Pentecost 11         John 6:51-58                       8/20/06

                   “You Are What You Eat”

 

One of the greatest gifts that one person can give to another is organ donation.  You see a person who may be barely alive, probably in pain, severely limited in what they can do become an active, joy-filled human being with hope of a future life following recovery from transplant surgery.

 

When part of a liver, a kidney or other organ is donated by a family member it is a wonderful sacrificial act.  It seems almost beyond belief that a person unrelated to the ailing patient would go through the suffering and loss entailed in organ donation.  Rare and amazing as it may be, we did hear not too long ago of a teacher who gave one of her kidneys for a student. 

 

Whatever the relationship of the donor and patient, it could well be said that the patient will forever after have the donor in him or her.

 

We can come close to this experience every time we take communion.  Jesus is offensively descriptive in making clear that He is offering His flesh and blood for believers to take into themselves.  The Jews, hearing His pronouncement, would have been even more shocked and revolted that we at the thought of being invited (commanded) to eat the flesh and blood of another person. 

 

Yet, this is literally what Jesus tells us we must do to have eternal life and the hope of the resurrection.  Of course, looking back we must conclude that He didn’t mean for believers to literally eat His flesh and drink His blood.  While those hearing Him might have been able to do so, it would not have been possible for such a practice to continue long after Jesus death – certainly not into the 21^st Century.

 

Obviously, this is the Johannine reference to the institution of Holy Communion.  As Lutherans we believe and teach that when we receive the bread or wafer we receive Jesus’ body “in, with and under” what we take into us.  We believe and teach that when we drink the wine we receive Jesus blood “in, with and under” what we take into us.  It is not just a symbol.  It is not just Jesus mysteriously present in the assembly of believers.  It is not just a remembrance of what He did – a memorial meal.  We believe and teach that Christ is actually somehow truly and physically present in the bread and wine.  We call this real presence.

 

Thus, every time we take Communion, we take Jesus into us.  We are as intimately communing with God as any person can get.  He becomes a part of us, in some measure like the donated organ becomes part of the patient after transplant surgery.  But the intimacy of this divine, miraculous transplantation is far greater than that of an organ transplant.  As we ingest Jesus’ body and blood in the bread and wine, Jesus becomes a part of every cell and fiber of our being.  In a sense, we become Jesus because through Holy Communion He abides in us.  We actually then are what we eat.

 

 

I believe with all my heart that if we really and truly believe this, our whole attitude and life changes.  To know that I have Jesus in me – not just as a lump of bread in my stomach, but flowing through every cell of my body, a dynamic life force that is present at all times within me, has got to change how I perceive myself. 

 

Thus, not only am I forgiven in the nice intellectual, objective way that we usually think of forgiveness.  I am forgiven in the very depths of my being and in the most elemental physical sense as well.  This is because if Jesus is part of every cell of my being and Jesus and sin cannot abide together, forgiveness received through Holy Communion eradicates the stain of sin.

 

Furthermore, if through the Sacrament I have Jesus in me, I must be precious because Jesus is precious.  I may not be model perfect in the human sense.  I may be over-weight or knock kneed or cross eyed, but I am perfectly lovely because Jesus is a part of me.  I may be lacking in intelligence or possess a dull personality or have life wounds that make me unattractive to some, but I am beloved because Jesus is part of me.

 

Therefore, part of my growth in faith is learning to love myself as God loves me, because I have God’s Son in me.  And the Good News is that each of you have God’s Son in you in just the same way.  Every time you receive Jesus through the consecrated bread and wine, He becomes more and more a part of every fiber of your being.  You then, literally are what you eat.

 

And here is the challenge.  Anyone you meet, anywhere, may also have Jesus in them in the same way you do.  With our human eyes we can’t see Jesus in others, any more than we can in ourselves.  But, Jesus working stronger and stronger faith in us through the Sacrament helps us believe in His presence in ourselves and in others. 

 

Of course, just as we may not look much like Jesus on our bad days (or maybe any days), it will be hard to see Jesus in the cranky customer, the rebellious child, the neglectful spouse, the irritating fellow member, the annoying neighbor, the inconsiderate or reckless driver, or other person. 

 

But, as we are what we eat, we can’t know whether the person we would ignore, reject or criticize may also have Jesus in them.  So, the challenge is, let yourself truly become what you eat and then, treat others as if you can see Jesus in them.  In fact, take a moment now to reflect on being what you eat and seeing someone near you as what they eat.  Amen