Many Disciples Turn Away

Monday after Jubilate

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).

Sacramentarians[1] have the same problem here that the disciples who left Jesus had: Jesus’ teaching that His flesh is food indeed, and His blood is drink indeed is for them a hard saying and they cannot understand it. Some teachers of that sect try to use the words of this verse to spiritualize and symbolize all that Jesus had previously said about Him being the Bread of Life come down from heaven, and whoever eats His flesh and drinks His blood has eternal life. The following quotation, taken from Bibleref.com, is typical of the Sacramantarian teaching on this passage:

The idea of His flesh being the bread of life was meant to extend the analogy of bread, in order to include His upcoming sacrificial death on the cross. Here, Jesus makes a direct statement that His prior words were not meant to be taken literally. In other words, Christ is not actually saying that people need to consume His material flesh or drink His liquid blood. Rather, the point Jesus is making is spiritual…faith in Christ is not the same as intellectual knowledge. Saving faith means receiving Christ in the deepest parts of ourselves.[2]

Faith is indeed different from intellectual knowledge. It is the gift of God;[3] it is the substance, the foundation, of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.[4] Why, then, do we treat it as intellectual knowledge by rationalizing Jesus’ words, and changing their context? Jesus is not speaking in figuratively in the Bread of Life passage. In fact, when John is writing something figurative or symbolic he, like the other New Testament authors, makes it clear in the text. Jesus often teaches in parables, which are figures of speech. When He does so, it is obvious; He says things like, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it?” Or, “A certain man had a fig tree…” And the Gospel writers clearly indicate that Jesus is speaking figuratively by writing something like, “He spoke this parable to them, saying…” When Jesus cleanses the temple and the Pharisees demand a sign from Him to show the authority by which He did what He did, Jesus answers, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” They misunderstand, and think Jesus is talking about the actual building, but John makes sure it is clear to the reader, “But He was speaking of the temple of His body. Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.”[5] It was symbolic language, a figure of speech. There are no such indications in the Bread of Life passage that Jesus is using the eating and drinking of His flesh and blood figuratively.

On the contrary, Jesus gets more and more specific and clear as He teaches precisely what it means that He is the Bread of Life. He uses the Greek word for true, living flesh, [6] and the blood that goes through that flesh,[7] when He teaches. His reference to the Holy Spirit being life in verse 63 hardly negates as figurative His statement, “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in Me and I in him.”

Jesus’ words here mean precisely what they say. It is the Spirit who gives life: It is the Holy Sprit who creates life and faith in men, turning their hearts of stone into hearts of flesh, as we know, through the word. And it should be no surprise that Jesus delivers the word of His promises to us by different means. There are many examples of Him using something intermediate as an instrument to deliver His faith-creating word. He attaches His words to water in Holy Baptism where He promises to give us a new birth, save us from sin, death, and the devil, clothe us with His righteousness, and connect us to Him, His death, and His resurrection. He attaches His words to mud made out of spit to restore sight to a man born blind.[8] He attaches His words, through the prophet Elisha, to the waters of the Jordan river to heal Naaman’s leprosy.[9] Even the preacher preaching the word, and the book containing the scriptures itself, are means – instruments for delivering His word. If we say that Jesus does not use means to deliver His word to men to create faith in them, we must say that He creates faith directly in a man’s heart without means. This is directly contradicted by scripture, for we know that faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.[10]

The flesh profits nothing: Jesus did not say His flesh profits nothing, but rather the flesh profits nothing. His use of the word flesh recorded in verse 63 is different from His use of it earlier. Here Jesus uses it as Paul does when the apostle writes about the sinful human nature, when he writes, for example, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells.”[11] Jesus is here talking about man’s sinful human nature. He is literally saying that the flesh profits nothing; the sinful flesh which lusts for bread rather than the things of God cannot help in spiritual matters.[12] But Jesus, the word made flesh, can and does. The words of promise that He delivers to us, through the waters of our baptism, through the word preached to us by faithful pastors, through the word read in our Bibles and meditated upon, and through the word combined with bread and wine by which Jesus gives us His real body and blood to eat and drink, bring to us also the Holy Spirit, who creates faith and gives eternal life.

