BREAD

 Matthew 26:26 – “As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying, “Take, eat, this is my body.”

The action shifts abruptly as the discussion of who will betray Jesus is dropped without resolution. Is Judas still there? Did the others hear the exchange between Judas and Jesus? What do they think of it? These questions highlight the active nature of Matthew’s gospel. There is very little reflection. Instead, Jesus is always either healing or teaching. The Italian film, “The Gospel of St. Matthew,” captures this well. Jesus walking turning his head to look at his disciples following – always on the move.

In this text, he is teaching them again. Jesus takes, blesses, breaks, and gives the bread to his disciples, and says, “This is my body.” He is reminding the disciples and us that he, the Son of Man, blessed by God, will be broken himself at the hands of the Romans. Crucified on a cross for the crime of sedition.

Some of you will recognize here the beginning of the “Words of Institution,” the basis for the Lord’s Supper, Eucharist, or Holy Communion. I’m not going to get into a discussion of how to best interpret what Jesus means by ‘my body.’ The disciples are not recorded here as having any reaction to these words. There are many interpretations and many famous discussions on this issue. This communal meal is meant to at least remind us of Jesus’s life and teachings, his death, and his Lordship. It is sustenance, however we want to define sustenance, on our journey.

Henri Nouwen, in his book The Beloved, uses these words as a meditation on Christian spiritual life. We are taken (chosen), blessed, broken (our ideas rearranged), and given/consumed/used by God to others in service. We are all in different places in this process. I almost wrote progression, but it’s not a linear progression, because there are so many areas of our lives that get changed, and it doesn’t happen all at once. It takes time to incorporate our new thinking and being into our lives or even accept a new way of thinking and being. It’s like a spider’s web – connected, but not yet complete. Or even a spiral staircase on which we keep circling up deepening our understanding about things as we ascend, but never quite reaching the top. This is why people speak of “becoming” a Christian. We progress, but are never quite there.

Like Nouwen, I too see this as a metaphor for our own lives in Christ. However, the order and definitions of these words I will use differs from Nouwen’s, because my experience of life in Christ took a slightly different path. My order would be broken, blessed, taken, and given/used. You might have a different order. Over the next four weeks, I’ll talk about each of these four steps/experiences as a Lenten meditation on my spiritual life and, who knows, maybe yours too!

In the meantime, think about how this metaphor works for your spiritual life, or how it doesn’t. If it doesn’t, what metaphor would work?

Be good to yourself too.

B