Real Food, Real Drink, Real Life!

12th Sunday after Pentecost (Kingdomtide) B 2012

John 6:51-58

In today's Gospel, Jesus continues his discourse of he being "the Bread of Life". Verse 51 has Jesus saying that he is "the living bread which came down from heaven". (The Tagalog Magandang Balita Bible [Good News Bible] translates this as "pagkaing nagbibigay-buhay", 'food that gives life' instead of "tinapay na buháy", 'living bread'.) The word "living" here is the Greek word ζάω zaō, related to ζωή zōē, meaning 'life'. The same word used in John 10:10, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." According to Thayer, this is "life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed, in the portion even in this world of those who put their trust in Christ, but after the resurrection to be consummated by new accessions (among them a more perfect body), and to last for ever." And by thsis "bread", Jesus means his flesh (and, by extension, also his blood--v. 53) which he will give for "the life of world".

I. The things of this world do not give this life. (v. 53)

Jesus said that the ancestors of the Israelites ate manna in the wilderness, and yet they died (v. 58; cf. v. 48). The things of this world are not eternal; therefore they cannot give us eternal life!

II. Jesus is real food and real drink that gives real life. (vv. 54)

A. How do we eat and drink of the Body and Blood of Christ (v. 52)? Here, Jesus is talking of Holy Communion, or the Eucharist (v. 53). It is through the Eucharist we eat and drink of the Body and Blood of Christ. Now, the Eucharist itself does not give eternal life, but it is Jesus himself, symbolized by the bread and cup, who gives us eternal life.

B. It is through Holy Communion that Jesus "abides in us", the same word that Jesus used in John 15:5 in the discourse of himself as the True Vine: "I am the vine, you are the branches: those who abide (μένω menō, 'to abide') in me, and I in him, bring forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing." This why Jesus said, "Drink this, as often (oσάκις hosakis, a "multiple adverb") as you do this, in remembrance of me."

Addendum: Here is one of the sermons of John Wesley himself, entitled, "The Duty of Constant Communion" from the website of the UMC General Board of Discipleship. A downloadable PDF version is available here.