圣约翰·亨利·纽曼说：「人不能靠自己获得幸福。」 St. John Henry Newman said, "Man is not sufficient for his own happiness.
「除非有神的同在，人不会真正幸福。」神渴望与 我们分享祂的生命，因此在圣餐中与我们相遇。 He is not happy except the presence of God be with him." God desires to share His life with us, and so meets us within time during Holy Communion.
圣餐是我们在世上最宝贵的财富，也是我们对天堂最大的盼望。 The Eucharist is our greatest treasure on Earth and our greatest hope for Heaven.
如果没有神慈爱的呼唤，我们的人生就无法理解。 Our lives are incomprehensible, except under the gentle call of God's love.
祂通过圣餐的奥秘呼唤我们。 He calls to us through the Eucharistic mystery.
这不仅仅是世上的呼唤，而是邀请我们与真实活着的神相遇。 This is no merely earthly call, but a summoning to an encounter with the real and living presence of God.
两千年来，无数圣堂里的灯光闪烁着，基督里的神的同在以不息的光辉照亮我们的心灵。 Glimmering from the lamps of countless sanctuaries throughout two millennia, God's presence in Christ illumines our souls in unbroken light.
祂沉默无声。 He is silent.
祂隐藏着，但祂就在这里。 He is hidden, but He is here.
现在我们来到入门圣事中的第三项，也就是归入基督的第三个重要圣事。 We now come to the third of the great sacraments of initiation or incorporation.
我们已经讲过了洗礼、坚振礼，现在要讲圣餐。 We've done baptism, confirmation, and now the Holy Eucharist.
它不仅是三大入门圣事中的第三项，更是七件圣事中最重要的一项。 Not only is it the third of the great sacraments of initiation, it is the most important of the seven sacraments.
为什么我要这样说呢？ And why do I say that?
托马斯·阿奎那是这样说的。 Thomas Aquinas put it this way.
在其他六件圣事里，彰显的是基督的能力。 In the other six sacraments, the Virtus Christi is on display.
也就是基督的能力。 That means the power of Christ.
但在圣餐中，阿奎那说：「Ipse Christus， 基督自己临在。」因此，圣餐与其他圣事有本质的不同。 But in the Eucharist, Thomas says, "Ipse Christus is present, Christ Himself." Therefore, there's a qualitative difference between the Eucharist and the other sacraments.
是基督自己，Ipse Christus，亲自临在。 Christ Himself, Ipse Christus, is on display.
正因如此，梵二大公会议有一句极为著名的话：「圣餐是基督徒生活的泉源与高峰。」 It's precisely why Vatican II said in one of its most memorable lines that the Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life.
我们的生命从这里开始，也归向这里。 It's where it comes from and where it's going.
从某种意义上说，圣餐就是一切。 The Eucharist, in a way, everybody, is everything.
让我先用一个故事来说明。 Let me get at this first with a story.
几年前，我和一位朋友骑自行车从巴黎到罗马。 Um, some years ago with a friend of mine, I did a bike ride, bicycle ride from Paris to Rome.
我曾在巴黎学习，所以会说法语，沿途在法国的旅馆都是我负责。 So I had studied in, in Paris, so I spoke French and I handled the, the French, uh, hotels on the way.
他曾在罗马学习，所以意大利的旅馆由他负责。 He had studied in Rome and he handled the, the Italian hotels.
我们就这样骑车从巴黎一路到罗马。 And we rode our bikes from Paris to Rome.
那真是一段特别的旅程。 It was quite a trip.
我们花了大约16天。 It took us about 16 days.
每天大约骑行七八十英里。 We did about 70 or 80 miles a day.
那时候我的身体状况还不错。 I was in better shape in those days.
总之，我们一路上都还挺顺利。 Uh, well anyway, uh, we're going along and we're doing fine.
我记得是在法国南部的某个地方。 And it was somewhere in the South of France, I remember.
那天大概骑到了第40英里，应该是旅程的第七八天。 We're maybe in mile 40 of that day, so I was, what, seven or eight days into the trip.
我经历了以前只在书上看到过、但自己从未真正体会过的『撞墙』。 I had the experience I'd read about, but never actually had had, the experience of hitting the wall.
你知道那是什么感觉吗？ You know what that is?
