Firbush Retreats Firbush retreats are organized and led by Robert T. Walker. Firbush retreats are designed to make the best theology accessible to as many people as possible and especially those not trained in theology and often not familiar with routine technical terms. They combine times of worship and prayer with reflection on a theme related to Torrance theology. For more information see https://tftorrance.org/firbush. ----------- Firbush Retreat Fall 2016??? Robert T. Walker, John 6, eucharist https://tftorrance.org/firbushF2016 Nov 2, 2016 The audio recording for this presentation is available on the Firbush Retreat section of the website for the Thomas F. Torrance Theological Fellowship. The following AI transcript is too rough to rely upon, but perhaps useful for word searches and time-stamps. It is unretouched; if anyone wishes to listen to it and clean it up we will be happy to post an improved version (contact the webmasters). We invite speakers to send us slides for their talks, which we will post alongside the audios and transcripts. If any speaker wishes to have their talk removed from the website, just let us know and we'll take down both the audio and the transcript. ------------ 00:00-00:13 John 6 is not about the Lord's Supper or the Eucharist, but what it says lies at the very heart of the Lord's Supper and of the Eucharist. 00:13-00:30 The flesh of Christ is bread, it's food. And in the Greek the words used are quite strong. 00:30-00:36 It's actually "unless you munch my flesh there's no life in you". 00:36-00:43 Now how can Jesus possibly be saying that his flesh is food? 00:43-00:48 He goes on to say that the flesh avails nothing. 00:48-00:56 The words that he's spoken to his disciples are spirit and they're life. 00:56-01:02 And yet he does say "my flesh is food unless you eat this flesh". 01:02-01:07 And he says that their fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. 01:07-01:11 If you eat me you will never die. 01:11-01:15 So what can they possibly mean by that? 01:15-01:20 There are several other references in this verse. 01:20-01:24 John, these verses, John is concentrated theology. 01:24-01:35 There's a reference to his death, the bread that he'll give is his flesh, which he'll give for the life of the world. 01:35-01:37 A reference to his death. 01:37-01:43 There's a reference to his ascension. 01:43-01:51 What would you say if you were to see the Son of Man ascending? 01:51-01:54 There's a reference to the Incarnation. 01:54-02:02 This is the one who came down from heaven, manna in the wilderness. 02:02-02:08 And so all these things are bound up together. 02:08-02:14 The Incarnation, the death, the ascension, the spirit, the word. 02:14-02:17 And that's typical of John. 02:17-02:21 It's one whole Christ. 02:21-02:25 And typical of John is all the "I am" sayings. 02:25-02:28 I am this, I am that. 02:28-02:32 And that's the "I am" of the burning bush. 02:32-02:36 The same Greek words, "Ego Aime". 02:36-02:38 The same word "Lord". 02:38-02:41 The New Testament is the Yahweh of the Old Testament. 02:41-02:44 So Jesus is saying that he is. 02:44-02:49 He is the resurrection in the life. He is the way, the truth and the life. 02:49-02:53 It's not just that he gives these things. He is the bread of life. 02:53-02:57 His flesh is the bread of life. 02:57-03:00 But the flesh is of no avail. 03:00-03:04 It's because he is the Word become flesh. 03:04-03:10 The life of God in the flesh, who gives life to the flesh. 03:10-03:15 That this flesh now is life giving flesh. 03:15-03:20 Paul in Romans, Romans 5 says, "If we've been reconciled by the death of Christ, 03:20-03:27 by the death of Christ, how much more will be reconciled by his life, 03:27-03:34 i.e. by his risen life in heaven." 03:34-03:40 And so his flesh can mean nothing less than his risen humanity. 03:40-03:45 The risen humanity imbued with knowledge of the Father, 03:45-03:50 imbued with love and righteousness and faithfulness and truth. 03:50-03:57 In Isaiah 53 you get this rather remarkable phrase that, 03:57-04:03 "The suffering servant would make many righteous by his knowledge, 04:03-04:09 not simply by dying for a place of sacrifice, but by his knowledge." 04:09-04:14 The risen Christ is the man who knows God, 04:14-04:19 who is in hypostatic union with the Word. 04:19-04:25 And therefore his Word is forever imbued with the very life of God. 04:25-04:32 And in that is the humanity, which is our life. 04:32-04:42 Before the Passover Jesus said, "How earnestly I have desired to drink the cup with you, 04:42-04:49 and I will no more drink it till I drink it at the fruit of the vine with you in the kingdom." 