The bread of life discourse from the 6th chapter of John's Gospel is filled with startling claims and startling hopes.

A catechist is teaching a class of six year olds about the commandments.  She explained the fourth commandment:  Honor your father and your mother.  A 6 year old girl asked if there is a commandment on how to treat your brothers and sisters.  A six year old raised his hand and answered:  “Yes, there is:  Thou shalt not kill.”

In the Gospel, Jesus proclaims:  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.”

The Bread of Life Discourse from the 6^th chapter of John’s Gospel reaches a crescendo with startling hopes and startling claims.  The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.  …He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.

You will recall the 6^th chapter of John’s Gospel began with Jesus feeding 5,000 people with five barley loaves and two fish.  After the miracle of the 5,000, everyone wanted to follow Jesus.  “Free Food,” they declared, anticipating that Jesus was another Moses who was going to shower down manna and quail on his followers.  Everyone was touched with the offer of free food – a graciously abundant gift and a welcome relief to their hunger. 

Even now, the best way to get a good crowd at a parish event is to offer food – “Free Food.”

But today’s Gospel is not about Jesus as a worldly cafeteria manager; Jesus is drawing a radical line in the sand.  We are followers of Jesus not because we attend potluck and social gatherings that we call Christ-centered.  Rather, we are the followers of Jesus when we share in the body and the blood of the Lord.  “The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

Our discipleship of the Lord Jesus is not just about getting free food; it is about us as a Eucharistic community witnessing to the love of Jesus.

To share in the Body and Blood of the Lord expresses our willingness to be the followers of the crucified Christ as well as the Risen Christ.  We need to ask ourselves the questions:  Are we willing to die with Jesus?  Are we willing to share in the same suffering that the Lord Himself experiences?  This is what it takes to be a follower of Jesus.

The question we are to pray about today is do we want eternal bread or do we want everyday bread?  They desire to grab a free meal can disable us from hearing Jesus’ invitation to the eternal.  In this Eucharistic discourse, Jesus is drawing lines, dividing his followers between those who are looking for a handout and those who will go the distance.  Quite literally, Jesus is telling us:  “If you are not willing to share in my death and drink from my suffering, then you should turn back now.”

When you consume Christ, he becomes part and parcel of who you are.  He energizes you to do His work of ministry.  The bread of our Lord is empowering.  It not only can fill the heart, but it can also lead the recipient to overflow into actions of love.  As was said of Francis of Assisi, “It is in giving that we receive.”

In sharing the Eucharistic Bread, the promise of Christ to us is much more that making a living.  Jesus invites to the fullness of life.  Therein is the difference between the bread of this world and the living bread of Christ.

The development of the Bread of Life discourse in John’s sixth chapter leads us to a deeper understanding of the Eucharist.  Eucharist is both the gift of Jesus given to us, and it is an invitation to our self-giving.  We ask ourselves how do we allow Jesus to be Bread for our lives?  How do we convert to Jesus?  Jesus says “I am the Bread of Life.  Whoever comes to me will never hunger or thirst again.”  How do we come to Jesus?  How do we surrender to a new experience of God’s Eucharistic presence in our lives?  Would that we come to a new experience of God’s presence, grace, power and love?  What would it take?

The Church at Eucharist is a community aware of its sinfulness and repentant of its sins.  It is a community convinced of the power of God’s grace, a community ready to serve others, i.e., to carry out “the breaking of the bread” beyond the church, and a community, here and now, open to the presence of the Lord and the Spirit.  This is the community we become when we share Jesus’ real food and real drink together; constituted as such by the Eucharist, it becomes both the privilege and responsibility of all who eat the Bread of Life together to become bread for the life and salvation of the world.

As the disciples of Jesus, our loneliness is rarely the result of not being loved; it is the result of not loving.  Sorrow is less the result of circumstances than the result of choosing isolation.  The fastest way to feel loved or experience joy is to give it to those without either.

At Eucharist, we are interconnected with Jesus, and we are interconnected with God’s people.  In Eucharist, we are committing ourselves to being connected with the Church.  The Eucharist is a Sacrament of the Church.

We grow in our experience of Jesus as Bread for Life when we fully are present at and participate in the Eucharist.  Some people celebrate the Eucharist daily.  Thanks be to God.  We are all called to celebrate Eucharistic weekly on the Lord’s Day -- Sunday after Sunday after Sunday.  It is important for us to be, not just physically present, but emotionally present, to the Lord and to each other.  It is important to not have an “audience” mindset, i.e., that we are watching something someone else is doing, but rather that we must have a mindset that Eucharist is something we do together, and, in doing it together, we are being transformed into the living Body of Christ.  Again, it becomes both the privilege and the responsibility of all who eat the Bread of Life together to become bread for the life of the world.