John 6:52-58 - To Feed On Jesus

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Well, thank you seems a little simple.

It is an absolute pleasure and an honor to be with all of you again.

Been here quite a few times, as a matter of fact, and so this feels a little bit like

coming to see old friends.

Apparently, older than I thought before I...

No, if you brought a Bible this morning, would you turn with me to John chapter 6?

John 6 · chapter mention

John chapter 6, while you're turning or flipping through your various and sundry eye devices

John 6 · chapter mention

to locate that.

I will say thank you to you for your support of Reformed University Fellowship.

RUF is, as we want to say in every conceivable context which we can,

is your ministry going to college campuses.

And one of the great things about being in, I'm going to go ahead and name the number,

my 22nd year with RUF, is you get a chance to sort of see the way in which God has moved.

When my wife, actually when I moved to Memphis in 1994 to start working with RUF,

RUF at Memphis was the 26th RUF in the entire country.

And this coming year, this fall, we opened our 140th campus across the country.

And so it's a joy to see how God has been at work on college campuses.

And you made that possible.

And so everywhere we go, we try to say thank you.

There's nothing better than coming to a church and being able to look up on the music.

And I believe our second song had a musician that was involved in it named Trevor Morgan.

I'm assuming that's Trevor Morgan from Nashville.

Is that who Trevor is that we're talking about?

Trevor was an RUF guy back from the University of Alabama with Billy Joseph.

And there's nothing better than seeing how RUF has sort of left some fingerprints

out across our denomination.

We like to say to people, we are tomorrow's PCA.

So come and be a part of what we're doing in RUF.

And they gave me that chance to give a shameless commercial.

So John chapter 6, beginning in verse 52.

John 6 · chapter mention

What an insane passage we're getting ready to look at this morning.

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying,

How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

So Jesus said to them,

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man

and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life,

and I will raise him up in the last day.

For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.

Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.

As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father,

so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.

This is the bread that came down from heaven,

not like the bread our fathers ate and died.

Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.

The Bible says that grass withers and flowers fade away,

but the word of our God will go on forever.

I'm assuming in a town loaded with engineers,

it's the one thing that I get to ask anyone who says they're from Huntsville.

Oh, so are your parents engineers?

Why, they are. How did you know?

But I'm assuming in a place like this,

you found yourself in a context when you're trying to explain to someone something

that you actually know very well.

You have gained a measure of expertise over an area,

whether it be through time or effort or engagement in the topic.

You get it.

You understand this topic very well,

but there's someone you're speaking to who doesn't.

They don't have the knowledge that you have.

Maybe they're much younger than you, whatever.

You're searching for some way in which you can illustrate this thing well.

But oftentimes the topic is hard.

My wife and I were watching what I guarantee are in one of my wife's top five movies,

that great sort of modern classic Hoosiers.

Gene Hackman returns to the small town in Indiana to lead the small high school back to great glory

and great championships.

But there's a favorite scene there in the midst of one of the sort of semi-final games

where the coach is trying desperately to get one of these young guys to step up his game in terms of his defense.

You remember the scene where he walks in and goes,

look, that guy on the inside is killing us.

You've got to stick close to him.

But he looks at the kid, and you know what he's doing?

He's doing this.

He's chewing gum.

And so immediately Gene Hackman looks at him and says,

think about chewing gum.

He goes, I want you so close to this guy

that I want you to know exactly what kind of chewing gum he's chewing by the end of the game.

Well, of course, as they go through the game,

the guy actually finally, that's an image that works for him.

It clicks, and he suddenly defends him well.

But of course, in the midst of his defense, he fouls out.

And towards the end of the game, as he comes down and sits on the bench,

Gene Hackman sort of looks down at him,

and he looks back at him and says,

it was Dentine.

In other words, what Gene Hackman understood was,

I know the game of basketball so well

that I know what I've got to get out of you,

but I can't sit here and give you some sort of technical explanation for it.

Let me seize on something that you do know.

Okay, that's basketball.

What if you wanted to try to illustrate to someone

what it means to be connected intimately

in the way in which God wants to be connected to his people intimately

through the abiding spiritual presence of his son Jesus?

For those of you that are the budding theologians out there,

it's the topic of union with Christ.

We say this all the time.

We talk about having a personal relationship with Jesus.

We talk about sort of the meaningfulness and the depth of intimacy

that God's followers have with him through Jesus and with Jesus.

But how do you explain that?

How do you illustrate for someone something that profound,

something that sublime in practical ways,

what that really means?