It is the word that makes the sacrament of the altar, i.e. the Lord’s Supper, and sets it apart.[13] Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me.” In the same way also He took the cup after supper, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them saying, “Drink of it all of you; this is My blood of the new testament, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”[14] It is about this that Jesus was teaching in John chapter six. And in this sacrament He gives us his real body and blood.

If a hundred thousand devils, together with all fanatics, should rush forward, crying “How can bread and wine be Christ’s body and blood?” and such, I know that all spirits and scholars together are not as wise as is the Divine Majesty in His little finger. Now here stands Christ’s Word, “Take, eat; this is My body…Drink of it, all of you; this is My blood of the new testament,” and so on. Here we stop to watch those who will call themselves His masters and make the matter different from what He has spoken. It is true, indeed, that if you take away the Word or regard the Sacrament without the words, you have nothing but mere bread and wine. But if the words remain with them, as they shall and must, then, by virtue of the words, it is truly Christ’s body and blood. What Christ’s lips say and speak, so it is. He can never lie or deceive.[15]

Bibliography

Baumler, Gary P. John. Saint Louis: Concordia Pub. House, 2005.

Engelbrecht, Edward. The Lutheran Study Bible: English Standard Version. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2016.

“Haima Meaning in Bible - New Testament Greek Lexicon - King James Version.” Bible Study Tools. Accessed May 4, 2020. https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/kjv/haima.html.

Lutheran Worship. St. Louis: Concordia Pub. House, 1982.

McCain, Paul Timothy., W. H. T. Dau, and F. Bente. Concordia: the Lutheran Confessions: a Readers Edition of the Book of Concord. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Pub. House, 2009.

“Sarx Meaning in Bible - New Testament Greek Lexicon - New American Standard.” Bible Study Tools. Accessed May 4, 2020. https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/sarx.html.

Websters Collegiate Dictionary. Third Edition of the Merriam Series. The Largest Abridgment of Websters New International Dictionary of the English Language. 1700 Illustrations. Springfield: Published by G. and C. Merriam Co., 1919.

“What Does John 6:63 Mean?” BibleRef.com. Accessed May 4, 2020. https://www.bibleref.com/John/6/John-6-63.html.

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[1] Sacramentarian: One who holds the sacraments to be simply symbols; a name given to Zwinglians and Calvinists. Websters Collegiate Dictionary. Third Edition of the Merriam Series. The Largest Abridgment of Websters New International Dictionary of the English Language. 1700 Illustrations (Springfield: Published by G. and C. Merriam Co., 1919))  

[2] “What Does John 6:63 Mean?,” BibleRef.com, accessed May 4, 2020, https://www.bibleref.com/John/6/John-6-63.html)

[3] Ephesians 2:8

[4] Hebrews 11:1

[5] John 2:13-22

[6] Sarx: 1. Flesh (the soft substance of the living body, which covers the bones and is permeated with blood) of both man and beasts; 2. the body; 3. a living creature (because possessed of a body of flesh) whether man or beast; 4. the flesh, denotes mere human nature, the earthly nature of man apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin and opposed to God. “Sarx Meaning in Bible - New Testament Greek Lexicon - New American Standard,” Bible Study Tools, accessed May 4, 2020, https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/sarx.html)

[7] Haima: 1. Blood (of man or animals; refers to the seat of life; of those things that resemble blood, grape juice); 2. blood shed, to be shed by violence, slay, murder. “Haima Meaning in Bible - New Testament Greek Lexicon - King James Version,” Bible Study Tools, accessed May 4, 2020, https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/kjv/haima.html)

[8] John 9:6-7

[9] 2 Kings 5:9-10

[10] Romans 10:17

[11] Romans 7:18

[12] Edward Engelbrecht, The Lutheran Study Bible: English Standard Version (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2016))

[13] LC V, 10

[14] Lutheran Worship (St. Louis: Concordia Pub. House, 1982)): The Words of Institution.

