God's Diet?

Text: “19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” ()

19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. (Rom. 5:19)

There are churches that get quite caught up in food. There’s something called the “Daniel Fast” that made the rounds not too long ago. There are others who insist on observing the Old Testament rules on what can and what can not be eaten. Slightly closer to home, one of the unique marks of the 7th Day Adventists is that they have their own special diet, special way of preparing food. None of that is “on the menu” today. (Sorry— dad joke slipped through.)

None of those are “on the menu” today, but there is a strong emphasis on food. Not in terms of special diets or the like. More along the lines of Andrew Zimmern and his television show “Bizarre Foods.”

I’ve only ever caught a couple of episodes of his show, but it’s a really interesting concept. From what I’ve seen it’s not just, “Look how weird these people are,” or “Can you believe they actually eat that?” No, in a sense, he actually tells the story of that group of people through their food. What they eat, how they prepare it, even how they eat, really does give an interesting look into people’s lives. Food really can tell a story.

It won’t be exactly like the way that Andrew Zimmern does it, but that’s close to what we’re doing this morning: telling the story of God’s people through food. It’s an interesting way to look at the story of salvation— especially on this first Sunday in Lent, just after some of us have begun various fasts. We go back to the story of God’s people, told through food.

It is interesting, on some level— as others have pointed out— that this whole thing started with food. It started with eating. It’s interesting, and also quite fitting. On this first Sunday in Lent, just after some of us have begun various fasts, we go back to the story of God’s people, told through food.

It is interesting, on some level— as others have pointed out— that this whole thing started with food. It started with eating. Adam and Eve were in paradise. They lacked nothing. They lived in an actual garden that supplied all that they needed. One tree and vine and bush after the next provided them with the most wonderful food: fruits and nuts and berries and vegetables and things we probably can’t even imagine. I bet even the bananas tasted amazing. And it was all for them. Every single bit of it. Except for the fruit of one tree— the tree by which good and evil would be known, as Genesis tells us somewhat cryptically. Luther adds the insight that this was one of the ways that Adam and Eve worshipped God. They received and enjoyed every other kind of food, but this one was reserved for God alone. They showed their trust in His Word by obeying that word and not eating from it.

Except they failed. Eve was deceived. Then Adam, who seemingly used Eve as a guinea pig— “The fruit does look really good. I’ll let her eat it first and see what it does.”— saw that she seemed ok, so he ate it, as well. And in that simple act, “sin came into the world through [Adam] and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned...” (). The Garden became a wilderness. The lush places became deserts. Fields began to fill with weeds and thorns. They were cast out of the Garden because they could not be permitted any longer to eat from the Tree of Life. And death reigned.

To this day, death reigns in the world. Part of that story can be told through food. Fasting, or “giving something up for Lent,” has become about nutrition. We give up junk food, or fast food, or pop. And the holiest among us give up chocolate. We give them up because they’re killing us. They’re bad for our health. And I don’t mean to diminish that whole issue in the least. It’s important for us to be mindful of these things and care for the bodies God has given us. But if that’s the only reason why we’re fasting, then we’re missing the far greater danger.

St. Paul writes to the church in Philippi about a certain group of false teachers, “19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things” (). It’s hard to argue that those words don’t apply to our modern culture. James writes something similar: “5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter” (). There is a reason why we call the sinful nature that has been passed down to each and every one of us the “Old Adam.” Whether it’s simple gluttony or any of the other appetites that we have given ourselves over to, the problem is still the same: Rather than fearing, loving, and trusting in God as we should, our god is our bellies. The Old Adam is alive and well in Adam’s descendants. And death continues to reign.

5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.

The story does not end with Adam and Eve in the Garden, of course. Almost as soon as sin entered the world, God gave the promise of the Savior. His part of the story, too, can be told, in part, through food.

In our Gospel reading, we see Jesus engaged in spiritual battle. But there’s a battle going on that we often miss. We— rightly!— focus on His conflict with Satan. But there’s more than just the outward battle. When Satan appeared, Jesus had already been doing battle for 40 days. He had been fighting against Adam, himself— or, to be specific, against your sinful nature. He didn’t have a sinful nature, Himself. He joined HImself to yours in His baptism. And the battle with it has now begun. For those 40 days He does battle against it through food— by fasting, denying even the good and natural appetites to bring every appetite under His control. Unlike you and me, He feared, loved, and trusted God more than His belly. Even as the human flesh that He had taken into Himself was wracked with hunger pains, even as He felt those signs of death trying to exert its authority over Him, He did what Adam failed to do and resisted the serpent’s temptation.