那不是说你只是累了或者觉得辛苦。 That means, it doesn't mean you're just getting tired or you're having a tough time.
而是你真的走不动了。 It means you can't go on.
你的身体就像在说：「我不行了。」就像汽车没油了一样。 It's your body just says, "I'm out." It's like a car get- is out of gas.
就是怎么也动不了了。 It just won't go.
于是我示意我的朋友，我真的骑不动了。 And so I, I signaled to my friend that I, I just, I couldn't go on.
我们自行车旁边都挂着小包。 Well, we always had in the- we had these little kind of bags on the side of the, of the, uh, bikes.
包里总是放着大大的法棍面包，对吧？ We always had these big French baguettes, right?
当然还有很多水。 And of course, a lot of water.
于是我就坐了下来。 So I just sat down.
我记得很清楚。 I remember it vividly.
我开始吃那根法棍面包，就是想让身体补充点碳水化合物，然后又喝了些水。 I just, I just started eating this baguette just to get, you know, carbs or whatever into my system and then drinking water.
大约半小时后，我终于能重新上车继续骑了。 And after maybe a half hour, okay, I was able to get back on the bike and go.
但我真的撞墙了。 But I had hit the wall.
我完全耗尽了体力。 I had just completely run out of energy.
圣餐对我们的灵性生活也应该有类似的作用。 The Eucharist should have that kind of relationship to our spiritual lives.
它就是我们旅途中迫切需要的食粮。 It's the food that we desperately need for the journey.
这里还有一个相关的故事。 Here's a related story.
大概是十年前的事。 Oh, maybe this was 10 years ago.
那是我第一次在圣彼得大殿共祭弥撒。 It was my first time, uh, concelebrating mass at St. Peter's Basilica, one of these...
我记得那是复活节弥撒，是一场大型的户外弥撒。 and I, I think it was Easter mass, big outdoor mass, you know.
我是其中一位祭司，他们让我协助分送圣餐。 And I was one of the priests and, and they asked me to help distribute communion.
我以为到时候会有人告诉我该去哪里。 So I just assumed that at the, at the propitious moment, someone would show me exactly where to go.
我以为一切都会安排得井井有条。 It would be all very well organized.
结果并不是这样。 Well, it wasn't.
他们把圣餐盒递给我，我无助地看着司仪，问：「我该怎 么做？」他只说：「出去，出去。」于是我就出去了。 They, they handed you the ciborium and, and I looked sort of plaintively at the emcee, and I said, like, "What do I do?" And he went, "Go out." "Go out." And so, so I did.
我就这样走进了人山人海的群众中。 I just, I just waded into this enormous crowd.
我停下来开始分送圣餐，用拉丁文说，因为现场有来自不同语言的人。 And at one point I stopped and I began distributing, and I was saying it in Latin 'cause people were from all the different languages.
我一直在说：「Corpus Christi，Corpus Christi。」这一幕深深印在我的脑海里，所有这些人…… I was saying, "Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi." Well, it's, it's just emblazoned in my mind, all these people...
当然，现场也有意大利人特有的混乱。 Now, part of it was just the natural Italian chaos, you know?
但他们都向我伸出手，说：「per favore。」 But stretching out their hands to me and saying, per favore.
「per favore。」「神父，求您了。」 per favore." "Father, please.
「求您了。」而我一直说：「Corpus Christi，C orpus Christi……」直到最后分完了所有圣餐。 Please." And, and I'm, "Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, Corpus..." Until finally, I ran out.
我把手里几百片圣餐都分完了，他们还像饥饿的人一样向我挤过来。 I distributed as many hundreds of hosts as I had, and then they began pressing on me like starving people.
「per favore。」 "per favore.
「per favore。」「神父。」 per favore." "Father.
「神父。」当然有些是意大利人的戏剧性表达，但我觉得，这才是对待圣餐应有的态度。 Father." Well, again, some of it's just Italian, you know, melodrama, but-But I thought, you know, that's the right attitude toward the Eucharist.
我们当中有多少人…… How many of us...
说实话，我自己也常常如此。 You know, I'm, I'm guilty as charged.
我们领受圣餐时，只是「阿们，嗯，好」，就这样过去了。 You know, receive the Eucharist, amen, mm, yep, you know.
