A sermon
preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 16 August 2015, Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, by Dr. Hope S. Antone. The scripture readings that day were Psalm 34:9-14; John 6:51-58.
How many of you have heard
of the saying, You Are What You Eat?
How many of you have watched the TV show, You
Are What You Eat? How many of you have read the book with the same title, You Are What You Eat? The simple meaning
of the saying that catches my attention is this: ‘What you eat can mean your
health or lack of it’. Your show of hands indicates that the saying is not new
to many of us here.
Indeed, the idea is not
new. Studies on traditional/tribal foods found that the notion, “You are what
you eat,” is shared among Native American and eastern traditional communities.
I know that the Chinese believe that if you eat a lot of chicken you will
manifest chicken energy. [Now I wonder if the muscular energy of my son to
climb the iron gate of our apartment even before he could walk was because of
my eating a lot of chicken feet when I was pregnant with him.]
Are we really what we eat?
If we are what we eat, what does it mean for Christians who claim to eat the
living bread from heaven?
Last Sunday, the Rev Ralph
Lee gave an inspiring and challenging sermon on the living bread that comes
from heaven as the spiritual bread that feeds our minds and hearts, giving us
courage and strength to change our lives and those of others. He said the
change will be from being self-centered to being full of love, justice, peace
and compassion.
In today’s scripture
reading, we see a shift in metaphors: from “living bread” to “flesh and blood”.
Christ Jesus says, “…unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his
blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have
eternal life… for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.”
In last Sunday’s lectionary
reading, we read that the Jews complained about Jesus’ claim to be the “bread
of life” because they knew him to be the son of ordinary parents (John 6:35,
41). Now they challenged how he could give his flesh to eat and his blood to
drink for people to have eternal life. “Aionios” (Greek word for eternal life)
refers to the quality of life that belongs to God. So the controversy was more
than a simplistic accusation of practicing cannibalism; it was more seriously
about Jesus’ claim to give the kind of life that only belongs to God.
So today, let us re-visit
the whole idea of eating the flesh and drinking the blood of our Lord and
Saviour, Christ Jesus. Hopefully, we will become more conscious of whether we
are really what we eat, and what that means for our life today.
A most likely meaning of
eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood is of course the celebration of the
Lord’s Supper. As we know, Christian denominations have different
interpretations or doctrines on the Lord’s Supper. Some take the literal
interpretation that during the celebration of the Communion, the elements of
bread and wine will change to the real flesh and blood of Jesus. Others take a
more metaphorical interpretation that the elements of bread and wine (or juice)
are symbolic representations of Jesus’ life, offered and shared with many.
Another possible meaning
requires us to probe deeper and to go beyond the celebration of the Lord’s
Supper. Let us go for this deeper meaning because Jesus was not only concerned
about our celebration of the Last Supper. He was very concerned about how those
who “eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them” (vs. 56).
The
ancient Jewish law (Leviticus 17) forbade the eating of fat and blood. Instead,
the blood of a slaughtered animal must be spilled out on the altar, and the fat
must be burned on the altar as an offering to God. Ramban, a 13th
century rabbi explained that the life (or ‘soul’) of a creature is in the
blood. Since animals have blood, they have soul. If a human consumes the
animal’s blood, he/she consumes its soul. By spilling the blood on the altar,
the animal’s soul will atone for the human act of killing it. Since it was
believed that only God, giver of life, can consume life, the soul-containing
blood of the animal should be offered to God. Consequently, to eat what is
forbidden and believed to be God’s food is to strive to become like God. That
was a big ‘No No!’ in ancient times,
the punishment of which was to be cut off from the community.
In
view of such ancient belief, it would appear that Jesus is making such a big
offence here. He is not only talking about eating the flesh and drinking the
blood of an animal; he is taking the extreme of asking people to eat his own
flesh and drink his own blood: “…unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and
drink his blood, you have no life in you… for my flesh is true food and my
blood is true drink.” It did not only sound yucky! It sounded insanely crazy!
I
think Jesus wanted to shake people up from their long held belief that they
could not get any closer to God. He wanted people to know that they too could
eat the food of God, be filled with God, become one with God, and even begin to
resemble God. Isn’t this what it means to be made in the image of God? And that
indeed is having eternal life, the quality of God’s life.
