Ephesians 4:25-5:2; John 6:35, 41-51
Living with Yani and two daughters who are nurses, I have learned from their nutrition class that what we eat it is important because we are what we eat. I have learned the importance of healthy eating habits because what we eat will eventually work either against us, or in our favor. For instance, fatty foods are tasty and good, however if our diet is mostly on fatty foods, that later in life will clogged our arteries. And believe me, I know about that. On the other hand, vegetables are really not that tasty as other food. However, the benefits we get from them will help us build a good immune system that will protect us against many illnesses. I have learned that “what we eat today will affect us later in life”, positively or negatively, that is why is so important to watch what we feed our bodies with.
This principle of, “what we eat today will affect us later” can also be applied to our spiritual life, and that it is, I believe, what Jesus is talking about in today’s gospel. He is inviting His audience to eat the bread that came down from heaven with the promise that later, whoever does it will have hunger and thirst no more and will have eternal life. “This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world”, says Jesus in verse 50. If we feed our spirit with Jesus’ example; if we feed our minds with Jesus’ principles; if we feed our relationships with the same love and mercy shown by Jesus, let me assure you that our spiritual immune system will be strong and healthy enough to recognize and protect us of any attack from our enemy, no matter in what way, shape or form it comes to us.
Peter, John, Andrew, and the rest of Jesus’ followers are good example of what I say. They ate the bread of life, and they were able to go thru Jesus’ trial, crucifixion, and death. And later their own persecution and death. And because they ate the bread of life, they were able to resist and endure and also feed others with the same bread, so they could be able to face and overcome persecution, prison and even death. And they did it with joy, knowing that nothing, nothing was going to be able to separate them from the love of Christ.
Whatever we eat, it becomes part of our body, part of who we are, it becomes part of us. If we eat healthy, we will be a healthy person. If we eat junk food, we will not be a healthy person; but we do not realize it immediately. It is only after a virus or a germ comes into our bodies, then and only then we will know what we are made of; then we will know if we are strong enough to resist.
What does all this have to do with my sermon today? Well, let me put it this way: the Church of Christ is a body, a living body; as a living body we can get sick; as a living body we can be healthy or not; as a living body we can have a strong or a weak immune system, it all depends on what we are being fed with. Jesus said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.” Every one of us are members of this living body and if we are healthy, the church is healthy.
When Jesus invites us to eat of the living bread that is His flesh, He is not just inviting us to participate of the sacrament of Communion, no, it is more than that. He is inviting us to let him be part of us. And as the physical bread provides us with the energy and nutrients to keep us going, He wants to be the energy that will keep us moving forward, the energy that will strength our spiritual immune system. He wants to feed our bodies with His life. He wants to feed our brains with His thoughts.
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven.” This is a great statement! by comparing Himself with bread, Jesus is reminding us that he is indispensable for the life of those women and men who call themselves Christians. We cannot be Christians apart from Christ. Remember, he is the vine, we are the branches.
Verse 52, which we did not read says, “Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat.?” This old question still valid for us today, “How can we eat his flesh or his body.?” What does this mean to us? The Gospel of John has already told us that Jesus is the Word made flesh. Therefore, “to eat his flesh or body” is equal to eat his word. With this in mind, let me ask the question again, How, and What does it mean to eat his word.? This might sound strange to us, but not to those who asked the question, because they knew what Ezekiel 3:1-4 says. This is what it says, “And he said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.”So, I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So, I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth. He then said to me: “Son of man, go now to the people of Israel and speak my words to them.”
God asked Ezekiel to eat the scroll with His message written on it so he could internalize it, make it part of him and then later pass it on to Israel. I said before that Jesus is the Word of God made flesh, therefore, flesh and word are synonyms. Therefore, we can say without any doubt that eating the flesh of Jesus is the same as eating his Word; and eating His word is the same as eating His message and making it part of us. As God’s messengers we must first make ours God’s truth, and example, before we share or show it to others. Eating Jesus’ flesh, it means to make his will our will and be committed to his Kingdom.
John 4 relates the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman. His disciples went to get something to eat; he stayed, and the woman came -we know the story- when the disciples came back with food they said, Rabbi eat something, but he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” “My food, is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” The “bread” Jesus fed with was his Father’s will.
When Mary said to the angel sent by God with the news that she was going to be pregnant with a child, “I am the Lord’s servant, may your word to me be fulfilled.” She was eating the bread, the Word of God brought to her by the angel.
When the apostle Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” He was eating the word, the flesh of Jesus. And after this he was committed to Jesus’ message.
In Matthew 5:6, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” When Jesus says those who come to Him will never hunger and those who believe in Him will never thirst, He is saying that He will satisfy our hunger and thirst to be made righteous in the sight of God.
Let us feed ourselves with the Word of God; let us practice His commandments and let us commit ourselves as Mary and Paul did.
Let us end my sermon together singing Hymn 641.