Jesus delivered some hard sayings to His disciples concerning the eating of His flesh and the drinking of His blood. It says, “from that time many of his disciples went back.” But they went back, not because Jesus told them of the overwhelming works they would have to do in order to be worthy of eating His flesh and drinking His blood. Rather, it was just the reverse. They left because it did not depend upon works, but rather upon the sheer grace of God. Much of the time religious men exult in the strain of trying to become worthy, and the rest of the time they wallow in being unworthy. And so they pulled back because of the sovereignty of grace. No man can come to me, Jesus said, unless it is given to him. There it is – gift.
So, are you unworthy? Then you qualify. Are you sinful? Then you have need. Are you at the end of yourself? Glory to God. Are you a mess? Then a place here is reserved just for you. May God the Spirit soften our hardness of heart. How could we possibly earn hunger?
One of our great sins is that of looking at this meal as some sort of reward or trophy. There are such blessings, but not here. We are like a toddler in a high chair, less than a year old, looking up at another spoonful of food from our gracious mother the Church, and we ask, “Is there anything I can do? Mow the lawn? Get a job? After all, I do need to be worthy!” And the answer of grace is, “No, you dear little fathead. Just open your mouth.”