October 11, 2022 – Eat His Flesh – Drink His Blood

“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 6:54-55

“No wonder early Christians faced accusations of cannibalism! This is gross. And yet we recall this kind of imagery every time we participate in the Eucharist. As I receive the bread, I hear the words, “the Body of Christ,” and then another phrase, usually, “the bread of heaven.” As I receive the wine, I hear the words, “the Blood of Christ,” and then usually “the cup of salvation.” These four phrases have at least one thing in common: Their meaning is obscure — unless, minimally, you’ve spent a fair amount of time hanging out with and hearing from Christians.

Flesh and blood are the seat of life — life belonging only to God, life that can be claimed rightly only by God. And yet in Jesus, God has willingly poured out that life for the sake of the world — not just the good people, the people who try hard to do the right thing, the people who praise and encourage the saints, but as much or more for the people who hate, and who act on their hatred, even to the point of killing a righteous woman or man, an innocent child.” (dylan’s lectionary blog, Sarah Dylan Breuer, saralaughed website)

I am glad that the above blog points out that Jesus poured out his life for all people — both the good and the bad among us. We all struggle to be good, to do good deeds, to think good thoughts, to be the best “good” people we can be. Still, that doesn’t mean that we are always good. And sometimes we do hateful things, and we encounter hateful people, and we witness the hate of the world, and we need to remember that Jesus died for those people as well – whether we like that or not.

We come to the table of Holy Communion believing that Jesus is present in the meal because Jesus promised to be present. And so no matter who partakes of that meal, whether in the right state of mind or not, in the right state of forgiveness or not, in the right state of peace, love, mercy and Grace or not, Jesus is still there — flesh and blood — poured out for our benefit. Thank G-d that is the kind of G-d we have……

Let us pray,

Lord Jesus, your flesh and blood are efficacious for all. For that we give you thanks. Amen.

Pastor Dave