PROPER 15 (20) – Year B
13th Sunday after Pentecost — August 18, 2024
Gospel Lectionary Text
John 6:51-58
6:51 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."
6:52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
6:53 So 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.
6:54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day,
6:55 for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
6:56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them.
6:57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.
6:58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which the ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever."
CONTEXT
Welcome to the 13th week after Pentecost. We are near the end of a five-week journey through Jesus' discourse on being the "bread of life." Today’s passage is unappetizing: “Eat my flesh. Drink my blood.” How can such cannibalistic gore be considered gospel?
For some, this passage is just a graphic reminder that Jesus’ violent death was a continuation of the sacrificial system of His day. What if, instead, Jesus is actually proposing to interrupt the system instead of affirm it?
That dramatically alters the nature of the meal before us. Jesus endured the violence of the sacrificial system, not to condone it, but to free us from it. His body absorbed our collective violence, and He countered with love, mercy, and forgiveness.
The meal Jesus offers isn’t just a remembrance of His death; it’s an invitation to feed on what He’s done — to partake in a new way of being human. The table is set with a feast that truly sustains all of us. Can we stomach it?
Question
This week's passage deeply offends the crowd whom Jesus fed earlier in this same chapter. Only the 12 disciples and a few others remain. What does Jesus want the crowd to confront with His not-so-subtle reference to cannibalism?
Prayer
Come, Holy Spirit, wild and free. Do as you please. Shine your light on me that I might see things as they are, not as I am. Free me to act in your name with courage, creativity, and compassion. See the complete prayer
Word from Below Reflections
Flesh and Blood
By Lina Thompson |
I’ll be honest, today’s passage makes me cringe. The language Jesus uses is cannibalistic; it’s scandalous. “Eat my flesh. Drink my blood.” Yuck. Am I right? As someone who presides over the communion table, hearing Jesus speak about His body this way makes me super uncomfortable.
Bearing Witness to Goodness
By Scott Dewey |
Our participation in Holy Communion unites us with the world, particularly those people and places in the world with whom we are most estranged. The Lord's Table is a radically inclusive table that not only makes room for the "least of these," it gives them preferred seating. These honored diners are precisely the ones who...
Understanding the Bible anew through the Mimetic Theory of René Girard.