The Bread of Life

John 6:47-69
(v.53) "Amen, amen. I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, you do not have life within you."
(v.60) "Then many of his disciples who were listening said, "This saying is hard, who can accept it?"

Indeed, this doctrine is a major sticking point today, even among those who still profess belief in Jesus. You cannot take communion, the Eucharist, in the Catholic church unless you believe in "trans-substantiation," and affirm the miracle that sees the bread transformed into the actual flesh of Christ. But in Protestant churches, the communion is thought of more as a memorial, and a symbol of faith, enjoined on us by Jesus to bring us together in worshipping Him. The only miracle among them is the continuation of faith from one generation to the next, forever. But both of these have gone too far, surpassing what Jesus actually meant. However, either way serves the purpose that He had in mind, if the church fulfills the rest of its mission.

If we read the whole passage, we must take into account not only Jesus' words, but also his audience and his intention. He was preaching in a synagogue, and there were learned men, scribes, pharisees and a rabbi or two, among "the Jews" whom John lumps all together in his gospel. And many of the common people who had been following from town to town, to see Him do signs and miracles, were still debating what to think of Him. The crowd was becoming somewhat disruptive, even collecting unbelievers who were looking for an excuse to deny him. So Jesus decided to separate the goats from the sheep. He deliberately made this teaching hard to grasp, so that his true followers would have to take it on faith. And He left it beyond their understanding, until He could pick a time when they would be receptive to explain it to them.

His tactic was almost too successful. The crowd was winnowed down almost to the twelve He had originally picked. There may have remained a few women, like Mary Magdalene, and a few others who wanted to believe but waited for an explanation. It remains a mystery that any stayed to hear Him out, as what He had suggested was forbidden by the Law of Moses. Even his explanation comes short as "too little, too late" for most. So he asked his chosen few, "Do you also want to go?" It was Peter who answered with an affirmation of faith. You can almost hear him thinking, "I don't get it, but whatever you say ..."

But John records the key phrases, to tell us what He wants us to understand. (v. 63) "It is the Spirit that gives Life; while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life." The crowd would have no foreknowledge of what Jesus planned for his last Passover meal, nor did his disciples. But we have hindsight to illuminate our reasoning. Like the twelve, we have to catch those words and say, there's something more going on here, I wonder what it is.

Jesus has fallen back on the dichotomy between Spirit and the visible material World, that He so often uses to emphasize the contrast between the way we see things and the Kingdom He is trying to help us manifest, to transform this world. What He has said, about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, has a deeper spiritual dimension that means more than anything we will ever see with our fleshly eyes. The Church Doctors tried to explain it in greek, by making a distinction between essences and accidents, but that wasn't quite as accurate as they wanted to contend. In Hebrew, it was already assumed that there is a difference between spirit and flesh. The Spirit is the realm of the unseen, true reality, while flesh is merely manifestation, visible and corruptible, subject to the penalty for sin. The Spirit has Life, but the flesh shall lie in the grave. Whatever God says is immediately obeyed, transforming reality in the realm of Spirit.

We can look back now, and see what Jesus did at the Last Supper. He began the tradition of the Eucharist meal with a real miracle. But He didn't change the bread and wine into the flesh and blood of this world that we just can't see and have to believe. Rather, He did better than that. He infused the bread and wine with a second nature of Spirit, just like He Himself has two natures, one fully human and another fully divine. This second nature, that He put into the bread and wine, is identical with his own transformed resurrection body, done by his own divine command, eternally and instantly. This is not something that we should expect to see, unless He wants to show it to us, just like the disciples did not always recognize him after He was risen, until He revealed Himself.

But, despite the fact that none of the disciples understood what He was doing, He told us to "Do this in remembrance of Me." He set up a perpetual miracle, and gave us the power to perform it, even if we don't know what we are doing. By the blessing, and the breaking, and the sharing, in his Name, we request the reenactment of the miracle of the Lord's Supper, and for the sake of our faith, He performs it. "Look not upon our sins, but on the faith of your Church." And by this obedience, we are blessed with the promise of our own day of resurrection and a welcome into eternal life in Heaven.