That still would not have been enough, though. It was a start. But, on its own, that would not have benefitted you. Thankfully He did not stop there. He did not stop doing battle with your Old Adam until that battle took Him all the way to the cross where He allowed your sinful flesh to be nailed there to die and then, finally, to the tomb where He left it once and for all.

Death reigns in the world. But the grace of God and the free gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ have come to you. And they come to you through eating. The final chapter in God’s story of salvation can also be told through food.

There is a certain symmetry to it, though. Sin entered the world through eating. Through that sin, death came to all people. And now, through another form of eating— in the Lord’s Supper— forgiveness, eternal life, and salvation come to you. As some of you heard on Wednesday night:

“...He sacrifice[d] Himself upon Calvary's tree to supply you with food, the food that is His flesh and blood. And unlike the other food that you take into yourself. This is spiritual food. This food doesn't rot. Doesn't decay. And even more, it imparts to you an eternal life when received in faith. Luther once said: Other food that we eat, we change into ourselves, but this food changes us into itself. We become one body because we all eat of the one body! It imparts to us a life that death simply cannot take from us. And because it is the body and blood of Jesus, it gives us forgiveness. For that is why He went to the cross, offering up His body and pouring out His blood, "for the forgiveness of sins."

“So as often as you present yourself [before this altar, at this communion rail], He gives to you the gift that He died to win for you and lives to impart to you: His very body and blood as FOOD so that you may eat it and not die, but live in Him forevermore.

“...Indeed, the cup of blessing (the blessing promised to Abraham) which we bless (with the words of Jesus) is koinonia – common participation – in His blood. The bread which we bread is koinonia—common participation—in His body. And thus you share His life: "As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me will also live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven…whoever feeds on this bread will live…FOREVER."

“Unlike the rest of your food, THIS food, Christ's true body and blood under the bread and wine, isn't rotting and decaying; it gives you a life in Christ, a life that is forever. And for that, all glory to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.”

(“Today’s Catechesis,” October 27, 2016. https://weedon.blogspot.com/2016/10/todays-catechesis.html)

(“Today’s Catechesis,” October 27, 2016. https://weedon.blogspot.com/2016/10/todays-catechesis.html)

I need to correct one thing. I said that the final chapter in God’s story of salvation, as told by food, was the gift of eternal life by eating the fruits of the cross. That’s not actually the final chapter. The final chapter is the day that you and I are yearning for, when you will join in the marriage feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom. The final chapter is when you will stand in the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, and will eat from the tree of life “with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month” (). And its leaves will be for the healing of the nations.

After their fall into sin

Yes, you will continue to battle against the Old Adam throughout this life. He will always be there, prodding you, tempting you, trying to lure you back under the reign of death. So live in your baptism. Drown the Old Adam in you daily by means of contrition and repentance, in the faith that you have been buried with Christ and raised with Him.

And yes, continue to live out the story of salvation in your own life, through food!

Begin the fast, because there is, within you, a sinful nature— the Old Adam that is dust and is returning to the dust. And, unfortunately, between now and that day, it needs to be put to death every single day along with all sin and evil desires. As St. Athanasius said, “Devils take great delight in fullness and drunkenness and bodily comfort. Fasting possesses great power and it works glorious things. To fast is to banquet with angels.” As one of the Eastern Church Fathers put it, “Let thy mind fast from vain thoughts; let thy memory fast from remembering evil; let thy will fast from evil desire; let thine eyes fast from bad sights.”

Begin the fast. Begin it in anticipation of Easter joy; in the knowledge that Christ has joined His flesh to yours so that, like branches attached to a vine, you can not help but produce bountiful fruit; that you live in Him today and tomorrow and forevermore; that the grave has no more power over you than it has over Him. Begin the fast in anticipation of the day that your sinful flesh will be left in the grave where it belongs as you are finally and fully raised to new life in the Kingdom of Heaven. Begin the fast yearning for that day when you will join the marriage feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom, which has no end.

“19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (). From Adam to Jesus to you: the story of salvation told through food.

)From Adam to Jesus to you: the story of salvation told through food.