God's Classroom

Gospel: John 6: 44-51

"They shall all be taught by God."

How is this teaching supposed to take place? We imagine it as some sort of giant Zoom session where God provides a lecture to teach us all things, or perhaps an elaborate Power Point presentation with nifty graphics that gives us all the information we need.  But God is not interested in transmitting information.  God is interested in developing authentic relationships, just as God is a being of relationship of three persons in a communion of love.

So Jesus situates this teaching of God in the context of breaking bread and a meal.  The table is where all are taught by God, the table being the most intimate place of human interaction.  Nothing is more authentic and self-giving than to share a meal with others, nothing reveals us to others and them to us more fully.  It is at the meal where we are fully fed physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  The table is where we are taught how to be fully human.

And so we do come to find Jesus present among us in the bread we share, the bread provided us by God at creation and in the re-creation of the world in the ministry of Jesus.  It is at the table where we are revealed to ourselves and God is revealed to us, where we become fully known and where we come to know God.  The table is God's classroom, not the lecture hall or Zoom channel.