So really, Saint Peter was correct. Jesus has the words of eternal life, and He has given them to us. If we eat his Easter body, and drink the blood of his divine sacrifice, our sins are all forgiven, and we will have eternal life within us. And so, we shall be raised to join Him in Paradise, in accord with his promise; just as the Father raised Him, and then took Him up to Heaven, while his disciples watched.

Baruch attah Adonai Eloheynu, Melech ha-Olam, ha motzi lechem mim ha aretz. Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.

Together, the blessing of the bread, and the affirmation of faith. Blessed are those who are called to the Supper of the Lamb.

A Quick Note to Remember Earth Day

The Future of Garbage: 
There are a number of strategies we can use to mitigate the problem of garbage. Some of these we already try to implement, but others are yet to be recognized as needed. Nonetheless, we will always have to contend with the inevitable entropy of every living being, in its community and ecosystem.

1. Reduce - no unnecessary packaging
       - use natural, biodegradable materials
2. Repair - fix what breaks down
       - replacement parts available
3. Redesign - plan for repairs & durability
       - allow for upgrades & improvements
       - use recoverable materials
       - minimize mixing & contamination
4. Reconsider - don't include poisons
       - chemicals leach into landfills
5. Reuse - repeated primary uses
       - not single-use disposable
       - design for cleaning & refurbishing
       - expect a secondary application
6. Recover - reclaim all useful materials
       - plan for disassembly
7. Recycle - make remains biodegradable
       - can be composted for fertilizer
8. Renew - replenish natural sources
       - fertilizer and replanting
9. Regulate - slow the pace of change
       - no more planned obsolescence
       - break-throughs, not gradualism

Does that come near enough to completing the cycle to allow for centuries without too much depletion of the resource base? This does not mean that society and technology will have to be stagnant, but change for its own sake might need some approval. We can possibly find more resources, but in time it may become more difficult.

Who rules your life?

We in "The West" often look back to the old "classical" civilizations of Greece and Rome to see the roots of our own psychology. We don't actually wish to go back to doing things in the old ways. Much of their daily lives were difficult and/or barely evolved above the primitive. But we can look at the way they thought to see something basic about ourselves.

For example, consider why the Greeks had a pantheon. Usually this is attributed to their political balkanization, being broken up into many small city-states. But that doesn't have to develop into a joining together. Greece shared a basic culture over a broad region, and they recognized that they were related to everyone who spoke their language. But they didn't have the demand to attribute everything to a single central power, so, in their curiosity to try and understand the world, they looked to analyze life into its various primary interests. It was assumed by most people that there is a spiritual side to the way we live, so obviously, one could observe people's passions and disciplines to discern that.

What disciplines do you follow in your life? What is your driving interest, or obsession? How do you want to live, to express your deepest self, and relate to others? What is really most important to you, and then, what issues distract you and keep you from dedicating yourself to that? Why?

If you think that the Law and its commands are the only way that God interacts with us, you are missing the point. There is a full spectrum of human spirituality. It's not just about rules. It's about Ideals, the very first principles, and how to apply them.

These Ideals are universal, and they were promoted as essential in every culture as a central part of life. They are found deeply embedded in our Holy Bible, too, as our primary concerns. The most important is Love, but you can't sustain the world without Freedom and Wisdom, nor by denying or twisting the Truth. And each Ideal has its adherents who feel that it is paramount to the success of civilization.

Our western civilization recognizes all four of these Ideals as crucial. It may seem that we have forgotten them on occasion, in our distractions and pursuit of selfishness, but we know that we should make them our own primary concerns. The distractions, and selfish choices, are ways by which we fail to become our best selves, and fail to serve the God who created us. But that is also why we are encouraged to turn our lives around. God wants us to live a more spiritual life, in community, and to aspire to build a great civilization that embodies the best ways to practice those Ideals.