And what you find in the New Testament is you don't get

what I'm guessing a bunch of engineers might like,

which is a technical manual.

I would like a philosophical paper that I can just sort of sit and look

and discern and pull apart and see.

No, what Jesus does is he goes into things

that he knows we know about every single day.

Simple things like the relationship of a branch to a vine.

He says that's a little bit like the union that I want to have with you,

the way in which a sort of branch hangs to the middle of the tree.

He'll go on to say that there's something about

this mysterious relationship of marriage

that in the midst of I want you to see

the kind of intimacy that I want to have with you.

In another place he'll say,

I want you to realize how a cornerstone

sort of fits in with the rest of the building.

In other words, he doesn't sit down and explain

and give us a technical manual

of what it means to be connected to him so deeply.

But what he gives us is an analogy.

And in our passage,

he gives us the analogy of food,

of the simplest of activities

and yet extraordinarily profound activities of food.

More specifically,

meal time.

Jesus says,

if you really want to know

what it's like to be deeply

and meaningfully connected to me,

I want you to watch what happens

when you as a human being

who are in need of regular sustenance and food

sit down to eat a meal together.

My guess is in a room like this,

you can probably look back and realize

amazing things happen over meals.

Do they not?

Friends are made.

News gets shared.

Stories get told.

Battles get fought.

Divorces announced.

Grievances aired.

Think about the adventures

that have happened in your life alone

surrounding the issue of a meal.

And yet Jesus says,

no, but here,

if you're going to know

what it means

to have the kind of connection

that I'm wanting to bring to you,

I want you to see

and think about the way you eat.

Ha ha!

He said nervously.

So I want to look at this passage

through three lenses.

Number one,

I want to consider the significance

of the meal in the Bible.

Number two,

I want to look at the problem

with our eating

and what it is that comes out of us

when we consider it.

And then thirdly and finally,

I want to look at what it means

to savor Jesus,

to savor Him

as the ultimate of meal.

So the first thing,

that there is a significance

in mealtime.

There was a number of years ago

when I was meeting

with a young person.

This was even before

I knew Will.

Can you imagine?

That far back.

I was meeting with a young man

who was in the youth group

that I was serving in

who had had a disastrous year.

In the year prior to that time,

he had lost his father

to a tragic and brief illness.

And in the wake of that illness,

he had had an older brother

attempt suicide

while he was trying to deal

with the grief of it all.

You didn't have to be

a professional counselor

to know that this kid

probably needed to talk to somebody.

And yet every time we spoke to him,

we always got the exact same thing.

Have you ever known people

that are sort of hyper okay?

Hey, how are things going?

Oh, it's great.

Everything's fine.

It's just good.

Everything's good.

When all the while,

we all knew,

well, okay,

we can say whatever's going on,

but I know fine

is probably not a very good

description of it.

And so one night

while giving this kid

a ride home after a youth group,

I decided in no sort of

pre-decided way

to stop off

at the little

Baskin Robbins.

Do we have Baskin Robbins here?

The ice cream places?

And so we got him.

It took me forever

to convince him

that I told him

to get whatever he wanted to get.

And he ended up

getting sort of a large

brownie sundae.

You know,

with the brownie at the bottom

and the three different ice cream

and the ice cream flavors on it

and the whipped cream

and he even got a cherry on top.

And so we climbed back

in our car

for about the 10 to 15 minute

ride home

while he went to work

on this sundae.

And I'm telling you,

the most amazing thing happened.

The kid cracked like a nut.

And with every spoonful,

with every spoonful

that went in,

more of what was going on

in his inner world

came out.

It was just like,

and then when Dad passed away,

I didn't understand

what was going on.

And then my brother

got all sad.

It was amazing.

Amazing to watch happen.

Well, years later,

I end up having

a professional therapist

explain to me

that there's actually

a principle of transference.

That when someone

has so much anxiety

and sort of restlessness

going on inside of them

that sometimes it helps

to have a focal point

of a thing

to transfer that stuff onto

in order to process

the things they're thinking of.

And I suddenly began

to realize that food

was kind of a big deal.

That it sort of came

with its own power.

And I also realized

that if you look

throughout the New Testament,

actually throughout

the entire Bible,

it's amazing

the big stuff

that happens around meals.

Have you ever thought

about this?

Our first parents

fall into sin

over a meal.

We find out later on

that God institutes

a very special meal

for his people

to remember their escape

from Egypt.

The Passover, right?

