John 6:51-58 - You Are What You Eat - August 22, 2021

“You are what you eat” is an axiom, that, for obvious reasons, is usually applied to the food you consume. For example, if you eat cream puffs all day, you’re probably going to end up looking like a cream puff. But the same principle holds true in other areas of life, too. In school, if you don’t do your homework, you’re going to fail; for physical fitness – if you sit on your butt all day, eventually, it’s eventually going to be difficult to get off your butt; even in regard to your worldview and opinions, you are a stew of whatever TV, radio or other media you consume (whether you realize it or not). But according to Jesus today, the most important realm in which “you are what you eat” holds true is the spiritual, eternal realm – the realm of what you really believe and trust.

In our world, there are countless “foods” that eventually and inevitably end in death. Our society, just like every other society throughout history, is determined to discover a “food” that will banish death, a proverbial “fountain of youth.” This universally desired “food” can take many different forms. Many turn to diet and exercise to prolong their lives and delay death. Billions of dollars are spent each year on cosmetics, injections, and plastic surgeries which are meant to give the appearance that you’re not the slave to time and gravity and decay that you are. On a global level there are many who believe that if we can just stop burning so many fossil fuels and become “greener” we can not only prolong our own lives, but that we can even prolong the life of our planet. And, last but certainly not least, (and I know you’re probably tired of hearing me talk about this – but how can I ignore the single most important issue in our and our children’s everyday lives today?) – there are the “foods” of masks and vaccines that millions believe can and will preserve their lives and the lives of the people around them.

I’m not saying that any of these things are evil, in and of themselves. Some of them are very good. And yet, where does consuming, believing, trusting these “foods” eventually end? Every year people who have truly treated their bodies as “temples” with strict diet and exercise routines die. You can smooth out your wrinkles with creams and fight off gravity with plastic surgery, but you can’t fool time. Does anyone really think that turning off the A/C or driving an electric car will stop hurricanes and forest fires and tornados from taking lives and destroying property? And masks and vaccines may serve to minimize the risk of Covid-19 for some, but as a result of the policies put in place to defeat this single disease, how many people have died of drug overdoses? Are in the process of dying from obesity or alcohol abuse? How many have or are contemplating suicide caused by isolation and depression? How many have put off or not been admitted to see their doctor for an annual checkup or cancer screening? Think what you want about masks and vaccines and social distancing – it’s undeniable that these tools do absolutely nothing to prevent deaths caused by heart disease, cancer, depression or addiction. These “foods” that so many people trust for life – invariably end in death.

And yet, as big an issue as those false “foods” are, they aren’t the biggest issue. They aren’t the real issue that Jesus was addressing with that crowd in Capernaum, either. Just a few verses earlier, Jesus got to the heart of the “food” controversy. Many in the crowd Jesus had fed with just 5 loaves and 2 fish chased him across the Sea of Galilee – hoping to score another free lunch. But when they arrived, Jesus issued a warning: do not continue to work for the food that spoils, but for the food that endures to eternal life (John 6:27). And what was their response? What should we do to carry out the works of God? (John 6:28). They got the point. They understood that the point of life here and now is not the here and now but the hereafter. They understood that how long you live on this planet is less important than where you spend eternity. But they made one huge, soul-destroying mistake: they believed that while Jesus may have proven his ability to provide food for their stomachs, that it was up to them to secure the “food” that would win them eternal life. This is the most toxic and deadly type of “food” humanity has ever cooked up: the idea that we can do something to escape the eternal death we deserve and earn eternal life.

This is really what Jesus is talking about using “food” terms when he says: Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. Whether it’s the “food” of following a strict diet and exercise regimen, your own ideas of morality and spirituality, or even trying your best to follow the 10 Commandments, you don’t have life in yourself. Trying your best to obey the Law – or any law – brings only death (2 Corinthians 3:6) because we cannot keep God’s Law perfectly. (And if you doubt that, just consider how many diets and exercise routines you’ve tried and failed; how many times you failed to recycle because it wasn’t convenient; how many times you’ve touched or adjusted or removed your mask – thereby rendering it useless. Better yet, consider how many times you’ve failed to trust in God above all things; to gladly and faithfully hear and read his Word; to honor those in authority; to uphold the sanctity of marriage in your own life or boldly confess that marriage is only between one man and one woman. Consider how many times you’ve stolen time from your employer; harmed someone’s reputation with your tongue; or coveted the spouse or life or children or car or home of someone you know.) This is what ties all of the topics we’ve touched on: whether it’s about diets or greenhouse gasses or masks or obedience to any and every law – we don’t have life in us. From conception, we have only sin and death in us (Psalm 51:5; Ephesians 2:1). That’s why anything you may eat or inject into your body or put on your face or do (or don’t do) with those hands and tongue and heart of yours – can only lead to death. And, just like in Jesus’ day, there is an abundance of those foods in our world – and, sadly, many people are eating them to their inevitable and eternal death.