So this is our task, to examine our lives to see where we may be failing to be our best selves, and to seek ways to improve. Pace yourself to change the way you adapt to your culture, step by step, to remove the causes of harm. Then gently change your life to incorporate practical ways of living from the essential Ideals, so as to reflect the Kingdom of God.

Remember, simply removing a practice that we don't want to continue is often not enough. We must find something to desire to take its place. Pick something better to do with your time. Find whatever change you can within yourself first, then call your friends to follow a better way.
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These are the usual ways that we organize our lives, and relate to one another. It's not just about what you believe. But, whatever you allow to rule your life, that is your god (small "g"). That is why we need to apply our ideals to every one of these areas, and observe the principles that keep them in proper order and orientation. How should Love, Freedom, Truth and Wisdom be applied in each area of our lives?

The ancient Greek Pantheon is usually listed as follows. I don't feel the need to go into too much detail, as most of us should be at least superficially familiar with these from any study of history, or even popular references. And they are somewhat self-explanatory.

1. Zeus - commands & justice

2. Hera - influence & maternity

3. Poseidon - travel & fortune

4. Ares - power & discipline

5. Aphrodite - pleasure & sexuality

6. Athena - reason & wisdom

7. Apollo - music & mathematics

8. Hephaistos - technology & invention

9. Hermes - mystery & messages

10. Dionysus - madness & intoxication

11. Artemis - wildlands & ecology

12. Demeter - agriculture & produce

13. Hestia - hearth & homemaking

You probably thought there were only twelve, but actually there were nearer to a hundred, breaking the natural world up into small bits. These were the main ones. Still, remember that the ancient peoples kept a calendar by watching the Moon, and had to add a thirteenth month about every other year to keep up with the Sun. Hestia, the homemaker, was often too busy to join the twelve in council, and so, rarely contributed her opinions. It was the same to be a wife in ancient Greece, expected to stay home most of the time.

These are things that continue to interest people, even today, for better or worse. If it's for the worse, it is because it has been disconnected from the proper observance of the real Ideals that we are meant to follow. Some of these may seem to be intrinsically wrong, but that is because they are not supposed to be anyone's central concern. They probably still have their place, but not in the center of our lives. If we are going to live really balanced lives, I doubt that we could do that by focusing on any one of these areas exclusively.

Someone might have noticed a couple of conspicuous absences:

Hades, the god of death and the underworld, was never a central interest. Death was seen as inevitable, a dread necessity. To be daily obsessed with death was a sign of mental instability. No one wanted the profession of undertaker. A person's family or friends would be the ones to take care of the last rites and the burial. Everyone who even attended a funeral had to be purified. Some token offering would be left with the dead, and each participant would have to cleanse themselves and go to a temple to pray and make a gift.

Another central aspect of life, neglected by the Greek gods, was money. There was no moneylender, nor investor, in the pantheon, not even among the minor deities. It seems apparent that they thought such concerns were too materialistic, dangerously close to vice and maltreatment of ones neighbors. Each person carried his wealth in a pouch, or kept it in a safe place, and appearing too wealthy, unless you were generous, was a bit uncouth. A good person was expected to try to help others find ways to make ends meet, and lending a few coins among your friends to start up a business or craft would increase your reputation. If they succeeded, they would repay the debt, usually with a small amount of interest. If not, one should not harass them for money they didn't have.

The Bible of the Jews and the Christians does recognize these understated and neglected issues, and presents to us the assertion that all aspects of our lives are relevant to the One God who rules over our world. God looks at the way we live, and compares it to an idealized way, what we would call an "eutopian" lifestyle, which does not violate the proper observance of his, and our, four central Ideals. To this end, He gave us laws to teach us how to discern how we should relate to each other. Then He sent prophets to criticize society, and offer guidance. And finally, He sent his Son to be the Messiah, to speak directly about Love and how to find a right relationship with Him. In this way, we avoid being obsessed with the lesser aspects of daily life, and can place them in their proper order in relation to God, who should be our ultimate concern.

