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Bernard Mizeki
Almighty and everlasting God, who kindled the flame of your love in the heart of your holy martyr Bernard Mizeki: Grant to us, your humble servants, a like faith and power of love, that we who rejoice in his triumph may profit by his example; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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Bernard Mizeki
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Scripture citation(s): John 6:47-58
A Sermon by
Fr. Mead
on
John 6:47-58
✛
Real Presence, Real Difference
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I am the living bread which came down from heaven…and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
You may ask, what is the feast of Corpus Christi, and why are we celebrating it at Saint Thomas. I checked with my newest junior curate about this; he’s the Rector Emeritus, and he says we have been doing this for at least twenty five years; that would be fifteen with him and ten with me.
Precedent frequently scores a point, but we also would like good reasons. Corpus Christi began in the thirteenth century (that was a very good century, by the way, but that’s another sermon or class for another day). No less a theologian than Saint Thomas Aquinas himself composed the prayers and hymns for it (and it was well appreciated by Dante). The Eucharistic devotions of the solemn procession of the Sacrament and Benediction were soon part of it. We won’t do those here today, although we do have a most solemn procession of the Sacrament on Maundy Thursday, which brings me to the point. Corpus Christi was instituted so that people could meditate and learn about the central act of Christian worship, Holy Communion, in a context outside the overwhelming setting of Holy Week. Thus the first Sunday after Trinity is dedicated to this purpose. It is optional in the Episcopal Church, and this is an option we are pleased to take.
Take, eat, said the Lord. This is my Body which is given for you. Likewise after supper the cup, when he said, Drink this, all of you; this is my blood which shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me. These words and actions, reported by Matthew, Mark and Luke, and even earlier and most precisely, by Saint Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians, define not just the Eucharist but the meaning of Jesus’ whole life and especially his death, his Incarnation and Atonement. It is a life-giving sacrifice. It feeds us, so much so that Jesus spoke of himself as the living bread which came down from heaven. This living bread, he says in St. John’s Gospel, is his flesh, which he gives for the life of the world. His flesh, he says, is food indeed. His blood is drink indeed. Those who believe and trust in Jesus are invited and privileged to feed on him. In fact, says Jesus, except we eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man, we have no life in us!
Our Lord Jesus Christ is our wholeness, our life and health, our integrity and righteousness. His cross is the remedy to our brokenness, our illness and death, our sin and lack of integrity. And this remedy is really present here and now under the forms of bread and wine; it is communicated to us as the medicine of immortality by means of the Sacrament (which means an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace). The blunt, realistic language of “Real Presence,” indicating the change of common bread and wine into Christ’s life-giving Body and Blood is not the invention of the Middle Ages or of the Church at any time. This Eucharistic doctrine is clearly taught in the Episcopal Church’s Book of Common Prayer, old and new. The strong, realistic language would never have been employed, unless it came from the lips of the Lord himself. And as we can see, he spoke that way clearly and repeatedly. Our Prayer of Humble Access before Holy Communion is largely the work first of Saint Thomas Aquinas then of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (quite an ecumenical testimony), but the true source is none other than Jesus.
But there is more to this Sacrament of Corpus Christi than Christ’s Real Presence under the forms of bread and wine. Just as Christ blesses and transforms common bread and wine to become his Body and Blood, so Christ also by that sacramental means blesses and transforms sinners like you and me to be very members incorporate of the mystical Body of Christ. We are to be that Body here, as we face and regard one another, and also out in the world, where we represent Jesus Christ.
So now here is the practical issue before us. We are invited and privileged to receive Holy Communion. If we partake in an unworthy manner, we eat and drink judgment upon ourselves. That means we are to put away all the ways which make for unholy communion—things like gossip, slander, meanness, factions and divisions, arrogance and haughtiness, clamor, fault-finding, blaming and accusing. How does what we say and how we behave at coffee hour and other places of our fellowship match up with what is said in the liturgy? They are supposed to be in harmony. By the way, if this makes anyone nervous, know I am not picking on you or any one of us. The list comes from the Apostle himself as he put this issue to the Corinthians. Most churches, at least the ones I have known, resemble the Corinthian Church.
But let’s keep going. Out in the world, at home and work, what evidence is there, what sign do we provide, that the Gospel and the Sacrament of Jesus make a real difference in our life? What is there in the way we work and play with others that would indicate to the inquirer or observer, that Jesus makes a difference and is really present in our life? What about us, at work or play, would cause the observer or inquirer to visit the church? What would attract him or her? Looking at us, what about us would lead them to consider that there is grace and virtue and peace, love and joy to be experienced in the fellowship of the Church?
These are the questions of Corpus Christi. Dearly beloved, let us treat this wonderful sacrament with adoration and reverence. And by the same token, let us repent of our sins and regard one another with love. As the ecumenical hymn goes: They’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love.
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
