“This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. Those who eat this bread will live forever” (John 6.58).
John’s gospel equates faith in Jesus with faith in Jesus’ signs. Eucharist is a performative sign, a commitment we live out, that we perform. Jesus is bread broken for the life of the world. To share the Body of Christ in this sacrament is to commit to give one’s self for the life of the world as Jesus did. In making a cup of wine the pledge of pouring out his lifeblood for us, Jesus makes the wine our means of pledging commitment and faith.
Every Eucharist is a gathering to put our offering of our lives on the same altar as Jesus. It is to say, “This is my body given for you.” It is to join the line of people receiving nourishment from the hands of each other. It takes the whole Christian community to remember Jesus’ gift of himself and to make him present today. Each of us is the feast of Corpus Christi, a source of blessing and nourishment and revelation of Jesus’ good news to those we meet today and this week.
What is the most life-changing Eucharist you have experienced?
Sunday Readings: Deuteronomy 8.2-3, 14-16; 1 Corinthians 10.16-17; John 6.51-58