Yesterday in Bible study I digressed about a nicely boned leg of lamb, with several dozen garlic cloves inserted into the flesh, with some rosemary, nicely bathed in extra virgin olive oil and placed into a 500 degree oven to sear the meat before reducing the heat and roasting until a nice medium, with nice pink showing... uh.... oh, yea.... the blog... ummmmm... what was I saying?
I love food... good food... I love to cook (hate to bake but love to cook)... I love to stand at the grill and heft a piece of USDA prime onto the white grates... Though I work and my work consumes the largest portion of my day... though I have jobs at home that consume a large portion of the leftovers of that day... I sometimes day dream about a perfect standing rib roast... or a fresh ham roast with the fat back richly seasoned... I watch the food channel religiously...
I do not but I could... live to eat... Judging from the popularity of the food channel, there are many like me -- who don't but who could... live to eat. We have a fast food life for a gourmet mind and heart... We may not actually do it... but we well understand why anyone would... live to eat...
Jesus offers the chance to eat to live... "The bread that I give is my flesh for the life of the world," He says... "I am the bread of life... he who comes to Me will not hunger... he who believes in Me shall not thirst..." "My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink..." All from John 6.
Sunday after this holy celebration of the Holy Sacrament of His Body and Blood, a person in the congregation came to me with tears in the corners of their eyes... "How could someone stay away from the Body and Blood of Jesus?" How indeed.
It is this Body and Blood that is our food -- spiritual food by faith and physical food in the Sacrament of the Altar... Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ is in and of itself a spiritual feeding upon Him but that is not enough. Jesus gives us the place where His body and blood are hidden in bread and wine in order that we might eat.. eat with faith... eat and live.
1 comment:
I wish I would have read this post prior to preaching my sermon on Sunday on John 6. Thank you for your thoughts.
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