[15] LC V, 12-14

Good Works and Light Bearers

December 12, 2019 - Thursday after Populus Zion

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. For the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me (Philippians 2:12-18).

It is tempting to take Paul’s words here, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” and make them say something which they do not. If the passage stopped at that point, we could hardly be faulted for thinking that Paul was instructing the Philippians, and us, to do good works to merit our salvation. He commends them for having always obeyed, and he continues on by telling them to keep obeying, and to work out their salvation. Perhaps whomever said that Noah was saved, not by grace, but rather by obedience, had a point.

But the passage does not stop there. Paul continues on to reveal just who it is who is doing the work: “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” Paul is indeed calling the Philippians, and all Christians, to do good works; but, he immediately explains that it is not actually we who are doing the works. It is God. In fact, we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.[1] God has made us into good-works-producing machines; He has created the good works for us to do. He calls us now to walk in those good works, i.e. to produce them, not unlike a tree produces fruit. The tree can’t help producing the fruit, it is the tree’s nature to do so, because of how it has been created. We should not make the mistake of thinking that the works we do are accomplished because of us. The works are God’s works. As a new creation in Christ, it is our nature to produce good fruit.

This is why Paul wants us to do all things without complaining or grumbling. God is doing the work. He is the catalyst that causes us “to will”, i.e. to want to do good works, and “to do”, to actually carry them out. In that situation, how could anyone other than God claim credit or responsibility for any of the good works that we do? This is the mistake Sacramentarians[2] make with the Sacraments of Holy Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. They call them works, which indeed they are. And, they say, since we are saved by grace through faith in Christ, and not by works, as Paul writes to the Ephesians, those sacraments are nothing more than symbols of God’s promises, and acts of obedience by which we demonstrate to God our faith. If the Sacraments were our works, this would be true. They are not. They are God’s works; they are sacred acts, instituted by God, in which God has joined His Word of promise to a visible element (e.g., water, bread and wine), and by which He offers, gives, and seals the forgiveness of sins by Christ.[3]

In Baptism, it is the Triune God who washes away sins; it is God the Holy Spirit who works faith in the heart by water and the Word; and it is with Christ’s own righteousness we are clothed, and to His death and resurrection we are joined, even though it is a man who applies the water to us. When we eat the Lord’s Supper, we are not simply acting out a memorial play to demonstrate our obedience to Christ and proclaim His death (though that is certainly part of what is happening); in the Lord’s Supper we receive the very body and blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of our sins: “For My flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.”[4] Who is the one who is active, who is doing all the work in the Sacraments, man or God? If we are honest with ourselves, and we let Scripture speak for itself, the answer is obvious.

And when we walk in these works, prepared beforehand by God for us to walk in, we shine as lights in the world. Paul here echoes Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount: “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”[5] The amazing thing is, that God has created us in Christ for these works, to be lights in the world in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Paul is encouraging us to act according to the new creation we have been made in Christ, rather than according to the sinful desires of our flesh. He is basically telling us not to be a tree that tries to produce bad fruit. And, if we resist the desires of our old sinful nature, our Old Man, we effectively drown him in the waters of our baptism, and we will shine brighter amidst the darkness of this crooked and perverse generation.

[1] Ephesians 2:10

[2] Sacramentarian: One who holds the sacraments to be simply symbols; a name given to Zwinglians and Calvinists. Webster's Collegiate Dictionary . Third Edition of the Merriam Series. The Largest Abridgment of Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language. 1700 Illustrations. Published by G. and C. Merriam, 1919.

[3] Luther, Martin. Luther's Small Catechism: with Explanation. Concordia Publishing House, 2005.