如果没有Ipse Christus——基督自己， 没有基督徒生活的泉源与高峰，我们的灵性也会撞墙。 Without Ipse Christus, Christ himself, without the source and summit of the Christian life, we hit the wall spiritually.
我们是多么迫切地需要它，也该多么渴望它。 That's how desperately we need it and how desperately we should long for it.
那么，我们该如何体会它的重要性呢？ Now, how do we get at the importance of it?
我建议大家回去读一读《约翰福音》第六章。 I, I'd recommend going back to the sixth chapter of John's Gospel.
我建议大家回家后，拿出圣经，默想地读一读《约翰福音》第六章。 Can I recommend to everybody, when you get home, take out your Bibles and read in a meditative way the sixth chapter of John?
那一章并不长。 It's not long.
我们会发现什么呢？ What do we find now?
这一章开头就是约翰记载的五饼二鱼喂饱众人的神迹，对吧？ The chapter opens with the, uh, John's account of the feeding of the, of the, uh, thousands, right?
就是饼和鱼的增多。 The multiplication of the loaves and fishes.
这真是美妙的神迹。 Again, beautiful.
说到这里…… Talk about .
说到饥饿的人得饱足。 Talk about starving people being fed.
接下来就是耶稣在迦百农会堂发表的著名讲论。 But then it's followed by this famous discourse that Jesus gives in the Capernaum Synagogue.
许多年前，我第一次拍摄《公教》系列，走遍世界各地。我们曾在迦百 农会堂遗址拍摄，谈的正是这个主题，那是我印象最深刻的地方之一。 What, many years ago now when I was first filming the, uh, the Catholicism series that took me all over the world, that's one of the sites that stays most vividly in my mind, when we filmed in the ruins of the Capernaum Synagogue and talked about this very theme.
你还记得在那篇讲论中，耶稣说：「我就是从天上降下来的生命的粮。」 Well, you remember in that sermon, in that discourse, Jesus says, "I myself am the living bread come down from heaven.
「吃我的肉，喝我的血。」听众并没有觉得这是一篇「 多美好的讲道」，他们感到难以接受，这也可以理解。 Feed on my flesh and drink my blood." Well, the, the people listening to him, they didn't take this in like a, "What a wonderful sermon." They balked at it, and understandably.
你知道，在耶稣时代的犹太人看来，旧约明文禁止吃带血的肉。 You know, for Jews of Jesus' time, it was expressly forbidden in the Old Testament to eat animal's flesh with blood.
《利未记》和许多地方都明确禁止。 Uh, Leviticus and many other places expressly forbid it.
所以，一个人说要吃自己的肉、喝自己的血，不 仅让人觉得恶心，更在神学上令人难以接受。 And so for a, uh, a man, a human being to be talking about eating his own flesh and drinking his blood, it was not only disgusting, it was theologically objectionable.
所以，众人当然会说：「这是什么？」那么，面对这样的反对，耶稣做了什么呢？ And so, of course, the people say, wa- "What, what is this?" What did Jesus do now in the face of that objection?
你可能会以为耶稣会说：「哦，让我解释一下我的意思，大家。」 You'd think, "Oh, oh, let me explain to you what I mean, everybody.
「我的意思是，这只是个比喻。」 I mean, it's a metaphor, you know.
「这只是一个象征。」 It's a, it's a symbol.
「我不是字面上的意思，只是象征。」但耶稣并没有这样做。 Uh, I don't mean this literally, it's a symbol." He doesn't do that.
祂反而做了完全相反的事。 He does just the opposite.
祂说：「我实实在在地告诉你们。」这句话就是要大家非常认真地听。 "Amen, amen, I say to you," and that's his little code for take this very seriously.
「我实实在在地告诉你们，除非你们……」这里 希腊文很有意思，通常人吃东西的动词是…… "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you..." And the Greek here is very interesting because the word for eat, the way human beings eat, in Greek it's .
但耶稣没有用那个词。 But Jesus doesn't use that verb.
祂用了另一个动词…… He uses the verb .
你知道这个词是什么意思吗？ You know what means?
它的意思是「啃咬」，就像动物吃东西那样。 It means , like to gnaw, like the way an animal eats.
