HYMN FOR PENTECOST 13 Eat this Bread/How Strange these Words

Text and tune: Jacques Berthier (1923-1994)

(For copyright reasons I cannot print the text, but you will see it on the links)

REFLECTION

This song uses much of the language of the text for Sunday and gets at what Jesus is saying in his sermon which shocks his audience. What is he talking about? Cannibalism?

We have spent most of August in John 6 and while to some it seems repetitious and over much, others see it as inexhaustible. And full of surprises no matter how much one has read the chapter. (Scripture is new every morning we are told!) This time, for me, the most surprising thing Jesus says is in verse 53: If we do not eat his flesh and drink his blood we will have no life in us.

To understand this better, we have to look again at his verbs. Because he came down from heaven and was incarnate, he now can come down in the body and blood every day, every moment so we can live and never die. Without this daily bread, Jesus says, we will never live.

This will shock those who do not like the exclusive claims of the Gospel, but here it is. We must eat and drink so our bodies can live, but here Jesus says something about what true life is: without him, we have no life, really no spirit, in us. I sometimes wonder if that is why the world hates Christians? Even in their death, the worldly can see life in Christians. They cannot comprehend that and are offended and bothered by it.

It is also what attracts Christians to each other: We see Christ and his life living in others who have eaten his bread. And part of our calling is to bring that life to the entire world so all can share it with us.

Jesus here is lovingly offering himself and his spirit to all, so that all will have eternal life. No one who eats and believes will be excluded. Imagine that! Jesus is telling them the truth—a truth that will utterly change and bring all who believe him into eternal and joyful fellowship!

HYMN INFO

This comes from the worship resources of the Taizé community in France. Over the years, many thousands of people have made a pilgrimage there to sing and worship together and share their fellowship in Christ Jesus. The genius of Berthier's compositions is that they can be quickly learned and sung repeatedly without reference to a hymnal. Latin was the main language and it is used by all, but many of the favorites have been translated into the vernacular. Berthier composed music for the community before he became organist at the church of the Jesuits in Paris and after as well. Robert Batastini of the GIA publishing company, prepared the English version.