Later on,

we hit Jesus

sort of coming to earth.

God incarnate

coming to earth

where one commentator said

that you either have Jesus

coming on his way

to being at

or leaving from

a meal

in almost every scene

of his life

in his New Testament ministry.

Jesus attended

a lot of meals.

And a lot of stuff

happened around those meals.

Of course,

at the very end of his life,

he gets what we're going

to celebrate this morning.

He gives his people

a last supper

to remember him by.

And that's not enough.

We know that all human history

is going to culminate

in what?

The marriage

supper of the Lamb.

You start to get the sense

that the Bible

sees our eating,

our meal times,

as a whole lot more

than the mere

instinctual animal way

in which we put fuel in

and get energy out.

I don't know.

There's something spiritual

happening around our food

and around our meals.

Before we go to the next point,

why would Jesus choose this

just for a second?

Why would Jesus choose

mealtime to be one

of the places

where we see our relationship

with him so clearly?

I think,

interestingly enough,

I would guess to say

it's because in the midst

of eating,

it's one of the few

human activities

where you're actually

supposed to take something

inside of you.

You can get weirded out

if you think about this

too long,

about what it's like

to eat.

You eat.

I'm going to take this.

I'm going to stick it

inside of my body.

I'm going to chew on it.

I'm going to consume it.

I'm going to swallow it

so that when it finally

gets inside of me,

it'll unleash potential.

Power will come

once the food

makes it inside.

I think that's what

Jesus is saying.

He's saying,

I want to be

the kind of relationship

in your life

that crawls up

inside of you.

And once inside,

once in that key

life-giving place

of your soul,

I will release

power out from you

that you would not

have had

were you not

in relationship

with me.

Meaning,

for our purposes,

having a relationship

with Jesus

resists

superficiality.

There really is no way

to have a casual

relationship with Jesus.

There is no way

to sort of

have him

as an appendage,

a spoke on the wheel

of my life,

as it were.

He sort of muscles

his way in,

does he not?

Some of you are in the midst

of his muscling

his way in.

That the more that you

try to keep him

on the periphery

of your life,

the less he works

and the more difficult

he becomes.

But the further

that he gets in,

the more that he tends

to sort of

rearrange.

He dismantles.

He puts back together.

But it doesn't happen,

Jesus says,

until I get inside.

You know what it's like?

It's like your food.

So that's the first thing,

the significance

of mealtime.

Secondly, though,

that brings us

to the issue

of the problem

with food.

You know,

when Jesus has

this conversation

with these people

and he continues

to talk to them

about this

and the Pharisees,

of course,

don't get it at all.

They're looking at Jesus

and they're going,

how in the world

can this man

give us his flesh

to eat?

They don't understand

that he's making

a metaphor.

And to be honest

with you,

I don't really blame

the Pharisees

in the passage

we just read

because it's not

like Jesus

is making it easier.

The Pharisees

are like,

how can you give us

your flesh

and your blood

to eat?

Jesus doesn't look

and say,

guys,

it's a metaphor.

Duh.

He doesn't say that.

He looks and goes,

no, no, no.

As a matter of fact,

you're on the right track

unless you eat my flesh

and drink my blood.

I was telling some

of the elders before,

it's the Halloween season

so we'll talk about

drinking blood

here in October,

right?

Unless you drink my blood,

you don't understand

what I am.

And so what happens

in the passage

right after verse 58

is we find

that some of Jesus'

followers leave him

after this talk.

You ever read that?

Read it on this afternoon.

Go back and read

the rest of the chapter.

Some of Jesus'

followers are like,

okay,

and my guess is

that you would

sympathize with him.

You've been following

this leader.

He's a wonder-working

miracle worker

and suddenly he says,

if you really want to know

what it's like

to be around me,

eat my flesh

and drink my blood.

My guess is you would

have been like,

this has been great

but I've got something

else I want to do.

They leave Jesus.

Why?

I think for this reason,

I think that once

all of a sudden

Jesus begins to talk

about food,

he begins to sort of,

he opens up a window

for us.

And it's a window

of great discomfort.

It's a window

of great difficulty

that's often inside

of our souls

when we deal

with our food.

Well, honestly,

have you ever thought

about the question

of food in a way

that really felt

balanced and healthy

to you?

By the way,

I'm not saying,

do you eat healthy?

I know there's plenty

of people in our churches

and our world

who actually are very,

very careful about

the kinds of things

that they eat

and think about it,

which is actually

going to make my point

here in just a second.

