‘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. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live for ever.’ He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum. When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?’ John 6:56-60

It seems like we have been on this same theme for the past few weeks. Repetition in the gospel texts usually means they are really important. I have to admit that this is not the easiest theme to understand. There are no shortcuts nor simplistic formulas to comprehend its meaning. It requires much reflection and ponderation on our part. At the same time, this does not mean that it is beyond the capability of the common person to grasp it. It is meant for every single person because it deals with a subject which concerns everyone. It is about eternal life. Jesus said that if we eat His flesh and drink His blood, we will live forever. In this reflection, I will focus on these words, “to live forever”, sometimes thought of as “eternal life”.

There is a tendency to think about eternal life as life after death. It is interesting, as Christians, we hardly consider about life before birth. It wasn’t always the case. We have some early church fathers like Origen who did think about it. The word, eternal, means without time. Therefore, it stands above our time frame of the past, the present and the future. In some religions, there is a concern about the time before birth. In our apartment building, the ground floor is rented by a religious group which believes in the doctrine of reincarnation. Almost every night, we hear their drums and chants. It is not a teaching that I have ever considered in any shape or form but their presence reminds me of the question of life before birth. They believe that their past lives have an effect on this present life. In Hinduism and Buddhism, the reincarnation is not a blessing but a dreaded cycle. The adherents of these faiths do not want to live forever. They want to free from their past lives so that the cycle of reincarnation would end. In some branches of Hinduism, they believe that the ultimate goal is to be united with the eternal life-force.

During Jesus’ time many believed that when a person died, he or she passed into a shadowy existence in Hades. The word for ghost is similar to shadow in most ancient languages. It was a life that was a mere memory of something that “once was”. Naturally, death was feared because it was the end of a real and concrete existence. It was no wonder that during Jesus’ time, the philosophy of Epicurus was very popular. He was given the title of a savior because he taught convincingly that there was not such thing as life after death. Only this life mattered. People found joy in this message. They did not have live in fear of the dreaded future.

In our ministry, the subject of life after death hardly comes up except on certain occasions. The most memorable and honest conversation I had on the subject was with Bruno. It was something which cropped up in our conversations. He asked me if the Bible described what life was like after death. He shared what he had heard from people. All of it were mere speculation. It seems like people have avoided the subject of eternal life by taking refuge in speculative ideas of life after death. I told Bruno that Jesus taught about living life in the here and now. However, eternity was always the foundation of His actions. He did not tell us to wait for eternal life. He gave it to us now. No one knows what comes after death but we have a life to live now. He was satisfied with this answer. It does not mean he understood it.

Let’s address the challenge that reincarnation poses. It believes that we originate from something eternal. However, our actions from the past keep us from being fully reuniting with the eternal. It teaches that the actions of the past have an effect on our lives. In some senses, we can appreciate this without subscribing to this doctrine. We believe that our past has marked our lives in a way. Past traumas or blessings can either cripple or enrich our lives. The difference is that we do not go beyond the time of our birth and Reincarnation does. However, Jesus goes even further. He goes to the origin of everything existing in this world. He tells His disciples that He comes from the Living Father. It was not the merits of His past life that has transformed Him into the Savior but His special relationship with the Eternal Progenitor of all things. He shares His nature and lives according to it. This very union with the Father gives Him the courage and authority to live in the present. Therefore, when He offers us His body and blood, He invites to participate in His nature. It is not something we earn. It is something we receive from him. Feeding on His Body and Blood takes us beyond our past history to define our identity according to our eternal link with the Father. Our past identity can no longer restrict us because we are given new flesh and blood to live our lives in accordance with the Father of all things. The Living Bread of Jesus frees us from all the shackles of our past to be connected with the eternal Life who is the Father.

One of our greatest fears of death is linked with being forgotten. None of us want our names to be completely erased from pages of the living. In many Anglican churches, there are portraits of the priests who served in the parish. Their names and faces are registered but it does not mean that they are remembered. I think I have my picture in a church in the Northeast of Brazil. Most likely most of its members don’t even look at it. It means nothing to them because they never had a relationship with me. Those who remember me still have an affection for me and I for them. Eventually they will pass on as I will and all of us will together slip into anonymity. This is the tragic state of death. Despite all our efforts, we will eventually become forgotten. Therefore, striving to be to remembered is the wrong approach to understand eternal life. Instead, we should seek to feed on the living bread which gives the wisdom and courage to live our lives in accordance with living Father.

Living our lives in accordance with the Living Father is not something left to our interpretation. It is revealed through the Life of Jesus. It is revealed to us as we interact with the Living Bread and allow this Bread to transform the very being of who we are. John the evangelist used strong symbolic words to express this profound truth. In some churches, they have attempted to reduce this into something literal. I am afraid the literal observance of these precious words do not make them more powerful but instead it makes them lose some profundity. We cannot feed on the Body and Blood of Jesus on our terms. We cannot be connected with the eternal Life which Jesus offers through our rituals and rites. It comes to us through grace. Our rituals and rites serve to remind us that this Bread of Life is eternally present in our midst. They are not substitutes for the Bread of Life but they provide us with the opportunity to say to our Lord that we want to feed on His body and blood so that we can become like Him.

This is really the essence of eternal life for us. We become like Jesus just as He is like the Father. The Bread He offers to us is His Life. The testimony of His Life and teachings are revealed to us in the gospels. All we need to do now is to receive His body and blood and these will transform His words into eternal Life in our souls.