Five loaves and two fish (20)

Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.(Mark 6:41)

“To eat and drink” is the core activity of the Passover supper, which was Jesus’ last supper and which we occasionally observe. The administration of the Last Supper entails a unique activity performed in the most religious and urgent manner in the holiest time and occasion.

If we deeply think about the activity of eating and drinking, it is a mysterious phenomenon. Bread and wine enter in to our stomach through our mouth and gullet. A stomach naturally does the secretion of gastric juice and decomposes food through an action of compression and relaxation. The decomposed food is then gets assimilated to human body through the small intestine and the large intestine. The last step is the excretion. The digestive system of man is a little different from that of the animals but the general mechanism of food intake and excretion of waste for the sustenance of life is the same.

We should not miss the point that there is universal requirement of eating and drinking of something. It is something that occurs universally to all living beings. Here the meaning of universality has the direct implication with God’s nature of holiness. The things that we eat and drink are also a medium of connectivity between the Holy God and us.

The religious symbol of sharing of the Eucharist is the conspicuous expression of our connectivity with the Lord Jesus Christ. We the Christians experience the oneness of the body of Christ by sharing small pieces of bread and wine which represent blood and flesh of Jesus. Rather than prayer and praise or hearing the word of God, participation in the Eucharist gives deeper sense of spirituality. Those who have participated in it should treat our daily bread holy like the body of Christ. We have to continually maintain the practice of having a meal in a holy manner.