True Food, True Drink

True Food, True Drink is our worship theme for the twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, August 19, 2012. Our focus scripture is John 6:51-58.

In the three previous weeks we have explored passages in John 6. First Jesus literally feeds a huge crowd; then he presses those who come seeking him to reflect on the spiritual meaning of what he has done; and finally he proclaims that he is the Bread of Life, sent by God to open the way for God’s children to enter Eternal Life. As is usually the case in the encounters John records between Jesus and those who do not follow him, there is skepticism on the part of Jesus’ hearers. In the passage we take up today, the confrontational tone begins to escalate until Jesus says something that is patently offensive to them: “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 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.” (vs. 56-57) Just as Nicodemus starts to take Jesus literally when Jesus says that a person must be born again and asks if he means that an adult somehow goes back into his mother’s womb, so now the crowd thinks that Jesus is insisting on cannibalism. According to the teachings of their scripture this is an abomination. (See God’s words to Noah’s family in Genesis 9:3-4 and Leviticus 17:10-14.) And as if to make his words even more outrageous, the Greek word for eat that John uses in vs. 56 means to gnaw, like a lion gnawing the bones of a gazelle that she has just killed. It is eating flesh with relish!

By the time John writes his Gospel, many of his readers would make a natural association between his words and the sacrament of Holy Communion. But to those who first hear Jesus say these words, he crosses an unforgivable line. Jesus reveals what he is actually saying in his next sentence: “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.” (vs. 58) He is not speaking of cannibalism, but of the deepest participation in his being that is possible. In the same way that part of the food that we eat literally becomes a part of us, Jesus is saying that by sharing in communion, his essence joins with ours so that we become like him. He is indeed, true food and true drink!

It is good to remember that there may well be newcomers in our worship services who do not really know about communion, and who certainly will never have heard this passage. They may well be shocked at Jesus’ words, just as his first hearers were. What a wonderful opportunity to interpret Holy Communion specifically, and spiritual nourishment generally.

Here is a Call to Worship based on Proverbs 9:1-6. Please use or adapt anything that is helpful to you.

Call to Worship    from Proverbs 9:1-6

L: Sisters and brothers, as we gather to learn from Jesus, let us recall Proverbs:

    Lady Wisdom has built her house. She has supported it on seven pillars.

P: She has prepared a great feast. Her meat is roasted.

    Her wine is mixed. Her beautiful table is spread.

L: Now she sends out her servant girls with invitations.

    She goes herself to the center of the city and calls to everyone.

P: “Are you confused about life’s meaning? Do you need understanding?

     Come share the dinner I’ve prepared. Eat my food and drink my wine!”

All: Turn from your foolish ways and live! Walk in the way of understanding.