Gospel of JOHN : 6:11 Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.
6:12 When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost." 6:13 So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. 6:14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world." ………………………………………………………………………
Christianity failed to stop two world wars fought mainly among nominally Christian countries. The historical record even before that century is also very disheartening regarding the role of the church institutions played on the stage of the world theater.
It was not a surprise, because Christianity failed humanity a very long time ago, when approximately seventeen hundred years ago it fatally succumbed to the pressure of power. It was not like or not only like that the external power cracked down Christianity, but the temptation of the power molded and deformed Christianity to something else.
We forgot that among the temptations, the temptation of the power is the most deadly sin of all. Not only having enormous power surely corrupts the holder, but even just the craving of the power has already corrupted its wisher. As the crave grows bigger so the corruption is more comprehensive.
Under the boots of the Roman Emperors of Constantine and Theodosius the leadership of the Church sold its soul to the Empire or were forced to sell it. Sad to say and with regrets that although Protestantism tried hard to fix the faults and to make global amendments, but all efforts failed. The obvious sign of this general failure that we still do not share the bread. The example and warning of Jesus fell upon deaf ears, as he said it in the Gospel of Matthew, when the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “All this I will give You,” Satan said, “if You will fall down and worship me.” “Away from Me, Satan!” Jesus declared. “For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only."
The very Christianity intertwined with the Empire, and when the Empire collapsed, the Roman Church became the empire itself. Imperialized Christianity failed humanity, but the failure was also immanent and heart-breaking in failing to share the bread. Because, the sharing of the bread is not an optional feature of the Christian Faith, and not even a merely ritualistic one. The development of the centuries resulted in an unwanted loss of a cornerstone. Practically the real communion itself.
It is almost unspeakable that the original tradition of the sharing of not only the bread, but all the the food and the possessions as well, almost completely disappeared from the congregational life, because sharing was the gravitational and the vectoral center of all faith doctrines. It was so important, that even the slave-holding Rome was not able totally eradicate it. In the Medieval and nominally Christian Europe, where the indentured servitude or forced labor broke the backs of the peasantry, they still imitated the early Christian practice of the really shared bread and no possessions in some monasteries. Not as the general rule of society, but the exemptions of the rule.
It is clearly written in the Book of the Apostles in chapter two that the first believers “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and prayer. Fear came on every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. All who believed were together, and had all things in common. They sold their possessions and goods, and distributed them to all, according as anyone had need. Day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they took their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. The Lord added to the assembly day by day those who were being saved.”
This sharing of everything was so originally Christian that John the Baptist pointed it out in the Gospel of Luke, even before Jesus had showed up, that “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.” Christianity failed to evangelize the surrounding society in large, to make society accept the original Christian norm of sharing everything and the original Christian standard of living, which made it real that there was no needy among them. And it is not a utopia. It is a must in order to experience authentic Christianity.
It is actually a Biblical promise of God as it is written in the Book of Deuteronomy, chapter 15 that “However there shall be no poor with you; (for the Lord will surely bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it;) if only you diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to observe to do all this commandment which I command you this day”.
The Israelites had this divine promise, that when they observe the divine rules of sharing the land and sharing the harvest, there will be no needy among them. And God does not brake promises, humans do.
The world religion, called Christianity failed to practice one of the core features of its very faith, and that is sharing. As a direct result of this failure, the emperors and kings technically expropriated Christianity and used it as a unifying tool of the empires. They still do. In the parable of the multiplying the bread and the smoked fishes the real miracle is not the act of the multiplying, but the sharing of the food.
Sometimes we tend to forget the real sequence. If someone believes, shares. If someone shares, miracles start to happen. If a community believe, they share. If they share, miracles will happen. Without sharing, faith can not manifest itself in miracles.
Sharing is essential. Even John Lennon sang it that sharing all the world is necessary in order that nobody should go hungry. Alms giving is not systematical sharing. It is not the rule, but the exemption.
Our grandparents knew and said that where five people are fed at the table, the sixth and seventh can be easily fed too. Not because the food will be miraculously multiplied, but because of the sharing of the food. And that is the real miracle. When we will see that all the people are sharing all the resources of the world, then we will know that the Gospel became bread for the greater glory of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Although even this miracle begins with the providence of God embedded in the wondrously created Mother Earth, which is enabled to sustain billions of people, the next level of wonders is spiritual, like the sharing of the bread, and it must happen first in our hearts and in our willingness to make it happen. May we love God that much, Amen.
