Eating and Drinking
Let us think together for a moment about what is going on every time we gathering together to celebrate communion with Jesus around His table.
At their most basic spiritual level, meals are a daily reminder of our common need for God and his faithful provision.
When we eat together at the Lord’s Table (I am referring to more than a thimble of juice and a stale wafer), we commune around the truth of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Our meals together are about God reaching out to us with amazing grace. It is about the Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us. Some have even commented that the whole Christian faith is contained in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper.
Jesus says in John 6:53-56, “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 you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.”
These mysterious proclamations disturbed enough of Jesus’ disciples that they left him according to verse 66 of John 6. They walked away. And Jesus did not call out: Hey fellas. Come back. It was just symbolism. No. Jesus let them leave without explanation and without defending his words.
I have to ask then, are the meals we share together around the Lord’s Table more supernatural than we think?
Could there be the real possibility that God is connecting with us in a very real way beyond just us recalling what happened 2,000 years ago?
As we eat and drink together in remembrance of Jesus, could Jesus himself may be reaching through the veil and touching us in a way that we cannot fully perceive with our human senses?
Maybe this is why the only command Jesus gives in regard to worship is given while eating a meal. For when we eat, we are using all of our senses – sight, touch, smell, taste, and yes we can even hear food being cooked and consumed.
Have you ever eaten a meal and the taste, the smell, the feel reminded you of something?
Could communion be one of the means by which God makes us more like Jesus?
I would love to hear your thoughts.
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Help our mission team get to Rome
While this issue can be very vexed for most people, my thought is that there has to be a middle or common ground that we all can find. I do value that you’ve added pertinent and sound commentary here though. Thank you!