Eucharistic Gospel Reading for Sunday of Proper 15: Year B
“Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them:” (John 6:56).
Perhaps our Lord Jesus is talking over their heads as he uses metaphorical language that turns them off. He is not suggesting cannibalism here.
But he is telling them that if they have his teachings in them, they will have eternal life. The teachings were the lessons leading up to His Great Remembrance wherein he fully explains what it means to eat his body and drink his blood. This is to literally become one with Him, and thereby one with God.
The Gospel according to John does not have a written-out Lord’s Supper, like the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Luke and Mark). And, Paul’s First Letter to the Church in Corinth also has the words handed down to him from the Gospel Apostles from the mouth of our Lord Jesus.
Let us then borrow from 1st Corinthians as does our Episcopal Church: Paul says, “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1st Corinthians 11: 23 to 25).
This is really what our Lord Jesus was preparing them for. The Lord’s supper is a love meal, an agape meal, in remembrance of Him. And even after telling us how he wanted to be remembered, we chose the instrument of his death to remember him by. And then of course there is the fish symbol, perhaps the second most recognizable icon of Christianity.
But, how about the cup and bread, the articles our Lord Jesus said he wanted us to remember him by? Maybe the wooden structure our Lord Jesus was inviting us to is the Table of life, not the cross of death. This is something truly to ponder.
Jesus left us a way to become heavenly family by consuming his body and blood in consecrated bread and wine, thus changing who we are, into who God made us to be. Please try not to make this too hard for you to hear. God loves us and left us the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, and our schools. And, as we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
Let us pray:
Most Holy Lord Jesus, broaden our minds to understand more fully your message to us, in order that we come to better understand the scriptures; and then with joy and fellowship come to the table of your body and blood that it may fortify us to think, say and do those things pleasing in your sight, You who live, love and save, forever and ever, Amen.
onewhoponders 