Sharing Life: Becoming Breads & Chalices

"Sharing Life: Becoming Breads & Chalices"

Text: John 6: 22-59 (Jesus says "I am the Bread of Life")

Food, Clothing and Shelter are the basic necessities of every human in this world. One can live with or without Clothes or Shelter, but none can live without Food. Food, being a basic necessity, has now become a money yielding commodity. On the one hand Food is wasted from homes, markets and food shops; while on the other hand Food is not available to many. The world has obtained a consciousness that our food be thrown in dustbins, rather than giving it to the hungry. Every year 1.3 billion tonnes of food are being wasted and 9 million deaths occur due to hunger and famine. Food Agency of the United Nations has warned us that, "As the world is dealing with corona virus pandemic, we are also in the brink of a hunger pandemic, which could lead to multiple famines of biblical proportions". In such a time as this, how can we understand Jesus' words "I am the Bread of Life"? 

In John Chapter 6, After Jesus feeding the five thousand and more with five barley loaves and two fish and walking on water, we encounter the discourse on "The Bread from Heaven". People search for Jesus and finds him in the Synagogue and converse with him. This conversation eventually led to Jesus proclaiming himself as "The Bread of Life".

People searched and came to Jesus for a Physical cause, which was evident in Jesus' answer to them in verse 26 (Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves). Today, Food and Religion go hand in hand. Any religious gathering begins and ends with food. Religions name food according to their wills and wishes and use food as a tool to attract more people for their gatherings. Though not all give food with such a hidden agenda. Over the years, we have witnessed many religious groups and sects have fed the hungry at all times, including crisis situations like Covid-19. Though Food, on a physical level is extremely important for the survival of humanity; it is also equally important that those who own food are obliged to share it with the ones who don't have any. Jesus' claim of "I am the Bread of Life" is a call for everyone who believes in Jesus, to become "Breads of Life" for the sake of wounded and hungry humanity.

People also urged Jesus to give them a sign, just like Manna (Bread from Heaven) in the wilderness, so that they may see and believe in Jesus. While people were yearning for something from above, Jesus gives them something from below i.e "the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh". Jesus shares his flesh and blood so that we may have life on earth and in heaven. The Eucharist table is a table for all those who are hungry and thirsty. Though the Manna from Heaven fed the hungry, it couldn't able to do it for eternity. But on the Eucharist table, we share life in this world and in eternity. Though today many could not able to celebrate and partake in Eucharistic meal because of Covid-19 restrictions, this passage is a call for all those who have partook in the Eucharistic table to become sacrificial just like Jesus. Just as Jesus shared his flesh and blood to give us life, we, the partakers in Christ's Eucharist table are called to do the same. We are called to give life to the hungry and thirsty by feeding them. St. Chrysostam says "If you do not find Christ in the beggar at the church door, neither will you find him in the Chalice". We who have tasted Christ in the Chalice are now called to find him in the beggar, the hungry, and the thirsty. Instead of worrying about Not being able to partake in the Eucharist table, let us worry of not becoming the Eucharist table. Christ gave himself to us in the Chalice and now Christ pursues us to become Chalices to the hungry and thirsty.

Jesus, the Bread of Life, calls us to become Breads of Life to all the Hungry and Thirsty, thereby healing the world of its wounds. Are we ready to become Chalices? Amen.