所以他们反对说：「他怎么能说出这样疯狂的话？」但耶稣说：「除非你们啃咬人子的肉、 喝祂的血，就没有生命在你们里面。」祂又说：「我的肉真是可吃的，我的血真是可喝的。 」换句话说，耶稣本可以把话说得更像比喻，但祂反而把话说得更加具体、更加真实。 So they're objecting, "How could he tell us this crazy stuff?" "Unless you gnaw on the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." And then he says to them, "My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink." In other words, when he had the opportunity to render his language more metaphorical, he turned up the heat on the language, making it more vividly realistic.
那么，大家的反应如何呢？ Well, how'd that go over?
请看《约翰福音》第六章。 Take a look at John 6.
事实上，有一节经文非常有意思，虽然耶稣时代还没有章节编号，但刚好是约6:66。 In fact, the verse that's most interesting, and this is by historical accident 'cause they didn't have the chapter, verse symbols in Jesus' time, but it happens to be John 6:66.
约6:66。 J- John 6:66.
众人的反应是，他们都离开了。 The reaction was, they all left.
只剩下彼得带领的那一小群门徒。 Except his little band, led by Peter.
顺便说一句，这也是约翰记载彼得认信的时刻。耶稣问：「你们也要离开 我吗？」弟兄姊妹们，这可以说是整本福音书中最令人动容的时刻之一。 And this is John's version, by the way, of Peter's confession, is at this moment when Jesus says, "Well, are you gonna leave me, too?" And can I suggest to you, brothers and sisters, that's one of the most poignant moments in the whole gospel.
主亲自看着那些离开祂的门徒，转向身边亲近的那一小群人，说：「你们也要离开 我吗？」当然，是彼得代表大家说出那句美丽的话：「主啊，我们还归从谁呢？」 The Lord himself looking at his, his followers have, have now left him in droves, and he turns to his little intimate band, "Are you gonna leave me, too?" And it's Peter, of course, who speaks so beautifully for all of them, "Lord, to whom should we go?
「你有永生之道。」从那一刻起，圣餐一直是基督信仰中分歧和立足的关键点。 You have the words of everlasting life." The Eucharist, everybody, has always been a divisive and standing and falling point within Christianity from that moment on.
这是难懂的教导吗？ Hard teaching?
是的，一直如此。 Yeah, always has been.
有分歧吗？ Divisive?
是的，从那天直到今天都是如此。 Yeah, it has been from that day to today.
但我们要和彼得一起说：「主啊，我们还归从谁呢？」 But we stand with Peter, "Lord, to whom should we go?
「你有永生之道。」 You have the words of everlasting life.
你向我们讲述的，正是我们生命的泉源与高峰。大家请注意接下来这一点。 You've spoken to us of something that ought to be the source and summit of our whole life." Now, watch this, everybody.
当这项伟大的教导从约翰福音第六章进入基督信仰 传统时，请听听它是如何被不断重复和确认的。 As this great teaching comes roaring up out of John 6 into the Christian tradition, listen to how it's repeated and reaffirmed.
首先，来看看几位教父的见证。 First of all, a couple things from the church fathers.
这是安提阿的依纳爵，非常早期的一位教父。 Here's from Ignatius of Antioch, so very early figure.
他说：「不信的人不参加圣餐和祷告，因为他们不承认圣餐就 是我们主耶稣基督的肉身。」再看第二世纪的殉道者游斯丁。 He says, "The unbelievers abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ."Here's Justin Martyr, second century, very early figure.
「我们所领受的，并不是普通的饼和酒；因为我们的救主耶稣基督借着神的道成为肉 身，这些经过圣餐祷告所成的食物，就是道成肉身的耶稣的肉和血。」多么震撼！ "Not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the Word of God, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer is both the flesh and the blood of the incarnate Jesus." Wow.
这是古老的文献，但正是我们今天每次弥撒所做的事，对吧？ That's an ancient text, but it's exactly what we do today at every mass, right?
借着圣餐祷告的话语，饼和酒变成了基督的身体和宝血。 By the words of the Eucharistic prayer, the bread and wine are transformed into the flesh and blood of Christ.
这就是殉道者游斯丁的见证。 That's Justin Martyr.
现在我们跳到几个世纪后的中世纪。 Now, move up several centuries into the Middle Ages.
十一世纪时，关于基督真实临在的问题爆发了激烈的争论。 A great debate broke out in the 11th century about this issue of the real presence.
