Now I remind you that what we read this morning is a direct, uninterrupted rendition of chapters five and six of Saint John. This is a continuous discourse. Once again, I urge you to pick up your New Testament and to read chapters five and six of Saint John's good news. Now this is the climax well, there's more to it, but this leads us into the to the story of Christ's statement about what he's going to do about his flesh and his blood. The Jews quarreled among themselves saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat?
Now how in other words, what did they understand Christ to be talking about? So he said, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? Being good, sensible people, they said that's crazy. So Jesus says, let me solemnly assure you, if you do not eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. He who feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has life eternal, and I will raise him up on the last day.
For my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink. The man who feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I remain in him. Just as the father who has life sent me, and I have life because of the father. So the man who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Unlike your ancestors who ate and died, nonetheless, the man who feeds on this bread shall live In the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, amen. And you know what happened right after this now. See, we won't be here tomorrow, but read what happens. The very next, verse and and the continuing verses of this chapter six. What was the reaction now of his hearers?
They said, who can believe this? And John Saint John says, many of his disciples walked no longer with him. They left him. And that's not all. Because when when these people his disciple means follower.
So when his followers left him because they couldn't swallow this kind of absurd, crazy talk. Christ turned to his 12 and said, are you going to leave me also? And Peter then said, Lord, if we leave you, where are we going to go? So they stayed, but they they didn't know what it was all about. Do we?
Now is that so when people talk about what what is in that what looks like bread, tastes like bread, smells like bread, feels like bread in that tabernacle, what have you there. Now remember this I'm not talking about sixteenth century Luther or Calvin or Zwingli. I'm talking about the twentieth century in the Roman Catholic church. Why do you think we have such a a a down grading of such things as gender reflecting in church, treating the church with respect as we used to? Why do you think in the past that that so many, these ceremonies regarding the Eucharist have been downgraded?
Look at Corpus Christi, for example. So we're not fighting windmills. Now Christ did not explain how this is. He did not even remotely say. Now listen, folks.
I know this is just fantastic. I know that you as good Jews are that this is abhorrent to you to talk about eating my flesh and drinking my blood. That is just downright cannibalism. I am absolutely aware of your feeling about it, but now look at it. Let us sit down and negotiate.
We will now explain. We will now have a democratic process. You know all that nonsense. Jesus said nothing except turn to his 12. These are the men he himself had chosen.
These are the men closest and dearest, I suppose, to him. And he said, are you going to leave me too? Are you going to leave Christ? It's only a matter of a few weeks ago that I and I'm not manufacturing this in that at all. That a very devout Christian who reads her bible faithfully, at least parts of the New Testament faithfully every day, one hour a day.
Somehow, she heard someone talking about Christ's flesh and blood, and she said to me, she says, isn't this abhorrent talking like that? I said, well, have you read Saint John? She hadn't read that. At least she hadn't remembered reading it, which is a different story, of course. But you see, you can't avoid this, and there's no question about the authenticity of these texts.
There's no question about the Greek of it. There's no question about the language of it. And if you say that Christ is speaking in metaphors, if you're saying he's using figures of speech, then I say he was a liar of the first water. He was he was the greatest misleader of men and women the world has ever seen. Because if he meant his words to be taken figuratively, why didn't he tell those good people, look, don't be silly.
Don't be ridiculous. You know I I'm speaking figuratively. Christ did this on more than one occasion. But in this instance, what does he say? Will you leave me also?
So let's let's take this to heart. I'm not up here telling you how Christ is present in the Eucharist. I'm not going into all this stuff about substance and accidents and Aristotelian metaphysics or Cartesian cosmology or game bringing it down to our present day world and what what is matter. I'm only saying Christ said that I will give you my flesh to eat and I will give you my blood to drink. And unless you eat it and drink it, you're lost.
You won't have life in you. That is what Christ said. And at the last supper, he said, this is my body and this is my blood. And remember, Martin Luther could not get out of that. He didn't wanna get out of that.
There's where he disagreed with Calvin very severely. When Calvin said this is just a metaphor, this is just a figure of speech, this is just of the spirit, you know, this this wonderful agnosticism that's always with us. But Luther said Christ said this is my body, and that's got to begin some way or other. That Christ is physically present in the Eucharist under the appearance of bread, under the appearance of wine that here we have in we use the word substance. That's an Aristotelian term.
I know that. But that underneath sight as Saint Thomas Aquinas, thirteenth century, says, sight, touch, taste in thee is each deceived. You cannot perceive Christ experimentally. We say that, however, the reality that is bread, the reality that is wine, that reality, call it substance or anything you want, that that is physically changed into Christ's physical body and physical blood. That's what Christ said.
That's what his hearers understood him to say. That's why they deserted Christ, and that's why the disciples I I mean, his 12 said we can understand it, but where else can we go? In the name of the father, and of the son, and of the spirit. Amen.