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You’re Invited
Today Jesus invites us to a meal. It is an extraordinary invitation to do an ordinary thing: form bonds of love and community through shared food and drink. Like Wisdom inviting us to the feast of insight (Prov. 9:1-6), Jesus’ invitation to share in the meal of his body and blood teaches us about the breadth and depth of God’s love and about God’s desire for us to abide in that love (John 6:56).
Jesus’ audience asks a reasonable question: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (John 6:52). Jesus’ answer doesn’t really address the question; instead, he reiterates that he is the true bread from heaven, the true source of eternal life. This must have been off-putting to his listeners. Eat flesh? Drink blood? And yet, here we find a profoundly grace-filled invitation—abide in me—and a promise: through this meal I abide in you. We are invited to not only join Jesus at the table, but to be at home in the love of God, knowing that Christ makes his home in our hearts and lives too. So come: eat, and get to know God.
Gospel: John 6:51-58
In John’s gospel, the feeding of the five thousand leads to extended teaching in which Jesus identifies himself as the true “bread of life.” Finally, in these verses, he makes a connection that would not be understood until after his death, in light of the church’s celebration of holy communion.
[Jesus said,] 51“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
52The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; 55for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 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.”