Dear fellow ‘non-cannibals’, unite!
by Pastor Steve Liersch
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So Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you’ (John 6:53).
Read John 6:51–58
It should come as no surprise that the early Christians, and all those of us throughout history since our Lord Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, should be misunderstood for what we believe and teach.
Historian Jackson Morgan wrote:
It is a historical fact that in the church’s early years, Christians were persecuted vigorously by the Roman Empire. In justifying this persecution, the Romans made all sorts of charges against the Christian community. We learn from the second-century Christian apologists Justin Martyr and Athenagoras that the three main accusations levied against Christians were atheism, incest, and cannibalism. The charge of atheism came from their refusal to worship the Roman pantheon of ‘gods’ (for more on this, see Justin Martyr’s First Apology, chapters 5 and 6). We also know the charge of incest originated from the Christian concept of being united as ‘one family in Christ’, which meant husbands and wives would refer to each other as ‘brothers and sisters in Christ’. To an outsider, this could easily come off the wrong way.
The third charge, that of cannibalism, he found fascinating. Why were they accused of cannibalism? And on what grounds? It was because of their belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and their belief that they actually ate the flesh of Christ and drank his blood. As Romans overheard Christians talking about consuming the flesh and blood of Christ, it would have been incredibly easy to misinterpret the act as cannibalism.
In his plea for the Christians (written circa 176 AD), Athenagoras addresses the charge of cannibalism in a letter addressed to the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. He argues that Christians are not cannibals because cannibalism requires that the flesh of the victim be dead. He simply observes: ‘ … you cannot eat human flesh unless you have killed someone.’ Christians are, therefore, not cannibals because the flesh of Christ that is consumed is not dead flesh but the resurrected and fully alive flesh of Christ’s glorified body, which is given to them by Christ himself.
Praise God for the work of the Holy Spirit to enable us to believe the truth (the word), to confess it regularly (our creeds) and to receive Jesus continually in our times of worship (holy communion).
Life-giving God, thank you for revealing your truths to us and providing a way for us to believe and confess them by the power of your Holy Spirit. Amen.
Pastor Steve Liersch and his wife are almost empty nesters as their three adult children explore the world with work. They live in the southern coastal suburbs of Perth near Rockingham. Steve enjoys gardening, watching sports – especially Port Power and cricket – playing sudoku and catching up with friends. Sharing God’s love with others is still ranked as his top thing to do.
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