Pentecost XI Proper 15

Pentecost XI Proper 15 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life.

The reaction to Jesus’ teaching that he is the bread of life confused people. The clarification of the teaching that the bread of heaven is Jesus’ flesh and blood disgusted and angered people.
People then, and people now, find this teaching difficult to hear and impossible to understand. Jesus could easily have said that he was speaking symbolically or metaphorically. From time to time when people misunderstood Jesus he did just that. He clarified for people those occasions where they took too literally what he intended to be understood symbolically. This was not one of those occasions.

On this occasion, Jesus further emphasizes the very real and literal meaning of his words. He drives home the message in the most powerful way possible by saying unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood you have no life in you. None. Lifeless existence. The very condition that defines the souls who abandon God and choose hell.

Now, there is a context to Jesus’ teaching. It is the context of sacrifice. Every religion in Jesus’ day understood this concept and practiced it. The priests offered an animal on the altar as a sacrifice to the deity. The priests kept a portion of the animal to feed the Temple staff and to sell in the Temple butcher shop. The worshiper received a portion of the sacrifice as a meal for himself and his family.

For both Jews and pagans the act of eating the sacrificial animal involved a participation in the divine life of the deity you were worshiping. This is why pagans who became Christians refused to buy meat from the butcher shops of pagan temples. They believed that eating meat consecrated to a false deity was an active participation in the life of that deity. The broader concept was that an act of worship immerses the soul in the reality of the object, person, or deity worshiped. This is the reason for God’s law prohibiting the worship of nay thing or any one except the Living God.

For Jews, there was an additional aspect that governed the sacrifices. According to the Law of Moses, the blood belonged only to God. The blood is life, what we today might call the life force. That life force belonged exclusively to God. The priests in the Temple sprinkled the blood on the altar then poured out the blood on the ground. The law forbade eating blood.

Jesus invites the worshiper to drink the sacrificial blood, his blood. This is something new. This is something scandalous. This is an incredible privilege no one ever expected.

There is also the element of human sacrifice present in Jesus’ teaching. Some two hundred years before Jesus’ birth Rome had fought a terrible series of wars with the Carthaginian Empire. The religion of Carthage was a religion of human sacrifice. Rome’s decisive victory over Carthage ended the validity of human sacrifice for the peoples of the Mediterranean world.

Nevertheless, ancient peoples still believed in one form of human sacrifice. The king was expected to offer his life in battle as a sacrifice for the defense of his people. While he lived, the king governed with absolute authority. But, in a moment of crisis it was the King’s responsibility to lead his troops into battle in the front line of battle in order to offer his blood as a sacrifice to ensure victory.

When Alexander the Great invaded Persia the Persian King Darius fled from the battle field. His cowardice led his nobles to switch sides to Alexander. For Alexander had fought in the front lines risking his life for his people. In the minds of all ancient peoples, Alexander was the ideal King who offers his blood as a sacrifice for his people.

These are the strands of religion and culture that Jesus was bringing together as he brought forth the revelation of our Heavenly Father’s Plan of Salvation. Jesus is the Great King of all the nations. He places himself in the forefront of the battle against sin, death and Satan. He offers himself as the one pure perfect and final sacrifice to secure not only the well being of his people but eternal life for his people.

The way we appropriate this eternal life is the faithful act of eating the sacrificial meal Jesus provides for us at the altar. Only the meal of the new contract God makes with humanity is universal. It is not just for a specific ethnic group. It is for all people every where. That is the meaning of the word catholic.

St. Luke’s is a catholic church because we embrace the universality of the holy sacrifice of the Mass. All who wish to receive the blessed sacrament of Christ’s body and blood are welcome at our altar.

Our altar is a catholic altar for four reasons. The first reason is our loyalty to the Biblical teaching of the real presence of Jesus’ body and blood in the bread and wine. As we hear in the gospel reading this morning Jesus clearly and explicitly teaches those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life.

Our altar is a catholic altar because we embrace the apostolic order of liturgical worship. We preserve the three fold apostolic ministry of bishops, priests and deacons to facilitate the offering of the holy sacrifice of the mass.

Our altar is a catholic altar because we are evangelical. We invite all sorts and conditions of people to come to Christ’s altar through the waters of baptism. We exclude no one who wishes to embrace reunification with the Father, through the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit. We acknowledge that the altar is Christ’s altar. All whom Christ brings to the altar through the power of the Holy Spirit are welcome here.

Our altar is a catholic altar because we hold fast to the authority of the Seven Ecumenical Councils. The teaching of the Councils is summarized for us in the Nicene Creed. The authority of the Councils teaches that the catholic faith is not tied to any one city or any one bishop. The universality of the Christian Faith is expressed by the assembly of all patriarchs and bishops in the Seven Ecumenical Councils.

The condition for eternal life is not loyalty to a specific bishop. The condition for eternal life as declared by Jesus Christ, recorded in the scriptures, taught by the apostles, set forth by the seven ecumenical councils is: Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life.
Note the verb Jesus uses. Have. Not will have. Not may have. Have. Eternal life is a quality of living that Jesus offers us here and now at the altar of sacrifice.

Jesus’ statement is an open invitation to all people everywhere to make a real choice to embrace the real presence of the Living Lord Jesus Christ in the blessed sacrament of the altar.
As we make this choice we receive the universal gift of eternal love which is eternal life. Jesus just doesn’t invite us to make divine love an ornamental add on to our lives. Jesus invites us to immerse our selves in divine love.

Jesus offers to fill us with his own body and blood so that we begin to experience here and now every moment of every hour of every day the quality of life that characterizes the divine life of the holy and blessed Trinity. That quality of divine life is steadfast holy love. That quality is infinite compassion.

Eternal life begins to unfold in our souls when we say yes to God in Jesus Christ. It begins in the sacramental waters of baptism. It continues in the sacramental food and drink of holy communion. Eternal life becomes more real and more immediate to our daily lives as we open our minds, hearts and wills to Jesus’ teaching: Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life.