But have you ever

noticed how hard

it is to even think

rightly about our food

and how easily

we fall off

either into the abuse

of it or the ignorance

of it when it comes

to it?

A number of years ago,

I had one of these

experiences in life

where you think

to yourself,

okay,

I've got a problem,

I need to start exercising,

and food has become

an issue.

most specifically

with a little item

that we know

as the Little Debbie

snack cake.

In my home,

we were the chocolate chip

Little Debbie,

we're not one of those

Swiss cake roll people.

We were more about

the chocolate cake,

this wonderful little

dark chocolate

with the slight cream filling

and the white chocolate

on the top

and the sprinkles.

That was a weakness.

The minute that you try

to eat healthy

and there are

Little Debbie snack cakes

in the cupboard,

you're done

as far as I was concerned.

But what amazed me

were the kinds of things

that happened to me

psychologically

when I would go

to the cupboard

and see this food there.

I would stand literally

and have this thought

while looking at the cupboard.

I'd be like,

you know what,

I'm so tired

of there being

Little Debbie

staring me in the face

every time I look

inside this cupboard.

So you know

what I'm going to do?

I'm just going to go ahead

and eat it

so I can remove

the temptation from me.

You ever had that thought?

Well that's insanity

is what that is.

That's crazy

being applied

to the area of food.

And so what I suddenly

realized is that

my food exercises

a measure of tyranny

over me.

Does it not?

I worked at Old Miss

for,

I was on campus

at Old Miss

for about 12 years

as a campus minister

and I got to have

a lot of conversations

especially with women

about their relationship

to food.

No conversation

was more powerful

for me though

than the one

that I had

with a young lady

who was actually

wrestling with

a legitimate

eating disorder

and all of the

psychological things

that were going on

with her

were aside the point

from this illustration

but I remember

at one point

her saying to me

she said,

you know Les

what really kills me

about what I'm going

through

is that I don't

remember the last time

that I sat down

to enjoy a meal

when the meal

was about the meal

and not about the meal

that I was going

to eat

because of this meal.

Some of you know

exactly what I'm

talking about.

Have you ever sat

down to a meal

and not been able

to enjoy that food

because of what

this food means

about your next meal?

In other words

she said,

I would sit down

and say,

well,

tonight we're going

out,

we've got some

friends together

so I'll just

have a salad

or vice versa,

oh goodness,

I've eaten way

too much here

for lunch

and so tonight

I'll make sure

I don't eat

anything tonight.

She said,

what I suddenly

realized is that

even the enjoyment

of an individual

meal was lost

on me

because of what

it had to mean.

I think one of the

reasons why Jesus

chooses the image

of our food

is because he realizes

that our food

exercises a tyranny

over us.

In other words,

the things that we eat,

the habits that we

employ in dealing

with it,

open up a window.

Do they not?

Is there anything

that we often get

more self-conscious

about than our food?

We have a whole

television network

devoted to chefs

and food,

but statistically

speaking,

we cook less

than we ever have.

Americans spend

$50 billion a year

on dieting

and dieting methods.

At any given moment,

25% of men

and 45% of women

are dieting.

Look,

food is more

than fuel.

Jesus chooses food,

I think,

to talk about

the relationship

to him

because it's to do

with what only

an image of

following him

needs to do

which is to reveal

the fact that we

have a powerful

hurt inside.

That no matter

how much I eat

or how little

I eat

or how confused

I am about

my eating

or even how

so obsessed

I am

that I can't

have a conversation

with anyone else

without talking

about the things

that I eat.

There's something

going on.

There's a hurt

on the inside.

There's a pain.

There's a dysfunction

that comes up

out of the life

the minute

that you begin

to think

about how,

where,

when,

and what

I ought to eat.

You're not going

to sit down

to a plate of food

without realizing

that there's

something wrong

with me.

There's something

broken in me

and all the food

in the world

has not yet

satisfied.

Which brings me

to the third point.

This whole question

of satisfaction.

What does it mean

to have Jesus

satisfy me

not just in the area

of a spiritual

relationship

and not just in a way

in which he can redeem

my partaking of food

but to actually become

an overwhelming

all-encompassing

true food.

That's what Jesus says

in the passage,

doesn't he?

In other words,

he says,

look,

verse 55,

for my flesh

is true food

and my blood

is true drink.

He's not saying

that this food

that we eat

or any meal

that we eat

is somehow illusory

and spiritual

and foolish

but then one day

he's going to give us

the real spiritual kind.

