The 14th Sunday after Pentecost | 25 August 2024 | A Sermon on John 6:51-69 | David M. Wendel |

John 6:51-69, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles

     ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” ⁵² The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” ⁵³ So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. ⁵⁵ For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. ⁵⁷ As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the breadthe fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹ Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. ⁶⁰ When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” ⁶¹ But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?⁶² Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?⁶³ It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. ⁶⁴ But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) ⁶⁵ And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” ⁶⁶ After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. ⁶⁷ So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” ⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, ⁶⁹ and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

“The Body and Blood of Christ—For You!”

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

     It’s tempting, today, to focus on our first lesson, from Joshua 24, where we are called upon to decide, this day, whom we will serve—the one true God, or some other god or lord. That’s a sermon that would almost preach itself! And equally worthy would be a sermon on our second lesson, from Ephesians 5, where Paul is encouraging the Christians in Ephesus to “Look carefully, then, how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, seeking, not foolishness, but the will of the Lord, that we may walk as children of the Light.” Having already had two Gospel lessons, the last two weeks, on John 6 and Jesus as the Bread of Life come down from heaven, do we need a third week on the same theme? The answer is “Yes,” because now we come to the crux of the whole chapter! Now, today, we are faced with the deciding line: Having heard Jesus speaking about Himself as Living Bread, having heard Jesus saying things like, “Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you do not have my life in you,” the question is raised, “Do you take offense at this? Do you want to go away, from following Jesus?”

     At this point in the Gospel of John, Jesus, the Rabbi, the Master, the Lord—has said some things that are very hard to grasp—for his disciples then, and for his disciples now.  To the Jewish mind that had ingrained in it very strict dietary laws, about which flesh could be eaten, and that blood must never touch your lips, these words of Jesus did truly offend, because it seemed to transgress against the laws given by Almighty God in Leviticus! What Jesus was saying was, as they understood it, contrary to their religion! And– it sounded like cannibalism!  It still does to some! Many Protestants and non-Christians deny the Biblical understanding of the real presence of Christ in the Sacrament, because they find the idea of eating flesh and drinking blood troublesome.  And yet, in our passage today, Jesus explains that this is not cannibalism.  He explains quite clearly that in the Sacrament of the Altar, while we are eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking His blood, in, with, and under the earthly elements—it is His spiritual presence which is incarnate in the physical matter of bread and wine.  As with Jesus who was both God and man, the Risen Jesus is present for us as His spiritual presence is united with the earthly elements, in a miraculous incarnation that is best left a mystery—as we’ve said before, as sacramentum means mystery.  Yes, Jesus is present for us in both His divine and human natures, in the elements of the Lord’s Supper—but this is not cannibalism—Jesus says, “it is the Spirit that gives life—the flesh is useless.  The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”  Here, knowing that some were offended by his very literal, earthy description of eating his flesh and drinking His blood, Jesus tries to make crystal clear what He is saying about His followers’ feasting on His presence.  But still—still, immediately after, John tells us, “many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.”

     John tells us Jesus expected some of his many followers would turn away—as there were always those who were the hangers-on, the crowds who liked to be around Jesus just in case something interesting happened.  But now, Jesus turned to those closest to Him. Now Jesus turned to the twelve. Now Jesus turned to those He was counting on to stay with Him to the end, and beyond.  Now, Jesus turned to those He had chosen to be with Him at the Lord’s Supper, to go with Him to the Garden of Gethsemane, to stand at the foot of the cross and witness His death, just as they would be witnesses to His resurrection, to receive the Spirit from on high, to preach the Gospel and lead the Church.  Now, Jesus wanted to know from these closest disciples, “Do you also wish to go away?”  And—Jesus is asking us, as well, “Are you offended by these words of Jesus? Do you also wish to go away?”

