"I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever
eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for
the life of the world is my flesh." (John 6:51)
To non-Christians, the response to the above quotation
might be, "Yech! Sounds like cannibalism!" And I have to confess that
for some Christians, the question of what it means to eat the flesh of Jesus
might not be something we really ponder. So I wrestle with the question of,
"Why would you want to do something which sounds so disgusting?"
When I am taking a landscape photo, I am always searching for a composition
that is not a tourist shot. When we receive Holy Communion, I like to share a
different perspective of looking at the Sacrament.
At the time of Jesus. animals were brought to the
Temple of Jerusalem, their throats were cut, and their blood was splashed
against the burning hot metal altar. Then, the flesh of the animal was thrown
onto the fire. The sputtering steam of the blood and the smoke from the animal's
body were seen to ascend--symbolically to God on high. To offer sacrifice in
this way to atone for one's sins was one of the holiest things a Jewish
man could do.
Unfortunately, not all men--and no women--were permitted to enter the inner
court of the temple to participate in this ritual. Gentiles were
forbidden, as were those deemed to be ritually unclean. Jesus himself, because
of his questionable parentage, would not have been permitted full
participation in the sacrifice of the body and the blood.
Mary and Joseph were not married when Jesus was conceived. Jesus' father would
automatically classify Jesus as a mamzer--one who could not
be assumed to be 100% Jewish. Such
a designation would have put Jesus on the margins of society, another way of
saying he was an outcast, the immigrant.
So what does Jesus do? He institutes his own holy practice. He eats ritual
meals from which no one is excluded. He eats with those who are
deemed to be ritually impure: tax collectors, prostitutes, sinners of every
kind. His followers will even share this meal with gentiles. Those forbidden to
touch the body and the blood of the sacrificial animal in the temple will
not only touch but eat Jesus' body and drink of Jesus' blood. And Jesus, by his
death, will be the sacrifice for all.
Think about it: you don't even have to know a stranger's language in order to
offer him or her something to eat. In Near Eastern culture, to share food was
to create family. If you eat of my bread, you become one of my household.
I remember when I was helping Fr. Erick in Las Vegas and learned that the
Latino people, families, parents, seniors did not receive Communion, I asked,
why not? The response was that they did not feel worthy. So the next time, I
celebrated Mass, I shared that Jesus invites everyone to His table to eat and
that means we are family. So, guess what, 100% of the people came to the altar
rail and received Holy Communion.
We need to ingest the man who loves with his whole body and soul and whose love knows no distinction of persons--young or old, married, single, divorced, re-married, gay, straight, black, Latino, Polish, Italian white, rich, poor, conservative, liberal. All human. All God's family.
The next time you are in Las Vegas, you are invited to the table at Divine Mercy where all are welcomed to their table. They simply can’t let you be a guest in their home without feeding you.
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Friends who have not been inside a church for awhile. This Sunday, get out of bed, put aside your social media app and know Jesus has invited you to a special picnic in your honor.
