Are you leaving?
"Are you also going away?" said Jesus to the little group of disciples who were left. People had left him in droves. His teaching was just too hard to understand, and a trifle off-putting.
His disciples were discontented that he had started to talk this way. The people who listened to him preaching in the synagogue could no longer understand him. "How could we do what he says?" they asked, and then they left.
Why didn't Jesus keep it simple? He had been so popular, great crowds following him, most of them believing that he was fit to be their king. If Jesus had to get spiritual, surely he could have done it by degrees, meeting the people's expectations at first and then introducing the more theological things slowly, so as not to loose the people. Instead Jesus introduced the most complicated of concepts, that people should eat his flesh and drink his blood. First they asked how this was possible and then they left. For most of the people in that region Jesus was an episode in their lives that had ended.
Jesus wasn't very persuasive with his disciples, he said if this was too spiritually challenging for them, how would they react when they saw him physically return to where he came from? They were already mystified now he was making it worse.
We don't need to defend Jesus so lets admit that it sounds disgusting to eat his flesh and drink his blood. For three hundred years Christians often had to go into hiding because the Romans were trying to exterminate them, during this time when they celebrated the eucharist in secret, a rumour was spread that Christians were canibals. The people listening to Jesus had never heard of eucharist or mass or holy communion, but they could have made a connection with the ceremonies at their temple. When a lamb was sacrficied as a way of asking for forgiveness, only part of the flesh was burnt on the alter, another part was given to the penitent, he and his family feasted in a joyful celebration of forgiveness. Blood was sprinkled on the priests and on the alter to cleanse the alter from the pollution of anything that was not obedient to God.
As the crowds grew smaller, Jesus looked at the few followers who were left and asked, "Are you also going to go away?" Peter replied, 'Who could we go to? We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."
There was and is no compulsion to remain a follower of Jesus. The door was as wide open for them to leave as it was for them to come. Leaving Jesus because some of the things he teaches are so hard to understand is risky. It is better to say like Peter, that there is no other person who promises the gift of spiritual and eternal life therefore - stick around, in the words of a popular spiritual, you'll understand it all by and by.
Our churches are full of young people who drifted away when they were young, and who came ack when they got older. When we talked together these returning-people usually told me that they left the church but didn't leave Jesus. They also said that they were waiting for something they called 'a high'. Many of them said, that they were brought up to believe but wanted to make a choice to believe. The people who return are usually the people who always wanted to come back to faith but just couldn't find the way. Faith is a gift and is given to those who listen to the scripture, meet with believers and respond when the Spirit calls them.
Eucharist, mass, holy communion, some of the people participating have only the vaguest idea what Jesus meant when he said that eating his flesh and drinking his blood would give them life that doesn't die. But they eat the bread, (it is often the most prosaic bread, crackers or home made cornbread or wonder bread, and drink the wine which is usually grape juice because the recovered alcoholics among us don't want to be presented with even a small drink of real wine.) The bread and wine are made holy by setting them aside for the purpose of enacting a spiritual truth in a physical way. Many churches stress that this meal is instituted by Jesus and therefore he is the host, most churches do not impose conditions for receiving it.
We eat the bread, which is a sign of the body in which God came to be among us and which was destroyed on the cross, we drink the blood which is a sign that the blood of Jesus has washed away all our sin, we understand that through this act, if it is mixed with faith, we are united with God the giver of eternal life. How much faith does this require? Not a lot, Jesus said that even the disciples didn't have much faith, but that a little faith even if it very small is sufficient for a start.
Some people take this 'meal' (usually a square inch of bread and a tablespoon of grape juice) with only a small understanding of what they are doing, but they do understand that Jesus takes away our sins and give us life. Taking this communion is a public act, (most churches do not have private or personal commune services because common-union with Jesus is also union with other believers) This is a public statement that you want to hang around with Jesus, that you understand he has something you can't get anywhere else. As beginning faith mixes with carrying out the action required by Jesus, something stirs within us, but it is not from us, or of us, it is the life of the Spirit of Jesus living through us.
It took me, personally, years to recognise this stirring. I worked at it, using all my intellect and very little of anything else. I waited for a strong, sweeping wind from God, one day I understood that the Spirit also comes like a gentle summer rain, and that Jesus was quite capable of completing what I had trusted him to do. It's been peaceful since then. If I could have my wish I would be every day in the church, praying over the bread and juice. If I could have my wish I would stand at the corner of two busy streets holding out the plate of bread and the cup of wine offering it to any of the busy people who rush past, with the words, "The body of our Lord." "The blood of Jesus Christ spilt for us." That isn't possible, the church requires more explanation, but I still long, to do it. Because I know that the people hurrying by would really in their heart like to be united with Jesus but have just lost their way in the abundance of different congregations and the strident voices of some of the preachers.
So if your faith is small, so was Peters. If your faith is sufficient to do something because Jesus said to do it, this is the place to start. Hang around, take the bread, drink the wine, offer what little faith you have and wait. The rest is up to Jesus.