There
are many of us here who like cooking, or whose responsibility includes ensuring
good and healthy food for our loved ones or the people we work and live with.
From experience we know that preparing good and healthy food takes a lot of
time and careful thought and planning. [Not to mention considering our budget
of time and money.] Young children and ageing people need food that is easy to
digest. For growing children, we need to strike a balance in terms of the food
that will make them go, grow, and glow.
It
is the same when feeding on the flesh and blood of Jesus. The assurance of
God’s acceptance, forgiveness and love for us is like our baby food, perhaps
our Sunday School food. But we need to grow up and realize that such love,
acceptance and forgiveness are not just meant for us. They are also meant for
the many others who are often condemned, judged and criticized for their being different, dirty, difficult, or even dangerous
– these are some terms that are often used for people who are not like us, not
known to us, or not one of us. As we grow older, we need to feed on the food of
self-critique, and this requires much more responsibility and a bigger effort
on our part. If our take on the good news of God’s salvation through Christ
Jesus is only centered on our self or ourselves (i.e. the ones we like and
love), we may be feeding partially on the Word of God.
The
Chinese have a belief that most foods have cooling or warming characteristics.
Knowing the condition of one’s body helps in planning for the proper food to
take to ensure balance between the body’s yin
and yang qualities. Knowing the
deficiency in either the yin or yang of one’s body also helps in
preparing the right ingredients and amount of Chinese medicines to address the
deficiency. Not all good food is good for all people all the time. Some people
with health problems may need to avoid certain food or ingredients, and require
careful ways of preparing the food.
Again,
it is the same when feeding on the flesh and blood of Jesus. We are called to
feed on and share the good news. But in fact, the good news is not the same for
everyone all the time. What the famous theologian Reinhold Niebuhr advised the
ministry students of his time, is still true today: the role of the bearers of
the Good News is to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” The
good news for the poor and the weak is that God wills for them abundant life
and strength. The good news for the rich and strong is that God wills for them
to share with and care for those who are less privileged. The Good News is truly
Good News when it confronts or engages the bad news within and around us – i.e.
whatever it is that keeps people from living the quality of life that God wills
for all.
Finally,
eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ Jesus does not only happen
during the Lord’s Supper; or during our feeding on the words and teachings of
our Lord. It happens during all occasions when we get to commune with one
another. For many of us from Asian and African cultures, meals are special
occasions for communion with one another – from the preparation of the dishes
to the actual sharing of the meal, and into the cleaning up after the meal. The
breaking of the bread/food and the pouring of the wine/drink are constantly
reenacted through our daily ritual of sharing a meal, made possible through the
hard work of farmers and fisherfolk. For every grain or seed, meat or plant
that we eat, we absorb the gifts of their hard labor as well as the blessings
from nature’s soil, sun and rain. By partaking of such gifts, we, like Christ
Jesus, then partake of the sufferings of the farmers, fisherfolk, and laborers;
we also partake of the sufferings of the earth, now ravaged by human abuse,
misuse and overuse. This is the wider and deeper meaning of Communion – i.e. affirming
our connectivity with one another and with all in God’s creation.
My
brothers and sisters in Christ, are we really what we eat? If we as professing
Christians feed on the “flesh and blood” of Christ Jesus as the Living Word, we
may become what we eat – i.e. transformed persons who, like Christ, will
manifest the love, justice and compassion of God in our lives and
relationships. If we feed on the “flesh and blood” of Christ Jesus as the
Living Word, we will abide in him and he in us, and we may become bearers of
the Good News, filled with knowledge and courage to confront the bad news
within and around us. If we are what we eat, let us “seek not the food that
will pass away”; but “set our hearts on the food that endures,” the food that will
show us the true and living way.
Let
us pray:
When the journey is long, and we hunger and
thirst,
Bread of Life, sustain us.
When the road is hard, and our bodies weak
Bread of Life, heal us.
When our spirits are low, and we can’t carry on
Bread of Life, revive us.
When we offer our hand, in love and in service
Bread of life, bless us.
When the challenge is great, and the workers are few
Bread of Life, empower us.
# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, August 16, 2015
