Week 11

Psalm: Psalm 130 

Old Testament: Numbers 19:11-16

Gospel: John 6:35, 41-51
Epistle: Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Does anybody else notice how August is always a great month of transition?  Schools are starting; jobs are ending or beginning; depending on where you live the weather might start to change; and this year the Olympics are coming to a close. This has nothing to do with the readings, but is just an observation.  We are moving on from the story of David and I have changed the Old Testament reading this week to fit the Gospel reading. One line in particular interests us.  Verse 11 says, “Whoever touches a human corpse will be unclean for seven days.”  In the Old Testament, lots of things could make one unclean.  The remedy was typically to wait the appointed time and then present a sacrifice to the priest to be clean again.  The average Israelite probably spent most of their time being unclean in some way or another.  Only the priests, or in Jesus’ day, maybe the Pharisees and such, were able to actually spend the time and energy to avoid anything unclean.

In John this week, Jesus declares that he is the bread of life.  That alone is kind of a weird statement, but then he makes the almost grotesque statement that unless one eats of this bread (Jesus’ flesh), they can’t inherit eternal life.  Taking this in context, we can say a couple of things about the point Jesus is making.  First, Jesus is comparing himself with the manna of the Exodus.  Like the manna, Jesus also comes from God.  Six times in this passage Jesus says that he came down from heaven.  That is the basic meaning and one which is strange, but at least a straight forward comparison, because now, Jesus compares his actual flesh which must be eaten like the bread.  Remember, for a Jew even going into a room with a dead person made them unclean.  But for anybody, we have to admit that this is a gross and strange statement.

There is no way Jesus’ listeners or even his disciples could have understood what Jesus was meaning.  After Jesus’ death, resurrection, and his instructions at the Last Supper, these statements make more sense.  First, Jesus truly did come from the Father; he wasn’t just crazy.  Second, eating the flesh of Jesus makes sense in the context of Communion, the Eucharist.  Jesus makes a key statement in this passage in the Gospel of John.  Verse 51 says, “This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” Jesus sacrificed his body, his flesh, for the life of the world.  I don’t want to get into the debate of whether or not the elements of the Eucharist actually become the real flesh and blood of Jesus; that isn’t much the point.  I don’t think the reading demands that.  It seems like Jesus is talking about his physical body when he is on earth.  We are dealing with an imperfect metaphor made so by the fact that manna was never sacrificial like Jesus became.  Thus, I think we are safe if we argue that the bread and wine only represent Jesus’ body and blood. Of course, the arguments are complex and quite important and a lot of blood has been shed over this point.  That is the real sad thing.  What Jesus meant as something to bring us together has done more than anything else to separate the Church.

Paul’s words from Ephesians bring this into our lives.  He writes, “Walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”  (5:2) Everything we do in life must flow out of what Christ has done.  We love and are capable of love because Christ first loved us.  In chapter four, Paul also says that we are to forgive because Christ has first forgiven us.  We have been given so much-- so much love, so much mercy, so much grace.  God only asks that we also love and forgive in return.  How could we who have received so much not also turn and bless others?  We are to follow Him, and by his Spirit, this is possible.

Let Christ’s spirit fill us and renew us this week.

Grace and Peace.