当时法国图尔有一位非常聪明的修士，名叫贝伦加留。 There was a very brilliant monk from Tours in France called Berengarius.
贝伦加留是一位出色的逻辑学家，他主张：「我们所说的不是耶稣真实或字面上 的临在，而是饼和酒成为耶稣临在的有力象征。」这样说是不是更容易理解？ Berengarius, brilliant man, brilliant logician, presented the view that, "Look, we're not talking about the, the literal or real presence of Jesus, but the bread and wine become very powerful, evocative symbols of Jesus' presence." Now, easier to understand?
是的，确实更容易理解。 Yeah, no question about it.
但教会拒绝了贝伦加留的观点。 But the church said no to Berengarius.
再往前到十三世纪，1215年第四次拉特朗大公会议。 Fast-forward now to the 13th century, the Fourth Lateran Council, 1215.
教会第一次在正式教义中使用了一个词，这是我们公教徒应该珍惜的词。 The church uses for the first time in its official teaching, it's a word that we should savor, we Catholics.
这个词就是「本质变体」。 The word is transubstantiation.
教会教导说，在祝圣时，饼和酒的本质变成了基 督的身体和宝血的本质，虽然偶性没有改变。 What happens, the church taught at the, uh, at the consecration is that the substances of bread and wine change into the substances of the body and blood of Christ, even as the accidents remain.
这其实就是哲学上的说法，意思是最深层的实质发生了改变，尽管外观没有变化。 Now, that's just fancy philosophical talk for the deepest reality changes, even as the appearances remain unchanged.
这就是1215年第四次拉特朗大公会议的教导。 So there's the teaching of the church in 1215, Fourth Lateran Council.
如果你想了解详细内容，我今天无法一一展开，可以去读圣托马斯· 阿奎那《神学大全》第三部分，里面有对本质变体极为详细的解释。 If you want the real details, I can't begin to go into it today, read in the third section of Saint Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae, and you'll find a very detailed accounting of what transubstantiation means.
再往后几百年，就是宗教改革时期。 Now, go forward a few more centuries, the time of the Reformation.
马丁·路德对本质变体提出了质疑。 Martin Luther calls into question transubstantiation.
另一位重要的改革者慈运理回到贝伦加留的观点，说：「我们面对的是耶稣临 在的象征。」加尔文的解释稍微复杂一些，但总体上仍然是象征性的理解。 Ulrich Zwingli, another of the great Reformers, goes right back to Berengarius, and he says, "We're dealing with evocative symbols of Jesus' presence." John Calvin gives a somewhat more nuanced but still largely symbolic reading of the Eucharist.
那么，教会怎么回应呢？ What did the church say?
在特利腾大公会议上，教会再次说「不」。 At the Council of Trent, the church said no.
并重申了本质变体的教义。 And it reaffirmed the doctrine of transubstantiation.
再快进到二十世纪。 Now, fast-forward to the 20th century.
有些神学家——我在修院时读过不少——他们说：「其实我们说的是意义 变体或目的变体。」意思是说，弥撒中饼和酒的意义发生了变化，普通的 饼和酒在弥撒中获得了更深的意义，或者说它们的目的发生了变化。 There were theologians, I read a lot of them when I was coming of age as a, as a seminarian, who said, "You know, what we're dealing with here is transignification or transfinalization." Fancy way of saying, "Look, the significance of the bread and wine change in the course of a mass, so ordinary bread and wine now take on a deeper significance during the mass." Or transfinalization, their purpose changes.
那么，教会怎么回应？ What did the church say?
教会说：「不行。」 Uh-uh.
圣教宗保禄六世写过一篇关于圣餐的重要通谕，他说：「你可以谈 意义或目的的变化，但那是因为在本体层面发生了更深的改变。」 Saint Pope Paul VI writes the great encyclical on the Eucharist in which he says, "Okay, you can talk about the change of meaning or purpose, but that's because there's been a deeper change to level of being.
「因为本质改变了，其他一切也随之改变。」但你必须重申本质变体。 Because the substance is changed, these other things have changed too." Okay, but you've got to reaffirm transubstantiation.
我的重点在这里，大家。 Here's my point, everybody.
