Jesus took the bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it. This is my body.” Mark 14:22 (NIV)

Eat This Bread – The Good Gift Series – Part 2

Go to  PART 1  |  PART 2  |  PART 3  |  PART 4  |  PART 5  |  PART 6  |  PART 7

When Pharaoh told Moses that he and the Israelites could go free, there was one condition: They had to leave right away. Now. There was no time to make loaves of bread for their journey, so they made unleavened bread instead; humble, flat and quick to make. Every year since Jews celebrate Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

As a Rabbi, Jesus knew Passover well: the tradition, function, prayers and rites… He understood it.

But this Passover meal would be different.

The father of every family would take their unblemished lamb to the temple (or buy one there) to be sacrificed. It was killed, drained of its blood (which was poured out on the altar), skinned, subjected to various sacrificial processes and then sent home to be roasted. The whole family would sit and eat this lamb together. It was the sacrifice. Blood for atonement, flesh for healing.

But Jesus, sitting with his disciples, didn’t mention the lamb. He didn’t go through the traditional prayers and stories. He broke the unleavened bread and gave a piece to all at the table. And this is where the Passover meal changed into what some of us now celebrate as the Eucharist. (N.B.: Passover is not null and void – it is a beautiful, sacred and spiritual practice and meal. Rather, it was influenced and fulfilled by what Jesus was about to go through.)

Instead of the lamb being the focus of the meal Jesus shared with his disciples and friends, he brought attention to the humble bread he held in his hands and said,

“This is my body which is given for you…”

The word Eucharist means “Thanksgiving.” It can also be translated as “Eu” meaning “good” and “Charis” meaning “grace gift.”

Eucharist: the Good Gift.

When you sit down to eat a meal, someone prepared it. When you receive a gift, it's because someone gave it. For you to be blessed, someone had to bless you out of their own wealth and resources.

Jesus is our Eucharist. He was giving his body over for the healing of the world. A gift. Just as it was the day Mary gave birth to the incarnate God made flesh, in death Jesus would give his life as a gift, for the repair and restoration of the world. The Jews knew that the world needed healing, they called it “Tikkun Olam” which literally means: “world repair.” And the kind of repair that the world needs is not something that comes in a box or that can be plugged in and charged up. ‘World repair' starts within each of us, in our deepest darkest parts. It begins with us going on an Exodus: Leaving our enslavement (to hate, greed, selfishness, violence, consumerism… and more) and journeying to become who we truly are.

We need food for the journey.

Jesus said, “If you eat this bread you will live forever” (John 6:51).

Richard Rohr says,

“If I live by the momentary identity that others give me, that’s what dies when I die, and I’m left with nothing. Your relative identity is what passes away. When Jesus says He's giving Himself to you as the “bread of life” and “If you eat this bread you will live forever,” he's saying, “Find yourself in Me, and this will not pass or change or die. Eat this food as your primary nutrition, and you are indestructible.” You learn to live in what Thomas Merton would call the ‘True Self' —who you are, and always have been, in God. Who you are in God is who you forever are. In fact, that's all you are, and it is more than enough. Everything else is passing away. Reputations, titles, and roles do not determine our identity. As Paul puts it, “I live no longer; not I, but God lives in me” (Gal 2:20). You become what you eat. Come and eat who you are!”

As Jesus broke that bread and passed it around the table, he knew that in a matter of hours his body would be broken and enough life would flow from it to heal not just a select few, or the rich, or the worthy… but the whole world. Any and all who would come to his table and eat.

Go to Part 3 – Poured Out For Many »
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