Throughout His Sermon on the Bread of Life, the Lord Jesus teaches you not to labor for the food which perishes, nor to go chasing after bread for your stomach at the cost of your soul. Not that such temporal food is bad; it is not; it is given from the open hand of God to preserve your body and life in this world, to nourish your flesh and blood for a time. But it is not forever. And there is a better Food, an everlasting Food, to which your Savior calls you. That is the true and Living Bread from Heaven, Christ Jesus Himself. He is your Meat and Drink indeed, and those who feast on Him shall never die, but they shall live with Him in righteousness and purity forever.
Of course it is true that you must work for a living. The curse of sin requires that you eat by the sweat of your brow and by the labor of your hands. “And whoever will not work,” says the Lord, “let him not eat.” But even such temporal food is still received by the grace of God, as a divine charity, without any merit or worthiness in you. For He gives daily bread to you and to all, even to the wicked, with or without prayer; just as He causes the sun to shine and the rain to fall on both the evil and the good. All of these gifts of creation are for your flesh-and-blood life in this world.
Regrettably, the Lord’s good gift of Creation has been spoiled by sin. Indeed, all “flesh” has been cursed by sin and death. As Jesus says, “that which is born of the flesh is flesh,” and “the flesh profits nothing.” Thus, by the fallen nature that you inherit from your parents and pass on to your children, you are sinful and mortal, with no hope for life in your flesh and blood, but only death.
To be sure, God’s gracious and merciful gift of temporal food does nurture and sustain your bodily life in the world, but only for a while. You know that no amount or quality of food will keep you healthy and alive or prevent you from dying. And the same inadequacy pertains to all your earthly projects and pursuits. All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man is like the flower of the grass; for just as the grass withers and its flower dies, so do you. Only the Word of the Lord endures forever.
Consider how significant it is, then, that the very Word of the Lord which endures forever — the Word who was in the beginning with God; the Word who is God Himself, by whom all things are made — that very Word has become Flesh and dwells among us. Everything that “flesh” has inherited, including the curse of sin and death, He has made His own and taken on Himself, so that He might live His Life in our flesh, and thereby make it possible for all flesh to live in Him.
The Living and Eternal Word — the one Lord, Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, conceived and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary — He has brought His own divine Life and vitality into our mortal and perishing flesh and blood, thus enabling you and all sinners (otherwise destined for eternal death and damnation) to rise and live with Him, in both soul and body, forever and ever.
He comes down to raise you up. He dies to give you Life. He gives His Flesh to save you.
There is first of all the Incarnation itself, whereby the almighty and eternal Son of the Living God has taken our flesh and blood to be His very own from the womb of the Woman, St. Mary, and has lived a fully human life, just as you must live, from His humble manger to His Cross and tomb.
It is by way of His Cross that He has offered His own Body of flesh and blood as the Sacrifice of Atonement for the entire world, for all the children of Adam & Eve, for the forgiveness of sins, for reconciliation and peace with God, and for the everlasting Life of all who believe and trust in Him.
In order to obtain such faith and bestow such Life, to the ends of the earth and the close of the age Christ Jesus distributes those fruits and benefits of His Cross by the Ministry of His Word. His forgiveness of sins, His Life and Salvation, indeed, His very Flesh and Blood, are given to you in the Liturgy of His Gospel. So is He still “coming down” out of heaven, in order to feed you with His living and Life-giving Bread — with His Word and Flesh — that you should not die but live.
Such are the ways and means of salvation, by which the Lord Jesus Christ “comes down” from His God and Father in heaven to you. Apart from these ways and means of His divine grace, there is no Church on earth, no Christianity, no faith, and no salvation. But in these Means there is Life.
“Life.” That is the key Word that permeates this Holy Gospel, as well as the purpose for which the Lord Jesus comes to you. He is the Life, and He lives forever as the Son of the Living God. But He comes to give you His own Life, that you might live in Him. In contrast to the death and decay that surround you in this sinful and perishing world, in the Body of Christ Jesus there is Life that abides forever. As you have faith and life in Him, even though you die, yet shall you live.
It’s common enough to hear people talk about the “real world out there,” in contrast to the life that you experience in school — or in the Church. But Jesus teaches you today that the real world and real Life are not whatever you might find “out there,” but only what is found in Him right here, in the Food that He provides, His Flesh and Blood for you in the Church and Liturgy of His Gospel.
Sadly, your fallen flesh resists this Life-giving Food of Christ Jesus. Like the crowds in this Holy Gospel you pose the question, “How can this Man give us His Flesh to eat?” Instead of taking Him at His Word and receiving His gifts with thanksgiving, you doubt and deny what He says to you.
You might well remember that our first parents, Adam and Eve, did not ask such questions of the serpent when he tempted them to take and eat the forbidden fruit, which God had not given. They saw that it looked good, and so they ate it. And you have inherited their sin. You take and eat the food of Satan without a second thought, but cringe and complain about the Bread from Heaven.
Consider how often you look for something more and different, presumably better, beyond and apart from the Word of the Gospel and the Holy Sacraments of Christ Jesus — something more practical and productive — something to fill your belly or satisfy some other craving of your flesh. Indeed, you’re even willing and eager to work for it, to do whatever it takes to get what you want.
