept His gift of Himself. To eat his flesh and drink his blood, is to have his life in you; to abide in him, and he in you--so that you will live, because of Him. And just so, He wants, and we want, all, to come, eat, and drink, his flesh and blood--and live, forever! That's what Jesus promises--and that's what we proclaim…that's what me must proclaim!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.