Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Buddhist
A Zen Meditation on Christian Communion

A Zen Meditation on Christian Communion

Last updated on: February 27, 2023 at 10:23 am by James Ford

0 Comments

A Zen Meditation on Christian Communion 2023-02-27T10:23:42-08:00 James Ford

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A Zen Meditation on Christian Communion

James Ishmael Ford

As anyone interested in Christian origins no doubt knows, the informed assumption of the academic community is that between Jesus’ death and the writing of the gospels there appear to have been two traditions passed on, orally for sure, possibly in writing as well.

One was a collection of Jesus’ sayings. The fabulous and never found “Q” document. This is one of the reasons people got so excited when the Nag Hammadi library was uncovered, and they finally had a complete gospel according to Thomas. As it is simply a list of sayings, many very interesting, and some not in the canonical gospels, some thought maybe this was Q. Most agree it is not. Instead a later composition, although nearly all agree there is a core to it that is truly ancient, and maybe authentically an alternative source. But not Q.

What people sometimes miss in the drive to capture the sayings of the good rabbi is that there almost certainly was another collection. Again passed on orally, but possibly in writing as well. And these were accounts of the miracles attributed to Jesus. These were important as part of the proof that Jesus had some sort of divine sanction.

What that divine sanction was would be argued, and heatedly. The arguments continue, although one thread, the group that would coalesce as Nicene Christianity, would become normative.

But for now, the miracles. What captures me is that the four canonical gospels recount miracles. However, a single miracle is recounted in all four of the gospels. Just one recorded by them all. We find it in Matthew 14, Mark 6, Luke 9, and John 6.

In Mark 6: 30-44 which is probably the most primitive of the tellings, with the fewest embellishments we hear:

The apostles returned to Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place, and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a lonely place by themselves. Now many saw them going, and knew them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns, and got there ahead of them. As he went ashore he saw a great throng, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a lonely place, and the hour is now late; send them away, to go into the country and villages round about and buy themselves something to eat.” But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?” And he said to them, “How many loaves have you? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” Then he commanded them all to sit down by companies upon the green grass. So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples to set before the people; and he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.

There are some problems with the text. First, people familiar with the scriptures know there’s an older version of this story. In 2 Kings 4:42-44, the prophet Elisha fed a hundred people with twenty loves. Of course, in the newer telling, Jesus does old Elisha one better. Je feeds five thousand with five loves and a couple of fish. So, it can be seen a couple of ways. One is tying Jesus in as a prophet in the great lineage of Jewish prophets. Or, it can be seen as establishing that Jesus as the greatest of the prophets. And, for some, maybe something more than a prophet.

But, for me, there’s something more important in this particular miracle than establishing Jesus connection with the tradition. It has to do with what the miracle turned on. Feeding people. Food.

Even here, there is a wealth of possible meaning. There’s that popular interpretation of the miracle cut for our secular times, for instance. Jesus’ action inspired the people in the crowd who had food with them to share. And it all becomes a version of the stone soup story. A kind of miracle. And I don’t disdain it.

But, I find something more important yet in the story.

When I was in seminary I was introduced to a book titled God is Rice. It consisted of essays on Christianity and East Asian culture by the theologian Masao Takenaka. It opened a lot of doors for me. Especially as a Zen Buddhist formed by and living within Western culture. But the title alone was provocative.

The principal Christian rituals are baptism and communion. Some count them as the only sacraments. And communion turns on the miracle of finding God in bread and wine. It is a powerful symbol. More so for me, because as a child my first impression there was something messy going on was when my Biblical literalist grandmother told me that when the Bible said Jesus drank wine, it meant he drank grape fruit juice. Confusion. Messiness. Contradictions. Starting with how can bread and wine be Jesus’ body and blood? All the way to, why grape fruit juice?

And what in fact is literal truth?

But all along the way God is bread. God is wine. Food and God. What is the most holy thing to a hungry person? What is literal in that?

And, as Professor Takenaka would say instead of God as the “bread of life,” that God was the “rice of life.”

All of it turning on food. Nourishment. That some get. And that some do not get.

And, that those who do not get it, bread or rice, are being deprived of a natural right. As literal a truth as one can find.

For me a cascade of feelings. A cascade of intimations. About what is sacred. About how it is never about something some place other than this place. About no body other than our bodies. Yours and mine.

If a koan is an assertion about the real bound up together with an intimate invitation, then I find the great Christian koan is the communion. Communion. Eucharist. Mass.

Totally expressed within the rite. Totally expressed in giving a hungry person a sandwich. Totally expressed in asking why people are hungry? Totally expressed in the struggle to make sure no one goes hungry.

Take and eat. This is my body. Take and drink. This is my blood.

Not one, not exactly. But not two, not precisely.

A literal truth. And. The miracle.