[4] John 6:55-57

[5] Matthew 5:14-16

Shall not the Judge of the earth do right?

Shall not the Judge of the earth do right? We tend to think that He won’t. We especially think this when something terrible happens to us, or to those whom we love. Like when your friend suddenly dies. We get angry. He didn’t deserve to die. Why did he die now, and so many other, more terrible people, go on living? People like Nicolas Maduro, dictator of Venezuela, who starves and murders his own people, while his military drives armored vehicles into crowds of protesters,[1] for instance. He seems pretty bad, and he is still alive. Or, there are those two people from Crystal Lake, IL who murdered their 7-year-old son and tried to cover it up by making it look like the child was kidnapped.[2] That was definitely evil. Even if they are convicted of murder, they will live out their days in prison. I’m sure you have your own list of evil people forming in your own mind. Our impulse is to get angry and think these, and any number of other people, should be farther up the queue than a man like Ray Bickel, retired Chicago Cop, who was a loving father and grandfather, a Cubs fan, a loyal friend, a faithful volunteer and tenor in the choir at St. John’s Mayfair, and a general, all-around good guy. What’s going on here? Shall not the Judge of the earth do right?

This verse comes from the second half of Genesis 18:25, which is the middle of the passage where Abraham intercedes to God on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah. God tells Abraham that He is going to destroy the cities because of their great wickedness; Abraham begins his famous negotiation: Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would you also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were within it?[3] We know what happens. God says no, and Abraham keeps bringing the number lower, and lower. He ultimately tells Abraham that, for the sake of 10 righteous people, He would spare the city. The angels go to Sodom, they remove Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family, and God destroys the city by raining fire and brimstone from heaven.[4] So, we are to understand that every man, woman, and child in Sodom was deserving of death? The answer is yes. Either that, or God is not righteous.

The point God is making to Abraham is that there isn’t even one righteous person in Sodom. This includes Lot. He isn’t innocent either. Don’t forget, Lot is the man who chose to separate himself from Abraham, through whom God’s promised Redeemer was to come; he is the man whose moral sense was warped in such a way that, rather than distance himself from the wretched hive of scum and villainy that was Sodom, Lot embraced it. This warping manifests itself when righteous Lot offers his daughters up to gang rape by the mob of Sodomites who were seeking to molest Lot’s angelic visitors.[5] In fact,

he had become so attached to what Sodom had to offer that he was reluctant to make a clean break. The angels had to take him and his wife and daughters as one takes little children by the hand and lead them outside the doomed city. They actually had to force rescue on Lot and his family.[6]

Even then, Lot’s wife rejects this rescue; she turns back to look at the city as they flee, and becomes a pillar of salt.

In times of pain, suffering, and loss, we are tempted to blame God for our evil. We lament that an evil dictator is alive, and our friend is dead, and God is unjust. But He isn’t unjust. We deserve the wages we are paid, for we are all sinners, and the wages of sin is death. This is because we are a lot like Lot. We are corrupted by sin; we love this corrupt world, and gratifying the desires of our sinful flesh. We have to be dragged out of our fallen state as reluctantly as Lot was brought out of Sodom. Everyone in Sodom deserved to die, because they were fallen, sinful people. It isn’t injustice on God’s part when men die; we all are fallen, sinful creatures who are subject to death through the one man, Adam.[7] Conversely, Lot did not deserve God’s redemption from the coming destruction, but he was given it as a gift. He didn’t do anything to earn it; he certainly didn’t deserve to be rescued because of how good a person he was. God came to Lot when he was a filthy sinner, and Lot submitted to Him; that is why Peter can call Lot a righteous man.[8]

The point is, that no one is righteous, no, not one.[9] Because of our sin, we all deserve death and damnation; God, the righteous Judge, would’ve been justified in destroying His entire creation and starting over after the Fall, if He wanted. No man, no matter how good, upright, or righteous he is in the eyes of the world, or how loved he is by his family and friends, deserves to be spared death and hell on those grounds. Not you, not me, not Ray, not Nicholas Maduro; Not anyone.

