Gospel: John 6: 52-59
To partake of communion is to express in deed the desire and intention to be in communion with the Lord, to be the Lord in our own life and deeds. To consume another is to identify with them, to seek to be like them in all we do. This is the fundamental meaning of communion, the partaking of which is itself a profession of faith, the declaration of our intention to imitate the Lord in all we do.
As the crowd considers this fact, they slowly walk away one by one. They come to the realization that they do not want to be like the Lord Jesus. After all, it is a hard thing to love ones enemies, to forgive all people all things, to extend mercy and love to everyone. It is a much easier life to continue in our life of vengeance and animosity toward others, to live in our little circles that exclude and judge so many.
At least that original crowd was honest. We have instead pretended to follow and identify with the Lord by reinventing him to suit our tastes. We create a Jesus who justifies violence and judgment against the same people we dislike. We create a Jesus who excludes the same people we exclude, a Jesus who would act and reason as we do. To receive communion, however, is to plunge oneself entirely into the depths of the Gospel and the entire life of Jesus, to take on a radical love for the world as Jesus did.
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