You are what you eat

  Scripture:

1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14 and Psalm 111  • 

Proverbs 9:1-6 and Psalm 34:9-14  • 

 

Ephesians 5:15-20  • 

 

John 6:51-58

  

We have been studying the bread of life teachings of Jesus, and have enjoyed a smorgasbord of Scripture from manna come down from heaven to the feeding of the 5,000; Elijah, in his exhaustion, being fed by an angel, and sharing a cake with a starving widow and her son. We saw the daughter of the Syro-Phoenician woman healed as Jesus expanded his ministry to include all, when the Syro-Phoenician woman rejoined him with "even dogs receive crumbs from the table." David, feeding the shewbread of the priests to his hungry warriors. Jesus spoke in many parables about feasts, such as the welcoming feast of the Father for the Prodigal Son, and the wedding feast expanded to all when those invited did not come, or who weren't diligent enough to stay awake.

Ultimately, the feeding and hunger stories all lead to the table of the Lord. In today's gospel, Jesus tells us what it is to partake of the bread of life in the sacrament of communion, The Eucharist. 

You've heard the expression, "You are what you eat." It has an interesting origin and meaning. See "What's the meaning of 'You are what you eat."

In the feast of The Eucharist,  we are invited to encounter the very presence of God, the feast of eternal life, and all that entails. For a glimpse of what that entails, read Fr. Bernie Pearson's "Eternal Life." In celebrating The Eucharist, in the exchange of the elements, it is said

 The Body of Christ, the bread of heaven. [Amen.] The Blood of Christ, the cup of salvation. Keep you in eternal life."