God reaches out to us in personal ways, as individuals, according to our own best ways of understanding. Unless we try to resist, or simply fail to understand, it's usually not a problem. But then we have each other, our communities and our churches, to help us try to understand, if we need clarification or advice. They can help us to listen for the still small voice within, and to discern the source of what we hear.

It has become fashionable in today's world to reject the ideas of religion and deity, or even any notion of the sacred. But human beings cannot live by material concerns alone without diminishing ourselves. We eventually revert to our basic animal natures, seeking only survival and our own dominance within our group, and forget to aspire for the betterment of others. If we remember to seek the good of society, it is only for the sake of promoting our own offspring, or because we cannot shake our inner life free of the spirituality we deny.

We have a spiritual nature, which needs to seek out whatever can be our best ways to live a good life, and to relate positively to each other. The spiritual Ideals, and a good number of specific ways to live them, are already ingrained in our human nature, as essential principles. This is why our history shows a trend, however slow, toward better ways to live. We build up nations, societies, cultures and ideologies to bring out those Ideals and principles in practical ways that help us to live together in peace, and point the way toward a better, more fruitful and enlightened future. Without the Ideals, our societies would remain fragmented, and our souls selfish and broken. Without our trying to mold our cultures to emulate God's way toward eutopia, our civilization would not progress, and our lives would still be dirty, nasty, brutish and short.

What was Judas doing?

What in the world did Judas think he was doing? His actions show a special kind of lack of imagination. But then he was used to being amazed by what Jesus said and did, often even in a tight spot. It happened all the time.

Did he have any idea of what was going to happen to Jesus, if Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin got their hands on him? Did he not realize that Jesus was a threat to their power and authority, no matter what kind of Messiah he was trying to be?

1. If Jesus was a revolutionary, to throw the Romans out of Judaea, and set up a Jewish state, that would start a terrible war. It wouldn't be the first time, and Rome was tired of rebels. Judaea would be crushed. Many people would die, and the Jewish leaders would be ruined. The Roman legions would destroy everything.

2. If Jesus was a pacifist, content to be a preacher, performing miracles, and trying to reform the faith, the people would soon decide to promote him to a position of leadership. This would put their current leaders out on the street, and the whole cult of sacrifice would be upended, not just the money changers and vendors.

3. If Jesus had designs to take over the authority of Judaea, and peacefully let the Roman's withdraw, it was never going to happen.  The High Priest and Sanhedrin would be ousted, and the whole Law would be cast into doubt, pending his personal reinterpretation. Not just the sacrifices, but a whole faction of society, the Pharisees, would lose their place. And the Romans were going nowhere.

4. If Jesus made a public proclamation, which He was fond of doing, that the whole Messiah prophecy had been completely misunderstood, that it wasn't the Romans who were the enemy, but Satan and his minions ... If He made it crystal clear that his Kingdom belongs to Heaven and the world-to-come, the people would lose interest. There would soon be so few followers that there would be no more threat, and no need for any crucifixion. The whole program of salvation would have failed miserably.

Surely, a man who had followed Jesus for three years, would  have listened to Him speak publicly and privately, observed, and even participated in his miracles, and tried to model his behavior after the Master's teachings. How could he not know what would happen?

But we all have the capacity to be overly optimistic, even to the point of deceiving ourselves. Maybe he thought that by simply bringing Jesus before Caiaphas, he could create a crisis that would force Jesus to reveal his actual plans and program. He was trying to kick-start history, and get the ball rolling toward a resolution that would put Jesus in a position of high authority, playing the part He was destined for.

Judas did not mean to betray his Master. When Jesus said that one of his picked twelve would betray him, Judas was as surprised as the rest. And then Jesus told him to go ahead and do what he planned. This was also Jesus' plan, even though He was afraid of what was going to happen. Judas very likely thought the money was a charity for the poor, since that was his job. It was only when Jesus asked if he meant to betray Him with a kiss, then he began to see how things were going terribly wrong.

