Jesus on a Plate
The great thing about the scriptures is that no matter how familiar you might be with a text, depending on the stage of life you are in – you can read something very familiar to you and all of a sudden it takes on new meaning.
This past Christmas I was reminded that when Jesus was born, he was placed in a manger. In a feeding trough for animals, and I had this strange picture of the baby Jesus laid out on a dinner plate.
Jesus on a plate.
How crazy is that? As a baby, with no will or power of his own, his parents placed him in a makeshift bed that was up until then, used for eating food…..
And then – at the tale end of his ministry, Jesus shares a meal with his disciples and what does he tell them? “Take, eat – this is my body.”
Jesus on a plate.
My favorite passages about this come from a story in John 6, Jesus said…
33 The bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
34 "Sir," the disciples said, "always give us this bread."
35 Then Jesus declared, "I am - the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
51 I am - the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."
53 Jesus said to them, "Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 5556 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.
Jesus began and ended his earthly life – laid down and helpless. Strapped in… .bared….available…..assessable…..vulnerable……
Psalm 34:8
8 Taste and see that the LORD is good…
