Dear friends in Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Prepare our hearts, Lord, to receive your Word. Silence in us any voice but your own that in hearing we may believe and in believing we may obey your will revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Amen.
I know that at some point, you’ve heard or asked the question, What’s for dinner? And I’m guessing that you’re also familiar with that famous movie title, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? Well, here’s a little insight into how my strange brain works. Take that question, “What’s for dinner?”; mix in the title, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?; then spice it up with Jesus’ startling statement in our Gospel lesson, “eat my flesh and drink my blood”…and what do we get? Exactly! We have to talk about…cannibals!
The fact is, an “urban myth” on this very topic has existed since the earliest days of the Christian church. And it sort of makes sense. We’ve become used to it, but imagine how the rest of the world would respond to Jesus’ call to eat his body and drink his blood (v. 56). Add in the fact that when Christians were being persecuted by the Romans, the safest places they could meet were…cemeteries. Do the math—people in cemeteries who eat flesh and drink blood…if it looks, walks, and quacks like a duck…
When we lived in St. Peter, MN, Carolyn taught ESL (English as a Second Language) to a group of women who were Islamic refugees from Somalia. Honest to God, before arriving in this country, they had been warned that Christians killed people…and ate them!! I’m happy to say that Carolyn did a great job of building bridges, connecting cultures, and blessing lives.
But before we go any further, I’d like to show that I can be politically correct as well. I don’t want to offend anyone: are there any cannibals in the congregation today? Good! In that case, I have a few jokes to share…
Two cannibals were eating a clown. One said to the other,
"Does this taste funny to you?"
Fresh from a hunt, one cannibal asks: “Shall I boil the missionary?”
The Chief replies: “Of course not! He's…a Friar!”
Two cannibals were eating at a BBQ. The first says, "I don’t like your
friend." The second replies, "So, try the potatoes…”
One day a cannibal goes to market and discovers that ordinary people cost $2, but politicians cost $25. She asks, "Why do politicians cost so much?" The vendor replies, "Do you know how hard it is to clean one of these?"
On a more serious note, recently I was reminded of the intimate connection between our health and the food that we eat. I had my annual check-up and received some not-so-good news from the doctor: both my bad cholesterol and blood sugar were too high. I asked him if I could control it by diet and exercise. He glared at me and said, This is your one chance.
I thought I’d been blessed with good genetics in this department…I used to be able to eat any amount of any-thing at any time. Funny how things change once we hit a certain age! But, with my lab results and my second oldest sister’s onset of adult diabetes, I’m taking the doctor’s advice to heart and working to eat what I hope to become!
And you know that the same thing is true for spirits with the psychic food that we eat—and by psychic I mean everything: moral, ethical, emotional, psychological—a holistic, Hebrew approach to life.
By nature, of course, we’re inclined to pursue our own happiness. The trouble is…sin takes that standard sensation and stuffs it full of steroids, such that we often pursue our own happiness even to the point where it might hurt us—to say nothing of our loved ones and our neighbors!
Life’s temptations are unique to each of us, but the testing is the same: we’re always fighting that little-kid-in-a-candy-store struggle to eat and drink what’s healthy for us, what helps us grow strong and wise.
C. S. Lewis, author of the famous fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia, writes about a magical land in which animals speak, adventures are abundant, and the Gospels’ lessons about life are woven through it all. In the volume entitled The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, we meet four children who stumble into this strange world. They find it locked in unending winter, trapped under the spell of the evil White Witch.
Three of the children find their way to the forces of good, to those who live with courage and faith that good will triumph over evil. But Edmund, the fourth child, a surly and selfish boy at this point, wanders down a different path. Cold, hungry, and alone in the woods, he is met by the White Witch who offers him…whatever he would like to eat.
“Some Turkish Delight would be nice,” he says, and POOF! there it is. He takes one sweet piece, then another, and soon gobbles up the entire plate. The treat, however, has been enchanted by the Witch—the more a person eats of it, the more they crave, and she is the only supplier. The boy falls under her influence, even to the point of betraying his brother and two sisters.
For those of you who don’t know how the story ends, I’ll tell you this much: Edmund is redeemed and good triumphs over evil…but only after someone who is very good allows himself to be killed...sound familiar…?
As my doctor captured my attention with his no-nonsense, but concerned approach to my physical health, so we see in our Bible passages God’s no-nonsense, but concerned approach to our spiritual health. And it all centers on this vital action of eating and drinking.
In the lesson from Proverbs, we are invited to “eat of the bread and drink of the wine” that has been prepared by Wisdom—God’s wisdom, God’s Spirit, God’s voice that constantly calls us to live with God’s Word as our Guide.
The Apostle Paul, in Ephesians, gives us similar advice: don’t go overboard on the things of this world; focus, instead, on the food of God’s Spirit. Then, in our Gospel, Jesus primes the pump with his promise that all “who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them” (v. 56).
Here’s a question: What do you think is the key here? What exactly is Jesus offering?
In short, the Lord promises that as we dine regularly and faithfully on God’s menu (worship, Bible study, prayer, service, Communion), the spiritual nutrients we ingest will define our experience of life. As you and I gather to share the Lord’s Supper, we abide in (live, exist, are at home with) Christ. In the same way, as we eat the Lord’s body and drink his blood, Christ abides in (lives, exists, is at home with) us.
This meal, with all its courses (worship, Bible study, prayer, service, Communion) is the best prescription I know for a healthy and meaningful life. It is the best medicine against all diseases that threaten to attack our spiritual well-being. So if, indeed, it’s true that we are what we eat, with Christ as our menu, I am happy to say, bon appétit! Amen.
Pastor Scott Fuller