John 6:52-58

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ So Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of my food me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so  whoever not live for ever.’


I don’t believe Jesus who is to have said these words, or John who is to have written
them down for our benefit believes that we are to shave thin slices off the corpse of the
crucified Jesus and eat it.  For one thing, the resource is limited and I don’t think the
work of Jesus was limited in its flesh or its humanity!

The Right Reverend William Temple, 1881-1944, served as Bishop of
Manchester, Archbishop of York and Archbishop of Canterbury.

William Temple writes in his book Readings in St. John’s Gospel: “The life that gives itself gifts without which you have no life within you. But he who receives and makes his own those gifts has eternal them and makes them their own abides in me and I in them.”

Those words, according to William Temple, express in completeness the substance and the goal of the Christian life.  I think Temple is saying, it is not the momentary eating but That we should “take” and “eat” is an indispensable aid which the sincere Christian cannot omit; but the one thing that matters is that we should “feed upon Jesus in our hearts”.

Our dependence for life upon the Son corresponds to the dependence of the Son upon the Father.  For Jesus is our true Mediator and Advocate with God the Father.  Only the Father and lives because God lives.  As creatures, humans, we owe all to our Creator.  We have no life in ourselves.


Jesus is the bread which came down from heaven in all God’s power at the Incarnation.  His life, in all its human likeness, in the flesh and in the blood, is like the manna in that God gave it, but it is a better gift.  The people who ate the manna died; the one that eats this bread will live for ever.

What do you think?  What does communion mean to you?  Is communion a regular part
of your worship?

The Rev. Sandi Mizirl
College Missioner, Texas A&M University