Take And Eat

Take and Eat

God planted a garden that was the perfect habitation for Adam and Eve. Everything Adam and Eve could possibly want was there. “The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the LORD God warned him, ‘You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die’” (Genesis 2:15-17).

God generously provided food and welcomed Adam and Eve to his table to eat—with only one prohibition. Then Satan slithered into this picture, offering his own invitation to eat. He urged Eve to eat freely the fruit of the forbidden tree. And tragically she and Adam indulged their appetite for satisfaction apart from God. Suddenly the joy and peace they had known disappeared. New feelings raged in their hearts—horror, wretchedness, insecurity, remorse, shame. They looked at each other and knew that things would never be the same again. The chill of danger and the fear of darkness swept through Eden.

Through Adam and Eve’s simple act of taking and eating, humankind lost spiritual life. But it is also through the act of taking and eating that spiritual and eternal life is restored. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you” (John 6:53). “Take and eat” is a sign of restored fellowship with God. Just as taking and eating what was prohibited by God led to damnation, so does taking and eating of God’s provision of Christ lead to salvation. “As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, ‘Take this and eat it, for this is my body’” (Matthew 26:26).

Was Jesus thinking of his Father’s first invitation to take and eat of his goodness in the Garden? Was he thinking about Satan’s wicked and twisted invitation to take and eat?

When Jesus invited his followers to take and eat his body, he knew what that invitation would cost. It would require the death of his body. But it would also require the resurrection of his body. As we take and eat of both the death and the resurrection of Christ, we proclaim that we truly have life.

Feast of heaven, provided generously by God, I come to your table, and by faith I take and eat your body, your life. I find my nourishment—indeed, my very existence—as I feed upon you.