Previous Post

February 26, 2023

Recalling Johnny Cash & A Consideration of Love as a Zen Koan

Next Post

March 1, 2023 Reflecting on Nonduality and Zen and the Shape of a Spiritual Life Today

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Allowing anger to contaminate one's hard disk can be detrimental to one's holistic well being. ..."

Dr.Cajetan Coelho

Hot Anger: Meeting Anger in Zen ..."

"I love this koan. every which way you turn it bites you, Thirty years on ..."

Mark Strathern

Nanquan Cuts the Cat: A Jesuit ..."

"As a substitute for religion, Zen is probably better than taking drugs. However, it can ..."

Theodore Brandley

The Selling of Zen at the ..."

"Craving and aversion are detrimental to one's peace and happiness. Easter is a wake up ..."

Dr.Cajetan Coelho

Easter: A Zen Buddhist Appreciation

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A Christmas Carol Abolitionist African-American Ahmadiyya Alan Watts Aldous Huxley Allen Ginsberg Amedkar Jayanti American politics American Zen Anaheim Zen Sangha Anglican Annie Besant April Fool Armageddon Art and Religion artificial intellegence Atheist Awakening B R Ambedkar Barlaam & Josaphat Beatnik Between Bhagavad Gita Bible biography birthday bodhisattva Bodhisattva Precepts Book burning Book of Common Prayer Book of Mormon Brahmo Samaj Buddha Buddhism Buddhist Buddhist Lord's Prayer Butterflies Calendars cartoons cat ChatGPT Chicken Tortilla Soup choices Christian atheism Christian mysticism Christian origins Christian Science Christian Zen Christianity Christianity and Buddhism christmas Christmas Truce Christopher Isherwood Church of Later Day Saints Cinco de Mayo circus covenant critical thinking culture D. T. Suzuki Dalit Buddhism Daniel Defoe Desert Fathers and Mothers dharma talk Dogen Donald Trump Dongshan's Five Ranks Dorothy Day dream Duty Easter ecology Edwin Arnold emptiness Empty Moon Zen Network Episcopal Church Eternal Now Ethics evolution existentialism Faith fantasy Fathers Day film film review fire Five Ranks Folk music food Form and emptiness Four Seals Francis of Assisi Francis Xavier Free thinker friendship George MacDonald Gerald Heard Glenn Taylor Webb God Good Friday Gospel of Gospel of Mark Gospel of Thomas grace Graduate Theological Unioin Graduate Theological Union Guanyin H R Blyth Hakuin Ekaku Hanamatsuri Hanukkah Harada Yasutani Zen Heart Sutra Henry David Thoreau Hermann Hesse Hinduism History and Religion history of religion Holy Spirit home Hospitality Icon Ides of March Isaac Newton Islam Islamic mysticism Jack Kerouac James Luther Adams Jiddu Krishnamurti Joan of Arc Johannes Gutenberg John Donne joke Judaism justice karma kensho King James Bible koan Koun Yamada Kyoto School Lewis Carrol Liberal Christianity Liberal Religion Life Plan Community Liminal literature Literature and Religion Liturgy Lord's Prayer Love Mahatma Gandhi Mahayana Martin Luther King Jr Mary Baker Eddy Mary Magdelene Mary Oliver Mayflower Compact Meditation memories memory metaphor money money and religioin Mormons Mother's Day movie review mysticism mythic Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church New Thought Nichiren Buddhism Nonduality not knowing Omar Khayyam Pacific School of Religion pagan Palm Sunday Passover peace Pentecost perennialism Phantastes Philip Kapleau philosophy Pilgrimage poetry Poetry and Religion politics Prayer Precepts Printing Press prophecy prophetic spirituality psychology Pure Land Queer religion queering religion Quietism Ram Mohan Roy rebirth recipe Relationships and religion religion religion and history Religious syncretism Resistance Retirement Retreat review Rissho Kosei Kai Ritual Robert Aitken Roshi Robert Ingersoll Rohatsu Romani religion Rosie the Riveter saints samadhi SanboZen Sangha Satyagraha science science and reigion science and religion science fiction seminary sermon Sesshin Sex and Religion Shinran Sikh Sikh tradition silence Social Justice Socially Engaged Buddhism Society and religion Soto Zen soul spiritual community spiritual practice Spirituality Sufism Suicide superstition Taoism Television Teresa of Avila Thanksgiving theological schools Theosophy Thomas Merton Time Transcendentalism Transcendentalist Trinitarian Trinity Uncategorized unitarian Unitarian Christianity Unitarian Universalist Universalism Vajrayana Vedanta Walking war Willa Cather William Ellery Channing wisdom women and religion women in religion World Teacher Writing zazen Zen Zen Center Zen inspired retriement zen meditation Zen Precepts Zen women

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was David's oldest brother, critical of him at the battlefield?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Eliab Abinadab Shammah Jesse