There’s something in Matthew’s eye-witness biography of Jesus (see bold above) which may help us. Mathew was there in AD 30 in the upper room in Jerusalem on the night before Jesus was crucified.
Jesus and his disciples were also remembering an historic release. It was the thirteenth centenary of the Passover. 1300 years earlier their despised ethnic group of slaves, Israelites, were freed from captivity by Egyptians without any of them having to fire a shot as it were.
Here’s the quote, “Now while they were eating, Jesus having taken bread, having expressed thanks, having broken, and having given to the disciples, said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”
Back to the causes of the first World War, all of the ten BBC historians laid some blame on territorial ambitions – both of imperial Germany and the declining Austro-Hungarian empire. Those historians drew attention to the desires of the leaders of these countries to be powerful and to retain lost authority.
Territorial ambition? Restoration of loss of face? Are these things actually inside all human beings? Do we want to have a bit more? Do I retaliate when I’m losing? Did Britain fight so as to retain?
Did you notice in the extract from Matthew’s biography of Jesus that, at their Passover remembrance, the disciples were described as eating - consuming?
Whilst they were eating Jesus was giving a one-act play with bread. By taking bread, he depicted his coming into this world as a man, into a lowly family as well. By expressing thanks, he was indicating his joy and satisfaction with that. By breaking the bread, he was showing what would soon he would endure. “You take. You eat.” He said. “This is my body.” Others were to take from him.
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