Love this image which I found online last week as I was preparing some thoughts on the lectionary texts for last Sunday for Home (and its now on the front page of our site).The feeding of the 5000 is such an interesting eucharistic text. We find in it the same 4 dominical eucharistic actions of taking/giving, blessing, breaking and sharing that we see in the accounts of the last supper. Paul repeats the pattern in 1 Cor. 11.
Of course, it's the same pattern that we see in the ministry of Christ -
- he was given to the world
- he offered himself to the Father (we see this most clearly in Gethsemane)
- he was broken on the cross
- his life is shared out for the nourishment and healing of all
And it's the same for us -
- we are given life by God
- we offer ourselves back to God through a life of following in the way of Christ
- as we do so we are broken as we embrace the cross and die to self
- our lives then become a source of life for others as Christ's life in us is shared
That's why the eucharist is so important for us. We celebrate it every week. It symbolically re-enacts the heart of what the way of Christ is all about - death and resurrection, the paschal mystery.
1 comment:
Great pic Matt and thanks for the thoughts on the 5000. peace Ian
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