Getting Seriously Committed (Pr 16B – Gospel)

The gospel for this week comes again from John 6:56-69.  We have five of these in a row.  John 6 is an interesting chapter because in it Jesus drives to the heart of his message in speaking especially to his disciples, and many of them can’t handle it.  They leave.

I have discussed the gritty, earthy metaphors Jesus is using.  Certainly the way he expresses these truths will get under the skin of many people.  But it’s not just the gritty metaphors that are getting on peoples’ nerves.  It’s what those metaphors point to as well.

“You are what you eat,” is a common saying.  Many of us are very careful what we eat, and even what we put in our mouths.  We’re touchy about it.  Why?  Well, some of us are aware of health issues.  Some just have certain very specific tastes.  But in general, sending something inside your body just sounds a bit dangerous, so most of us are pretty careful about it.

When Jesus uses eating metaphors to discuss our relationship to him, he is making it clear that this isn’t something that we take up part of the time.  It isn’t something that we pay attention to occasionally.  It is something that becomes a permanent part of us.  It is something that changes us and makes us something different.

We frequently talk about the presence of Jesus at the Eucharist.  But an important point to remember is that when we eat that bread and drink from the cup, we are also symbolically living John 6.  If Jesus is present, and I believe he is, then we take Jesus into ourselves.  We shouldn’t do that casually or without fully intending to put it into practice, by surrender.

John 6 gives us the confrontation, and then the reaction of each group.  The question of total commitment is the real dividing point in Christianity.