     Having served our denomination these last twelve years, visiting numerous congregations, interacting with pastors and theologians, what has become clear is that not all Lutherans understand, grasp or agree on what the Lord is saying about eating His flesh and drinking His blood in John 6. Some claim this passage isn’t really about the Lord’s Supper at all, and at times, they point to comments made by Luther who was struggling, in his day, against the medieval Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation, so that Luther questioned whether Jesus was really speaking about, foretelling the institution of the Lord’s Supper, in John 6. Certainly, at this point in Jesus’ life, there had been no Holy Week, Maundy Thursday or Lord’s Supper. But—most of us realize, now, that the Lord’s Supper wasn’t something Jesus thought of on the spur of the moment. Throughout the Old Testament and the Gospels, there is a constant looking ahead toward the foretaste of the feast to come, which would not be the Passover Seder, but the Lord’s Supper! And surely Jesus is speaking specifically, graphically now, about what would come on Maundy Thursday, helping the disciples understand the meaning of eating His flesh and drinking His blood, which would be instituted on the night of His betrayal. Could Jesus be speaking only figuratively in John 6? Could Jesus be saying what He’s saying, with no foreknowledge of the coming Lord’s Supper? There is no communion narrative in John’s Gospel, because at the time John was writing, Matthew, Mark and Luke’s gospels were already completed and available and each of the three included institution narratives of the Lord’s Supper. So, John included Jesus’ teaching about the theological and spiritual meaning, of the Lord’s Supper, being so bold as to include Jesus’ comments about eating flesh and drinking blood, because John didn’t want us to miss the meaning, in the sacrament of the altar! It may be that Matthew, Mark and Luke didn’t include these words of Jesus for fear the graphic language might offend their Jewish readers! But thank God that John wasn’t afraid to report for us, the Lord’s own words about feasting on His life-giving body and blood, so that we could hear and know, the truth. Even if, there might be some who would hear, take offense, and no longer follow Jesus.

     So that now, the question comes to us. For these past few weeks, we, too, have been sitting at the feet of Jesus, hearing his teaching, being confronted with the difficult notion that to abide in Him and He in us, we are to eat His flesh and drink His blood. We have been among the crowd of followers who have been listening and trying to digest all that He’s been saying—at times, grasping it, at other times, finding it hard to swallow.  At some point, we’ve heard every word that Jesus has spoken about Himself as the Bread of Life—we’ve heard it, we’ve chewed on it, we’ve pondered it from week to week.  And now, Jesus asks you and me, “Do you also wish to go away? Or, will you come and feast on my presence among you in Word and Sacrament?”

     If you think about it, Jesus is extending an “altar call” today—and each and every Sunday, as each and every Sunday, He stands in our midst as our incarnate Lord, the Living Bread from heaven asking, “Do you also wish to go away—or, will you come eat my flesh and drink my blood?”  As you lay in bed early Sunday morning—do you hear Jesus extending His altar call, inviting you to come to worship to receive the means of grace?

     Every Sunday—Christians decide whether they will come to Jesus or stay away. Every Sunday, we make a decision about whether we will serve the Lord, or serve some other gods, on the golf course, or the soccer field, or the lake, or the office.  We sometimes convince ourselves that we have no option—we have to work, we have to take time for ourselves, as this is our only time during the week, to do what we want to do. But, we always have a choice. We decide whether to come or not to come, to the altar, on any given Sunday. Jesus has taken the initiative, offering Himself to us, by incarnating Himself for us, coming to us in the Word made flesh in Holy Scripture, and the Word made flesh, in the Sacrament of the Altar.  Jesus gives Himself to us as Living Word and Living Bread.  And yet, as with the twelve and all the other disciples, the question remains, will we receive Him, or will we go away?  Simon Peter responded, saying, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life…”  The invitation for us to come, eat of the Living Bread—is nothing less than an altar—call; a call, to come to the altar.  And we respond, not with our words, but with our lives, with our actions, as we either come, or don’t come—we either eat, or we choose not to eat.  We have the freedom to receive the Word of Life, or not to receive the Word of Life.

     And thanks be to God—you got up today! You heard the Lord calling you, and you resisted the urge to stay in bed, or do any of the other hundreds of things our secular, idolatrous world tempts you to do on Sunday, and here you are– responding to Christ’s altar call, responding by faith in the One who truly has the words of life and eternal life—Jesus Christ, in our midst, in the Church, in this church, now and forever! So, again this week we say, “Come and eat—the living bread from heaven; come and feast on the Body and Blood of our Lord!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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©The Rev. Dr. David M. Wendel

d.wendel@grace43081.org

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Westerville, Ohio  USA