“…unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”
--John 6:53
About a dozen years ago, I went to the doctor for my first physical in a long time. After doing all the usual tests, poking, prodding, and examining, the doctor sat me down and said, “do you want to live long enough to see your daughter grow up?”
I was shocked. “Of course!”
“Well, if you don’t do something to get your health under control… you won’t.”
It was like a slap in the face. I was overweight, had high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high triglycerides, and cholesterol. By pretty much every measure, I was a total wreck. “What can I do?” I asked.
“For starters,” The doctor said kindly, “you need to change your diet and start exercising.”
It’s true: “you are what you eat” and what I was eating was killing me. Literally.
Over the next six months, I got serious about changing my diet and started exercising. After a year, I had lost thirty pounds, and had my blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol under control.
The doctor was shocked. “What did you do?”
I smiled. “I just did what you said.”
He laughed. “That’s amazing! No one ever actually listens to me!”
You are what you eat.
But that’s not only true of our physical selves. It is also true of our spiritual selves. The world offers all sorts of spiritual junk food that bloats us and doesn’t last. Too often we stuff ourselves on things that will abandon us and ultimately let us down when the reality of death slaps us in the face. I think that is what Jesus is trying to impress upon his listeners in this week’s text. After Jesus feeds 5000 people with five loaves and two fish (John 6:9), the people are so impressed that they follow him around the Sea of Galilee. But, when he sees them, he says to them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” (6:26) They wanted junk food. Jesus was offering them so much more.
Loaves, you see, don’t last. Jesus does.
Jesus says we need to eat his flesh and blood in order to live. This vivid language echoes the words Jesus spoke to his disciples when he shared his Last Supper with them. Words he spoke on the night before he died for a starving world. On the night before he offered his flesh and blood for the life of the world.
As Christians, we need a steady diet of Jesus’ love, grace and forgiveness not only to survive, but to thrive in our lives. These things come to us as pure gift. But we dine on them through spiritual practices that have fed Christian faith and life down through the centuries: reading, reflecting and meditating upon God’s Word, and sharing in the sacraments of baptism and holy communion; through prayer, worship and the mutual support, encouragement and guidance of a community of faith. Without these practices of faith, we starve.
We are what we eat.
So, come to the banquet! Eat and drink! Let the Lord fill you with the food that will last… forever.
Peace,
Bishop Mike
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