Given Jesus’ message, the reaction of his disciples is hardly surprising, is it? This is a hard teaching! Who can listen to it? (John 6:60) This is a hard teaching. I don’t want to hear – any more than you do – that no matter what I do, think or say (that is, whatever “food” I consume with the goal of life) – it’s all just leading to my death now and eternally. Who would want to hear that? Well, whether we want to hear it or not, we need to hear it. We need to hear that even when we think that – like that crowd in the synagogue in Capernaum – we’re full of bread and fish or vaccines and good works – we’re really starving. Why? So that we would crave and seek the one food that leads to life.

What is that food? I am the living bread which came down from heaven. The bread of this world can and does sustain life. Without a doubt, certain diets, exercise routines, masks and vaccines, etc. can and do prolong life – at least from a human perspective. But there is only one living bread. Living bread doesn’t just sustain life, it gives life. I could take a truckload of bread down to the cemetery just down the street – and it wouldn’t do a thing for those rotting corpses. But Jesus says that if anyone eats this bread, he will live forever – the food he offers gives life to the dead.

And here Jesus is claiming in absolutely exclusive terms that he alone is this food; that only by eating him will anyone have eternal life. That’s quite a claim, isn’t it? Where’s the evidence, the clinical studies, the “science” that Jesus is the bread of immortality? Right here: the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. What does this mean? At the risk of oversimplifying it, I think it means the 2nd article of the Apostles’ Creed. It means that Jesus had life – life without end – coursing through his veins as he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary; that he had eternal life in him as he suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. And he proved this by rising to life three days later under his own power.  

Why did the Son of God do those things? For the life of the world. Jesus gave his life in place of the life of the world. Jesus stood in for you under God’s Judgment and received every ounce of God’s wrath that you and I deserved. The food of fear, guilt, suffering and judgment that we deserved – Jesus ate and drank (Luke 22:42). And he did it for you. He, the living bread, took on death so that he could give you life. He took your sins on himself so that you could stand before God sinless. He became mortal so that you might receive immortality. And this is his promise: if anyone eats this bread, he will live forever.

The is real life. This isn’t like pretending that 60 is the new 40. This is living like you’re 18 (or pick your favorite age) forever. This isn’t only being as old as you feel; this is being forever young. This isn’t living in defiance of time; this is being timeless. This is not working 5 days a week to sweat off the pounds or denying yourself an extra helping of dessert – this is reclining and feasting at a buffet that preserves you forever. This is not taking extraordinary steps to avoid one disease – only to succumb, eventually, to something else – this is the vaccine for all diseases, all sources of death. This is not another one of the many “foods” in this world that inevitably leads to death; this is the one “food” that leads to life.

That sounds like a good meal, doesn’t it? How do you get it? Well, according to Jesus, just like you get any other type of food – you eat it. I know what you’re thinking – “Jesus must be talking about the Lord’s Supper here.” Nope, he’s not. And if I had another 20 minutes, I’d explain to you why Lutherans have always confessed that Jesus can’t be referring to the Lord’s Supper, but because I don’t, I’ve put a brief explanation on the backside of the bulletin for you to review. The single most important evidence is that here Jesus says that this “eating” is absolutely essential for salvation (John 6:53). Receiving Holy Communion is not essential for salvation – and, in fact, those who receive Communion in an unworthy many eat and drink judgement on themselves (1 Corinthians 11:27-32).

John 6 is not about the institution of the Lord’s Supper. That won’t happen for about another year on Maundy Thursday. But John 6 is indeed about the Jesus’ flesh and blood. In fact, Jesus goes out of his way to make it clear that salvation, life and immortality are intimately connected to “eating” his flesh and blood. The interesting thing is that the Greek word he uses for “eat” in verse isn’t the word you would use for politely eating a meal. It’s the Greek word for “feed or gnaw on.” To eat audibly. It was typically used to describe the sound animals make when they’re feeding. You get the point, don’t you? This isn’t just having a head knowledge of the facts, this is staking your entire life on these facts. It’s being more intent on daily and weekly feeding on Jesus in his Word than anything else in the world – even your diet, exercise, and the precautions you take to preserve your life here.

This is the crux of the issue. This was what the Jews were objecting to. They refused to accept that the flesh and blood Jesus that stood before them could really be the Son of God and the Savior of the world. And yet, how does Jesus respond to their grumbling and arguing? He doesn’t do another miracle, he doesn’t try to explain it to them, he doesn’t appeal to their reason. He simply makes promises; he simply preaches the Gospel. Listen again to the promises Jesus makes to those – to you – who eat his body and drink his blood in faith: The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the Last Day. For my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink…the one who eats this bread will live forever. I challenge you to find any diet, any exercise routine, cosmetic lotion, any vaccine that guarantees these results. Feast on these promises, chew on them, digest them – and you will truly live, now and forever.

So what are you eating? There are all kinds of food out there begging for us to eat them – to place our hope for life in them. They may carry promises of life, but end only in death. As Jesus told the Jews about the “food” they were looking for: in the wilderness your fathers had unlimited manna, but they ate and died. In stunning contrast, Jesus promises that the one who eats this bread will live forever. Pay attention to what you’re eating, because now and eternally, you are what you eat. Amen.