Christ returned

“Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him” John 6:56

The 12 are sitting around a table with Jesus. He had an important message for them and he wanted them to know the implications of that message. He told them that he would soon be leaving and that where he went they could not follow.

They could not accept this news, especially Peter. Peter said he would follow Jesus anywhere, even to death. But Jesus knew that Peter’s mission could not end with death just yet. Peter, along with the other disciples had a very specific mission.

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”

Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.

“This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. Mark 14:22–24

Christians continue the tradition of communion in order to remember what Christ has done. But the overall message of Jesus tells us that there’s a deeper meaning to taking his body and blood.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. John 6:56

Communion is more than remembering, it is becoming.

A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.

If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me. John 14:19–21, 23–24

Here we see that Jesus will no longer be in the world, but will be made known to those who love him. Additionally, Jesus has qualitatively equated himself to his disciples and to the Father. “I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” In the next quote we have Jesus more explicitly making himself of the same substance as the father.

If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him. John 14:7

All over scripture we see the message of equality

I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. John 17:22

Equality is not only spoken but its also demonstrated.

So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. John 13:12–15

If we take these sayings to heart then we must walk away with a simple but powerful message. Those who follow Jesus are meant to be the return of Christ. While the Romans could kill a man, they could not kill an idea. Jesus allowed himself to be killed in hopes of sparing those he loved long enough for the seed he planted in them to grow.

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. Mark 10:45

I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. John 12:24

To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade. Mark 4:30–32

The mission of the Church is to be Christ to the world. The people of God are the will of God, Jesus himself, and the Father. The Church in a literal sense was always meant to be the return of Christ. This is the good news, that Christ is alive and God has made his home in the world through us.

The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit. John 3:8

Its up to each person to come to this realization, that he is to be Christ to the world. That he has taken individual responsibility to love his own like Christ loved his own.

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. John 13:34