But that right there is already at the heart of your problem. Because the Flesh and Blood of God are not a Food and Drink you could ever acquire for yourself by the sweat of your brow or the labor of your hands, nor with cash or credit. They are given to you only by the grace and charity of the Lord, and thus received in faith and with thanksgiving (and not at all by work or worry).
So, your dear Lord Jesus continues to come down out of heaven to deal with you in mercy and bring you from death to life. He comes with His Law to reveal your sins and your need for His grace and salvation. He even allows you to hunger at times, that you might feel your need for His Life-giving Food and receive it with thanksgiving. And then, above all, He continues to feed you, to nourish you with His own Flesh and Blood, that you might live forever in and with Him.
Several times over in this Holy Gospel, the Lord refers to “the one who eats.” Ironically, the next (and only other) time this phrase is used in St. John’s Gospel, it refers to Judas, who went from eating the Bread of Life from the hand of his Savior to the betrayal of the same Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The Lord would offer and give to His betrayer all the blessings of His forgiveness and salvation; but apart from faith they were rejected and despised.
For “the one who eats” with faith, however, the Body and Blood of Jesus in His Supper bestow all that He is, and all that He has done for you, as your Savior.
You feast on Him with faith as you gladly hear and learn His Word and the preaching of it. And you feast on Him by faith when you confess your sins and receive His Word of Holy Absolution.
And then, “eating Him” by faith in His mercy and forgiveness, you are also given to eat His very Body and to drink His very Blood with your own mouth, and thereby to receive the Life-giving Flesh and Blood of God Himself into your own body — not for judgment, but for Life with Him.
Your mortal and perishing flesh is thus united with the Lord’s divine and living Flesh, whereby you are made to be like Him and share the Life that belongs to the Holy Triune God. Just as the temporal food that you eat becomes a part of your body and is transformed into your flesh and blood, so do the Meat and Drink of Jesus Christ become a part of you — but you are the one who is transformed by this true Bread of Life, by this Flesh and Blood of the incarnate Son of God, so that your flesh and blood will be raised up into Paradise by the Son of Man at the Last Day.
As the Lord Jesus says and promises, “Whoever eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal Life.” And again, “He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me and I in him.”
“Abiding in Christ Jesus,” and “Christ Jesus abiding in you,” these few simple words describe, first of all, the most intimate and personal union that you have with your dear Lord Jesus — like that of a Bride with her Bridegroom (as St. Paul describes, for example, in Ephesians). But “abiding” also implies the need for a constant return to Christ Jesus and His embrace, whereby you remain close to Him, and cling to Him, and seek and find your life in and with Him — just as a bride and groom do not go their separate ways after the wedding, but live together in love as one flesh.
So, too, it’s not enough to get the ball rolling in your relationship with Jesus, so to speak, and then to coast through life on your own. That won’t work, in any case. The intimate union with Christ Jesus that began with your Holy Baptism in His Name is one that needs to be constantly nurtured and strengthened throughout your life on earth, unto the Resurrection and the Life everlasting. Not only because you are still sinful in your heart and mind, in your thoughts, words, and deeds, and subject to the constant threat of death within and without, but precisely because your only real Life and your relationship with God are in Christ Jesus, in His Word and His Body of flesh and blood.
Cling to the Word of your Lord, therefore. Listen to what He says. Hear and heed His preaching. Remember your Holy Baptism and return each day to its significance by contrition and repentance, by confessing your sins and receiving His gift of Absolution from the pastors He provides for you. And do feed upon His Body and His Blood in holy faith and with thanksgiving, that you may abide in Him, and He in you, according to His Word and promise.
These gifts Christ freely gives are not simply means to some other end, but they are your Life and your Salvation in Him, because they are His own Word, His own good work, and His own Flesh and Blood. It is in the Liturgy of His Gospel — in the preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins in His Name, and in the celebration of His Holy Supper in remembrance of Him — that He lives with you, gives Himself to you, loves you, bestows His Spirit upon you, and gives you Life.
When I go to visit the homebound or hospitalized, there’s nothing I can do to heal their bodies or restore their health and strength. I pray with them and for them, of course, and I entrust them to their Father in heaven. But as their Pastor, I am privileged to bring them something more powerful than sickness and death, a Medicine of Immortality like nothing else in heaven or on earth. When I care for them in the Name of the Lord, according to His Word, I am able to serve them with the forgiveness of their sins and the gift of divine Life in the very Body and Blood of Christ Jesus.
Now, just think, you don’t have to wait until you’re homebound, hospitalized, or on your deathbed to receive those priceless gifts! They are offered to you here, free for the asking. If there is some sin that weighs heavy upon you, then I am here for you as your Pastor to hear your confession and grant you the Absolution of Christ Jesus Himself with no strings attached. And here at this Altar is offered to you, week after week throughout the year, the Life-giving Body and Blood of Jesus.
As Dr. Luther writes in his Large Catechism: “In this Sacrament of the Altar the Lord offers us all the treasures that He brought from heaven for us, to which He most graciously invites us in other places, as when He says in Matthew, ‘Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.’ So we must never regard the Sacrament as a harmful thing from which we ought to flee, but as a pure, wholesome, soothing Medicine which aids and quickens us in both soul and body. For where the soul is healed, the body has benefitted also. So, if you are heavy-laden and feel your weakness, go joyfully to the Sacrament and receive refreshment, comfort, and strength.”
In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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