The Bread of Life
Adapted from a sermon by Fr Michael Fanous
The Second Sunday of the Holy 50 days of the Resurrection
John 6:35-45
On the Second Sunday after the Resurrection of our Lord, the church represents the Lord as the Bread of life.
In the beginning, the Lord created Adam and Eve. They were in communion with the Lord. A holy communion with the Lord. When they were deceived by the serpent and ate of the tree of the knowledge, they lost communion. They became separated from God. They lost all hope of living an of eternal life with God. They began to feel shame. We read, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked” (Genesis 3:7). The knowledge they had gained revealed their nakedness, their shame and they were ultimately rejected from the garden.
Our Lord put the tree of life in the middle of the garden, in the hope that they would eat of its fruits and live forever. On the contrary, they were deceived and ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
God could not leave us in this state. Through His love, He had to come and redeem His creation. He came in the fullness of time, He was born a virgin, He took our flesh, to represent a perfect Man to God, the Father, for humanity could not be perfect. This became our representation before the fall.
Inevitably, He suffered and endured the Cross. What amazes us is that He gave us Himself, His Body and Blood on Covenant Thursday, the day before the crucifixion. He did this so we could have communion with Him once more – so that we could regain what was lost at the fall of man. This is the Bread of life that came from heaven.
With this communion, what happens? We become one in Him, and He becomes one in us. This Communion is not found anywhere else. No one can give their body and blood except for the Lord, Himself. We are lucky that He comes in us, for us. This gives us power to be in the presence of the Lord. Can you imagine if you walk with the King of Kings, you wouldn’t need anything else? You have protection, warmth, comfort, love, eternity and you are freed from all harms.
In order to overcome through the death of the tree of knowledge, we have to eat from the tree of life which is Christ. We are empowered to overcome sin. Our Lord said to us there is a condition for the grace, you must come to Me. He repeats this three times in the gospel;
- I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger (John 6:35)
- All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. (John 6:37)
- Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. (John 6:45)
In order to receive grace, you have to come to Him. The Lord taught us to come to Him when we deny ourselves, carry our cross and follow Him only then can we be His disciples; If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me (Luke 9:23).
There is inherent suffering to carrying our Cross. This means that we must suffer to have the Lord. We suffer to forgive those that hurt us, to love our own enemies, to stop wrong pleasures we may have, whether sexual or otherwise. We stop these things for the sake of being in communion with God. We stop these things when we stop living for ourselves and start living for Christ who dwells within us; “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
This is the condition – to come to the Lord. When we come to the Lord, we disperse our hindrances. Let us remember this; let us desire to come to the Lord. By partaking of Holy Communion, we feel the resurrection of our Lord again. It must be repeated and renewed. When we are weak, we come to the Lord to gain Communion and feel the resurrection of our Lord again. We stand on the Body and Blood of Christ.
Any place that does not stand on the Body and the Blood of Christ cannot sustain the joy of the Resurrection. Let us approach the Lord knowing what we are taking inside of ourselves, knowing that we take the Body and Blood knowing its power, knowing we are taking the Lord Himself. We take His glory, His forgiveness, eternal life, His love. God is love. We take all of Love inside of us. This is not an easy thing, but we must remember. When we unite with Christ again, when we have Communion again, this is what we are taking. All the goodness, love, joy, peace. Let us enjoy our Lord and forget all the hinders true communion with Him.