That's not what he's saying.

He's saying

that all of the food

that you're eating

is actually pointing

away from itself.

It's a signal flare

as it were

to something

much more profound

inside of you

that you need

and that is

to be satisfied

by me.

My good friend

Brian Habig

who's the pastor

of downtown Perez

in Greenville,

South Carolina

has a great illustration

that I shamelessly stole

but I asked him

if I could use it

so he said yes.

Habig came back

to the state

of Mississippi

for someone

who was doing

a great service

to their community

and that is

they were clearing

out their freezer

of all the meat

that they killed

that particular

hunting season.

They're going to

clear it all out

with a great big party

and they were just

going to cook everything.

And so Habig's friend

had him over that night

for this big feast

that they have

and he said

by the time

they got finished

with every conceivable

kind of food

that they could cook

and enjoy

they found themselves

sort of on the couch

and sort of in that zone

you know what I'm talking about

where you're sort of

back like this

and you know

you're trying to figure out

how you're going to get up

you know outside

and Habig said

his friend leaned over

to him and looked

and said

Brian I think I'm

meat drunk.

You ever been to that place

where there's almost

like a sublime

satisfaction

that's sort of

washed over you?

Well it's almost

as if Jesus is saying

I would like

for my people

to make an association

this is the big statement

of the sermon

Jesus wants his people

to make the association

between the physical sensation

of being deeply satisfied

by a good meal

and the spiritual sensation

of looking to Jesus

and saying

you are all

that I need

and whatever I have

in heaven and on earth

I found it all in you

this is what I've been

looking for

this is what I've been

lost to find

so how does that happen?

It'd be interesting

to end the sermon there

wouldn't it?

To say you know

and we should all be

more satisfied with Jesus

let us pray

but I'm not going to end it there

because that's not enough

because a sermon

is not a sermon

until we all of a sudden

ask the question

okay okay

I get you

Jesus would like to be to me

what a good meal is

okay I got it

but how does that happen?

Because I didn't have

a good eating week

this week

or

I didn't have a very good time

feeding on him

as a matter of fact

he was a distant memory

to me this week

Jesus was that appendage

you were talking about

he hasn't gotten inside

what does that mean for me?

Well I think what it means

for the soul

who looks and says

tell me again

what it is

that is satisfying

about Jesus

is to remind ourselves

of how Jesus

phrases this

notice what he says

there in verse 57

he says look

there is a keen

relationship

from the living

father

who sent me

that I live

because of him

and if you

are in me

you have the life

of the father

that those relationship

works together

in other words

there is a

there is a sense

in which

for me to stand

between you

on the one hand

and my father

on the other

creates something

as powerful

in your life

as food does

for a meal

you know what it means?

it means that

I will never find

my ultimate satisfaction

in Jesus

until I find out

in the gospel

that he

is satisfied

with me

because of the cross

there it is

our satisfaction

in Jesus

is not tied

to us

working harder

to being satisfied

with Jesus

rather

it is working harder

to discover

his satisfaction

with me

in the cross

it's where

it's headed

it's where this

meal is going to

Jesus is saying

so what does that mean?

well it means

that the expression

that the proof

of the pudding

is in the tasting

means that we

really don't get

a sense of

Jesus satisfaction

with me

until I begin

to taste it

so what does it

mean to savor

Jesus?

I think in one sense

it sort of gives

a new light

on the idea

of prayer

doesn't it?

