John 6:51-58
John’s Gospel is noted for its poetry, high Christology, and imagery. It must also be noted that John’s Gospel is known for its repetition and redundancy. Once again, this week, we find Jesus speaking to his Jewish audience, defining himself as the “Bread of Life,” the eternal bread that comes from heaven (6:51).
I taught composition and writing forms for decades. In those lessons, I emphasized two uses of repetition in writing. One is defined as “weak,” which should be avoided. The other form of repetition is termed “strong.” Using “strong” repetition hammers an audience with a message. John’s repetitiveness can best be viewed as “strong.” Such repetition indicates the importance of thoughts emphasized throughout John’s Chapter 6. John indicates through redundancy the significance of his message but also shows the difficulty Jesus experiences in trying to get those present to hear him.
Jesus knows that those listening have doubts and are becoming increasingly hostile to his declarations, but still, he persists. After feeding the 5000, these people want more food to satisfy their hunger. He wants them to know that He is the new and more fulfilling version of the manna given to the wandering Jews who followed and rebelled against their hunger. The constant distinction in this chapter is that Jesus is not the manna that fills one’s needs for a day but fills souls with the eternal assurance that what they hunger for is eternal salvation, not fast food.
Remember that this is also John’s explanation of the Lord’s Supper. Unlike the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, the last supper appears in John on the day leading up to Passover, which begins at 6 o’clock with the evening meal. On the day leading up to that Passover meal, lambs are slaughtered. All who could go to the local synagogue received their lamb for the Passover meal. In Jerusalem, this would have meant thousands of lambs being slaughtered that day. In John’s Gospel, that is the day Jesus was crucified. John’s Gospel forces us to think of Jesus as a Passover lamb. Jesus does not eat that Passover meal. Jesus is the Passover meal.
John begins his Gospel by informing us that The Word has become flesh and that The Word now lives and breathes among us (John 1). God’s incarnation in human form goes against all logic and all Jewish traditions. Throughout John’s Chapter 6, Jesus tries to prove his true identity to those who want to see more “magic” tricks. He is not just a gifted teacher, a compassionate healer, a worker of miracles. He is our “bread.” He is “bread,” “come down from heaven.” He is “flesh” to be eaten, “blood” to be drunk. Jesus’s action goes against the laws presented in Leviticus, which forbids Jews from drinking the blood of a slaughtered animal.
In verse 53, Jesus presses the image by saying that the flesh and blood of “the Son of Man” must be ingested. The Jews would view this as blasphemy, and the crowd becomes more and more challenged with each repetition. I am reminded of Paul’s statement in Galatians 2:20 when he writes, “no longer I … but … Christ who lives in me.” We cannot comprehend him by sitting back, comfortable in the pew, and coolly considering him as if he were an abstract, disembodied idea. Incarnation means we must get up, come forward, hold out empty hands, sip the fruit of the vine, chew, and swallow bread. Only then will Jesus be within us, and we will live for eternity in Jesus.
While I was studying the commentary on today’s passage from John, I found that many scholars discussed problems with this passage. These scholars consider this reading problematic because it has been used by some to persecute Jews. “The Jews” seem to be disgruntled outsiders. For centuries, people have justified anti-semitism by quoting Jesus out of context. Let us never forget that Jesus was a Jew, his Apostles were Jews, and that the conversion of the Gentiles became part of his mission later in his ministry. But we often see Bible verses used as weapons when proclaimed out of context.
When Jesus talks about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, we are reminded of the Last Supper. This reminder is John’s intent. In the sacrament, the ordinary elements of bread and juice are transformed by the invocation of the Holy Spirit. The meal becomes a sacred symbol of Christian unity and reminds us of God’s salvation for all.
Every time we open our hearts by joining in Communion, we are reminded to understand God’s love for us and our commandment to love our neighbor without prejudice and division. Jesus has given himself to us through his incarnation, life, earthly ministry, and death on the cross. Jesus’ flesh and blood are the spiritual food we need to survive in this world, and it is all we need to live forever. God’s presence is within us, and we are within God.
We receive this spiritual food because of God’s grace, not our worthiness. In our church and denomination, our Communion and our doors are open to all. No matter who or where they may appear in their life’s journey, we welcome them and invite them to join us. We offer this to all who hope to be spiritually fed. Whoever comes to Jesus will never be hungry, and whoever believes in him will never be thirsty (John 6:35). This heavenly food, Jesus’ flesh, and blood, is like the bread and fish Jesus gives the crowd of 5,000: it never ends (6:1-14).
God cares for our physical needs, giving us enough material resources for all of God’s creation. The problem is that we have not administered them wisely, according to God’s will. I invoke the words of archbishop Oscar Romero, the El Salvadoran who was murdered by those who chose to go against Catholic theology. “There is hunger not because the land has not produced enough food, but because some people have monopolized the fruits of the land, thus leaving others hungry.” Romero knew that the church could never restrict its mission to people’s spiritual problems and pretend not to acknowledge the hunger of the poor.
Our Christian priority is to share the bread from heaven with people. This bread gives eternal life while at the same time responding to their physical needs. Doing this should be a manageable burden for us. When we eat from the bread and drink from the cup of the Son of Man, we live in him, and he lives in us. We are moved to love God and our neighbors in our actions and not simply in our words.