I confess to not being that fond of the Gospel of John. It is a little too ethereal for my tastes. I’m more earthy. For example, Mathew, Mark, and Luke all tell the story of the Last Supper, from which we get the Sacrament of the Eucharist, the body and blood of Jesus. They’re very down-to-earth. I like those. John, however, does not even tell that story. Too earthy for him, I guess.
Over the last couple of weeks, the gospel reading has had to do with the partaking in the body of Jesus, but not in the sense of a meal. John is too ethereal for that. This week, for example, Jesus says:
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever. (Jn. 6:56-58)
One of his disciples responds, “This teaching is difficult” (v.60. I’ll say.
I don’t know what to make of Jesus’ language here, but I think it may have something to do with the task I finished a few minutes ago—cooking dinner for my family. Now, granted, that’s pretty earthy and necessary to survival, but it points to something bigger. Indeed, it points to love.
We returned home yesterday from a trip to California, so I decided it was time for something Southern. I made dressing, Vidalia onion pie, and collard greens with dumplings. I ran out of steam before the fried okra. I’m not a particularly good cook. I basically follow the recipe in front of me. But there’s nothing I’d rather do than cook dinner for the people I love, so I do most of the cooking in our family. It is a tangible way to love the people who love me. It nourishes me to nourish them. It connects me to those who loved me many years ago. The dressing recipe came from my grandmother through my aunt. All these people have nourished me along the way. Love yields love, which yields more love, and so it goes. It’s all about love.
I think that’s what Jesus might be talking about in John. I think he may be using the metaphor of sharing a meal, eating the bread that he gives, which is itself an intimate act, to teach that when we share most intimately, we give one another life through love. It doesn’t really even have to be a sacrament to do the trick. It just is in acting on love to do something concrete that spreads life and love all the more.
Agape,
+Stacy
Bishop Stacy Sauls
Founder and President