Feast on Christ

“Peace be with you.”

“Let’s Pray: Father, may your will be done. Jesus, may your word be proclaimed. Spirit, may your work be accomplished in us we pray. Amen”

Introduction

The most important moments of my life have included food.

Papaw often sat at the dinner table in his wicker woven chair that made a stretching sound whenever he sat down or adjusted his posture. With shirt off, he sat with elbows propped up on the ledge of the table; a sleeve of fig newtons laid within reach of one hand, and a tall sweaty glass of cold milk at the reach of the other, as his black bible with red trimmed pages laid open on his placemat. You would find him there every morning before breakfast and every evening after supper. As I would pass him by, he would invite me to join him by asking if he could share his Sunday School lesson with me. Being a kid whose belly was his god, I always obliged cause, for me, I got fig newtons and cold milk. However, it was over these sleeves of newtons and milk that my Papaw made known to me the Lover of my soul. It is how I came to know Christ and all He has done for me. It was at Papaw's dinner table where I met Christ, and it was over fig newtons and milk that I learned of the one who would now be my God.

Another important moment of my life that included food was my wedding.

We had exchanged our vows upon a mountaintop in Granby, Colorado. Our guests were making their way down the mountain to the reception area. We descended the mountain in a ski lift to capture amazing footage for our wedding video. Our names were announced as we proceeded to join our guests in our wedding celebration. A feast was prepared, toasts were made, and the time for the cutting of the cake had arrived. As we walked hand in hand towards the table that held this culinary masterpiece of cake perfection, I reflected upon the conversations that led up to this moment that Melissa and I had had. She had told me that she wanted this moment to be sweet and lovely, and any temptation or mischievous plots to ruin the moment by shoving the cake or even gently applying the cake anywhere but in her mouth would not be appreciated and could lead to an annulment! I understood the assignment and wrangled in every ounce of boyish immaturity that wanted to smear my wife's face with cake. Together as one, we cut the cake. Together as one, we locked our arms, and together as one, we moved our cake-filled hands toward each other. This tradition that symbolizes bond, unity, and joy quickly turned into betrayal as my wife, who, upon threat of divorce, told me to make this moment sweet and lovely, would smear icing on my nose like sunscreen at the beach. However, It was at this table, over shared cake, that we began our wonderful life journey together.

Food is usually present at our most important moments in life. There is something about food that makes normal occasions into extraordinary memories. There is more that food symbolizes than just the nourishment for our bodies. We are all familiar with the wise saying that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. I tend to agree with such wisdom, not because it is something that women have observed and experienced, but because I find through the scriptures that God uses food in his relationship with His people in more ways than just nourishment.

A Historical Survey of the significance of food in God's Word.

Consider this...

After sin entered into the world through Adam, and they covered themselves up with leaves (Genesis 3:7), God sacrificed an animal and made them garments from its skin (Genesis 3:21). This may not seem to tell us about the importance of food, but it does begin to teach us that God has a preference and we further come to understand that preference when we turn the page and learn about the food offerings to God of Cain and Abel.

Cain offered God the first fruits from the ground, but Abel offered his firstlings from his flock. God had regard for Abel's offering but not Cain's (Genesis 4:3-5). This teaches us something about the offering God prefers. Animal offerings were acceptable, while fruit offerings were not. Even early on in Genesis, we understand the type of offering that would have to be presented to God to atone for humanity. An offering that has a body and one that could bleed. It was around a table that Cain and Able learned the proper meals that God preferred.

Fast forward to Abraham, when God makes a covenant with him. God binds himself to Abraham and his seed by cooking a feast with a cow, goat, ram, dove, and a pigeon who smoked the meat with an oven and seared it with a flaming torch. It was around a table in a field that the relationship and promises that God made with Abraham were forged (Genesis 15:9-10, 17).

God speaks to Moses and Aaron and tells them that He is going to deliver Israel out of the bonds of slavery in Egypt, and Israel needs to prepare by gathering for a special meal. The spread for this meal is to be Fire-roasted lamb, rubbed in bitter herbs, and served with a side of unleavened bread. The lamb is to be of the finest quality. In addition, they are to take the lamb's blood and put it on their doorpost as a sign that the bill for this deliverance has been paid. During dinner, God’s people may eat to their heart’s content, but if anything is left, they are not allowed to take any doggy bags to go. They are to send the leftovers up to God by fire, and God likes His Lamb “Well done!” It was around the table that Israel anticipated their deliverance from death and slavery (Exodus 12:1-4).

