Indigestion

Do you remember what your diet was like seven years ago? Were you eating mostly healthy and fresh food or did you have lots of fry-ups, takeaways and cakes?

Well, this week I learned something new. The saying ‘you are what you eat’ is literally true. Every one of your body’s cells is replaced over a seven year period and your food is what those new cells are made from.

Our digestive system is uniquely constructed to do its job of turning our food into the nutrients and energy we need to survive, grow and get rid of the waste food that our body can’t use. If our diet is good and healthy, that will be reflected in every cell of our body. If our diet is unhealthy and low in nutrients, our body will be paying the price for how we ate over the last decade.

Deep down we know all this. We know the best diet to eat to keep us healthy and strong. But in reality it is very difficult to consistently make the right food choices. To put down the burger and cake and pick up the healthy salad and fruit. Our addiction to sugar can cause us to keep going back to the junk food that is full of additives yet empty of nutritional value.

In today’s Gospel passage (John 6:56-69) we see that Jesus teaches his disciples and followers a message that is unpalatable for many of them. They find it difficult to swallow and digest and several spit it out and reject it. What on earth does he say to get this strong reaction?

He tells them “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.”

He says this in the synagogue, to an audience of Jews who would find this saying particularly unpalatable. This was not a culture or faith community that practised cannibalism, they would not eat human flesh and blood. In fact, they had been clearly commanded not to eat animals with their life blood inside.

It’s no wonder then that after saying this, Jesus lost much of his audience in that place.

What was He playing at? What did He mean?

Well, thankfuilly, He was not commanding His followers to become cannibals.

Maybe some listeners understood that Jesus wasn’t telling them to literally eat Him. Perhaps some believed that He was instructing them to eat what He served them in His teachings. They knew He spoke the Words of God, they had heard His sermon on the mount that opened up the true meaning and intention behind the commandments and the Law. ‘You have heard it said to the people long ago ‘You shall not murder’ and anyone who murders will be subject to judgement’ . But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgement.’ ‘You have heard it said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy’. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven who causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good...’

Perhaps these listeners understood Jesus as teaching the way of perfection: ‘Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.’

This was a message they could get on board with. Yes, it would be difficult but if they carried out all of the instructions Jesus taught, if they worked very hard on getting everything right, they would be on track to reach this perfection that Jesus spoke of and demonstrated.

But this isn’t what Jesus meant when He said eat my flesh and drink my blood. He wasn’t just asking them to follow his guidance to living life, like the gurus that came before and have come after Him. He wasn’t teaching them a way to Nirvana through effort and self-discipline, through transcendental mediation or self denial.

He was saying that He had come to serve them with Himself, His own body. He isn’t just there to teach them God’s words. He IS the living WORD of God, the WORD made flesh and dwelling among us. The Son of Man who came not to be served but to serve. To offer up His life as the food, the nutrient, that can feed the whole of humanity. Serving His life to us on the cross so we could digest it and take on eternal life.

And this is what was hard to swallow, what made many of his disciples turn away. This message required them to make a choice. Did they want His words and teachings as a rule of life that they could attempt to follow, or would they accept their inability to meet this high standard by their own efforts, accept the weakness of their flesh that made them unable to defeat sin in their own power?

Would they instead rely on Jesus’ sacrifice for their sins?

They had to make a choice to allow Jesus, the living Word of God, and the Holy Spirit to be absorbed into their very being, permeating every part of their life, every cell in their body, and transforming them into children of God.

This gospel message is hard to digest even today. For many it is hard to swallow because believing in it strips away all pride. It tells us of a salvation that we haven’t achieved or earned. It strips away feelings of moral superiority because this meal Jesus offers is the one way to the Father. All must eat it to enter. All of us, no matter how much worse you believe someone else is than you, are under the same Holy Law and all of us have broken it.

So, how do we eat Jesus’ flesh and drink His blood?

Firstly, by believing the Gospel message that there is salvation in no other name but Jesus, the Word of God. Believing that if we believe in Jesus Christ as our Saviour, we will have eternal life and be forgiven for our sins.

But it doesn’t stop there. We must continually feed on Him. As the Lord’s Prayer instructs us to ask for daily bread. We need to daily feed on Jesus so that His life and word becomes stronger in us empowering us to serve Him.

How can we feed on Him daily? By reading the bible regularly. His Word brings life to our spirits so it is important that we are meditating on what it tells us that day, seeking how it applies to us. Examining our lives in light of what the word shows us. Reflecting on what it means for us and what things need to be eliminated from our lives. God’s word is life. When we chew over the scriptures, they will become part of us.

When we feed on God’s Word we have to be willing to swallow it. Sometimes the word that God is telling us can be too big to get down. It may take us a while to break it down into bite-sized pieces. But this food is life. If we eat it, it will change us. If we allow ourselves to swallow and digest it, it will fuel us, empower us to make the right decisions, empower us to love others. It will enable us to grow in faith and grace, to become Christlike.

Consuming the Word means allowing God to change us and allowing the Holy Spirit to convict us when we are going astray

Just as when we try to improve our physical diets, we need to make a daily decision to choose the right foods to eat. In the reading from Joshua, God’s people are faced with one of those decisions. They are asked to choose whether to go back to their former ways and bad habits, to serve their old ways or to serve God.

And it is a daily battle to seek this daily bread and to allow the Holy Spirit to get rid of the things in us that do not lead to a life pleasing to God. The malicious gossip, unforgiveness, prejudice and pride that so easily become a part of our lives.

Maybe in our lives, eating the right food and eliminating the junk may look like reading less negative social media or the nasty comments people make under online newspaper articles, or spending less time on Netflix. It may look like making choices to not feed our lazy habits, our anger, and pessimism. It may look like spending more time listening to things that will uplift us, positive hymns and songs, reading material that points us towards the things of God. Being deliberate about taking on the life, thought and love of Jesus. Feeding on Him and allowing Him to change us from the inside out.

Whatever you feed will grow. What you put in is what comes out in you. You are what you eat. *

If we feed our flesh more than we feed the spirit, we will be useless in the evil day, when temptation or trouble overwhelms us. God is calling us to stand firm. To stand against the evil in our lives and communities, to speak the truth in an age where everyone has their own ‘truth’ to tell. Everyone around us may be ‘speaking their truth’ but Jesus says He is the truth. Will we serve Him. Will we stand for the truth?

Jesus asks, will we follow Him and give our own lives to service. Will we be willing to pour our lives out as an offering? Will we allow ourselves to be consumed by Him to the extent that He affects our whole life, and permeates every cell of our bodies. He is calling us to put on His full armour, to be filled with Him on the inside and protected and clothed by Him on the outside.

Fully equipped with the Word we will be ready to serve others. To pour out our lives in service to those around us and share in God’s mission to the world. We are called to share the Gospel, to pray for our work colleagues, our family, friends and enemies, to have a relationship with God our Father. This is what we are called to do but we have a choice, as Joshua did and the disciples did in our readings today. Choose this day who you will serve. Choose this day who you will consume.