“Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” Jesus, in John 6:51-58.
“It is chicken soup which has brought us together.” Miriam Margolyse, the atheist of Jewish heritage, after attending a Sabbath meal with a Rabbi and his family.
Today’s Gospel is the third part of Jesus’s teaching on the bread of heaven, which he likens to his flesh and blood. This takes place after the feeding of the five thousand, when so many are fed through God’s grace and the generosity of a little boy who gives up his lunch for others to share. Jesus teaches the crowds after they have been fed and causes some offence as many of his listeners confuse his words with cannibalism, which was also an issue for the early church. Food was a huge issue for the Jews, whether the apple (which definitely could not have been a Granny Smith!) or more likely a pomegranate depicted in the story of Adam and Eve, the manna provided for the Israelites in the wilderness, Elijah being fed by a raven or the traditional Friday night Shabbat meal for which so many families still gather. In saying what he does about his flesh and blood, Jesus is being deliberately provocative as the crowds have been chiefly interested in food for their bodies rather than their souls which is what he is offering when he speaks of eternal life. Jesus shocks many of his listeners, forcing a reaction to his words of hope which many reject through wanting only the bodily food that is easy for them to accept.
Food is very much an issue in the UK at the moment, whether in the rising prices of the cost of living, the poor harvest of barley and potatoes in some areas due to the soaked ground or the emulsifiers, preservatives, sweeteners, flavours and colourings being added to ultra-processed foods. At the same time, a huge range of food is available all year round through tinned goods, freezers and fresh produce, in contrast to some parts of the world where famine is a reality and where starvation and malnourishment are constant issues. In contrast to You are what you eat, for many it is true that You are if you eat.
Although Jesus loses many in the crowd and some of his followers through what he says, his words are seen in their true perspective after his death and resurrection. It is also through Jesus’ breaking of the bread that he is recognised by those with him on the road to Emmaus. With whom, and when, have we eaten with others and found ourselves blessed and heartened – whether with bread, chicken soup or the food which is a foretaste of the heavenly banquet?
For me, one of those times was a recent school reunion, a meeting of former classmates who have been gathering for many years now. As we ate food together and shared memories and photographs of how we were, it was a relief to see that we’re all still recognisable! I heard a couple of things about me as a pupil that others recalled, whereas I had long forgotten them, just as I remembered an incident that the other person couldn’t. It’s fascinating to see what’s become of us all over the years and to know that what linked us then is still being sustained by maintaining relationships and breaking bread as we ate and drank together.
Perhaps this was an aspect of which Jesus was talking, for the central act of Holy Communion means that wherever bread is taken, blessed, broken and shared with others there the bread of heaven is manifest too, feeding souls as well as bodies, generations as well as individuals, and linking humanity with the divine through Love incarnate and its cost. In his poem ‘The Table’, from ‘The Singing Bowl’ published by Canterbury Press, poet Malcolm Guite writes of this:
‘The centuries have settled on this table
Deepened the grain beneath a clean white cloth
Which bears afresh our changing elements.
Year after year of prayer, in hope and trouble,
Were poured out here and blessed and broken, both
In aching absence and in absent presence.
This table too the earth herself has given
And human hands have made……
Because another tree can bear, unbearable,
For us, the weight of Love, so can this table.’
So, too, can we help to bear the sacrificial weight of Love when body and soul are fed and strengthened by the bread of heaven provided at the table that is any altar, if we decide to come to receive it when faced with so many choices in life and sustenance.
With my prayers; pob bendith,
Christine, Priest Guardian.