‘Eat Me, Drink Me’ – then you will know true life!

Isaiah 55:1 ‘Ho! Everyone who thirsts! Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat’

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It was through conversations with a good friend that I came to realise more deeply the importance and power of ‘partaking’ and communion of the saints. I was reminded recently about something we saw in Grenada. On an excursion around the Island the guide stopped and showed us a group of land crabs tied to a rope. They were a local delicacy and were being prepared for sale to eat. Apparently in the wild the land crabs eat any old rubbish they can get their claws on and consequently, when they are caught, their insides are full of rubbish (‘you are what you eat’)! What the vendors do is feed the land crabs for a while on rice and household scraps and thereby ‘cleanse’ them so that they are the sought-after cuisine that people will pay good money for. The point is that the crabs are cleansed by what they take in although they are largely unaware of the change that is taking place inside.

In the bible, we are offered the invitation to ‘come and eat’ in various forms. Normally what we eat and drink makes no difference to our spiritual welfare or what others make of us. In Mark 7:14-16 Jesus says: ‘Hear Me, everyone, and understand: There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!’ However, there is a context in which what we take in does make a difference to our spiritual lives and wellbeing. Here are three examples:

Matthew 4:4 - (Quoting scripture Himself Jesus said) ‘It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’

John 6:51-56 - (Jesus said) ‘I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world’. … and ‘Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him’.

1 Corinthians 10:16-17 ‘The cup of blessing which we bless (or ‘consecrate’), is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread’.

Source: Assurance United Methodist Church

Clearly the first example is about our need for the Word of God whether heard, read or received by direct revelation. The importance of the response from Jesus is to Satan tempting Him to take bread and Jesus replying that our primary need is not in satisfying our natural hunger for food but in partaking of the Word of God in whatever form it is accessible. The response that Jesus gave also links to the second temptation where Satan quotes some scripture himself. Paraphrasing, Satan says ‘jump off the building because it is written that His angels will look after you and keep you from (even) dashing your foot against a stone’. Satan misses out the vital words ‘keep you in all your ways’ – crucial in not getting into that scrape in the first place! Jesus has already pointed out that we live by every Word of God – not just the ones that we pick out or prefer for ourselves. The Lord wants to walk with us in all our ways every day – not just to keep getting us out of 'another fine mess we’ve gotten ourselves into'.

The second example is Jesus saying that He is the ‘Living Bread which came down from heaven’. He is urging those listening to ‘eat Him’ and ‘drink Him’. The context is that this passage in John 6 occurs after the feeding of the 5000 and Jesus says: ‘You don’t follow me because you believe the signs that you saw but because you took of the loaves and had your fill’. You can imagine that almost in frustration Jesus wants to shout: ‘Eat Me, Drink Me – then you will know true life’! He wants them to partake of that spiritual food that leads to eternal life. No doubt there is more than a passing connection here with the sacrifices offered under Moses’s Law where those offering sacrifices ate their allotted portion from the relevant offerings. The response of some of the disciples to Jesus saying; ‘eat my flesh and drink my blood’ is recorded in John 6:60 ‘On hearing it, many of his disciples said, This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?’ We are then told in John 6:66-69 ‘From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Then Jesus said to the twelve, Do you also want to go away? But Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also, we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’. So many of His (then) disciples couldn’t cope with Jesus’s urging to partake – their belief it seems only took them as far as the ‘free handouts’. Jesus did not spare them or coax them He challenged them even more deeply about how far they were willing to go. Peter on the other hand had one of his moments of significant revelation – he seems to get it completely; ‘where can we go Jesus? We have tasted ‘real bread’ and understand you are the ‘real thing’ to go elsewhere would be pointless’!

In 1 Corinthians 10 and 11 Paul picks up the theme of the Last Supper and the significance of what Jesus has given us as a gift. In 1 Corinthians 10 he talks about how it is impossible to partake in pagan rituals and to also take communion; 1 Corinthians 10:21 ‘You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons’. He talks about the bread and the wine that we ‘bless’ (consecrate) as the gathered church agrees together that this is a representation of our Lord and what He has done for us. He is saying that it is not possible to completely identify with Him and at the same time give allegiance to other Gods. (In those days, they were as we know demonically inspired physical images. Today they often take the form of ‘Gods’ that we have created in our own minds, or 'doctrines' that we have made up for ourselves).

As we (His church) partake of those sacred emblems they mean more to us than just tokens. This is Jesus giving Himself that we might receive divine nature; 2 Peter 1:3-4 ‘His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires’. Through communion we receive and imbibe the very characteristics of Jesus. He was not only dying to deal with our sins but that through the bread and wine of the New Covenant, His torn flesh and shed blood, He was providing a tangible way that we can partake of His very essence. Almost as if He might say to us; ‘is your faith so weak that you cannot receive what I offer? OK then eat me and drink me and receive what you need’. No wonder then that 1 Corinthians 11:27-30 says ‘Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason, many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep’.

Apparently, John Wesley said that he took communion as often as he could (sometimes four times a week). If we could really grasp that this is not a religious observance, a ritual sometimes embedded in our church services, but our gift from the Lord Himself through which He empowers His people, then would we not do the same? As the song says; ‘The same power that rolled the stone away – the same power alive in us today’! Let’s embrace this gift from the Lord, Let’s know its true meaning, let’s realise and experience it’s place and power in our lives.

Be blessed.

Author: Chris Pearson 

May God bless and enrich your life

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