Torn Bread, Spilled Wine

     Come gather around the table and give thanks! For what? Take a look at the food on your plate. A slice of ham, a scoop of potatoes, a helping of green beans, a slice of pie sprinkled with roasted pecans. Where did all that food come from? Well, not only did a loving relative sacrifice precious time to fix up your tasty meal, but somewhere along the line some sort of farmer or harvester worked to gather the raw ingredients mixed into the now-cooked delicacies. But let's not stop there, what about the ingredients themselves? In order to have the food sitting in front of you something had to die. A pig perhaps? A lamb, a cow? Even the potato uprooted from the ground the beans pulled from the plant were once alive when they were still attached to the vine, were they not? What a cruel act, isn't it? Killing? But wait! This is not killing for the sake of sport--some sort of purposeless murder with death as the end of it all. Rather, food is the art of sacrifice--death for the sake of life.
     In the kingdom of God, death resurrects to life. This is what we celebrate this weekend. A death--a sacrifice--for the sake of giving us life. No wonder Jesus calls himself "true food" and "true drink"! His body--the body of the lamb of God--has been given for us as the perfect sacrifice to cancel our sins and his blood has been shed that we may have life--true life, eternal life. Jesus was in no way promoting cannibalism when he proclaimed "my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink." Rather, Jesus helped us to understand the true meaning of food: himself. For as our teeth tear a piece of bread before ingesting it and experiencing its life-giving effects, even moreso we have torn the Son of God. Flogging, spitting, mocking, beating, piercing, killing... the cross. The horrid act of crucifixion, however, was not our own invented idea. God planned this, even before the foundation of the world. Why? He knew that we, humanity, would reject him which would ultimately lead to our death. Jesus willingly gave himself up so that we may live--with him, forever. Jesus is our true food--dying so that we may have life.
     And so when we gather around the dinner table--may we cherish the grand time of fellowship, nourishment, joy, community, satisfaction, and, ultimately, love. A love we are able to share only because of the life he gave so that we may live: the life of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This is a love that we are only able to experience in part on this side of things, for one day we will experience the true feast when we finally come into his kingdom and see the one who gave up everything for us that we may dine with him face-to-face--alive--forever.