The Good Infection
Pentecost 13 Proper 16
The Rev. Timothy C. Nunez
Jesus said, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them” (John 6:56)
John’s Gospel is distinct from Matthew, Mark and Luke in a number of significant ways. There are a number of events that the others omit or only reference, and John leaves out much of what the others relate. John also tends to include quite a lot more about what Jesus said regarding himself and his mission.
For example, John’s account of the night before Jesus died has a great deal that the others don’t. He alone shares the foot washing in chapter 13, the “I am the way, the truth and the life” discourse in chapter 14, the vine and branches in chapter 15, the promise of the Holy Spirit in chapter 16 and the High Priestly Prayer in chapter 17. That is five full chapters on just that gathering.
And yet, in those five full chapters before they go off to Gethsemane, John doesn’t share anything about the Last Supper’s institution of Holy Communion. John puts that theology here, still in the context of Passover, as we heard at the outset of his chapter 6 several weeks ago, and in the context of the abundance of the feeding of the 5,000 and Jesus demonstrating mastery over chaos by walking on water.
Jesus says, “…whoever easts me will live because of me” and “the one who eats this bread will live forever.”
Can you imagine if he said that today? We’d demand clinical trials! There would be fierce arguments on social media! Everyone would find an expert or just declare themselves as one! One would say, “He’s the Son of God!” and another would respond, “But did you see this other guy on YouTube?” We’d be checking to see how many likes and shares we got, as though that would settle anything.
As many – many – of his disciples heard it, they said “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” What do you do with someone who claims to be God?
This passage is one of many where we really have to make a choice, which is C. S. Lewis’ famous “Liar, Lunatic or Lord” decision. What Jesus is saying about eating his body and drinking his blood is either true or false. If it’s false and he knows it is false, but he says it anyway, then he is a liar. If he thinks it is true but it’s not, then he is delusional and thus a lunatic. If it’s true, then we must worship and follow him as Lord.
We can take that logic and apply it to the whole of Jesus, but also as we apprehend him at various levels of our being. When we say, “Yes!” to him, it really begins a lifelong series of “yes” moments. Yes, it’s his living person. Yes, it’s the symbolic nature of bringing life out of death. Yes, it’s his counsel and example for our behavior. Yes, it’s his indwelling spirit. Yes, it’s how I must start and end my day. Yes, it must shape the way I talk and work and live and love.
We can look at the biology of the bread and wine coming into our bodies and getting broken down such that the molecules go to our brains and bones and muscles and organs, Jesus everywhere within us and all the way down to the microscopic mitochondria that power our cells. It is the whole and every part that are all true at once and we must call him Lord.
Sometimes we might look at the bread and the wine, his body and blood as a sort of weekly divine vitamin or a Godly vaccination against eternal death. But that’s not how it works. It’s quite the opposite. And it is quite different from Joshua’s “Choose this day” question. We aren’t agreeing to something; we are taking Jesus in to become part of us so that we can become who he has ever meant us to be.
Lewis calls it, “The good infection.” And it takes on life because of who Jesus is. It infects every aspect of our being and it is rather contagious. It spreads by contact, sometimes physical acts of charity, sometimes as an idea and often through relationships.
This infection becomes life-giving. Jesus presents two stages of life-giving. First he says “…whoever eats me will live because of me,” then “…the one who eats this bread will live forever. The forever part means quite simply being with Jesus, being with the Father, forever.
And I have come to embrace the “will live” part in terms of the immediate gift that we have right now because we are continuously in the process of eating him, taking him in, ingesting Christ into the very structure of our being. I’ve really needed that this week, and I bet you do too.
This week has been hard. We’ve watched unmitigated disasters unfold in Afghanistan with the Taliban’s shockingly sudden return to power, in Haiti with the earthquake, which was preceded by the assassination of their president a few weeks ago and followed by a drenching tropical storm that inhibited rescue and relief efforts.
Here at home, we’ve got a number of people with COVID and other conditions that are causing a lot of concern and suffering. I met with Eleanor Brown and her family to plan her husband Terry’s funeral. Then Friday morning came the shocking news that our Cindy Lee died very suddenly and unexpectedly, and the sharing of that tragedy with her fiancée Peter Kline and her sister Mary Anne Saag. Please be clear, I’m not seeking your sympathy for me. These are all “we” moments and you all have your own stuff to go along with it.
Paul instructs us that in the face of all the life hardship, heartache and challenges that life brings, this good infection of Christ in us becomes armor. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God. The struggle is not with flesh and blood or even the present circumstances that try us so. No, it is against the spiritual forces behind them that seek to rob us of peace, rob us of hope and rob us of faith. It is against the forces that would rob us of the love that brings us life. Quench the flaming arrows of the evil one.
Pray in the spirit. And when times are hard, remember what Peter said to Jesus when many turned away. “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
AMEN!