Jesus said, “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.” +In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
One of my favorite classic movies is Ben Hur starring Charleston Heston as Judah Ben-Hur, a devout Jewish man of noble birth living in Judea during the time of Christ. Judah and his mother and sister are unjustly imprisoned by the Romans. Judah ends up as a slave on a Roman galley, while his mother and sister are locked away for years and become lepers as the result of the harsh conditions there. Eventually, Judah gains his freedom when he saved the life of a Roman consul in battle. He returns home to find his mother and sister, only to learn that they have become lepers. Judah then races Massala, the man who condemned him and his family unjustly, in the chariot race. Massala dies because of a crash during the race. Yet, despite Massala’s death, Judah has no peace. In one scene, Judah is speaking to his friend Balthshazzar. Judah stops to take a drink from the stream. Then Judah says to his friend, “I am thirsty still.” Balthshazzar invites Judah to come with him to go listen to Jesus speak (Jesus is speaking nearby on top of a hill). But Judah refuses, saying “I have business with Rome.” Ultimately, Judah only finds healing and peace when he witnesses Christ dying on the Cross. Seeing that Christ is an innocent man dying on for the sins of others, Judah is stuck to the heart when he hears Christ forgiving those who unjustly condemned Him. Judah says, “I felt Him take the sword out of my hand.” Ben-Hur is a powerful story of pain, suffering, revenge, and redemption. It is a very human story about how even a good man can be corrupted by the injustices and sorrows of life. It is a story about how the things of this world, such as power, fame, riches, and revenge can never satisfy. Today’s Gospel lesson shows us that only Jesus can satisfy the deepest hunger and thirst in our souls. Jesus continues His discourse on His statement “I am the bread of life.” It is one of the seven “I am” statements that Jesus makes about Himself in John’s Gospel. And you will remember that by using the expression “I am” Jesus is directly linking Himself to God’s revelation of His own Name during His encounter with Moses in Exodus. Jesus seeks to help others understand and believe that He is the answer to their longing and their searching. People have come to Jesus from all over to get more of the bread that Jesus used to feed the five thousand. Jesus tells them that mere bread cannot save them, only He can. Jesus goes on to declare that He is no mere prophet, but that He has been sent by the Father. Jesus says, “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” Jesus’ great purpose as the Son of God is to bring the entire human race back to Himself, that sinful suffering humanity would believe in Him and be saved for eternal life. But once again, the people listening to Jesus, particularly the members of the Jewish religious establishment, are dismissive of Jesus’ words. They dismiss Jesus’ words because they don’t have the spiritual ears to hear what Jesus is saying. They are thinking according to the ways of the world and the flesh, which say that they have no real need for God. To them, Jesus cannot be the Messiah, since He comes from Nazareth and is the son of Joseph. They don’t know or recognize His virgin birth. Furthermore, they reject God’s grace because they are not hungry for the things that only God can give. Here Jesus reminds them, “No one can come to Me unless the Father draws Him.” Here is the great mystery of salvation: Jesus does not force us to follow Him. He allows us to choose to follow Him. Yet at the same time, that desire to follow Jesus does not come from within us, but from God. Do you remember what Jesus said to Peter when Peter confessed Jesus as the Messiah? Jesus said, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” Therefore, none of us can take our salvation for granted. We did not earn it; it was a gift given to us. We are saved because God reached out to us and revealed Himself to us. Jesus then returns to the meaning of His statement, “I am the bread of life.” Jesus tells the people that while God fed their forefathers in the desert with manna from heaven, eventually they all died all people will do. But Jesus is offering them a different kind of bread. Jesus says, “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.” Now some Bible commentators want to tell us that Jesus is only speaking spiritually and not literally about bread. That is, Jesus is the bread for our souls. And that is certainly true, as far as it goes. When we eat bread or any other kind of food, we are satisfied for a time. But when we have the bread of Jesus we will be spiritually filled up. Speaking metaphorically, this works. But there is more meaning here: Jesus also says that “the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” Here Jesus is talking about His own death on the cross. Jesus offers to us the bread of His Body broken for us on the Cross for our salvation. Again, one could say that Jesus is only speaking metaphorically. But it is the words that Jesus uses at the Last Supper to connect the food of bread and wine directly to Himself and His sacrifice for us on the Cross. Jesus declares that the bread becomes His body, and the wine becomes His blood. Thus, Jesus declares that His flesh is true food and His blood is true drink. Thus, Jesus is not simply speaking spiritually or metaphorically, He is also talking about our participation in the Eucharist. It is at the Eucharist that Christ feeds our souls and bodies with the food that truly satisfied. When we feed on Jesus at the Eucharist we are fed, not just for the day, not just for life, not just to overcome the hardships and challenges of life, but for the ultimate joy of eternal life. +In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
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