The Gospel of John, chapter six, verses 51 to 69
His disciples were discontented that he had started to talk this way. The people who listened to him preaching in the synagogue could no longer understand him. "How could we do what he says?" they asked, and then they left.
Why didn't Jesus keep it simple? He had been so popular, great crowds following him, most of them believing that he was fit to be their king. If Jesus had to get spiritual, surely he could have done it by degrees, meeting the people's expectations at first and then introducing the more theological things slowly, so as not to loose the people. Instead Jesus introduced the most complicated of concepts, that people should eat his flesh and drink his blood. First they asked how this was possible and then they left. For most of the people in that region Jesus was an episode in their lives that had ended.
Jesus wasn't very persuasive with his disciples, he said if this was too spiritually challenging for them, how would they react when they saw him physically return to where he came from? They were already mystified now he was making it worse.
We don't need to defend Jesus so lets admit that it sounds disgusting to eat his flesh and drink his blood. For three hundred years Christians often had to go into hiding because the Romans were trying to exterminate them, during this time when they celebrated the eucharist in secret, a rumour was spread that Christians were canibals. The people listening to Jesus had never heard of eucharist or mass or holy communion, but they could have made a connection with the ceremonies at their temple. When a lamb was sacrficied as a way of asking for forgiveness, only part of the flesh was burnt on the alter, another part was given to the penitent, he and his family feasted in a joyful celebration of forgiveness. Blood was sprinkled on the priests and on the alter to cleanse the alter from the pollution of anything that was not obedient to God.
As the crowds grew smaller, Jesus looked at the few followers who were left and asked, "Are you also going to go away?" Peter replied, 'Who could we go to? We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."
There was and is no compulsion to remain a follower of Jesus. The door was as wide open for them to leave as it was for them to come. Leaving Jesus because some of the things he teaches are so hard to understand is risky. It is better to say like Peter, that there is no other person who promises the gift of spiritual and eternal life therefore - stick around, in the words of a popular spiritual, you'll understand it all by and by.
Our churches are full of young people who drifted away when they were young, and who came ack when they got older. When we talked together these returning-people usually told me that they left the church but didn't leave Jesus. They also said that they were waiting for something they called 'a high'. Many of them said, that they were brought up to believe but wanted to make a choice to believe. The people who return are usually the people who always wanted to come back to faith but just couldn't find the way. Faith is a gift and is given to those who listen to the scripture, meet with believers and respond when the Spirit calls them.
Eucharist, mass, holy communion, some of the people participating have only the vaguest idea what Jesus meant when he said that eating his flesh and drinking his blood would give them life that doesn't die. But they eat the bread, (it is often the most prosaic bread, crackers or home made cornbread or wonder bread, and drink the wine which is usually grape juice because the recovered alcoholics among us don't want to be presented with even a small drink of real wine.) The bread and wine are made holy by setting them aside for the purpose of enacting a spiritual truth in a physical way. Many churches stress that this meal is instituted by Jesus and therefore he is the host, most churches do not impose conditions for receiving it.
We eat the bread, which is a sign of the body in which God came to be among us and which was destroyed on the cross, we drink the blood which is a sign that the blood of Jesus has washed away all our sin, we understand that through this act, if it is mixed with faith, we are united with God the giver of eternal life. How much faith does this require? Not a lot, Jesus said that even the disciples didn't have much faith, but that a little faith even if it very small is sufficient for a start.
Some people take this 'meal' (usually a square inch of bread and a tablespoon of grape juice) with only a small understanding of what they are doing, but they do understand that Jesus takes away our sins and give us life. Taking this communion is a public act, (most churches do not have private or personal commune services because common-union with Jesus is also union with other believers) This is a public statement that you want to hang around with Jesus, that you understand he has something you can't get anywhere else. As beginning faith mixes with carrying out the action required by Jesus, something stirs within us, but it is not from us, or of us, it is the life of the Spirit of Jesus living through us.
It took me, personally, years to recognise this stirring. I worked at it, using all my intellect and very little of anything else. I waited for a strong, sweeping wind from God, one day I understood that the Spirit also comes like a gentle summer rain, and that Jesus was quite capable of completing what I had trusted him to do. It's been peaceful since then. If I could have my wish I would be every day in the church, praying over the bread and juice. If I could have my wish I would stand at the corner of two busy streets holding out the plate of bread and the cup of wine offering it to any of the busy people who rush past, with the words, "The body of our Lord." "The blood of Jesus Christ spilt for us." That isn't possible, the church requires more explanation, but I still long, to do it. Because I know that the people hurrying by would really in their heart like to be united with Jesus but have just lost their way in the abundance of different congregations and the strident voices of some of the preachers.
So if your faith is small, so was Peters. If your faith is sufficient to do something because Jesus said to do it, this is the place to start. Hang around, take the bread, drink the wine, offer what little faith you have and wait. The rest is up to Jesus.
The Gospel of John, chapter six, verses 51 to 69
Labels: Body of our Lord, Communion, Eucharist, Jesus, Mass
posted by Jessie Coates at 10:00 PM
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