The Bread of Life
John 6:22-59
March 20, 2015
It's easy for those of us who have spent our entire lives in the church to forget how confusing some of our language and symbols may sound to those who are new to the faith. We may find ourselves subject to a second danger, as well: the danger that our language and symbols will become so familiar to us that we forget their meaning.
Our reading from the 6th Chapter of John is a case in point. When Jesus tells the crowd that "the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world," the crowd is interested. "Sir, give us this bread always." (John 6:34-35). But when Jesus tells them, "I am the bread of life" (v. 35), some of the people get upset. After all, they knew where he came from, they knew his parents. How can he claim to have come from heaven? (v. 42).
But Jesus doesn't stop there. He goes on to say that "Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." (v. 51). "Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day" (v. 54). Today, we understand that Jesus was referring to His real presence among us through Holy Communion; on that day at the synagogue at Capernaum, however, I doubt that they had a clue as to what Jesus was talking about.
But we do. Christ offers himself as life for the world. And He invites us to join Him, as we receive the gift of eternal life, to join with Him in offering ourselves in service to others. The prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi says that, "it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."
May it be so!
Pray: Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace."
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