"It had better be Christ"
A brief reflection on something I heard Suan Sonna say on a podcast with Erick Ybarra.
John 6:51-54, 56
51 “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.”
Here several in the crowd of followers begin to doubt his teaching.
52 Then the Jews started to argue among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Jesus does not rescind his teaching; he triples down.
53 Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.”
54 “Whoever feeds upon my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
56 “Whoever feeds upon my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me and I dwell in him.
Many of the followers walk away in disbelief.
What am I to think about this?
Whoever eats this living bread that came down from heaven will live forever; and that bread is his flesh.
Unless I eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, I do not have life within me.
Whoever feeds on his flesh and drinks his blood has eternal life, whom he will raise up on the last day; Christ dwells in him and he dwells in Christ.
These are conditions for my salvation that, if I do not follow, I do not have life within me. The consequences are clear.
Therefore, the communion bread I eat and the cup I drink had better be his body and blood. Because this much I know — there is no salvation apart from Jesus Christ.
If Jesus would establish a condition for salvation that is not himself, truly present, then his teaching is incoherent.
When he gave thanks and broke the bread of "[his] body” and took the cup “of the New Covenant in [his] blood” in the upper room, his sacrifice was begun.
From the cross, upon drinking the fourth cup (bitter wine lifted on a hyssop branch), the Passover meal was finished; his sacrifice was not yet.
He revealed himself to the two traveling on the road to Emmaus:
Luke 24:30-32
30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
Where did he go? Yet, the bread remained.
In Hebrews 10 we see how Jesus presents himself to the Father, a living sacrifice, once for all time, then takes his seat at the right hand of God.
Is he truly present with us still? Yes, his body, blood, soul, and divinity, re-presented to the Father on his High Priestly alter of the Holy Eucharist, which means Thanksgiving.
His teaching is not incoherent. He points us to the broken bread and the cup of the New Covenant because, true to his word, he makes himself present there. That when we eat his body and drink his blood, the once-for-all sacrifice is complete.
To be a true sacrifice, it must be eaten. That is why many in the crowd, who were quite accustomed to eating the flesh of sacrifices, walked away at the very thought of what they did not understand…that Christ’s High Priesthood was in the line of Melchizedek, priest of God Most High (Genesis 14:18-20), who blessed with bread and wine.
Many walk away still, not because they do not understand but because they refuse to.
What is the sacrifice? Is it the meal in the upper room? Is it the scourging and death on the cross? Is it the presentation of himself to the Father in Heaven? Is it that which we consume in the Eucharist?
The answer is Yes. All of it is the once for all time sacrifice.
John 6:51-54, 56
51 “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.”
Here several in the crowd of followers begin to doubt his teaching.
52 Then the Jews started to argue among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Jesus does not rescind his teaching; he triples down.
53 Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.”
54 “Whoever feeds upon my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
56 “Whoever feeds upon my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me and I dwell in him.
Many of the followers walk away in disbelief.
What am I to think about this?
Whoever eats this living bread that came down from heaven will live forever; and that bread is his flesh.
Unless I eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, I do not have life within me.
Whoever feeds on his flesh and drinks his blood has eternal life, whom he will raise up on the last day; Christ dwells in him and he dwells in Christ.
These are conditions for my salvation that, if I do not follow, I do not have life within me. The consequences are clear.
Therefore, the communion bread I eat and the cup I drink had better be his body and blood. Because this much I know — there is no salvation apart from Jesus Christ.
If Jesus would establish a condition for salvation that is not himself, truly present, then his teaching is incoherent.
When he gave thanks and broke the bread of "[his] body” and took the cup “of the New Covenant in [his] blood” in the upper room, his sacrifice was begun.
From the cross, upon drinking the fourth cup (bitter wine lifted on a hyssop branch), the Passover meal was finished; his sacrifice was not yet.
He revealed himself to the two traveling on the road to Emmaus:
Luke 24:30-32
30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
Where did he go? Yet, the bread remained.
In Hebrews 10 we see how Jesus presents himself to the Father, a living sacrifice, once for all time, then takes his seat at the right hand of God.
Is he truly present with us still? Yes, his body, blood, soul, and divinity, re-presented to the Father on his High Priestly alter of the Holy Eucharist, which means Thanksgiving.
His teaching is not incoherent. He points us to the broken bread and the cup of the New Covenant because, true to his word, he makes himself present there. That when we eat his body and drink his blood, the once-for-all sacrifice is complete.
To be a true sacrifice, it must be eaten. That is why many in the crowd, who were quite accustomed to eating the flesh of sacrifices, walked away at the very thought of what they did not understand…that Christ’s High Priesthood was in the line of Melchizedek, priest of God Most High (Genesis 14:18-20), who blessed with bread and wine.
Many walk away still, not because they do not understand but because they refuse to.
What is the sacrifice? Is it the meal in the upper room? Is it the scourging and death on the cross? Is it the presentation of himself to the Father in Heaven? Is it that which we consume in the Eucharist?
The answer is Yes. All of it is the once for all time sacrifice.