One of the most sacred places in all of scripture is a dinner table. The ancient Hebrews would remember their deliverance from slavery over a meal of bread and wine, with many families leaving an empty chair at their table and a full glass of wine as invitation for the one who would announce the messiah's arrival to come and join them.
The culmination of an ancient Jewish wedding would take place at a huge dinner table during the Wedding Feast. Longing for the day when the broken world would finally be set right, the wedding feast was described as the ultimate picture of the celebration of the end of this fallen age and the beginning of the age of perfect union between the host of the Feast-God and mankind.
Isaiah prophesied that "on this mountain, God-of-the-Angel-Armies
will throw a feast for all the people of the world,
A feast of the finest foods, a feast with vintage wines,
a feast of seven courses, a feast lavish with gourmet desserts.
And here on this mountain, God will banish
the pall of doom hanging over all peoples,
The shadow of doom darkening all nations.
Yes, he'll banish death forever.
And God will wipe the tears from every face.
He'll remove every sign of disgrace
From his people, wherever they are.
Yes! God says so!"
And so Christ, the Messiah, Jesus bursts onto the scene. His first miracle is at a wedding feast table, turning water into the best wine they had ever tasted. He tells the holier than thou religious leaders, that the table of the who's who in God's house is going to be filled with the poor, the cripple , the blind. Societies' untouchables will have seats at his table.
But that great meal wasn't just going to be set in some distant future, the meal that can satisfy every hunger was right in front of them. What Jesus said about the meal at that table offended the carnal mind, because at this sacred table Jesus doesn't just come to the table like we do to consume, He comes to be consumed. In John 6, Jesus tells the crowd that He is the bread of life and that anyone who's comes to him will never hunger again. He then said his flesh is the bread of life for the world at which some responded, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Then Jesus said something that just completely blew them out of the water…he said "Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you don't have life in you" and that Those that do consume him somehow live in him, and he lives in them…I mean he goes as far as to say that those who consume him get in him what He has in the Father.
And this is actually what communion and the eucharist is all about.
In John 17, Jesus prays that all those who believe would be one with him, just as he and the Father are one. This is all about love. Jesus brings all those to the table that feel the most unworthy of God, that feel the furthest from God, the poor in Spirit, anyone who is hungry and thirsty, and says take me, I want you to experience the perfect love, the perfect unity and communion that I've had in with the Father for all eternity.
Then at the last supper Jesus takes a piece of bread and says that the bread is his body, and that the cup of wine is his blood. Then he went up the mountain of calvary and offered himself as the feast for all the peoples of the world, like Isaiah prophesied, banishing death forever removing every sign of disgrace and brokeness, giving us the wine of his blood, then sending the wine of his spirit.
While the church has celebrated the table of the Lord since then, we've at many times missed the point fighting over the details of how these common elements become Christ in us. The point is that real love seeks to make the object of its love its equal, to commune with its beloved, to be as close as they possibly can together. As I toss out all the other things that I cling to give me life, and I place my hope in Jesus, I become dependent on him, I see him in everything, and even the most common things in life like eating become things that I see him in and enjoy him in.
And thru the medium of the blood and his spirit, I consume him, and the infinite takes up residence in my finite frame. He becomes part of my body, and I become part of his. This is what Peter had in mind when he said in 2 Peter 1 that we could "participate in the divine nature".
As part of his body, the flavor of Jesus that we offer from our lives to others takes on different shapes and forms. God wired my spiritual love language to commune with him thru words and music, and my invitations to others to join me at the table takes on the form of songs. I was made to help people taste and see and commune with him thru music. I know that he takes common things like guitars and drums, just like bread and wine, and somehow lives in the worship that comes from those instruments. I've seen him giving life to people as they feasted on him in worship. I've scene the evidence, and the places where we worship start looking like rooms that Jesus is in- sick getting healed, the lost getting found, and demons fleeing in his presence.
I hope these songs help you commune with God and become more one with Him in Christ.
Paul Anleitner
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