An unfinished love story

Let me tell you a story.

There was a man who loved a homeless woman. She said she loved him back and they were married. They shared everything. One day, though, the woman decided to move. She liked the work the man had been doing and enjoyed being a part of it, but she decided she would go open her own shop. She stopped being physically present with the man; she no longer shared with him everything. She took some of what had been given to her in her husband’s house with her and built her own house. She kept the name he had given her and still called him her lover, her husband.

She said she still loved him. When he would call, she would sometimes talk with him. They would sometimes talk about work. He would often ask how she was doing and remind her that his place was still her place. She would even occasionally call herself, usually when she needed to be bailed out of a problem or she had a question about work; and he would help. 

 

She said she still loved him. She could talk for some time about his voice, his looks, and that sort of thing, but the closest she got to allowing him to touch her was once a week. He invited her home many times. His door was always open to her; and he would also invite her out to supper. They would meet once a week to sit at the same table. Their eyes might meet, though she was often busy looking around or past him. They might touch fingertips, but that was all.

The woman would say how amazing it was to be his wife and talk about how much she loved him. She would sometimes thank him for the time he rescued her. She would talk about how amazing things were now, and he would listen. He would try to tell her of how much he loved her, but, while she was sure she would be home someday, now was not the time. She might cry about some grievance from the week, but when he would reach out to hold her, she would turn away. She might even complain that he had not been there. 

 

He still leaves his doors open and prays for her return. He calls her to remind her that he loves her. He still goes out to rescue her and take care of problems that arise when she calls, and sometimes when she does not. He still loves her.

She still calls herself by his name that she had taken on when they were first married. She still talks about how amazing he is. She does not accept his body. She rejects his kisses. She insists on seeking her own path. Does she still love him?

Communion....Eucharist

What is it? When fellow believers come together to eat that bit of bread or wafer, to drink that bit of grape juice or wine, what do we believe about it?

Some believe in Transubstantiation, the Catholic Church in particular teaches this doctrine. What does that mean? Well, simply put it means that the bread and the wine become the body and blood of Jesus and only the appearance of bread and wine remain.

Some, particularly Lutherans, believe in Consubstantiation. This is similar to Transubstantiation in that this doctrine holds that the wine and bread become the blood and body of Jesus, but dissimilar in that it teaches that the bread and wine are still also bread and wine.

Others believe in the bread and wine/grape juice as only symbolizing the body and blood of Jesus. In other words, while they may say “And Jesus took the bread, broke it, and offered it to them, saying, 'Take, eat; this is my body broken for you.'” They believe that those words are to be taken symbolically not literally. Jesus broke bread, and the bread was still bread―maybe with heightened spiritual significance, but still bread. A symbol, a memorial, but only truly bread.

What does Jesus say, though? Jesus says, “This is my body,...This is my blood...” Look it up―Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22. Read also John 6 where Jesus says that unless we eat his flesh and drink his blood we have no part in him. He is actually quite insistent on that point. Some will say, “Read a bit further and he say that the ‘flesh availeth nothing’, so clearly he is not talking about his actual flesh.” Let us consider this in the context of this entire conversation and in the context of John's gospel. Go read John 6. 

Did you notice how Jesus makes sure that these disciples hear that they must eat his flesh? The conversation is very dramatic. They want bread from heaven, He says that the Father gives the true bread from heaven which is “that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Who does that? At that point, they want the bread, but then He says that He is the bread. They object to His claiming to come down from heaven, and He does not lay so much stress on that as that He is the bread of life, the living bread and that those who eat this bread will live forever, “and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.” Now they are even more disturbed. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (Do people, even those who are called Christian, still ask this question?) But Jesus does not let up. His response: “I tell you most solemnly, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you. Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood has eternal life, and I shall raise him up on the last day.” When “many of his followers” start complaining to each other and objecting to His words is when He says: “Does this upset you?” (He offers no comforting, “it’s a symbol, guys,”) “What if you should see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.” And many leave. Peter and the other twelve stay, and apparently also Matthias and Joseph Barsabbas, but many disciples leave after that. 

 

So what does that phrase about the flesh mean? Does it mean that really, Jesus did not mean what He said earlier? Or that we have to understand Him as saying that His body as bread is only in a spiritual sense, as some would have it? Or is it perhaps more straightforward than that? Perhaps they are the ones reasoning according to the flesh when Jesus’ words are actually true, spirit and life.

Here are some other times that Jesus speaks of the flesh in a similar way.

Read Matthew 16. “Flesh and blood” did not reveal who Jesus was, they would not have known, but “my Father which is in heaven” did.

Read John 1. While you are at it, just read the whole book of John. He speaks of those born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” You can see a continuation of this theme in John 3—do you remember it? “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

The flesh of man “profiteth nothing”, the flesh of the Son of Man is eternal life for us. This is revealed to us not by “fleshly” reasoning, but by revelation from God as given in the gospels. Next time when you hear those words, “This is my body, broken for you. And this is my blood, the blood of the new covenant, shed for you” do not ignore them. Give thanks to God for His miracle of love, that He gives us in the flesh His body and blood to be our spiritual food and drink. And He will raise us up at the last day.