THE poet Robert Browning once wrote: ‘If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens’. This connection between bread and Heaven is the subject of today’s Gospel.

Our Lord has been teaching His followers about the Bread of Life. This is a topic which He returns to at the Last Supper. Seated with His disciples, Jesus says, ‘This is My Body’ ‘hwn yw nghorff’ and ‘This is My Blood’ ‘hwn yw fy ngwaed i’. He means what He says. For a hundred thousand successive Sundays the Church has followed Christ’s instruction to ‘do this in memory of me’. Not simply as a memorial, but to feed God’s people with God Himself: Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. To transform us, and prepare us for Heaven.

During the Roman Empire, when the Church was persecuted, followers of Jesus were accused of three false things. Firstly, atheism, because of their refusal to believe in, or worship pagan gods. Secondly, incest, because Christians called each other brother and sister, and loved each other. Thirdly, cannibalism — Christians were accused of eating human flesh. These last two charges are rooted in a misunderstanding of Christian worship. They are also evidence that, from the beginning, Christians were gathering for worship and consuming the Body and Blood of Christ.

Christ is being controversial when He teaches the people,

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

“Myfi yw’r bara bywiol hwn a ddisgynnodd o’r nef. Caiff pwy bynnag sy’n bwyta o’r bara hwn fyw am byth. A’r bara sydd gennyf fi i’w roi yw fy nghnawd; a’i roi a wnaf dros fywyd y byd.” (Jn 6:51)

Our Lord is greater than the manna which God sent down to the Israelites during their wanderings in the desert. He is living bread. He is the bread which gives eternal life. God shares Himself with us, so that we might live in Him. But Christ’s teaching is deeply problematic for His audience. Jewish law prohibited the consumption of blood and human flesh. So what Jesus is proposing is impossible for His followers to accept. It is something that they cannot do, and yet they are told that they must. 

Jesus then repeats His teaching. He explains that anyone who wants to have life, needs to eat His Flesh and drink His Blood. Christ invites believers to the Eucharist and, in doing so, pledges to them that they will share in His Resurrection:

‘Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.’

‘Y mae gan y sawl sy’n bwyta fy nghnawd i ac yn yfed fy ngwaed i fywyd tragwyddol, a byddaf fi’n ei atgyfodi yn y dydd olaf.’ (Jn 6:54)

The purpose of the Eucharist is to transform us, to give us Eternal Life in Christ, so that we are part of Him. United with God and incorporated with Him forever.  As the bread is broken, and the wine is poured, so Jesus suffers and dies on the Cross. Our Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection are the core of our faith as Christians. In them we see how much God loves us. God’s love is freely given. We do not earn it, we do not deserve it; yet it is given to us. It is through Divine love that we may grow into something better, something greater, something more Christ-like. Such is the power of God’s sacrificial love at work in our lives. This is the treasure which we have come here to receive today. If it were ordinary food then we would eat it, and remain unchanged. But, instead, we who eat the Bread of Heaven are united with Christ. This is strong food! 

The Book of Proverbs speaks of Wisdom, which in the Christian tradition is identified with Christ, the Word made Flesh. Wisdom issues an invitation. She has constructed a house — the Church — and she has built seven pillars — the sacraments of the Church — the means of God’s grace to be active in our lives. The people of God are called to eat and drink, to live, and to walk in the way of wisdom, by following Jesus Christ. The message of New Testament is prefigured in the Hebrew Scriptures, which point to — and find their fulfilment in — Jesus Christ. He is the Wisdom of God, and the Word made Flesh. Christ’s invitation is an echo of the words of the Book of Proverbs:

“Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight.”

“Dewch, bwytewch gyda mi, ac yfwch y gwin a gymysgais. Gadewch eich gwiriondeb, ichwi gael byw; rhodiwch yn ffordd deall.” (Prov 9:5-6)

Throughout the Scriptures God issues an invitation to His people to be nourished, and walk in the way of truth. So my brothers and sisters in Christ, let us come to the banquet of the Lord, the feast of the Kingdom. May God’s grace transform us more and more into His likeness, and give us eternal life in Him. In the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Amen.