Book of Common Prayer
Rich and poor at the table of the Lord
17 What I have to talk about now isn’t a matter for praise. When you meet together, you make things worse, not better! 18 What I mean is this: to begin with, I hear that when you come together in the assembly there are divisions among you. Well, I believe it—at least partly. 19 There are bound to be groupings among you; that’s how the genuine ones among you will stand out, I suppose! 20 So when you gather together into one meeting, it isn’t the Lord’s Supper that you eat. 21 Everyone brings their own food to eat, and one person goes hungry while another gets drunk. 22 Haven’t you got houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise God’s assembly, and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? No, in this matter I shan’t!
Recognizing the body
23 This, you see, is what I received from the Lord, and handed on to you. On the night when the Lord Jesus was betrayed, he took bread, 24 gave thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body; it’s for you! Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 He did the same with the cup after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink the cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes.
27 It follows from this that anyone who eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Everyone should test themselves; that’s how you should eat the bread and drink the cup. 29 You see, if you eat and drink without recognizing the body, you eat and drink judgment on yourself. 30 That’s why several of you are weak and sick, and some have died. 31 But if we learned how to judge ourselves, we would not incur judgment. 32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are punished, so that we won’t be condemned along with the world.
33 So, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, treat one another as honored guests by waiting for each other. 34 If anyone is hungry, they should eat at home, so that you don’t come together and find yourselves facing judgment. I will put the other matters in order when I come.
The feeding of the four thousand
8 Once again, about that time, a large crowd gathered with nothing to eat.
Jesus called the disciples.
2 “I’m really sorry for the people,” he said. “They’ve been with me three days now, and they haven’t got anything to eat. 3 If I send them home hungry, they’ll collapse on the way. Some of them have come from miles off.”
4 “Where could you get food for all this lot, out here in the wilderness?” answered his disciples.
5 “How many loaves have you got?” he asked. “Seven,” they replied.
6 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, gave thanks, broke them and gave them to his disciples to share around, and they gave them to the crowd. 7 They had a few small fish, which he also blessed and told them to distribute. 8 They ate; they were satisfied; and they took up seven baskets of leftover bits. 9 There were about four thousand people. And he sent them away.
10 At once Jesus got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanoutha.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.