(Youth and adults being filled with God’s love at Mt. Morris, WI)
We are What We Eat
by Bishop Chris Giesler
Preaching Text: John 6:56-69
The Gospel lesson for this week continues a chapter-long conversation that Jesus had with his followers after the feeding of the 5000 miracle. It is a conversation held on two different levels, with Jesus speaking spiritually, but his listeners can’t help but get trapped in the physical world. Jesus told them that he is the living bread that comes down from heaven, and by eating of his flesh and drinking of his blood, the very life of Christ will come to dwell within the hearts and lives of those who partake. This has offended some of the listeners who are either seeing this as a rather cannibalistic orientation in life that is literally eating the flesh and blood of the Lord, or they have seen this as a call to give up too much of who they are. Their response is, “This teaching is too difficult for us.” So Jesus turns to his 12 disciples and asks them if they feel this is too difficult. Peters’s answer is, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Jesus responds, “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”
In all of this, Jesus is calling his followers to live a life in the spirit, to live a life of grace-filled love. It is, in fact, a call to extravagant giving. Our first impression might be wealth when we think of extravagance, but it’s only half of the equation. Extravagance is not only about having money but about spending it lavishly.
It is a paradox that while grace is free, our response is costly. But for those courageous enough to trust in God’s grace and presence, the reward of a life filled with purpose and meaning is worth it. One might think of the prodigal son as the classic example of extravagant living. He had inherited a large chunk of cash and was not about to let it burn a hole in his pocket, so he wasted no time buying the best food, drink, and women. He lived extravagantly!
For one thing, the pot of money that he had received from his father was not bottomless. It was a finite sum that sounded like a lot of money when he got it. But it soon ran out, requiring him to alter his lifestyle considerably. He went from the company of the finest women his money could buy to the company of pigs on a farm. He went from the finest food his money could buy to the feed the pigs were getting. He went from being a big spender to a pitiful beggar before he realized what had hit him. And so, he came to his senses and went home with a repentant heart. It was the father, on the other hand, who was genuinely extravagant with the party that he threw his son upon his return. The party, it turns out, was just a reflection of his love for his son. It was an extravagant kind of love from a never-ending source of grace.
This is what Jesus is talking about here. While the language might sound gruesome to our ears, it has an element of truth. We’ve all heard the phrase, “You are what you eat.” If we are nothing but junk food junkies, we certainly won’t be very healthy. When we eat in moderation, with an eye toward fruits, vegetables, and lean meat, our bodies grow stronger and more resilient to disease. We are what we eat.
Jesus here is talking in terms of spirit here, not his physical body. We must internalize the truth of God’s love as expressed in Jesus. We must take Jesus into our lives in such a way that we are transformed into the image of God for the world to experience.
The question of paying taxes to Caesars is also helpful here. In this story recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s Gospel, the religious leaders of the day thought they had found the perfect question that would incriminate Jesus no matter what answer he gave. This is the story of a lawyer approaching Jesus and asking him if paying taxes to Caesar was lawful. This was a loaded question; if he answered that people should pay their taxes to Caesar, he would lose credibility with the outcasts to whom he most wanted to relate. If he answered that paying taxes to Caesar was improper, he would immediately be in trouble with the authorities and would have been arrested. But Jesus amazes them with his answer by asking them for a coin and asking them whose image was displayed on the coin. If you are dealing with Ceasar and his currency, Jesus says, give him what is owed.
Conversely, that which bears God’s image belongs to God; this is God’s currency and needs to be returned to God. The book of Genesis tells us whose image we bear…” So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them male and female he created them. And God saw that everything he had made, and indeed, it was very good”. Each of us here today has the image of God stamped deep within the fabric of our souls. Every person around the world has the same image stamped within him or her as well. Each of us, therefore, has been granted a never-ending source of grace. That which bears Caesar’s image is finite and can only buy temporary things. On the other hand, that which bears God’s image is infinite. Because, as Jesus says, he is giving us spirit and life.
To take in Jesus, and then to share that love with the world…there is nothing better.