Still, Judas had faith that Jesus would be able to say the right thing. "The Truth will set you free," as Jesus often said. Judas thought that Jesus could talk his way out of this, and things would get back on track. Maybe the Jewish leaders would even stop giving them so much flak, and let Jesus teach in peace, right in the Temple if He wanted. Jesus always said that, by closely listening to the Holy Spirit, He would be given the right words to speak to the persons in front of Him.

But Judas did not know what had to happen. He did not know that Caiaphas had no interest in listening, but only wanted the Sanhedrin to judge Jesus as guilty of stirring up trouble. He did not know that Jesus did not intend to talk his way out of this. Jesus was looking at this from the ultimate perspective, seeing what his death would mean, and He chose to be silent, until his few answers would only inflame his judges. Judas was dismayed to see this situation unfold, clearly getting out of hand.

Even when Jesus was paraded back and forth between Pilate and Herod, Judas continued to hope Jesus would say something to save Himself from the final humiliation and agony of the cross. "It doesn't have to end this way," he said to himself. But Jesus remained reticent, saying only enough to let Pilate doubt that He deserved crucifixion. And then he heard the unbelievable shouts in the street below Pilate's balcony, "Crucify him!" His spirit was nearly crushed. He hotly confronted Caiaphas, throwing the pitiful offering of thirty silver coins back in his face. It was unclean, "blood money," and could no longer simply be given to the needy.

It was all that Judas could do, just to follow Jesus and watch his agony as He carried his cross through town, out the gate, and up the hill to the execution grounds. Maybe He could still do a great miracle, and impress everyone, showing that He really is the Messiah sent by God to be the shepherd of his people. But every hammer blow struck his mind as painfully as they did the Master's flesh, and when the cross slipped into its upright position, Judas cried out and fell to his knees and down on his face.

And then it was over. Judas knew that the other disciples would blame him for all that had happened. All of their hopes and dreams were smashed beyond any chance of repair. No one would ever let him have any peace, because he was the one who had betrayed his Messiah, his people and his God. His own conscience would haunt him every day, forever and always, to the end of the world. It doesn't matter that his mind is wracked with regret, that he is more sorry for this than he has been for anything before. Nothing went the way it was supposed to go, and now, nothing would ever be the way his Master... his best ever friend... had wanted it to be.

He could not live with what he had done. The burden was too great. Was this the "cross" that Jesus said we each must bear? This was truly the weight of the world, and there was no way to escape it. Jesus died. And so it was, so must he. Judas found a rope, and went looking for a tree by a cliff. He hoisted himself up, crying with remorse for his sin, and for this unavoidable thing he had to do. At last, he remembered that Jesus had said the Father was always merciful. So he prayed, no matter how futile it might be, for some forgiveness of this unforgivable sin, and ended by asking Jesus, too. Then he allowed himself to fall.

The sentinels found him the next morning, where he lay with his neck broken, and his stomach burst from the impact upon the rocks below. The rope was too rotten to properly hang him. There was a pack of dogs fighting over his guts, but the grave digger gathered what he could and put him in an unmarked pit in the field where the beggars were laid.

No one knows what Judas really expected to come from the meeting between Jesus and Caiaphas. Maybe he didn't know what to expect, himself. He just wanted Jesus to get his program started, and receive the respect that He deserved.

And in Truth, that is what happened.
May God have mercy on his soul.

Why is getting into Space so important?

My wife, a devout Catholic, asked me this question. I'm not entirely sure if my answer was satisfactory in her opinion.

First of all, I want to assert that I do believe in God's promises, but I'm not one who totally spiritualizes them. I know that God does much, if not the vast majority, of his work through natural means, and often by our own efforts. Which is not to say that miracles don't happen, but that they are special when they do. And I instinctively take strong issue with the too literal anti-scientific interpretations of holy scripture, as an illegitimate use of faith to oppress the free use of reason.

That is why we are each given a part to play in his plans for his Kingdom here on earth. And yes, it is very important that we remember and understand that Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is at hand, among us, spread upon the earth, if we would only see it. The Kingdom is in our hearts, and it is up to us to manifest it in the ways that we treat one another in our daily lives.

