Year C, Lectionary 169
God is offering us a divine relationship where Jesus himself is offering a divine meal. A meal from bread and wine to his body and blood that we are meant to be joined to Christ and in him have all our hunger satisfied. To enter into communion with God to then join others to God as well.
Hate feeling lost on Sundays at church? Searching for a better explanation of the Bible than what you hear from your pastor's sermon? Check out the following collection of audio, video, and text commentaries from various Christian experts for a better understanding of today's scripture that deal with: Abundance • Appreciate • Banquet • Battle • Bread • Church • Communion • Community • Covenant • David • Desire • Environment • Eucharist • Eucharistic • Exodus • Feed • Food • Freedom • Generosity • Grateful • Happiness • Holy Spirit • Isolation • Kingdom • Liturgy • Manna • Meal • Melchizedek • Mission • Neighbor • Offering • Passover • Poor • Prayer • Presence • Priest • Priesthood • Proclaim • Reconciliation • Remember • Repetition • Sacrifice • Salvation • Scarcity • Serve • Sin • Suffering • Unity •
“David is an anticipation of another priest-king in Jerusalem who will also restore the priesthood to all 12 tribes and it's not going to be a Levitical priesthood. It's going to be a Melchizedekian priesthood. And that priest is of course Jesus Christ”
“because wine was not as readily available in all places as it is to us nowadays, although the Eucharist would be celebrated with bread and wine, it was not the case that there was enough wine to communicate that or to give the chalice or the cup to everyone participating in it”
“So why does Jesus make the Apostles do this thing that would have taken time and effort? Well, it's because he is arranging the people at the feeding of the 5,000 according to the same kind of groupings that you find in the first Exodus from Egypt.”
“See, in Christ Jesus he was willing to offer his body and his blood for the sake of the world...and all he asked from us is just a few scraps...Are you willing to give him what you can so that he can make something for us like never before?”
“We can make all the plans that we like but God so often has other ideas. What took place when Jesus and the disciples reached Bethsaida may have ended up being far more effective than anything that they had originally planned.”
“we have to shift our minds from an attitude of scarcity to one of plenty, we have to move from fear to trust”
“Eucharist isn't just about making a sacrifice for our sins, it's about entering into a relationship with God”
“If you come forward and say 'amen' then that body and blood, soul and divinity that which was poured out on that original altar of the cross and continues to be memorialized in each and every one of these churches, is not meant to stay in the church building”
“Look around your table. Who is there? And let that joy and hope sustain you and go out into the world and open that table up for everyone else.”
“God always rewards us in abundance”
“May the spirit of the Living God flow gently yet boldly across our troubled world, across the pain on our streets, across every anxious heart, and every place into which violence, hatred and misunderstanding dwell”
“The Church cannot stand if our response to the body of Christ is 'maybe.' We cannot stand if our response to the blood of Christ poured out for you is 'oh well.'”
“while they were busy calculating Jesus takes action. An unexpected blessing and an unexpected feast for and with love. The love of Jesus, the love of God, the love possibility between those gathered there and dare I say those gathered here in cyberspace.”
“If we are to follow the example of Christ we cannot separate the true holy presence of Jesus in the Eucharist from the true holy presence of Jesus in our neighbor”
“Out in the fields scarcity turns into abundance, hungers are satisfied and things the disciples thought they could not do become amazingly possible. It can happen still whenever people gather, listen to the words of Jesus and break the bread.”
“the Holy Eucharist is not a prize but a gift. The Holy Eucharist is not a reward for our good deeds but medicine to heal us of our shortcomings. The Holy Eucharist is a broken body for broken people who are ready to be mended to share in the life of God.”
“like Mary, like Joseph, you too when you come up to the altar you make a manger, you make a manger and you too hold your savior in your hands and God would have it no other way. You are not a spectator of your own salvation. You are a participant.”