04:49-04:57 And before the cross at the Passover meal he cemented the disciples 04:57-05:03 and of course earth with the disciples to himself in the sacred covenant, 05:03-05:05 an eternal covenant. 05:05-05:15 And then after the cross he drank the wine again anew with his disciples in the kingdom. 05:15-05:21 And so in the Reformed understanding the Lord's Supper as we have it is not just the Passover, 05:21-05:28 it's the Passover linked with the resurrection, linked with the Messianic meals of feeding 05:28-05:31 that he had enacted in Galilee. 05:31-05:38 At the Passover it was normal for Jews to leave a piece of bread 05:38-05:45 and a cup of wine for the Messiah in case the Messiah suddenly came during the celebrations. 05:45-05:50 And Jesus took that bread and said, "This is my body." 05:50-05:54 And he took the wine and said, "This is my blood, eat it." 05:54-05:59 And it's his Messianic life which we eat at the Passover. 05:59-06:06 And it's the whole Christ, not just the ascended Christ, the risen Christ, 06:06-06:11 it's the Christ who died, the Christ who is baptized. 06:11-06:15 And it's Christ himself we feed on. 06:15-06:18 This is a personal royal invitation. 06:18-06:24 You might get an invitation from a Queen to attend a garden party at Holyrood House 06:24-06:26 and you'd say, "Great." 06:26-06:31 It would be written by one of her lackeys and somebody had recommended you. 06:31-06:37 But if the Queen herself came and gave you herself the invitation, 06:37-06:41 that would mean a thousand times more to you. 06:41-06:48 At the supper it's Christ's personal royal invitation to each of us. 06:48-06:51 He is present at the supper. 06:51-06:54 He is the communicant. 06:54-06:57 He is the officiating minister. 06:57-07:02 Though he's in heaven, he is here just as much as he would be 07:02-07:07 if he were actually here in the flesh, here through the Spirit, but really present. 07:07-07:12 And he says, "This is me. I'm not a ghost." 07:12-07:15 When he rose they thought he was a ghost. 07:15-07:18 He said, "Touch me. Give me fish to eat. 07:18-07:22 Take eat. This is my risen life. This is your new humanity." 07:22-07:27 And in the Lord's Supper, again John 6 is not about the Lord's Supper, 07:27-07:33 but it's very much the heart of it, we have communion with the whole Christ. 07:33-07:39 In his baptism, he who had no need to be baptised, 07:39-07:41 was baptised to fulfil all righteousness. 07:41-07:46 His whole life was a baptism, as he said, fulfilled on the cross. 07:46-07:52 And at the supper we celebrate the death of Christ. 07:52-07:55 We are put to death by the whole Christ. 07:55-07:58 Our sins are put to death by his death. 07:58-08:02 We are raised to new life in his resurrection. 08:02-08:08 And in union with Christ, everything in union with Christ, 08:08-08:12 in union with Christ we share in his leading of us, 08:12-08:17 in his Eucharistic prayer of thanksgiving before the Father. 08:17-08:22 But the bread of life is Christ himself, 08:22-08:26 in all his goodness and righteousness and faith and worship and truth, 08:26-08:29 which is ours. We feed on it. 08:29-08:34 In our baptism we are sealed once and for all to him. 08:34-08:39 But in the supper we are continually renewed in our baptism 08:39-08:48 and fed with the Word, with the risen humanity of Christ, 08:48-08:55 the risen humanity of Christ which is alive forevermore in union with God. 08:55-08:57 Let us pray. 08:57-09:09 We pray, O God, the light of your Spirit on all we have heard and learned and discussed 09:09-09:16 and been challenged by and grappled with, 09:16-09:25 with all we are as yet unsure of or not at all sure of or disagree with. 09:25-09:35 We pray that through the Spirit, the flesh that you took from us in your incarnation, 09:35-09:43 that you cleansed and hallowed and raised into eternal life 09:43-09:47 and which you give to us in your Word and Spirit, 09:47-09:54 that we will take it, take you and be fed day by day. 09:54-10:01 Until that day when we drink it in your presence in the Kingdom 10:01-10:07 and feed on you and share your life in the Kingdom. 10:07-10:12 We pray this in your name. Amen. 10:12-10:19 And we'll close with him. 10:19-10:29 Apologies if anybody else had hoped to use this hymn later on. 10:29-10:48 Hymn 445.