The evidence suggests that wheat was first cultivated over 11,000 years ago in the part of the world sometimes called the fertile crescent. Which is in the same region where most of the Bible takes place or is originally written down. Why and how and in what order the choice to cultivate wheat happened: that's debated. What is not debated is it is very hard to imagine our life and our well-being without it. We can do fantastic and amazing things with wheat but at the end of the day most wheat is produced to be consumed in very basic and simple ways. And like most basic starchy crops they would be difficult and perhaps silly to cultivate alone the exchange of time and energy wouldn't be worth it. Wheat whether it's in a loaf or a tortilla or matzah is communal. It is planted and nurtured and harvested in community and shared in a community.
Our gospel from Mark is not a bread breaking reading necessarily but we're honoring the work of our Sunday School class today to learn more about the mystery of holy communion. The bread we will share they prepared and baked just for this day. And we're celebrating this occasion on the Sunday following all saints a day when we remember that when we break bread together in the Eucharist we're not just breaking bread you and me but we're feasting with the faithful and ages past and the faithful across the world and astonishingly the faithful who haven't even been born yet.
Our gospel story today may have surprised you. In general any of the ancient authorities - like a scribe - they are usually the antagonist the people who are frequently trying to trap Jesus. Here today following occasion after occasion of the disciples being blind and wrong and stumped this esteemed stranger and possibly hostile outsider is entirely spot on. You may have heard the summary of the lesson before: the way of God is eternal steadfast love which is made known by loving all as much as God loves us. When writing a story there are details that you wouldn't even bother to mention because they are so mundane. I believe there's a lot more food sharing a lot more breaking of bread in the new testament than what is written in the ink and parchment. There's a pretty good chance that every time Jesus stops somebody is sharing food. It was the most basic norm of hospitality in his culture. When traveling they're most likely sharing dried fruits and probably nuts and flatbreads. When they are at homes there may be household cooked foods - and the item so normal that the writers don't even think to mention it: basic hearty bread.
The reign of God that Jesus comes to love us into and propel us toward is one where he meets hungry hearts where they are and so to meets thirsty souls where they are. Meets us with steadfast love the steadfast love of God that the Hebrew scriptures tell us is the most vital quality of God. It's the kind of connection that meets terror with service and kindness. It's the kind of passion that is honest about what's broken in the world yet breaks bread with so-called enemies. In our gospel the scribe daringly comes into a moment where I imagine there's some breaking of bread and he shows that he knows what discipleship demands. He knows what living in God's way is to be like. It is the commitment to the least and the last and the lost because God loved first. It is trusting in the one Lord God of the universe with your whole self, just as God has trusted us with all this.
The scribe, his answer today is exactly the mission that we commit to when we faithfully break bread together in holy communion. Every moment of Jesus’ teaching and feasting and praying with friends and strangers is in the grains and flavors the mystery of the Eucharist. So too is the presence of the whole church —past, present, and future— all who love God and worship at Christ's table. This eternal communion is a beautiful reminder that we are never far from the collective faithfulness of every generation. We are not alone in the struggle. Those whom we love but see no longer— in the communion of the saints they are filling us in hopeful expectation of the time when all will be all in all. All of us come to Jesus’ table broken and hungry and needy, perhaps like a scribe ease-dropping on a gathering.
We come and it is here that we find welcome, forgiveness, and freedom. This is a profound and beautiful mystery but it's not done with fancy things. Everything our young friends have learned is good and valuable but ultimately this great thanksgiving it is a mystery. It is Christ's table and bread and wine and while I can tell you the bits and pieces about what we do we can't understand it as much as we are invited to trust the experience of it. All God asks is the mission named in the lesson today - we love God and all that God loves as much as he loves us.
And that is so darn simple and so darn hard. So we return to each other. To the community of holy faith that is present in each piece of bread. I have had a song in my mind ever since we gathered to bake bread last week. And so instead of finishing with a prayer, we will pray with a song that I am going to teach you. Here is bread for the hungry heart, here is wine for the thirsty soul. Here is forgiveness full and free here at the table of the Lord.
Grace Episcopal Church
Pemberton, New Jersey
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