Heavenly Bread, Hellish Misunderstanding” by Rev. Paul
Berghout (@FatherPB)
“But I say to you,
offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on your right
cheek, turn the other one to him as well. If anyone wants to go to law with you
over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well. Should anyone press you into service for one
mile, go with him for two miles. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not turn your back on one who wants to
borrow.” Matthew 5:39-42
Piety
A lamp to my feet is your word,
a light to my path. (Psalm 119:109)
a light to my path. (Psalm 119:109)
Study
Some years ago, there was a Scottish regiment stationed
in Edinburgh Castle.
Some of the regiment’s officers were devout men.
And every evening they’d gather together and drink a
toast.
The toast went like this: "A clean sword and a dirty
Bible."
The clean sword referred to their hope that they wouldn’t
have to use their swords in battle. The dirty Bible referred to a Bible that
had been smudged and tattered from constant use.
“Eat Clean and Train Dirty” is a similar turn of phrase:
The eating clean is to eat things like Kale and Grapefruit Salad with Tofu
Croutons, and training dirty means workout like a total and utter beast, like
dropping weights to the ground at the gym when you just can’t do another rep.
When we consider our Gospel text from Sunday and how it
sets the tone for the weekly readings, the phrase I thought of was: “Heavenly
bread, hellish misunderstanding.”
Sunday was the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood
of Christ - in the U.S. It is the great feast in which we celebrate the gift of
the Eucharist, but also the special blessing of the presence of our Lord with
us in the Blessed Sacrament. In Gospel, Jesus offers the most consoling good
news: "Whoever eats this bread will live forever."
As we move into the week, the first readings continue our
readings from the first and second books of Kings. These readings follow Elijah
and Elisha – powerful prophets and agents of God's word for the people.
In the weekly Good News, we continue hearing Matthew’s
account of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's Gospel. Jesus calls us
beyond simply being moral. His message is not an "eye for an eye,"
but turning the other cheek, loving our enemies and praying for them. Jesus
warns us about performing good deeds for others to see.
We can do those hard works like turning the other cheek
and loving our enemies thanks to the nourishment of the Heavenly Blessing of
the Body of Christ.
First, let’s consider the Heavenly Bread.
Jesus kept the food and drink value in the Eucharist as
appearances so that the appearance of bread and wine--their size, weight,
shape, color, taste, and smell--are preserved miraculously by God. The
Eucharist is a sacrament. The Baltimore Catechism defines a sacrament as
"an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace."
The Eucharist which “is” the New Covenant requires a
validly-ordained priest or there is no Mass and no Eucharist. Christ did not
tell people to write a biography about his life: He said, “do this” not “write
this.” He founded a church which discerned which books belong in the Bible. And
he ordained his Apostles priests when he said, “Do this in memory of me”
regarding the Eucharist.
After consecration, the bread and wine are changed into
Jesus’ body and blood. He says that my
flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks
my blood remains in me and I in him.
That is why we genuflect in Church. Because Jesus is
there in a tangible form. That is why we examine ourselves before we receive
Holy Communion and go to confession before we receive the Eucharist if we
commit a serious sin.
Now, what do I mean with the other concept, “Hellish
Misunderstanding?”
Jesus shifts his vocabulary in our Gospel text Sunday in
John 6: 53 from the polite form of eating to the impolite form, which is “trogan.”
In Greek, it means to munch, gnaw, or chew. This doubling down in
his word choice in the face of unbelief makes it crystal clear that Jesus means
exactly what he is teaching---that in very real, literal terms, we are eating
his body and drinking his blood.
Many disciples, not strangers, but those who already
believed in him--responded, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” and many
of them left. They were probably disgusted, thinking that Jesus was speaking
like a cannibal, and that is a hellish misunderstanding that persists to this
day.
Despite such a misunderstanding, John 6:53 applies,
"Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and
drink his blood, you have no life in you.”
The best they could do now was to try and satisfy their
proxy needs or associations -- “I need this, I want this.” Our proxy judgments
are often tainted by our interests so that we are covertly requesting that God
treat us the way that we want rather than what he wants, e.g., “I’ll just stick
to my Bible-only, thank you, I don’t want the Eucharist.”
Jesus then turned to his closest followers, the apostles,
and asked if they would leave. Peter spoke up and gave the fundamental
principle of Eucharistic faith: “To whom shall we go? You have the words of
eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy
One of God.”
Action
Unfortunately, polls show that even among (mostly
non-practicing) Catholics there is a hellish misunderstanding since they do not
believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Perhaps some would
rather think about Christ with a tidy-neat-belief, rather than to believe in
the Real Presence and his words that unless we eat his flesh and drink his
blood we have no life in us.
For example, a former Protestant said that she grew up in
a church with a sterile communion ritual: Jesus’ flesh was never mentioned.
There were neatly cubed pieces of white bread and plastic thimblefuls of grape
juice, but we did not talk about Jesus’ blood.
People are made for the eternal (Ecclesiastes 3:11) and
therefore cannot be
ultimately satisfied by this life. But in the daily
Eucharist can still satisfy the heart hunger in this life, like daily Manna.
After receiving Holy Communion and returning to your pew,
it is not a time to believe in God in a commonplace sort of way, but now to
experience it.
Allow for the full experience so that Jesus' body gets
integrated into your body and soul. Be aware of it, although you don’t have to
feel anything when you receive Holy Communion most people have more feeling
after a confession than after receiving Holy Communion. The Catholic faith has
room for feelings and how to get along without them when they are lacking.
After I receive Holy Communion, I just feel a sense of peace from eating this
heavenly bread.
Amen.
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