Hard Saying
John 6:53-58
Originally scheduled for July 24
In one of the
most controversial passages of the New Testament, Christ explains
the necessity of communion to his disciples. If you are Roman
Catholic, you take this section quite literally. This is called
transubstantiation. There are several versions of this, but for
Protestants it is typically taken as a symbolic explanation. Either
way, however, it is commanded that the Christian take communion. The
reason is quite simple; his body and blood as given in communion are
the mechanism of his ongoing grace towards us. If you take
communion, with sincerity, then you are one of his forgiven children
called the church.
Some of us
would ask: “how do I know this is real?” Let us begin with the
obvious. He who spoke and the universe began is the ultimate source
of reality. If he tells you something is real then in one sense or
another it must be real. He is the source of reality, and he says
it’s real. There is more to it than that. We are told in this
passage that those who do partake of communion live in Christ and
Christ lives in them. This is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit; it
is also the source of unity of the church. Indeed, Christ tells us
that the words he has spoken to us are in fact spiritual life for
us. Nothing else we can touch with our hands is as real as
communion.
To those who
partake, Christ has promised resurrection from the dead. He tells us
that we already have eternal life; but this might just be that life
so favored by cartoonists of people floating around on clouds
playing harps. This is a very convenient metaphor, but it is
precisely what Christ does not promise. You have eternal life, right
now. In addition to that, he tells you that he will raise you up in
bodily form on the last day. You are a human being. Human beings
have bodies. At the last day he will reunite body and spirit. After
that, you will live forever. That is the promise Christ makes to
those who partake of communion.
Communion is
the source of our fellowship with Christ, and is therefore the
source of the fellowship of the church. Those in His church have
eternal life, will be raised on the last day and live forever. These
facts have been obscured by the debate about transubstantiation, but
let us realize the truth: unless you partake of communion, genuinely
and sincerely, you are not part of the church. You are not in
fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ. Consider well, then, what
your attitude should be towards this most sacred of meals.
