Living Bread for the Soul (John 6: 51-58)

During the past week, my wife and I had some friends over for the evening. When they arrived, we offered drinks and nibbles and later an evening meal. The meal had taken quite a lot of time to organise and cook – yet their coming wasn't just about the meal. We wanted to catch up. To hear what was happening in their lives and to share our lives with them. The food might have been important – but the conversation was more memorable.

This coming Sunday, we continue our journey through Chapter 6 of John's Gospel ( vv 51-58). The author introduces a lot of important themes during this chapter. Poverty and the positive side of doubts are just two I have mentioned in earlier blogs. Our next bite of 'food for the soul' is when Jesus talks about being 'living bread': “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood will have eternal life”. Naturally, his listeners thought he had lost the plot.

Traditionally, this passage is understood as referring to the Eucharist. A service celebrated in many Churches and based on the Last Supper Jesus had with his disciples1. The Roman Catholic Church, for example, considers it the most important act of worship and usually celebrates it daily. The words of John's Gospel are taken literally. During the ritual, they believe the bread and wine become Christ's “body and his blood with his soul and his divinity”2. In contrast, there are other Christians, such as the Quaker's, who might never celebrate the Last Supper as a ritualised physical meal. They believe no ritual is needed to get in touch with God because God is already present within us. Over the centuries, much ink and argument as ensued as to what Jesus meant or intended.

I find ritual can be helpful, especially when done well or it is personally meaningful. Before I start my daily meditation, for example, I light a candle and some incense. I find this action helps to prepare me for my time of reflection and prayer. I am not alone in this as Timothy Jennings mentions:

“Rituals are the tools [God] uses to get us to think and to stimulate conversation with (the Divine).”3

I also find the Quaker, Brent Bill's comment in his book 'Holy Silence' insightful. He invites his readers to discover how God can grant us insights and guidance when we make time to be silent. These spiritual understandings are different to those we might experience in our noisy and everyday lives. Brent Bill then gives us an example that occurred during one of his Quaker meetings.

As people arrived, there was the usual chatter and conversation. Then, when it was time for the meeting to begin, it was followed by the usual noise people make as they settled down and make themselves comfortable. Slowly, as these exterior sounds dropped away, Brent was left with his internal chatter. The sort of concerns that so readily fills our minds when the events of everyday life no longer demand our attention. Gradually, this too settled, and he experienced something that he described as being 'dropped into a well of holy silence' which guided him into the 'deep waters of his soul'. And that was when he became aware of the Divine Presence deep within. It was as if the words of John's Gospel had suddenly become alive for him: 

'The Word became flesh and made its dwelling among us,
and we beheld his glory, the glory of the One and only who came from the Father,
full of grace and truth'.4

For me, that is what Jesus was referring to in John 6:51-58. God has given us the gift of life and invites us to shape our lives into a loving gift for others and God, as we:

Become familiar with her ways.
Grow to love her, feel [her] with all your heart,
and you will come to hear her silent music
and become one with Love’s silent song.5

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga

May you find peace and goodwill on your journey.

Phil 

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1 See Matthew 26:17–29; Mark 14:12–25; Luke 22:7–38; and I Corinthians 11:23–25
2 Catechism of the Catholic Church, St Paul's Pub., 2nd Edition, 1997, para 1413
3 Timothy R. Jennings, The God-Shaped Brain. How Changing Your View of God Transforms Your Life (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2013), 115.
4 Brent Bill, J, Holy Silence – The Gift of Quaker Spirituality, Paraclete; 1st Edition edition, 2005. p. 3.
5 Davis, Noel: http://effortlesspeace.com/silence-quotes/