We have been preaching through John 6 for the past three weeks. It is in this section that Jesus makes the bold statements about himself being the Bread of Life (Jn. 6:35), and proclaims that “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (Jn. 6:53).
To this teaching his hearers begin to argue and question amongst themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (Jn. 6:52).
Their questions sound a lot like our own questions, perhaps. What does Jesus mean?
Particularly, we want to know what this means in light of Holy Communion, the meal we Christians keep until the Lord’s Return (1 Cor. 11:26). How does what Jesus says in John 6 about partaking in his flesh and blood, which he calls true food and true drink (Jn. 6:55), relate to the Meal which Jesus instituted by saying “Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you” and “this cup is the new testament in my blood” (1 Cor. 11:24-25)?
What follows are a few follow-up notes in answer to that line of questioning. One series of notes follows a philosophical line of thought. The second is a kind of brief typological rhapsody on the Eucharist. Both lines of thinking respond to the question “what is this?”
I. The first series of notes: we can think about answering the “what is this?” question using the frame of Aristotle’s ‘Four Causes’:
Efficient Cause (what made this thing what it is?):
“What is this?” This is Jesus’ Meal. It’s the meal that belongs to Jesus, it is the Meal Jesus gives us (Lk. 22:14-20).
Material Cause (what is this thing made-up of?):
“What is this?” This is the Meal which is both Bread and wine and also the Life of Jesus. It is earthly food, the work of human hands, and spiritual food, the gift of the Father in Heaven. Fully bread and wine, fully the Person of Christ (1 Cor. 10:16).
Formal Cause (what shape or form does this thing take?)
“What is this?” It is a meal. The receiving of God’s life comes to us in the form of a meal –not vitamins, nor smoothies, nor intellectual lectures, nor private eating in solitude, not merely preaching and teaching. God could have done it another way, theoretically, but he didn’t. It takes the form and shape of a ritual, communal, feast because that is what it is. As with all rites and meals one cannot climb outside of it to understand the meaning of an isolated piece.
Thus the Eucharist, the Body of Christ, has always been a understood as deeply related to the Church as the Body-politic of Christ. Augustine here is majestic:
‘“You are the body of Christ, member for member.” [1 Cor. 12.27] If you, therefore, are Christ's body and members, it is your own mystery that is placed on the Lord's table! It is your own mystery that you are receiving! You are saying “Amen” to what you are: your response is a personal signature, affirming your faith. When you hear "The body of Christ", you reply "Amen." Be a member of Christ's body, then, so that your "Amen" may ring true! But what role does the bread play? We have no theory of our own to propose here; listen, instead, to what Paul says about this sacrament: "The bread is one, and we, though many, are one body." Understand and rejoice: unity, truth, faithfulness, love. "One bread," he says. What is this one bread? Is it not the "one body," formed from many? […] Be what you see; receive what you are.’(Sermo CCLXXII; cf. 1 Cor. 10:17).
“What is this?” This is the meal that those who share in the body of Christ, in the church, in the family of God; this is the meal we eat as a body –it is the meal which makes us a body.
Final Cause (for what purpose or reason does this thing exist?)
“What is this?” It is food given to us whereby, in the eating, it becomes incorporated into our lives. The bread becomes a part of my body. The wine affects both my digestion and my chemical and psychological function; it gladdens me. The Life of Jesus animates my live.
The aim of food is always to become human flesh and blood –my flesh and blood. The need to make it human flesh and blood prior to the digestion of the communicant misses the point quite a bit. The goal of Holy Communion is not to get bread and wine, filled with the eternal life of Jesus, to become the body of a 33 yr old Jewish rabbi from the 1st century AD. No. The goal of Holy Communion is to get bread and wine, filled with the eternal life of Jesus, to become your body, to enter your digestive system, and become a part of the body-and-soul self that is you, that Christ’s life would be in you and you in Him (cf. Jn. 15:4-5; 17:20-21; Col. 1:27).
For my evangelical friends who might struggle with a higher view of Hoy Communion, let me remind you that we already believe these things about the Life of Jesus in principle, at least we believe it about the atonement in general. We believe that both in our justification and our sanctification, the whole order of salvation is concerned with applying the salvific Life of Jesus onto our lives; his Blood on the Doorposts of our Egyptian Houses; his Righteousness as our own; his Death as our own; His victorious Life as our own –right? As St. Paul proclaims:
‘I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.’ (Gal. 2:20)
II. The second series of notes: We can also think of Jesus as Bread-and-Wine typologically:
Eden
At Holy Communion Jesus gives us to eat of the Tree of Life –which is His Life—and thus he promises to “raise us up on the last day” (Jn. 6:39-40).
“What is this?” This is the fruit of the tree of eternal life which was purchased for us in the Death and Resurrection of Jesus the Son of Adam.
Melchizedek
Jesus is the new and greater King of Salem who meets us in victory, receives our tithes, and blesses us with bread and wine.
“What is this?” This is the new victory meal which the Final King of Heavenly Salem serves to those who by faith are children of Abraham.
Joseph
Joseph became both Royal Baker and Royal Cup-bearer (Gen. 40-43). During the famine he gave his people bread, and served his brothers wine. Jesus is the new bread-and-wine-giving King, a new Zaphenath-Paneah, the in whom the Living God works.
“What is this?” This is the provision of the New Joseph, the One who Rose from the Pit, who gives bread we could not get for ourselves and who serves wine to those who once betrayed him.
Sacrifice
“Flesh and Blood” language should remind us to the sacrifices of the Tabernacle –whence flesh and blood were divided. Save for a few specific offerings, most of the sacrifices –the majority—were meals, eaten at the Lord’s Table under the Glory Cloud.
“What is this?” It is fire-food, communion meals with Yahweh. No longer do we eat of the flesh and blood of animals in proximity, Chrit gives us himself. Christ is the final sacrifice, and the final Meal.
Manna
This whole section Jesus speaks during Passover-tide, and reminds the people of how God once gave them bread, manna, from heaven. Jesus himself does this typological work for us: “I am the bread that came down from heaven” (Jn. 6:51).
“What is this?” This is Bread of Heaven, for Christ is the true and better manna.
Boaz
Jesus, like Boaz, arrives to a widowed and desolate Israel, and a widowed and desolate world and, like Boaz, shows his covenant faithfulness in gifts of bread and wine. Moreover, he not only gives us a dole of food stuffs, like Boaz he makes us dine at his table (Ruth 2:14), spreads his wings over us (Ruth 3:9; Mal 4:2; Matt 23:37), and makes us feast in his house of wine as his bride (cf. Jn. 2:1-11; Song 2:4; Joel 2:19; Ps. 104:15; Rev. 19:9). And, as all lovers know, the banquet which lovers share is themselves.
“What is this?” This is the Bridal repast. A foretaste of the marriage super to come. Here Christ gives us himself and we give him ours.
Future Hope
We can finally think of the whole gift of Jesus as the Bread of Life as forming in us a great future hope. When these sacramental realities gives way to the Greater and Final Reality, when we no longer encounter his Life under signs and creatures but face to face, we shall be satisfied. Far from casting dispersions on Holy Communion now, a good eschatology flows logically from it: “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Col. 3:3-4).
“What is this?” This is the foretaste of eternity. Amen, come Lord Jesus. Maranatha.