从约翰福音第六章到保禄六世，教会一直坚定不移地重 申这个奇特、令人不安、却又奇妙的真实临在教义。 From John VI to Paul VI, the church has been stubbornly reaffirming this strange and disturbing and unnerving and wonderful teaching of the real presence.
好的。 Okay.
在做了这个简短的神学回顾之后，我想以我最喜欢的二十世纪 圣餐神学家——伟大的作家弗兰纳里·奥康纳的故事来结尾。 W- with that little theological survey in mind, can I close with my favorite 20th century Eucharistic theologian, the great writer, Flannery O'Connor?
你们知道她的故事吗？ You know the story about her?
弗兰纳里·奥康纳，我认为她是二十世纪最伟大的公教小说家。 Flannery O'Connor, um, who emerges as, as I think the greatest Catholic fiction writer of the 20th century.
但在她刚开始写作生涯、还很年轻时，曾在纽约 受邀与著名作家玛丽·麦卡锡等人共进晚餐。 But when she's a very young woman just beginning her career, she's invited to dinner in New York with a woman named Mary McCarthy who was an established, uh, writer, and some other folks.
奥康纳非常害羞，几乎一句话都没说。 And O'Connor was so shy that she barely said a word.
最后，麦卡锡有些同情她，也知道她是公教徒（麦卡锡自己曾是公教徒），于是试着 引导她说话，说：「哦，我觉得圣餐是一个很有力量的象征。」奥康纳回答说：「如 果它只是象征，那我才不稀罕呢！」这是我最喜欢的关于圣餐真实临在的表述…… Well, finally, Mary McCarthy kind of feeling bad for her and, and knowing that she was a Catholic, McCarthy was an ex-Catholic, she s- tried to draw her out and she said, "Oh, you know, uh, I think the Eucharist is a very powerful symbol." To which Flannery O'Connor said, "Well, if it's only a symbol, I say to hell with it." That's my favorite statement- ...
——关于耶稣在圣餐中真实临在的见证。 of the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.
好的。 Okay.
既然看到教会如此坚定地捍卫这个教义，我们能否理解其中的道理？ Having seen how vigorously the church defends this teaching, can we make some sense of it?
我建议可以这样来看。 Here's how, I suggest.
从语言的力量来看。 By looking at the power of words.
首先，大家都知道，语言可以用来描述，对吧？ So first of all, everybody, words can be descriptive, right?
比如说，今天有人问我：「你在圣餐堂的活动怎么 样？」我会说：「很棒啊，有1500人参加。」 So if someone, let's say, later today asks me, "Hey, how was the event down at Blessed Sacrament?" "Oh, it was great, you know, we had 1,500 people came.
「我讲了六场，教堂看起来很漂亮……」我在做什么？我只是在描述现实，对吧？ I gave six talks and church looked great and..." But what am I- I'm doing there is I'm describing reality, right?
我并没有改变现实。 I'm not changing reality.
我只是描述它。 I'm just describing it.
但语言的作用不仅如此。即使我们有限的语言，也能改变现实。 But that's not all we do with language.Language, even our puny language, can change reality.
假设你在道奇球场。 Suppose you're at Dodger Stadium, right?
有个道奇队员绕过二垒，头朝前滑进三垒。 One of the Dodgers comes around second base and slides head first into third.
你就在三垒看台上，大喊：「安全！」其实你只是表达自己的看法，或者说希望。 You're right there in the third base, you know, stands and you go, "Safe." Well, you're expressing your opinion, you know, your hope maybe.
但如果是穿着制服、被授权的主裁判说：「出局 ！」那不管你愿不愿意，他就是出局了，对吧？ But the umpire of the National League, properly, uh, uniformed and delegated says, "Out." Well, like it or not, he's out, right?
这句话就改变了比赛的进程。 That word has changed the game.
如果我在聚会上走到你面前说：「你被逮捕了。」你肯定会觉得我在开玩笑，或者我疯了。 If I walked up to you at a, uh, at a party and I said that, "You're under arrest." Well, you'd think properly I was telling a joke or losing my mind or something.
但如果是一位穿着制服、被授权的执法人员对你说：「 你被逮捕了。」那不管你愿不愿意，你就是被逮捕了。 But if a, you know, uniformed and deputized officer of the law says to you, "You're under arrest." Well, like it or not, you're under arrest.
他的话改变了现实。 His words have changed reality.