God, thankfully, is a merciful judge, as well as a righteous one. He saves mankind the same way that He saved righteous Lot from the destruction of Sodom. He comes to us and rescues us. Jesus, The Second Adam, came into the world to bear our sin and be our savior. He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. He was delivered up to death that He might quicken, that is, make alive His people. Jesus was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. He comes to us, individually, through His Word, and delivers to us this salvation He has purchased for us on the cross with His holy, precious blood, and by His innocent suffering and death. He comes to save us in the waters of Holy Baptism.[10] He comes to forgive our sins in the eating and drinking of His body and blood in the Lord’s Supper.[11] He comes to us, to create repentance and faith in us,[12] through the Word preached, read, and meditated upon. He comes to us in the words spoken by our faithful pastor who, in the stead and by the command of Our Lord Jesus Christ, pronounces forgives us our sins, and announces the grace of God to us.[13] While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.[14] While we are sinners, Christ comes to us through His Word and Sacraments, forgives our sins, cleanses us from all unrighteousness, and gives us eternal life. The only way we do not get these things is if we refuse and reject them. In the list of things that Ray “was”, the most important thing was omitted. He was a Christian. These are the promises into which Ray was baptized; these are the things that he confessed before men. And, since he was baptized into Christ’s death, Ray has also been united together with Christ’s resurrection.

This is why, even at the death of a loved one, we can have comfort and be joyful. This is something popular American Christianity, of the Joel Osteen/Joyce Meyer variety, cannot do: teach us, as St. Paul writes, to be content in whatever state we may find ourselves, because of what we have in Christ. They point us to health and wealth in this world. They teach us to live our best lives now. It might work for a while, but eventually, we are confronted with sin, and no amount of “thinking good thoughts” will help. Our faith that Jesus, the God-man, has redeemed us, paid for our sins on the cross and declared us righteous, doesn’t mean we will be free from pain and sorrow in this life. To the contrary, Jesus promises us that in this life we will have trouble.[15] He goes on to encourage us to be of good cheer, because He has overcome the world. Satan thought he defeated God when Jesus died on the cross and was buried in the tomb. God, however, raised Him from the dead.[16] Christ conquered death, and because we are in Him by our baptism, death also has no ultimate power over us. The death of our friend looks and feels like a defeat. Be of good cheer, Christ has overcome the world; In Christ, we have overcome it as well. Because God is righteous, merciful, and faithful, we can have faith that He works all things together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.[17] So, in the midst of death and pain, we can joyfully confess with Job:

I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me![18]

A time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear the voice of Christ and come out.[19] Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.[20] Those sons of God through faith in Christ, who have put on Christ in their baptism, have life everlasting because He is the resurrection and the life, and whoever believes in Him, even though he may die, he shall live.[21] And on that day,

the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.[22]

Ray, baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection, will be raised. You and I, if Christ should tarry until after our deaths, will be raised; all believers in Christ will be raised on the Last Day, in our own bodies, and made to be like Christ’s glorious body, never to experience sin and death again. All this God does for us out of goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in us.

For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.[23]

Shall not the Judge of the earth do right? I am profoundly thankful to God that He has given us His mercy, and His unmerited favor in Christ, rather than His justice. Those who wish to have the latter, however, will certainly receive it.

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[1] Llanozap, Fernando. “Video shows military vehicle running over protesters.” cnn.com. https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2019/04/30/violent-uprising-in-venezuela-juan-guaido-nicolas-maduro-crn-vpx.cnn (accessed May, 2019).

[2] Associated Press. “The Latest: Illinois couple charged in young son’s death.” foxnews.com. https://www.foxnews.com/us/the-latest-illinois-couple-charged-in-young-sons-death (accessed May 6, 2019).

