2013-05-30                  Daniel Daring                    2013 articles                     2012 articles

The Body and Blood of Christ - Remembering Jesus
Genesis 14:18-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Luke 9:11-17

 
During my course on Paul’s letters and his theology, we decided to ‘re-enact’ the ‘Lord’s Supper’ based on 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. I asked my students to bake bread, buy wine, and bring some refreshments. Then we celebrated ‘our Lord’s Supper.’ After reading the scriptures, the students placed bread, wine, and refreshments on a table. As each student contributed something, the table was overloaded with food and drinks. Then we proceeded. First, we made together an invocation over the bread, and the chosen students (men and women) broke it and distributed to the participants. Then we ate and drank the refreshments, having fun chatting with each other. When everybody was satisfied, the time arrived to say the invocation over the wine - together again - and the cup was passed among us.  

Do this in remembrance of me  

The Christian Eucharist - one among two (in the Protestant tradition) or one among seven (in the Catholic tradition) sacraments – has its origins in Jesus’ meals with common people. Jesus seemed to enjoy feasting. Moreover, He ate with those who, by the standard of His society – and also ours, were not the proper company for a rabbi. “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” asked the Pharisees (Matthew (9:11). What, where, how, how often, and with whom you eat speaks volumes about the standard of your living and the position you hold in society. Those who share meals, indirectly proclaim their familiarity, equality, and closeness. By sharing the meal with tax collectors and sinners, Jesus was challenging the prevailing system of eating only with those who are of one’s rank. By eating with folks, Jesus was also setting the example for Christian communities: no distinctions, no discrimination, all are equal.

It is, however, extremely difficult to hold on to Jesus’ vision. Paul was lamenting the practice of the Eucharistic celebration at Corinth. “When you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk” (1 Corinthians 11:20-21). Yet we are not faring better. The Christian world is very much fragmented and often bitterly divided over theological and social issues: Christian right versus Christian left; fundamentalists versus liberals; traditional versus progressive, and so on. Within our Church, we have communities which do not mingle with other Catholics. (For example: Opus Dei raised by the Canon Law to the rank of Personal Prelature with its own bishops, priests, and members; Neocatecumenal Movement with its seminaries and special liturgy for its own members). Even more perplexing is the way we continue to understand the Eucharist in terms of punishment and reward. While Jesus was eating with tax collectors and sinners, we penalize our contemporary tax collectors and sinners by excluding them from sharing the bread and the cup. “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (Matthew 9:12), yet, we maintain that the Doctor is only for the healthy. “For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13), but we stress that only the righteous are worthy to share the meal with Him. Is that how Jesus would like to be remembered?  

You give them something to eat

 Not only should the egalitarian aspect of Jesus’ meals be kept alive in the Christian Eucharist, but the concern for just distribution of basic needs as well. Luke’s introduction to the miracle of ‘feeding the multitude’ (9:11-17) portrays Jesus as someone who welcomes, teaches, and heals (Luke 9:11), and when the day comes to an end, He commands the disciples to give food to the people (Luke 9:13). However, the attitude of his disciples is diametrically opposite. They were annoyed at the presence of the crowd and jeered at Jesus’ command: “That would take eight months of a man’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?” (Mark 6:37).

Where do we stand as Christian community? Do we welcome others, speak to them about the kingdom of God, and heal them, or we try to send them away and are annoyed when Jesus demands from us to do something about their situation? J. D. Crossan stated that the feeding of the multitude is not about charity, “but about justice, about the just distribution of the material bases of life, about the sharing of that which is available equitably among all.” I wonder why we rarely see it that way. Would it disturb us? There is mounting evidence that our amoral capitalism is an obstacle to the just distribution of the material bases of life, but we have become so comfortable with it, that few of us dare to challenge its premise: profit over people. So we keep that eight months of a man’s wages for ourselves and wait for Jesus to perform yet another miracle of feeding the multitude, and we forget that it takes just five loaves of bread and two fish to begin a miracle. According to John 6:9, it was a boy who began the sharing. That unselfish act, with great probability, opened the hearts and bags of others.  

Conclusion  

Our ‘re-enactment’ of the Lord’s supper ended with sharing. ‘I enjoyed it very much. Could we not do that in my parish?’ – said one student; ‘I ate so much,’ commented another; ‘It was so different. I ate and talked, and yet I felt Jesus’ presence,’ added still another student. It is time that we enlarge our understanding of the Eucharist. It is not just about the Real Presence. It is much more than that. The Eucharist is about making Jesus’ vision for humanity real in our communities, by welcoming everyone, treating each person with dignity of a child of God, and by justly distributing the resources of the Earth among all. It is my conviction that's how Jesus would like to be remembered.

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