我们都明白这一点。 Oh, we all know this.
小时候听到的一些批评的话，可能会永远改变我们。 Words spoken when we were little kids, maybe that were harshly critical, change us, like forever.
这些话对我们产生了长远的负面影响。 They, they, they have adversely affected us forever.
反过来说也是一样。 Or flip it around.
我也会想到小时候父母对我说过鼓励和肯定的话，直到今天我都因此而不同。 Words of, I think of words of, of my dad or my, my mother when I was a little kid that, that so affirmed me or lifted me up that to this day I'm different because of them.
好的。 Okay.
这些都是我们人自己的话，对吧？ Those are our words, right?
我们这些微小的话语，在某种程度上也能改变现实。 Our, our little words can, to a degree, change reality.
现在想想神的话语。 Now, consider God's word.
神的话语不是描述性的，而是创造性的。 God's word is not descriptive but rather creative.
在圣经那高远的诗意语言中，神用祂的话语创造了世界，不是吗？ God in, in the, in the high poetic language of the Bible, God speaks the world into being, doesn't He?
「要有光，就有了光。」 "Let there be light and there was light.
「地要露出来，地就出来了。」 Let the dry land come forth and it came forth.
「地上要有各种生物，于是就有了。」这些美丽的诗句 表达的是：神的话语、神有智慧的话语使万物产生。 Let things teem upon the earth and so it happened." What's being expressed there in that gorgeous poetry is that God's speech, God's intelligent speech gives rise to things.
祂的话语成就万物，使万物成为它们本来的样子。 It constitutes things, makes them what they are.
还记得先知以赛亚说：「雨雪从天而降，并不返回，却滋润地土 ，使地上发芽结实；照样，我口所出的话也必如此，决不徒然返 回，却要成就我所喜悦的，在我发他去成就的事上必然亨通。」 Remember the Prophet Isaiah, "As the, as the rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, so my word does not go forth from me in vain." But rather accomplishes its purpose.
你看，这就是神的话语。 See, that's God's word.
不仅仅是描述，而是创造。 Not just describing, but making.
那么，耶稣是谁？ Now, who's Jesus?
难道祂只是一个有趣的一世纪巴勒斯坦哲学家吗？ Oh, this intriguing first century Palestinian philosopher.
如果祂只是这样，那我们根本不必理会祂。 Well, if that's all he is, the heck with him.
世上有成千上万的哲学家。 There's a thousand philosophers.
不，不，不是这样。 No, no, no.
我们现在怎么说？ What do we say now?
我们在《约翰福音》序言里听到什么？ What do we hear in the prologue to John's Gospel?
「太初有道。」注意，是「道」。 "In the beginning was the word." Mind you, the word.
「道与神同在，道就是神。」 "And the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
「万物是借着祂造的。」神的话语创造了世界。 And all things came to be through that Word." There's God's word speaking the world into being.
「道成了肉身，住在我们中间。」 And that Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
这就是耶稣。 That's Jesus.
因此，耶稣说的话就成就了。 Therefore, what Jesus says, is.
「小女孩，起来吧。」你还记得福音书里美丽地保留了祂的亚 兰文吗？「小女孩，起来吧。」那死去的女孩就真的起来了。 "Little girl, get up." Remember how beautifully the gospel retains his Aramaic, "Little girl, get up." And the dead girl got up.
为什么？ Why?
因为耶稣这样说了。 Because Jesus said so.
「拉撒路，出来！」那死了四天的人就从坟墓里出来了。 "Lazarus, come out." And the dead man, dead in his, in his grave for four days comes out.
为什么？ Why?
因为耶稣说了。 Because Jesus said it.
「孩子，你的罪赦了。」我说的是真的，因着耶稣的话，他的罪真的被赦免了。 "My son, your sins are forgiven." And by God, I mean that literally, by God they're forgiven, because Jesus said it.
对风暴说：「住了吧！」风暴就平静了，因为耶稣说了。 To the storm, "Be still." And it was still, because Jesus said it.
在祂受难前的那一夜，耶稣从逾越节的桌上拿起饼来。 Now, the night before he died, Jesus took bread from the Passover table.
「你们都拿去吃吧。」 "Take this, all of you, and eat of it.
