First Lutheran Church, Detroit Lakes, MN
Pentecost 12 | 08.19.2018 | John 6:51-58
It may seem odd to focus on the John passage on this day that we bless and celebrate animals, but this passage from John proclaims the same truth about Christianity that our animals do: that Christianity is an earthy religion – which is to say: God and God’s love are constantly revealed through the elements of the earth.
As one of the psalms implies, the natural world helps “proclaim” who God is (Ps 19:1). In other words, the power and love of God – if we’re wondering what it looks like – it can be glimpsed through the skies and trees, the companionship and beauty of animals, through dirt and water, and through other earthy things like bread and wine, and flesh and blood. Up and down Scripture, the power and love of God is revealed through “the physical,” – sometimes when we practice our faith or think of spirituality we think about connecting to some other worldliness, right – but, really, up and down Scripture, God is experienced through the physical, culminating in God literally becoming physical in Jesus.
And, like recognizing the sacredness of animals, today’s John text gets really earthy in its proclamation of who God is. So earthy that I’ve got to admit, the word choices Jesus makes here to reveal who he is…are, honestly, pretty weird. Actually, bordering on disturbing.
Here’s what Jesus says: “Very truly unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (John 6:53). I mean, I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to pretend that isn’t really weird.
And if that isn’t weird enough for you, let’s take a look at the Greek, the original language in which it was written. Unveiling the Greek makes it even more bizarre. The verb we translate as “eat,” for instance in v. 54 isn’t actually from the common Greek word “to eat” (which would be esthio); instead, Jesus uses an even weirder verb for eating. He says, “Those who [trógón/ τρώγων] my flesh” have life. I can barely say this with a straight face: Trógón means: “to chew.”[1]
So, a better translation might be: “Those who chew my flesh…have eternal life.” SO WEIRD!
Even the people around Jesus who heard him in this passage were startled. As it says—“The Jews then disputed…‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’” (v. 52). Jesus even freaked out his original audience. It’s not like they were sitting around hearing this and going, Yeah that makes sense.
Likewise, later in Christian history this language would confuse and creep out those living alongside Christian communities. Particularly, early Christians living and worshipping in the Roman Empire actually had “charges made against them” by authorities that “they practiced cannibalism”[2] – because of language like this, the Roman authorities we like, Those people are eating people.
So, this teaching by Jesus, on the surface, is weird, and needs some interpretation. And according to one scholar, this vivid and seemingly grotesque language about eating flesh and drinking blood is central metaphor for understanding who Jesus is for us (he’s just, as usual, using shocking and exaggerated language to get people’s attention and to get his point across). And I don’t know about you but when it comes to eating flesh and drinking blood, he has my attention!
So, what does the flesh and blood of Jesus mean, here? What is the metaphor?
We can answer these questions with a question: Jesus is saying that our eternal life is given through his flesh and blood, and where do we see Jesus’ flesh and blood most intensely? Where is Jesus’ flesh pierced? His blood spilled?
It is at his death, on the cross.
Therefore, with these words, says one theologian, Jesus, by talking about eating flesh and drinking blood, he is pointing ahead to the crucifixion where his “flesh which will be stretched upon the cross…[and to his] blood which will flow freely for our sake.”[3]
Therefore, when he’s saying to consume his flesh and blood, he is pointing his listeners to his own death. And what does his death mean? His death on the cross is the fullest display of what his love looks like for the world. His death means love. His death means mercy. His death means grace.
His death means rather than punish us, Jesus would rather have his own flesh and blood punished.
In this earthy way, his death reveals just how loved and worthwhile we are and just how far he goes for us…and it is THAT love, THAT promise, that Jesus wants us to ingest and to be fed.
So, no…Jesus is not instructing us to cannibalism in these verses; rather, Jesus is urging us to take in and drink in the most loving thing he’ll ever do. With that in mind, his words here go from something vulgar and strange to something beautiful: the flesh and blood he wants us to take in, is his life that he lovingly lays down for us (cf. John 15).
And this leads us to the Sacrament of Holy Communion which we are all invited to receive today. As we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we dine on the promise of God’s love. In the earthy elements of bread and wine, we remember who Jesus says he is for us: One who would rather die than exclude us.
And as we receive the Supper we literally consume the promise of Jesus loving us. Think about that…Our bodies today will digest the bread and wine, and they become a physical part of us, like all food does, and therefore, God’s love and grace, through his Word of promise that is attached to the bread and wine, literally becomes a part of our physical being.
In this passage, Jesus is telling us with vivid imagery, that that is how closely linked with his promise of love that he wants us to be.
So, my sisters and brothers, don’t just hear God’s forgiveness. Don’t just read about God’s grace. Don’t just think about Christ’s love. Take and EAT. DRINK it in (6:53).
Because this is a broken world with darkness and evil; this is a life constantly lived with the weights of shame, embarrassment, insecurity, death, and guilt, and here Jesus is saying: you are enough, you are mine, you are free, you are forgiven, you are loved, and saved, and my flesh and blood on the cross proved it forever. The bread and wine are signs of it.
With that, it is no wonder he weirdly but beautifully tells us, “Chew on that.” Amen.
[1] Barclay M. Newman Jr., A Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament (Germany: C.H. Beck, 1993), 185.
[2] William C. Placher, A History of Christian Theology: An Introduction (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1983), 59.
[3] David Lose, “Pentecost 12B: Meeting the Carnal God,” In the Meantime, http://www.davidlose.net/2015/08/pentecost-12-b-meeting-the-carnal-god/.
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