Living in the Spirit
August 22, 2015
Scripture Reading: John 6:56-69
56Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.’ 59He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum. –John 6:56-59
Our bodies are wondrously made. With all the scientific research and advancement made over the centuries, I think, we have just skimmed the surface of truly understanding the intricacies of the body’s functions. I was just reading the other day about research connecting the workings of our guts with emotional health. Who knew?
From ancient days the mystery of life, the breath of life its coming and its going, have been fodder for science but also for literature, art, and music. It is a reality with which all must deal, considering their own lives and the lives of others. So what do we as followers of Christ make of his discourse of eating his flesh and drinking his blood? His fellow Jews most likely found this abhorrent. Eating any kind of blood is not kosher and cannibalism is worse.
Is this an example of someone trying to use the shock factor to get others’ attention? Is it a means of reconciling the reality of the crucifixion with the eternal nature of God’s plan for God’s people? Or is it metaphor for encouraging us to be nurtured by the gift of God’s Son in the ways of God?
I do know each time I take the bread blest and broken, and drink from the cup filled with the fruit of the vine, I am made more whole personally and am made more one with all the others who eat the bread and drink from the cup offered in the name of the Lord.
Prayer: Commune with us, O Lord, nurture us to grow in wisdom and in truth so that we may play our role in the furtherance of your way. Amen.
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.