Introduction
So, I want to address the elephant in the room. This is a weird scripture. Especially when we read it out of the whole context of chapter 6. Jesus all of a sudden is talking about his flesh and blood. And then he starts talking about eating it.
This is one of those moments that if we had someone who had never heard of Christianity before, come into church and hear this Gospel text, they very well might get up and leave the sanctuary thinking that we are very strange people that worship a very strange God.
But it makes a lot more sense when remembering that we are still just verses past from Jesus feeding 5000 people that were hungry physically and hungry spiritually. Jesus has talked about himself being the bread of life that can give the true life of heaven. And now we hear language that should perk up our ears as Christians.
This Week
In this Gospel Jesus says, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.” Those words may sound familiar. They may even be reminiscent of the words that we say around the table every week. At communion we hear these words:
In the night in which he was betrayed,
our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks;
broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying:
Take and eat; this is my body, given for you.
Do this for the remembrance of me.
Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks,
and gave it for all to drink, saying:
This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin.
Do this for the remembrance of me.
The words of communion.
But there is no communion scene in the Gospel of John. Jesus never sits around the table with only his disciples and breaks bread and shares wine. There is no Last Supper in this Gospel. Instead in the Gospel of John, in the scene that seems like the Last Supper, Jesus washes the disciples’ feet, but we don’t hear details about a meal.
But this scene, here with 5,000 people, and Jesus talking about the Bread of Life, this is the Last Supper scene in the Gospel of John. Not in an enclosed room with 12 of his closest friends. But in an open field, with 5,000 people, strangers, newcomers, outcasts, who are desperate to know the love of God.
Earlier in this chapter Jesus said to his disciples, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.
He took the bread, he blessed it, and he shared it. Communion.
But what makes this moment so incredible is not the bread. It is not the fish. What makes this moment holy is that Jesus is with them in person. In Flesh and Blood, he is standing before them. All of them. With no one turned away.
We hear in the first chapter of the Gospel of John. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life and the life was the light of all people.”
“And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.”
Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, God incarnate, God in human form, in Flesh and Blood, stands before this crowd for this meal.
In his blessing, he is not just blessing the bread, but in blessing this food, which the 5,000 are about to eat, he is also blessing them, making holy all those who are gathered for this meal.
5,000 people, made of flesh and blood, made holy through this meal of communion.
Holy Communion/Holy People
Communion is what connects all of us. And the name should give it away. From the same root as Community.
Holy Communion takes place not when the bread and wine are consecrated. It is not the act of me raising the bread in the air and holding up the cup. If I were to do that on my own, with no one else present, it would not be communion.
Holy Communion takes place when the Body of Christ is gathered together and blessed together. Broken to be sent out into the world.
We, together, are the Body of Christ. When we celebrate communion together each week, each of us are blessed, becoming the Body of Christ, the bread of life, for the world around us.
Preaching Possibilities
The Bread of Life for the World… Is Us?
After 4 works of the Bread of life, we might ask ourselves, “Am I tired of chapter 6 of the Gospel of John, the bread of life discourse?”
The truth is that I love these texts. Community, family, friendships, these are at the core of this teaching from Jesus. That when we are truly in community with one another, when we are in communion with each other, then we are one with each other and we are one with Christ.
And today’s Gospel text is the climax of this teaching. Not only is it important and meaningful to be in community, but when we gather together, when make space for Christ to be in communion with us in those moments, then it is a holy and sacred moment and we ourselves are made holy.
That is why I love communion around the table so much. Each week, as I hold the basket of bread up, and as I hold the cup of the vine, I look out into the eyes of each of you, knowing that it is each of you who are the sacred and holy bread of life for this world. You are the consecrated Body of Christ broken and sent out into this world so that others might be in the presence of God.
I want us to sit with that for a moment. When we gather together and celebrate communion, you are the consecrated Body of Christ broken and sent out into this world so that others might be in the presence of God.
After we celebrate communion, I will read two prayers before our announcements. The first is called the communion blessing. “May the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen you and keep you in his grace.”
The second is a prayer that we are saying during this summer season from Sundays and Seasons.
Jesus, Bread of life,
we have received from your table
more than we could ever ask.
As you have nourished us in this meal,
now strengthen us to love the world with your own life.
In your name we pray.
Amen.
“Now strengthen us to love the world with your own life.”
We are the life of Christ in this world. Called to love the world as Jesus has loved us.
Calling us to see the world as Jesus sees us.
So today I am not going to belabor the point of the sanctity of communion and the importance of the moment.
Instead, I want to draw us into that moment. This week, invite your people to come forward and feel the bread pressed into their hand. As you taste the wine or grape juice as it touches your lips, and as you return to your seats with a moment to think and pray, I encourage you to look around the room at others and see the holiness of this Beloved community. The Body of Christ that is represented and present with us in the flesh in blood of our neighbors in this room.
And as we leave the sanctuary this week, think about the people who you want to be in communion with this week. Where is it that you can find holy and sacred moments of community where Christ can be present. Take moments this week and as long you can remember to see moments of sacred community. And remember that each time you return to this table, you are always seen as part of the sacred Body of Christ.
As the consecrated community, let us bless one another with the presence of Christ as the Bread of Life for this world.
Micah Krey 