Kügler, Politics of Feedingstructure is sharing. Only if those who are dispossessed and without
honor in the world are honored and fed well by sharing, the “body of
Christ” really is respected. Eating in separation, i.e. eating according to
the old world order, means disregarding the “body of Christ” and eating
and drinking in “judgment”.^15
- Johannine Eucharistic Theology and its socio-political
background
Although my reading of John 6 developed here is very much a syn-
chronic reading on the level of the final redactional text, before starting I
should give a brief overview on how I see this chapter’s redaction his-
tory, which is one of the most debated problems in Johannine exegesis.
The model on which I base my reading is in the tradition of modern
Literarkritik, which understands the exploration of the different layers of
a text as an exploration of the repertoire of the text, i.e. of the tradition a
text is working with. Here, John 6 is understood as the work of the final
redactor of John, who is not only responsible for chapter 21, but for the
final state of the Fourth Gospel in general. For the bread of life dis-
course, the redaction used material coming from the Johannine com-
munity tradition. This material can be found mostly in John 6:28-30-
32.35.37-38.40-44.47.59. For other parts of chapter 6, the Johannine
redaction rather freely used the gospel of Mark as source: John 6:1-21
and 6:60-71 are based on Mark 6:30-52 and 8:27-33.^16 John 6:22-25 and
6:48-58 are redactional products, which means that the final redaction
displays a specific interest in the topic of the Eucharist.^17
(^15) Older interpretation often understood Paul’s critique of “not distinguishing the body”
(1.Cor 11:29), as a warning about the proper treatment of the consecrated Eucharistic
bread. But Paul is not dealing with sacred food here. The “body” of Christ is the Chris-
tian community celebrating Lord’s Supper. Not making a difference between this body
as presence of new creation with a new divine order, therefore means eating in the
fashion of the old world and by that falling back into the state of unredeemed sinners
who deserve God’s wrath and condemnation. Whoever eats in the fashion of the old
world eats “judgment”. Those, however, who eat in the proper Christian way, respect-
ing the others and sharing with them, transcend the rules of the old world and eat a
spiritual food, which is “a sharing in the body of Christ” (1.Cor 10:16).
(^16) Cf. I. DUNDERBERG, Johannes und die Synoptiker. Studien zu Joh 1-9, Helsinki:
Academia Scientiarum Fennica 1994, 127-174.
(^17) Detailed arguments for this literarkritische model cannot be given here, but are to be
found in: J. KÜGLER, Der Jünger, den Jesus liebte. Literarische, theologische und