One of the things that I find perplexing in life is how we can be more accepting of religions outside Christianity, religions that are vastly different than our own; yet, many mainline protestant denominations and Roman Catholicism can be less tolerant of evangelical Christians, and vice versa, than they are of other religions. And between Roman Catholics and evangelicals, it seems to be a chasm. It is somewhat a puzzle. Somehow or other adhering to the same beliefs but with a different flavor feels more threatening than a different belief system altogether. Yet let us keep in mind the message from Ephesians. This Pauline writer is preaching unity, not uniformity. We share a belief, and despite our differences, we are one body, we follow Jesus, Jesus who is one body broken for us, we follow one God. But we are all one, following Jesus who gives life.
We have unity in our love of Jesus, in God—trinity in unity, unity in Trinity… , in recognition of one God. “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God.” We are held together in unity through this faith. We are held together by Jesus, and therefore, we are united as people who follow the Way.
What has this to do with manna and quail and Jesus’ statements in the Gospel of John? This whole relying on Jesus and relying on God, they are interconnected with our faith—this same Christian faith which we share among numerous denominations. Jesus is clear when he teaches: Moses is not God. It is not Moses who fed the Israelites during the forty years of wandering. The quail and manna from heaven, are just that, food from heaven, food from God. It is not Moses’ doing. It is food from heaven. God provides, God gives life, God gives life abundantly. Following God in Jesus unites, because believing in Jesus is life giving across all the denominations.
The turn that Jesus makes in this passage of John’s Gospel is tricky, but essential for living fully a Christian life that we have been given. Jesus gives us our marching orders. For us to perform works of God, we are to “believe in him whom he has sent.” And what does it mean to believe in that One? It is to open our hands and receive with gratitude. He who was sent by God is who gives life; he is the bread of heaven. One body of Christ… he is the bread of all life. The one body of Christ is the bread of heaven. Having heaven on earth is being fully alive, it is being our best selves, because such selves are living as God made us to be. As St. Irenaeus put it: the glory of God is humanity fully alive; and the life of humanity is to glorify God. God provides, God provides God’s own self for us to have life and to have it abundantly. God gives Life through Jesus.
The Body of Christ, the bread of life.
The Body of Christ, the bread of heaven.
Believe in him whom he has sent,
The body of Christ, the bread of life,
The body of Christ, the bread of heaven.
For us, heaven on earth is being fully alive, it is following the one Way of Christ Jesus, with a faith community, all united with other communities in faith in Jesus. For, I ask you, can anything be more life-giving than eating? Taking in nourishment, nourishment that becomes who we are, becomes our very being.
I think this poem by by Steve Garnaas-Holmes captures the nature of this life God has given us.
Bread that lasts by Steve Garnaas-Holmes.
Do not work for the food that perishes,
but for the food that endures to eternal life.
—John 6.27
Beloved, what do you work for? What do you seek?
What do you put yourself out for,
expend effort, trade other things for?
Does it give you life? Does it last?
Does it lead you to deeper life, life in me?
Those little bits of power and control,
they’re not all that filling, are they?
That safety and security, not having to think,
doesn’t really taste all that good, does it?
The esteem, the little confining place of belonging—
it’s junk food, isn’t it?
Take and eat.
Better than earned or stolen,
than made or found,
the food that is given tastes best of all.
Feast on this, offered in love.
Open the mouth of your heart, child,
and nurse at the breast of this moment,
to the deep nourishment here in this air,
what feeds and fills and strengthens you.
Nurse from my breast,
take in my divine self for food,
let the Bread that is this life become you.
Drink deeply of me.
You are what you eat.
In fact, we are what we eat. We are the body of Christ in the world. Everything else is hollow. It is a gift given, the best food there is. This is not taxing to receive Christ, to be Christ, it is all that matters, united with many in one Body, being one Body in the world, fed and nourished in all that God provides, living a life abundantly; and as we live this way, so too we are called to help others to live in this way: to celebrate life as gift, and to be grateful.