10 Pentecost, Year B

“THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS”
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, August 9, 2009
Proper 14: Deuteronomy 8: 1 – 10; Psalm 34: 1 – 8; Ephesians 4: 25 – 5: 2; John 6: 37 – 51

“I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints…”

Ever think about that line, part of the Apostles’ Creed, “the communion of saints”?

What does the “communion of saints” mean, do you suppose?

Let’s explore the idea of the communion of saints, stretching down through time, to our present day.

For today’s gospel passage, a continuation of the conversation that took place between Jesus and the crowd who’d been fed with the multiplication of the five loaves and two fish, has to do with the links that bind the Christians of today with those first Christians who gathered on the shores of the Sea of Galilee nearly 2,000 years ago.

(By way of reminder, recall with me that we began a four week reading of the lengthy conversation between Jesus and this group of people last week. Our consideration of this entire chapter six of John’s gospel account will continue for another two Sundays.)

So, we begin with a consideration of the meaning of the two main words before us today:

Communion: a group of people who share a common faith or way of life, a fellowship or united group of people. (Derived from the Latin: co = “together" or "with” + munia = “task”.)

Saints: God’s holy people, a true Christian, a child of God. (Derived from the Latin word for “holy”, as in sanctus.)

As we look at today’s reading, we shall see that there are two things that bring God’s people together, forming a union of God’s holy people (a communion of saints). They are:
God’s word The bread of life

Let’s look at our passage more closely to see how each is present in Jesus’ words, heard then, and again today:

God’s word: Jesus speaks the Word of God, for Jesus’ purpose in coming down from heaven is to draw “everyone who has heard and learned from the Father.” (John 6: 45b) Jesus’ words are heard in two ways:

Past: These words were heard in Jesus’ original words, by the original hearers.

Present: Jesus’ words are also heard by all who read them by virtue of the Holy Scriptures., written so that we might “believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing we may have life in His name.” (John 20: 30b)

The bread of life: Here, too, there is a past and a present aspect to the bread of life which sustains God’s people:

Past: Note carefully that Jesus uses the future tense to describe the giving of the bread of life: “And the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6: 51b). To the people who heard these words originally, the gift had not yet been given. If that is true, then when was it actually given? The clue lies in Jesus’ final words that we hear today: the “bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” Ah, now we can understand that this is a reference to the crucifixion.

Present: At the Last Supper, Jesus institutes a memorial (“Do this in memory of me”) of His death and passion, breaking the bread, which, He said, is His body, broken for us. (We shall see a more clear connection to the Last Supper as we continue our study of John, chapter six, in future Sundays.)

What might we make of this “communion of saints”? What is God’s intent in all of this? Two ideas emerge from a reflection on the Word of God and the Bread of Life:

God forms a people for His own possession: We, as God’s people, past and present, are formed by God’s Word, which calls us into communion with Him, and with one another. Put another way, God’s intent is to form a people for His own possession. We hear this today, as Jesus says, “All that the Father gives me will come to me,” and later on, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” God is at work, God is the one who invites, and we are the invitees.

God saves and sustains those whom He calls: Just as God formed His people in calling them out of Egypt into freedom, and then saved them by a passage through the waters of the Red Sea and the provision of manna in the wilderness, so God saves and sustains the people He has claimed for His own possession. We are saved by our passage through the waters of baptism, by which we are buried with Christ in His death (see Romans 6: 3ff), and we are sustained by the provision of heavenly food in the Sacrament of Holy Communion.

Thanks be to God, who forms a people for His own keeping, and who saves and sustains His people, in times past, and even today.

AMEN.