The Apostle Paul recounts the last supper Jesus had with his disciples. There was a spread of Fire-roasted lamb rubbed in bitter herbs, with bread on the side and served with wine. During the dinner, Jesus gave a toast. Jesus took the bread, broke it, passed it to everyone at the table, and said, “This bread we eat together symbolizes our relationship to each other, that I am in you, and you are in me. Every time you take this bread, remember me.” Then he raised his cup and said, “This wine symbolizes that the bill you incurred from your sin has been paid with my blood. It was around a table that Jesus' disciples learned how to maintain a connection to their Savior and how to remember all that He has done for them. It is by a meal that Jesus wants His followers to feel connected to Him and remember Him. (1 Corinthians 11:23-26)

For whatever reason, God has used tables and food throughout history to initiate a relationship with His people and to commemorate the actions He has taken to redeem them. This survey of food and meals between God and His people prepares us to understand what Jesus is saying to the Jews in John 6:51-58

John 6:51–58 NASB95

51 “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.” 52 Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 “For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. 56 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. 58 “This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”

Understanding Jesus' Words in John 6:51-58.

In these seven verses, we learn that unless you eat this new meal of Jesus' body and blood, no one has true life In themselves (v. 53). This new food that Jesus gives will bring resurrection and eternal life to them (v.54). Jesus is true food and true drink that sustains our covenantal relationship with Him (v. 55). His body given for us, and His blood shed for us is how we can know that we abide in a relationship with Him (v. 56). Those who feast on Christ will have their life sustained by Christ (v.57). And that life will continue for all eternity (v. 58). This bread that Christ offers us now is better than what was offered before in that He lasts forever, and manna lasted but for only a day.

We are to understand that just as we gather around a table and eat food for fellowship and sustenance, Jesus, too, provides Himself as the spiritual food and drink that is served around His table to those who believe in Him. He is the Spiritual meal that keeps our relationship with Him intimate and our new lives in Him growing. He wants us to feast on Him, and by feasting, He keeps us in His life.

A Mystery.

Despite my attempts to articulate the meaning of what Jesus is saying, it is still cloaked in Mystery. It is hard to understand because it is only something that can be spiritually discerned. Those not of the Spirit will think what Jesus says is strange and weird. This is evidenced by how the Jews respond to Jesus teaching and even how his own disciples responded to his teaching (v. 60). But those who have the Spirit from faith in Jesus will know what Jesus means and why it is important (v.63). Paul confirms this understanding by saying it this way, "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14)."

Food For Thought.

But the Spirit can help us discern something more profound when we consider that Jesus tells us to drink his blood (v. 56).

In Genesis 9:3-4, God declares to Noah that He has given him all living things as food for him and warns him not to eat anything that still has its "life" in it, meaning its blood. Later on, when God delivers the Law to his people, He expounds upon this warning of taking in blood by saying that anyone who eats the blood still in the meat, God will turn His face from him and will cast him out from the people. Fellowship and relationship are broken. (Lev. 17:10-11).

Then we learn that although the blood of Bulls and goats was required according to the Law, it did not atone for the people's sins, and God didn't take pleasure in those sacrifices (Hebrews 10:4). But of Himself, Jesus affirms that by His Sacrifice and by His blood, we will have life, and it will be sanctified (Hebrews 10:10).

So, for the Jews, Jesus teaching them to eat his flesh and drink his blood would have not only been confusing but also go against what they were commanded. However, it is enlightening to us who have the Spirit because we learn that the Law was given to keep them from drinking blood so that the people wouldn't unite themselves to the life of that blood. So that when Jesus appears, gives His life up in sacrifice, and sheds His own blood, we would then drink that blood to be united to Him and His Life. Jesus' blood does the opposite of the blood spoken of in the Law. Jesus' blood causes the Father's face to shine upon you, brings you into a relationship with Him, and establishes you as His people. This is why Jesus says, if you eat of my flesh, and drink of my blood, you abide in me and I in you (v.56).

Digesting the Food

Something about the food for our stomachs leads to our hearts. Christ directs us to feast upon him to have life and abide in Him. As we gather around His table to take Jesus into our lives, we share in each other's lives as well. Christ comes into our hearts the more we feast on him. The more He comes into our hearts, the more our heart beats like His. All who feast on Christ will taste and see that He is good. Those who develop a taste for Christ will find that their hunger and thirst will be filled and satisfied.