During close fellowship with Jesus, one can never say with certainty where events are unfolding: in the world not yet transfigured, or in the Kingdom. So it is in the account of feeding the multitude who listen to Him with five loaves and two fish. The laws of the untransfigured world do not, of course, allow such a thing. But on the other hand...
During close fellowship with Jesus, one can never say with certainty where events are unfolding: in the world not yet transfigured, or in the Kingdom. So it is in the account of feeding the multitude who listen to Him with five loaves and two fish. The laws of the untransfigured world do not, of course, allow such a thing. But on the other hand, those before us are still ordinary people who, for now, are only listening to Jesus, and it is not yet known which of them will be ready to follow Him.
How, then, did they find themselves in the Kingdom? The only answer to this question is probably the mention of the breaking of bread performed by the Savior. The breaking of bread is an ancient Jewish rite whose roots go back at least to the age of the captivity, and perhaps to still earlier times. This rite was evidently always domestic, originally a family rite and later, after the emergence of religious brotherhoods, both a family and a fraternal rite. At all times it was regarded as a continuation of the Temple sacrifice, as its domestic dimension complementing the communal dimension. The original meaning of every sacrifice, even a pagan one, let alone a Yahwistic sacrifice, came down to communion with God: everyone always regarded the sacrifice as a shared meal of God—or, among pagans, of the gods—and human beings. The faithful prepared the meal and invited God to the table so that He Himself might sanctify it and bless those assembled. So it was at gatherings in the Temple, and so it was at gatherings in the home. Now the One who brought the fullness of the Kingdom into the world performs the breaking of bread.
It is not surprising that everyone who takes part becomes, at least for the duration of the gathering, an inhabitant of the Kingdom. With Christ, God's presence is revealed in all possible fullness, and the Kingdom becomes the most certain reality. Such participation is of course only the first step, only the beginning of the journey. Yet this experience is very important, because it enables everyone who has lived through it to understand what the Kingdom is not in words but in reality, and to make a decision based not on other people's stories but on personal experience.
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4:7 Let us love one another - From the doctrine he has just been defending he draws this exhortation. It is by the Spirit that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. Every one that truly loveth God and his neighbour is born of God.
4:8 God is love - This little sentence brought St. John more sweetness, even in the time he was writing it, than the whole world can bring. God is often styled holy, righteous, wise; but not holiness, righteousness, or wisdom in the abstract, as he is said to be love; intimating that this is his darling, his reigning attribute, the attribute that sheds an amiable glory on all his other perfections.