Eucharist: Reconciling and forming communion

Eucharist at the heart of community

The Church is the Body of Christ, the gathering of God’s people in local communities and throughout the world. The Church is the people of God, the gathering of all who through faith, are called from sin to the grace of God. At the heart of Church is communion - the bringing together of all - united around Jesus Christ and following Christ in his life, death and resurrection. At the heart of the idea and the reality of church, is the endeavour to follow Jesus in his mission of reconciliation. This entails bringing people together in a community of healing, forgiveness and reconciliation in a true and inclusive communion. Eucharist is at the heart of such a community. Jesus modelled such a Eucharistic community in his ministry of healing and reconciliation and particularly in his practice of inclusive table during his earthly ministry.

Cultural context of meals

Human beings eat communally. We decorate our tables, call our families, present the meal with ornamental colour and use specific utensils for various elements of the meal. It looks more like a ceremony than a biological necessity and, in fact, it is. Meals are complex social events that function as tools for building community rather than simple nourishment for the individual. Put simply, meals accomplish specific things in the context of a community. In the social world of Jesus’ day, they had four basic functions:

• To support kinship- to create solidarity. One ate with the clan and by doing so established the boundaries of who was “in” and who was “out.” Meals reminded the household where their loyalties lay. The concentric rings of table fellowship were: extended family, household servants or hired workers and members of your social class (those who could reciprocate), who were invited to special banquets.

• To enforce boundaries – hierarchy, status and gender – especially through seating arrangements. During these meals the social group was reminded who sat at the head of the table and who was at the foot (or in their case who washed the feet). Women’s roles and paternal hegemony were reinforced.

• To perpetuate social values. During meals, certain rituals were maintained such as washings, prayers and symbols. In addition, special feasts, fasts and Sabbath observances were celebrated. In some ways, meals were quite liturgical, sometimes even mirroring the events of the temple (cf. Neufeld 16; Lev 23:2-44).

• To gain honour through hosting banquets or through clever discourse as a guest. The wealthy were able to show off as well as demonstrate benevolence to guests. The guests were able to show deference as well as entertain their host and other guests with wit or wisdom. In fact, Luke, who describes Jesus’ table fellowship in more detail than the other gospel writers, portrays them somewhat like the Greek “symposia” where wit and conversation are central.

Jesus’ table fellowship

This is the world in which Jesus lived. Yet he didn’t abide by its rules. In fact, he used meals as a means of disrupting social values and overturning normal standards of behaviour and honour. First, Jesus used meals to reconfigure whom he considered his true kin. Rather than capitulating to his family’s request to see him, he created a fictive family around the table based on one’s devotion to hearing and obeying God’s word. This was never clearer than at the Last Supper. Second, “Jesus’ open table fellowship was a strategy used to challenge social and religious exclusivism wherever it was accepted as normal or officially sanctioned”.

Because he ate with all class of “sinners” he offended the sensibilities of the religious elite. Third, he refused to perpetuate religious traditions about washing, fasting, and Sabbath regulations. This was more than a faux pas. This was an assault on a religious system that prioritised rules above people. Finally, when invited by prominent teachers, Jesus often offended both the host and the guests by pointing out their misguided priorities. Moreover, he often honoured some sinner who happened on the scene. He turned the tables of social rank upside down at these banquets. See the chart below for Jesus’ subversive use of meals as a tool for social reconstruction.

Table-Fellowship Incidents in Jesus’ Ministry

Category A - Jesus uses meals to reconfigure kinship relations

Category B - Jesus disregards a persons' status during a meal

Category C - Jesus disregards purity rituals involved in meals

Category D - Jesus himself is reinterpreted eschatologically