By Sandy Mayle
You have heard of people going on hunger strikes, refusing to eat unless or until something happened that they desperately wanted. People have gone on hunger strikes for some pretty strange reasons. But the worst is when we go on a hunger strike from God.
Sometimes we don’t even know we’re doing it, until we come to the Lord’s Table and realize we haven’t thought about him for a while. We’re hungry. We long to taste and see that the Lord is good. And here, set before us, we see the bread and the cup. The bread, representing the body of Christ broken for us on the cross, and the cup, representing the blood of Christ shed for us there to take away our sins.
And here we hear that wonderful invitation from the Book of Common Prayer, “Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your hearts by faith, with thanksgiving.”
For, as Jesus said in John 6:57, “The one who feeds on me will live because of Me” (New International Version).
We desperately want the abundant life Jesus offers. But what does it mean to “feed on him”?
- To feed on Christ is to draw our very life from him, like a nursing baby draws milk from its mother, drinking in hope and heart and strength for our journey.
- To feed on Christ is to hear him preached and wholeheartedly receive the gospel message.
- To feed on Christ is to join fully into the praises sung to him by the body of Christ.
- To feed on Christ is to read the Scriptures about Jesus and think about them and store them in our hearts.
- To feed on Christ is to worship him in our daily quiet time, thinking about him and enjoying his presence with deep gratitude and gladness.
- To feed on Christ is to do these things regularly.
If you have been on a hunger strike from Jesus, seek his forgiveness for your neglect, and come again to his table today. Let us all come to hear the Scripture of invitation, draw near to him with gladness, and receive the bread and the cup.
As we feed on him in our hearts by faith, we will live—really live—because of him.
Sandy Mayle is a freelance writer who lives in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Author: Christian Standard
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Sandy, great communion meditation, very relatable for the average person. I do question though why you have his body “broken” Jesus’s body was not broken on the cross.