[3] Genesis 18:24

[4] Genesis 19:12-29

[5] Genesis 19:1-11

[6] Jeske, John C. People’s Bible Commentary: Genesis. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1992.

[7] Romans 5:12-21

[8] 2 Peter 2:7

[9] Romans 3:10-12

[10] Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38-39; 22:16; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 6:11; Galatians 3:27; Colossians 1:13-14; 1 Peter 3:18-22;

[11] Matthew 26:28

[12] Romans 10:17; Acts 5:31; 11:18;

[13] John 20:21-23;

At the beginning of each communion service, the people confess their sins, and the pastor responds with the absolution: Upon this your confession, I, by virtue of my office as a called and ordained servant of the Word, announce the grace of God unto all of you, and in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.

Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America. The Lutheran Hymnal. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1941.

[14] Romans 5:8

[15] John 16:33

[16] Acts 13:30, 30; Romans 10:9

[17] Romans 8:28

[18] Job 19:25-27

[19] John 5:25-30

[20] Daniel 12:2

[21] Galatians 3:26-28; John 11:12

[22] 1 Corinthians 15:52

[23] 1 Thessalonians 4:9-11

Many Disciples Turn Away

Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, “Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life” (John 6:60-63).

Jesus is abandoned by many of His disciples. He has spoken to them hard sayings; He told them they must eat His body and drink His blood that they may abide in Him and have eternal life. But they are offended by Jesus’ words. In answer to His complaining disciples, Jesus says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.” Evangelicals who deny the validity and working of God through the Sacraments often point to this verse. Here, they say, Jesus explains that all those things about His flesh being real food were just symbols. Picture language! The flesh profits nothing! It is the Spirit that gives life.

The words that Jesus speaks are spirit and life. But Jesus isn’t negating what He has previously said. He here expands on His previous teaching. Just as bodies need spirits to live, believers need the Holy Spirit to make them alive; the Spirit is given through Jesus’ words.[1] Jesus connects His words, His promise of the forgiveness of sins and eternal life, to the eating and drinking of His body and blood. This will come into sharp focus on Maundy Thursday when Jesus and His disciples eat the Passover, and He institutes the Lord’s Supper. Here, as Jesus answers His complaining disciples, He is speaking of the sinful human nature, unlike earlier in the chapter. Jesus says “the flesh” profits nothing, not “My flesh”.

Peter is indeed correct to answer Our Lord as he does. Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Jesus’ words are spirit, and life. Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. This cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the remission of sins. Whoever now accepts these words, given and shed for you, and believes that what they declare is true has forgiveness.[2] We have a body and a spirit. Both body and spirit together make up one being. It is for this reason that God attaches His promise of forgiveness and life to physical things like water, word, bread and wine. Our physical being comprehends the physical element, and our spirit comprehends the spiritual element. Writing of Baptism in his Large Catechism, Martin Luther explains it this way: “For that is the reason why these two things are done in Baptism: the body - which can grasp nothing but the water - is sprinkled and, in addition, the Word is spoken for the soul to grasp. Now, since both the water and the Word, make one Baptism, therefore, body and soul must be saved and live forever. The soul lives through the Word, which it believes, but the body lives because it is united with the soul and also holds on through Baptism as it is able to grasp it.”[3]

Jesus’ words are spirit, and they are life. They must be taken at face value. Jesus tells us that we must eat His body and drink His blood in order to abide in Him. He gives us the means by which we can do as He says in the Lord’s Supper. Our eating and drinking of the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper is a communion with His body and blood.[4] Believing Jesus’ words, we have what He promises to those who eat His body and drink His blood: the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

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[1] Engelbrecht, Rev. Edward A., ed. The Lutheran Study Bible. Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 2009.

[2] McCain, Paul Timothy, Robert Cleveland Baker, Gene Edward Veith, and Edward Andrew Engelbrecht,. Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions. Translated by William Hermann Theodore Dau and Gerhard Friedrich Bente. St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2005.

[3] LC IV 45-46

[4] 1 Corinthians 10:16