Feed On Me

Photo courtesy of www.garylellis.com

It always amazes me how deep and rich are the biblical truths which are so blatantly and simply declared in the nativity at Christmastime.

As I was appreciating the wooden nativity scene my son has on display in his room, my eyes fell afresh upon Jesus laying in the manger.  A baby, the Son of God, Divinity Himself, making his bed in a feeding trough.  Instead of hay for the stable animals, we see Jesus Himself laying in a feeding trough to be considered as our holy meal.

Throughout His ministry and on the eve of his death, Jesus beckons us to participate in this Heavenly meal and even to share it with the world.  It is ubiquitous within the Scriptures--Jesus in the NT scriptures, and God Almighty in the OT scriptures, beckon us to feed on Him:

• "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied." (Matt 5:6)
• Nourish your souls on Me alone, for I am the Bread of Life and I am the Living Water (John 4, 6)
• "Taste and see that the Lord is good" (Psalm 34:8)
• "Open your mouth wide and I will fill it" (Psalm 81:10)
• Feed on Me.  If you love me, you will feed my sheep. (John 21:17)
• "I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”  (John 6:51)

And as we see in the verb "to eat" that Jesus uses above in the John 6 passage, this is not a polite and dainty nibble.  Oh no.  This is a word that is most graphic and is best translated "to gnaw;" one used to describe the way ravenous animals behave.  They rip part, devour, and scarf down their food, knowing their very lives depend upon the sustenance of their killed prey.

Jesus, in essence, is commanding us to do this with Him--to gnaw and devour and feed upon His life-giving truth.  If eating is believing (or believing is eating...or any combination thereof), then this is something which every Christ follower must soberly consider and unabashedly take a part of, regardless of what they consider the Eucharist to be or represent.

It is an invitation for each one of us, not to merely spectate, but to actively participate in this Christmas season and beyond!