In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis proposes the Fall of Adam and Eve occurred when they tried to “invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside of God, apart from God.” From this has flowed all the sinful acts and all their ill effects throughout the course of human history. Our history is “the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.”
However, as a motor designed to run on fuel cannot run without it, so the human being, designed to feed on God, cannot be happy without him. Lewis goes so far as to say, “God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”
Lewis wasn’t making this stuff up. Jesus said, “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 on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” (John 6:53-55)
It is no small coincidence that the first temptation revolved around food, the consummation of all things happens around a meal, and in the interim we commune with God around His table. God is the source of all pleasure and all fulfillment, but not a source producing things which, once imparted, make us happy. He gives us himself. He is the fuel. He is the food. He, himself, is the fulfillment. “God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”
This is great, but only half the story. The bread and wine weren’t Jesus flesh and blood, since He was right there doling them out. To eat and drink Jesus is to hear the Word and to do the Word, a bread that is better than bread, and a wine that is better than wine (John 4:32). So while you gents are filling up on wine (nothing wrong with that!), God’s table is about hearing the Word, examining our hearts (priesthood), and being filled with the Spirit (kingdom), ready to be dismissed once again into the world as legal witnesses (prophecy – being broken and poured out as martyrs). What am I saying? Those who “eat and drink” Jesus become a meal. Simply having teeth and tongue and throat and stomach does not qualify anybody for Jesus’ table.
MIke,
“Those who eat and drink Jesus become a meal.” That is a fantastic point! Thanks so much for commenting.
Love savory sacramental posts like this.