We can bring an end to the oppression and injustice, and the poverty and infirmity, and the spiritual blindness that plague our world, if we cling to God steadfastly and depend on his grace and guidance. It is not something that any one of us can do, but it requires a shared vision of how we wish to glorify Him, in radical obedience to his plan. And when we accept that we are all responsible for this, we can also see that it is for us to build our part of the Kingdom of Heaven as well. The Kingdom flows from within us, as we offer ourselves in humble obedience to his will.

But I skipped over that part when I tried to answer my wife's question. Instead, I said, for thousands of years we have thought of Heaven as being somewhere above the vaults of the sky. Only recently have we tried to change that, when we learned that the night sky is full of stars and planets and awesome depths that we can barely understand. The Heavens have always been up, literally, far above us, beyond our grasp, and all we could do was to pray that God would not forget us.

But, SURPRISE !! That has changed, and there is something new under the Sun. King Solomon would have been astonished speechless to hear that a man has been to the Moon, walked on its surface, and then returned ... and it wasn't a dream, or even a heavenly vision! And the great commission that Jesus gave his apostles has now been accomplished as well. The whole world has been reached with the Gospel, into every nook and cranny, by radio, available to every soul to listen if they want to hear it. We cannot force them to listen, it is up to God's grace to prompt them to listen in curiosity.

Our technology has marked us out as a mature species. We are coming of age in our galaxy, with radio and rockets, and the science to understand our place in the Cosmos. But we must remember to remain humble in spirit before God, and to deal gently with our brothers and sisters who share the Earth with us. It will not be long before we learn how to build places on the other worlds in our solar system, and in empty space itself, where we can live apart from the Earth. But without the Kingdom in our hearts, the climb into space could be worse than meaningless.

There are vast resources out there that we can use to build those new settlements, and also to finance the reorganization of food and resource distribution on the Earth that will finally end the systemic poverty that has always plagued us. And once we see that the majority of our resource needs can be met in space, we can stop the crude and rapacious mining and ruining of our planet, and focus on recycling and cleaning up the messes we have already made.

We have been worried that the asteroids could fall and destroy us, but they are like a vast savings account that we can draw on, once we can reach them. And the orbital infrastructure of making the "rapture," lifting many people into space, affordable will make resource distribution equitable to all regions of the world. Scientists are working on the materials to build a cable car to replicate Jacob's vision of a ladder to Heaven, and the same materials can build a stationary ring in orbit, to give us a toe-hold for all of the commuters, and a depot for global and space shipping.

Jesus said that He was going to Heaven to be with the Father, so that he could prepare a place for us, and there would be many mansions awaiting us when we arrived. He has done that, and a place in our hearts has been prepared, and is nearly ready. We have the beginnings of plans to build the first settlements on the Moon, where we can prospect for asteroid impacts, and build factories for the modules we will use to build giant space stations and colonies for those who will work in space.

We need only make peace among our nations, so that we can finally hammer our swords into ploughshares. That work has already begun. Our nuclear weapons are being dismantled, and we are using that technology to build generators for the energy we need. And even better ways to make energy can be devised in space. But first, we need to find a fair way to end the conflicts here on Earth, so that we do not carry them up above with us. Conflicts in space would be incredibly devastating, involving whole populations. An attack on a space habitat would make the Holocaust look like Custer's massacre of a Cheyenne village. So a just peace is a necessary condition for safety and security in space.

But you can now see, perhaps, why I think the efforts to reach the Moon and Mars, and to build new homes in space is critical for the human future. What we learn, and what we will need to build and establish a place for humanity away from Earth, will also be a boon for those who remain. And it is the penultimate promise that God has given us, for our salvation. Once we have achieved that part of his plan for us, all that remains is to extend the span of our lives.  True immortality and the resurrection of the dead may be tasks beyond our ability, and something only God can do, at least for the foreseeable future.