Deut 8:2-3, 14b-16a
1 Corinthians 10:16-17
John 6:51-58
For many years anthropologists told us that the sharing of food was something unique to humans. More recent studies suggest that some species of primate will share food, but not tools or toys. Some species will not fight back if their food is taken. This is of course, is a little different to voluntary sharing. For humans the emergence and development of voluntary sharing may well have played a significant role in human evolution. It helped ensure that essential needs were reliably met, and this food helped feed ever-larger brains.
On a simple level our ability to share strengthens the bonds of community. And by the same token our inability to share weakens the bonds of community and damages the roots from which love can grow.
In the first reading from Deuteronomy we are reminded of the wilderness wanderings of the people of Israel and their lament and grumbling over the lack of food. God’s provision of manna is a sign to the Israelites that they are to rely directly on providence. Jewish scholars say that the manna was thought to taste like whatever food a person most craved. I like this detail. It speaks to me of a God who knows us and provides for our individual needs. They are to gather only what they need for each day. There is to be no hoarding. God is teaching them that life according to Torah involves a trust that individual needs will be met and the whole community strengthened.
In the text from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians he is reminding the community that the ‘one loaf’ and ‘one cup’ are active symbols of the unity he longs for them to live. From the beginning of the letter he urges against factions:
I urge you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, not to have factions among yourselves but all to be in agreement in what you profess; so that you are perfectly united in your beliefs and judgements.
When he speaks about the Eucharist he is a speaking of an action that at its very heart holds the seeds of unity.
The Gospel text from John 6 echoes the thought worlds of the other two texts. Chapter 6 begins with the Feeding of the 5,000. This miraculous sign of multiplying and sharing provides the backdrop for Jesus to speak of himself as the Bread of Life. This teaching is set firmly in the context of a vast group of people who through this miraculous sign are now bound together as a community. What they witnessed that day will have changed them forever.
Today when we gather to celebrate the Eucharist we make a statement about who we are as individuals and who we are as community. We receive Christ’s broken body as a pledge of love and hope of healing for the world. Christ lives in and among us. At the end of the Eucharistic celebration you may hear these words: Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life. As we leave the church we are commissioned TO BE the Body of Christ.
How can you be the Body of Christ this coming week?