it's another sermon

for another day

but to learn

to think of

prayer time

as meal time

hmm

hold that thought

but I think

in the most vivid

place where we

get to taste

and see that

the Lord is good

is here

that he gave

us a meal

a tangible

meal

with something

that's got

texture to it

it's got liquid

to it

and so Jesus

says if you really

want to know

what it's like

before I leave

and plan

for my return

I want you

to remember

and to feed

on me

with this meal

there's a foodie

writer by the name

of Nigel Slater

who I had not

heard of

until I started

doing research

for this sermon

who talked

about the time

when he was

a teenager

when his mother

passed away

very dear

and very close

to his mother

but at one point

he says

the night after

my mother's funeral

I came into

my bedroom

and I looked

and saw

two little

white marshmallows

sitting on my

bedside table

I'd never been

allowed to eat

in bed

so when my

father came

upstairs

to tuck me

in

I asked

if they were

for me

of course

they are

he said

I know

they were

your favorites

you see

in a school

essay

that I had

written

shortly

before my

mother's

death

I had

described

marshmallows

as being

the nearest

food

to a kiss

soft

sweet

and tender

my father

made certain

that each

night

for the next

two years

I found

two

sometimes

three

fluffy

sugary

marshmallows

beside my

bedside table

because he

knew what I

missed most

of all

was my

mother's

good night

kiss

and somehow

in the

marshmallow

I saw

it

that's

actually

pretty

good

it's

as if

Jesus

is saying

I'm

going

away

I have

to go

to prepare

a place

for you

but I'm

going to

be very

spiritually

present

by my

Holy

Spirit

but I

also

know

that you

need

something

tangible

something

substantive

so he

leaves

the nearest

Christian

spiritual

analogy

to a

kiss

in the

table

we

come

to be

reminded

that he's

still

here

and that

in the

end

it's

not

a

fragile

truce

that he

has

between

us

that he

still

loves

us

he's

still

all

in

and

we're

still

acceptable

to

him

my

youngest

is a

picky

eater

I

actually

asked

him

for

permission

to

use

this

illustration

don't

ever

use

your

kids

as

illustrations

in

your

sermons

my

homiletics

professor

said

well

I

asked

for

this

one

and he

said

fine

my

11

year

old

is

a

picky

eater

and

if

you

don't

mind

if

you

don't

mind

I

know

that

some

of

you

out

there

are

like

oh

I've

got

a

perfect

cure

and

expand

his

palate

but

it

remains

very

very

narrow

but

if

any

of

you

have

ever

dealt

with

picky

eaters

you

know

that

it

can

turn

mealtime

into

just

it

can

be

a

battle

and

for

years

ever

since

my

son

was

very

small

mealtime

just

had

a

battle

and

I

noticed

up

until

about

two

or

three

years

ago

my

son

had

what

I

would

consider

to

be

a

normal

response

to

parental

pressure

to

clean

your

plate

and

that

was

just

anger

he

would

sit

sort

of

teeth

gritting

food

and

put

it

in

and

trying

to

chew

it

and

just

looking

at

me

sort

of

angry

and

irritated

it

was

appropriate

I

thought

until

about

three

years

ago

for

some

reason

I

began

to

notice

as

my

son

grew

that

the

anger

towards

me

sort

of

was

morphing

into

a

hopeful

compliance

in

other

words

he

began

to

realize

that

his

father

wanted

him

to

eat

and

so

he

was

constantly

looking

to

see

if

I

disapproved

of

how

he

was

eating

but

yet

utterly

in

conflict

by

the

foods

that

he

just

didn't

like

and

watching

him

all of a

sudden

try

not

to

sort

of

be

against

me

but

to

actually

please

me

it

just

broke

my

heart

and

one

night

I

decided

that

I

would

quit

talking

about

what

my

son

ate

over

mealtime

I

gave

up

which

is why

you

parents

out there

who

pulled

it

off

are

like

well

it

didn't

do

it

the

way

I

did

it

well

great

for

you

I

gave

up

talking

to

my

son

about

how

he

ate

you

want

to

know

why

because

it

suddenly

occurred

to

me

that

I

would

rather

my

son

grow

up

with

scurvy

or

something

rather

than

go

another

mealtime

wondering

whether

his

father

approves

of

him

my

satisfaction

in

Jesus

is

tied

to

his

satisfaction

in

me

and

when

I

come

to

this

place

it's

not

just

for

you

to

feed

it's

for

him

to

feed

you

on

the

knowledge

and

the

certainty

that

on

the

cross

he

has

taken

away

your

debt

he

has

taken

away

your

guilt

he

has

set

aside

all

of

the

other

emotional

and

psychological

hindrances

that

would

keep

God

as

a

periphery

to

my

life

and

says

take

me

in

yes

I'm

going to

renovate

everything

when I'm

there

but

take

me

in

because

once

there

I'll

release

a

power

into

your

life

that

you

couldn't

have

known

was

there

before

so

come

eat

let's

pray

Lord

Jesus

I'm

glad

that

you

don't

have

to

choose

between

my

good

health

and

your

children's

joy

but

that

you

supplied

both

in

your

body

and

your

blood

so

that

as

the

plate

comes

around

we

can

see

in

it

not

only

just

sustenance

spiritually

and

otherwise

but

that

we

have

the

kiss

that

you

leave

to

us

every

Sunday

and

as

often

as

we

take

it

we

see

your

love

for

us

so

would

you

pour

that

upon

us

at

this

moment

by

your

spirit

and

give

us

the

grace

to

see

you

more