「这是我的身体，为你们舍的。」然后又拿起逾越节的杯。 For this is my body, given for you." And then the cup of Passover wine.
「这是我的血，为你们和众人流出，立新而永约的血 。」耶稣说的话就成就了，因为祂就是道成肉身。 "This is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant." What Jesus says, is, because of who Jesus is, the word made flesh.
如果我们微小的话语都能改变现实，耶稣的话语就能在最深层次改变现实。 If our puny words can change reality, Jesus' word can change reality at the very deepest level.
因此我们才说饼和酒本质变体，耶稣真实临在。 And so we speak indeed of the transubstantiation of the bread and the wine, the real presence of Jesus.
这就是为什么Ipse Christus——基督自己——在那里临在。 That's why Ipse Christus is present there.
最后，我还想再做一个联系。 Now, I'll make one more connection as I close.
在圣经的异象中，神从一开始就想要什么？ What does God want from the very beginning in the biblical vision?
神想要喂养祂的圣民。 God wanted to feed his holy people.
想想《创世记》开头那美丽的诗句。 Think of the, the, um, again, the lovely poetry in the beginning of Genesis.
我们总是强调神吩咐他们不可吃的那棵树。 We put such a stress on the one tree God s- told them not to eat from.
但别忘了，神说：「园中各样树上的果子，你们可以 随意吃。」祂给了他们极大的自由，除了那一棵树。 But remember he said, "Eat from all the trees of the garden." He gave 'em this wildly liberal permission to eat of all the trees, save one.
神想用祂的生命喂养祂的子民。 God wants to feed His people with His life.
当神建立祂的圣民以色列时，是通过逾越节的筵席。先知以赛亚描绘 了那座圣山，上面有上好的酒和肥美的肉，神为祂的子民摆设筵席。 When He forms His holy people, Israel, He does so through a Passover meal.The Prophet Isaiah envisions this holy mountain on which there are pure choice wines and juicy meats, where God spreads out a banquet for His people.
我们还听说，当弥赛亚降临、圣山建立时，山冈都要流出美酒。 We hear in fact that when the Messiah comes and this holy mountain is established, the very hills will run with wine.
这就是神要用祂自己的生命喂养祂子民的心意。 That's God's desire to feed His people with His own life.
「道成了肉身，住在我们中间。」 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
所以，耶稣花很多时间喂养祂的子民，我们还会感到惊讶吗？ Are we therefore surprised that Jesus spends a lot of time feeding His people?
想想耶稣那敞开的筵席，圣人和罪人都被欢迎，税吏和娼妓也被接纳。 Think of Jesus' open table fellowship where saints and sinners are welcome, where the tax collectors and prostitutes are welcome.
想想耶稣在受难前夜聚集门徒共进这神圣的晚餐。 Think of Jesus gathering the night before He died for this sacred meal.
耶稣就是神用祂自己的生命喂养祂的子民，最终用祂自己的身体和宝血喂养他们。 Jesus is God feeding His people with His very life, feeding them finally with His own body and His own blood.
为什么？ Why?
为了让我们成为基督化的人。 That we might become Christified.
德国哲学家费尔巴哈说过：「人吃什么，就成为什么。」对吧？ It was a German philosopher, Feuerbach, who said, "You are what you eat." Right?
想想这个伟大圣事的全部意义。 Think of the full implications of that in regard to this great sign.
不仅是永恒的基督，更是Ipse Chris tus——基督自己真实、确实、本质地临在。 Not just the Aeternus Christi, but Ipse Christus, Christ really, truly and substantially present.
当我们来到前面领受祂的身体和宝血时，我们就成了我们所吃的。 And when we come forward now to consume that body and blood, then we become what we eat.
我们成为基督化的人。 We become Christified.
我们就预备好与神一起过高天的生命。 We become prepared for life on high with God.
我们在今生的旅程中得着力量，也为来生做好准备。 We have strength for the journey through this life and yes, into the next life.
所以大家明白了吗？当耶稣的身体和宝血摆在我们面前时，最合适的回应是什么？ And so can you see everybody why the proper response when the body and blood of Jesus is on display is ?
那就是生命的粮。 That's the bread of life.
那就是永远救恩的杯。 That's the cup of eternal salvation.
那就是基督徒生活的泉源与高峰。 That's the source and summit of the Christian life.