Sharing

 

The Spiritual Waiting Room

Sharing

Body   Blood

Eat   Live   Abide

I Am Living Bread

Union

(Photo and poem by Kathy McNamara)

Scripture:   John 6: 51

Jesus was speaking to the people that were following Him after He had fed the large crowd:

"I am the living bread that has come down from heaven."

Reflection

Everyone looks forward to a good meal.

The other day Kathy whipped up a delicious meat loaf and we delighted in it. It was so tasty!

Jesus, in our passage from John, is talking about an even better meal. He is saying to the people who were following Him after He had multiplied the small number of loaves and fish and fed so many that He will give them His very self. He will become living bread for them!

You can imagine their reaction to this statement. They didn't know what to make of it. Was He mad? They just could not accept this. Most of the crowd, with the exception of Peter and the apostles, turned away from Jesus at this point. They had wanted to make Him king after His miracle. Now they wanted nothing to do with Him. He made no sense.

For Jesus it was all about sharing. He wanted to give Himself to the people in a profound way. He wanted to share His Body and His Blood with them. 

It is like us when we meet someone we love deeply. We want to share ourselves with them completely. We trust them. We don't want to hold back.

Jesus knew that the people needed more than just bread. Yes that would satisfy them momentarily. Their hunger, however, went much deeper than that. 

They needed not just to eat some bread. They needed to know how to live with each other in community and to understand and care for each other. 

Jesus came to show them and us the way to live. We all have the tendency to be selfish and to think of our own needs first. We find it hard to put the needs of others before our own desires. 

Jesus showed us that the way to do that is first to abide with God in prayer. To truly know God and to understand God's ways. To admit that we do not have all the answers and turn to God for guidance and truth.

Jesus is the living bread because He wants us to truly live life completely by giving ourselves to others. Jesus never holds back. He always wants to feed us on wisdom, truth, kindness, understanding, and compassion.

Jesus knows what we need. We need union with God and with one another. We need to feel connected. We need to overcome the division and exploitation we find in our culture and live in a different way.

We find this hard to understand two thousand years after Jesus showed us the way. We too walk away from Jesus as the crowd did. We cannot comprehend that Jesus would want to share His Body and His Blood with us. 

How can anyone possibly love us that deeply?

It is beyond us.

It is the Jesus Way.

It is Love!

1. How can Jesus be the living bread for you?

2. Why does Jesus want to share His Body and His Blood with you?

3. When do you abide in God?

4. How do you experience union with God?

5. What do you experience as you meditate on Kathy's photo?

(Scripture adaptation, reflection, and questions by John McNamara)