TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

 8-16-09           TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

                                                                        GOSPEL:  JOHN 6:51-58

“My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.”

Today’s Gospel speaks of “eating flesh and drinking blood” – uncomfortable images of human and animal sacrifice.  We are far removed from an altar heaped with offerings to appease an angry god.  Yet, the altar of sacrifice has always been part of our religious story.  In Genesis, Abraham is told to sacrifice his own son, Isaac.  Temple sacrifice to atone for sin involved animal sacrifice.  The Passover included putting the blood of a slain lamb on the doorposts.  The word “sacrifice” means “to make something holy.”

By his death on the cross, Jesus changes all of this forever.  He becomes the final sacrifice himself.  His loved is filled with enough sacred energy to change us and lead us all to holiness.

                                                                                    Deacon Dick Folger