Mar 15 - "You Are What You Eat"

John 6:27-40
"Then Jesus said to them, 'Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.' They said to Him, 'Sir, give us this bread always.' Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.'"

1 Corinthians 10:14 - 11:1
"The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread."
********************************************
In the first few books of the Bible, there are a lot of rules about food. There are many chapters dedicated, based on early Judaic Law, to how food should be prepared, what should and should not be eaten, as well as various cleansing practices which must occur before and after eating.

I have often wondered why so much time and effort was spent laying out all of these rules on something so seemingly unimportant. But, you've got to love how God works; there is always some process, some stage of growth set before us.

My sometimes demented sense of humor thinks of it this way: I imagine God up in heaven during the early days of humans on earth. He looks down on His creation and thinks about all the things that His chosen people could eat, all of the wonderful elements of creation, many of which are delicious when properly prepared, but which can also be deadly. He realizes that most likely, many people will die if they eat lobster which is not cooked the right way; or that pigs sometimes carry a dangerous bacteria which, if not destroyed through the cooking process, can be fatal to humans. To make up for this, knowing that eventually cooking "technology" will allow these things to be enjoyed, He sets ideas on the hearts of Moses and the early faithful, driving them to put rules in place which say "don't eat these things", or, "only eat after washing your hands".

Later, the prophesy of old comes treu and Christ is in the world with us. He says, "I am the bread of life". He tells us that He is all we need to be sustained.

Eventually, Paul comes along, professing that the original Law was fulfilled by Christ and that the rules established by Judaism are no longer needed. Paul says, "eat whatever you like...don't worry about the old rules". He tells the people of the early Christian churches that it's really all about glorifying God in whatever you do and since Christ fulfilled the Law, they no longer need be bound by it.

I think our faith is like this.

When we are young, our parents tell us what to do and what not to do. We go to church with them, learn to stand up, sit down and kneel at certain times. When the priest or minister says certain phrases, we respond in a specific way. We learn the liturgical calendar, relishing in the excitement of anticipating Christmas after Advent and Easter after Lent.

As we grow, we develop a personal knowledge that Christ came to earth and died for us so that we will have eternal life with God. He is the bread which sates our hunger. We recognize the importance of the rules, rituals and calendar associated with our faith and we make these a part of our life, but they become just one element of our faith. Our belief develops a personal flavor because we are building an individual recognition of what we need to thrive and survive.

Eventually, as our faith matures, we are able to put the rules aside and realize that it's all about Jesus. The rituals and order of worship which were the foundation of our early faith remain, but they are not the focus of our journey. We can look at Paul's words and recognize that when he tells us to discard the old ways and not to worry what we take in, but in what we put out, we are truly partaking in the bread of life and all that it has to offer.

So, feast on Him. Use His story to quench your thirst, His love to feed your hunger and His peace to keep you strong. Know that the glorious banquet set before us is all we need for our strength and sustenance.