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“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money,

come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.

Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?

Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.” Isaiah 55:1-3

We know instinctively that to live, we must eat. In fact, hunger is one of the first sensations we experience almost immediately after birth. Consequently, one of the first things we do is eat. Our bodies have the ability to go a few days without food, but if we go much more than that we will suffer severe hunger pangs; soon after, body functions begin to wane. If we do not then eat, death will soon follow. So it is in the spiritual realm. As we must feed our bodies to remain alive, alert and active; so must the Spirit of God within us be nurtured in the Word. For the essence of Christ, his very being, is found in the pages of scripture. As, “No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten, he has explained him. John 1:18 Yet, merely reading about him is not enough; we must study his life and lifestyle – investigating his motive for living, his reason for dying. We must consume it, digest it, and thus make him a part of ourselves. As the food we eat is digested and then incorporated into all the cells of our bodies, so must the word of God, and thus God himself, be incorporated into all aspects of our lives.

John 6:27 speaks to the heart of a debate Jesus had with the Pharisees. “Labor not for meat that perishes, but for that meat which endures forever.” He did so in response to their demand for a sign to gain their belief, startling them by comparing his presence among them to the time when their forefathers received manna from heaven, with a twist. “If a man eats of this bread, he will live forever.” John 6:49-51 As with prophecy, some of Christ’s teachings could not be fully understood until after the event for which the lesson was intended had taken place. His inquisitors here seemed surprised, confused and then repelled at Jesus’ reply; even though Old Testament scripture abounds with similar calls for the partaking of God’s word and thus, his essence.

Pressing his point, Jesus went on to say, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last days. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.” John 6:53-56 With the advantage of hindsight, we can see a correlation here with the Lord’s Supper, but what else was he saying? After what appears to be an explicit command by Christ to eat his flesh and drink his blood, it would be well worth our while to look a little deeper. Aware that even his disciples were grumbling about this teaching, Jesus asked, “Does this offend you?…” And then gave a partial explanation by saying, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and they are life.” John 6:61,63

Sometimes we don’t understand because we don’t want to. The same could be said here of those who debated Jesus’ meaning and purpose. Deuteronomy 8:3 explained that, “(God) humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known. To teach you that man does not live by bread alone but on every word that comes form the mouth of God.” Their forefathers’ need not met on their demand but at God’s command; Jesus furthering this word/food connection by identifying the life-sustaining power of his word with that of his body and blood. “I tell you the truth; if a man keeps my word, he will never see death.” John 8:51 As all must know, Jesus wasn’t calling anyone to cannibalism in Chapter 6, so too we realize he is speaking of never-ending spiritual life in chapter 8. For even Jesus, “…being found in appearance as a man, humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death.” Philippians 2:8 All the medical and scientific advances of our day haven’t lengthened our life-span much beyond the “three-score and ten” of Psalm 9:10 Hebrews stating that, “…it is appointed for men to die once and then the judgment.” Hebrews 9:27 But this should not overly concern the Christian. For when our mortal bodies die, our souls - the real you - simply pass on to the next stage of everlasting life; eternal separation from God’s presence being the only kind of death God acknowledges. And we have Christ’s assurance that, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” John 11:25,26

‘Taste the good life’, ‘I’ve had my fill’ and ‘You’re so sweet I could just eat you up,’ are common expressions today; as are references to athletic teams hungry for championships, people craving justice and others consuming books, plays, and magazines. It is common for man to express inexpressible truths in the guise of everyday occurrences, making them approachable and understandable. Such as, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning… The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us,…” John 1:1,2,14

Jeremiah responded to receiving God’s word with, “When your words came, I ate them, they were my joy and my heart’s delight.” Jeremiah 15:16 Ezekiel was told in a vision to, ‘“…eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.’ So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth. He then said to me, ‘Son of man, go now to the house of Israel and speak my words to them.’” Ezekiel 3:3,4 John the Revelator likewise being told, “Take it and eat it. (A scroll revealing God’s will – His Word) It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.” He too was then told to ‘prophecy” or share what he had received. Revelation 10:9 & 11Having been warned that the process might not be totally pleasant, he was still expected to fulfill his obligations - as we all are - a message was to be conveyed to friends, family and countrymen in dire need of God’s message of judgment and grace. The prophets, Apostles and Jesus himself mirroring Job’s declaration of, “I have not departed from the commands of his lips. I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.” Job 23:13 Jesus asserting that, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me…” John 4:32 In fact, Jesus did his father’s will with such energy that John notes, “…his disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house (the center of teaching God’s Word) will consume me.’ or ‘hath eaten me up.’ (KJ) John 2:17

Peter instructs us, “Like newborn babies, crave spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” 1 Peter 2:2 While Paul admonishes those comfortable as babies to grow up. “You need milk, not solid food. Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teachings about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use (or feeding) have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” Hebrews 5:12-14 The ability to distinguish good from evil having a larger purpose than merely our own well-being; the expectation being that our concern will embrace others we well. (See John 21:14-17) For the gospel’s great worth would have been little more than a sideline teaching of Judaism if the Apostles had rejected this command. Its message and clarion call fading away if likeminded followers had not dedicated themselves to the “feeding” of the multitudes throughout history. The question of commitment and declaration of intent is just as valid today as then, “…do you truly love me? (Then) …take care of …feed my sheep.”

"Today's Little Lift" from Jim Bullington

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