Norah Jones Turns Me On

When I read the New Testament, and the whole Bible for that matter, I like to keep in mind that meals were a big deal. In Exodus 12, during the first Passover, God tells the people to spread the blood of the lamb on the doorpost. That’s the part we remember, right? Put the blood on the door and you’ll be saved. Saving blood isn’t something unfamiliar to us. A part that we often look over during the Passover is that, after the blood-on-the-doorpost thing, God told the people to “Eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire.” With the lamb’s roasted flesh you were supposed to eat unleavened bread and bitter herbs. God saves us. Then God tells us to eat.

            Parallels, people. The Bible is a story. There are metaphors and images and themes and repetitions. Jesus died and saved us with His blood. Like the lamb. We ate the lamb. We eat Jesus. Remember communion? If you don’t buy the parallel yet, then look at the fact that the Lord’s Supper first took place on Passover. Oh yeah, and we call Jesus the Lamb of God. “This is my body which is given for you.” We eat the bread. “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My Blood.” We drink the wine.

Stop. Think about that for a moment. God, the Creator of everything, came down from Heaven in the form of Jesus. But He didn’t just come and hang out. (That’s what I would have done, if I had been Jesus on earth. I would have made a Corvette appear or a Hum-V and I would have driven around and picked up all the pretty Jewish girls and I would have given myself wings and a really intense drum set. Good thing I’m not Jesus.) He came and gave His body for you. He said that. He gave his blood for you. Most days I don’t give my time to Jesus, let alone my body or my blood.

 Damn it God is way cool. Staggeringly cool. Read Hosea. I love Hosea. Because in Hosea God tells us He’s going to burn us and punish us but then He gets all flustered with love because He loves us so much. In chapter 11 God says, “My heart is turned over within me, all my compassions are kindled.” I know the feeling of my heart turning over in my chest—but I don’t know the feeling of my heart turning over for someone who betrays me every day and stabs me and commits “flagrant harlotry” as God calls it in chapter 1 of Hosea. Blood. Redemption. Food. Party with God.

            During breakfast the other day I was eating my homemade par fee and I thought to myself, “Hunter, if meals were so drastically important to God and Jesus, think about how important fasting must be.” Every time God saves us we get a consecrating meal. And we are also called to fast. To live without physical food and to only dwell on the endless spiritual food that is the truth, that is our Christ, my Messiah. Fasting seems a lot more important when the value of meals to God is considered.

            Let’s consider time. The actual Passover happened in the past, thousands of years ago. God sent the plagues over the crazy Egyptians and then He saved, past tense, the families who spread the blood and ate the lamb. Now consider Christ, who, every day, is saving us with His blood. Present tense. God saved the Israelites with blood and food. Christ saves us with blood and food. In Revelation John was told, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb.” It’s a wedding feast. We have the food but where’s the blood? Several verses later John describes his sighting of our Christ, who was “clothed with a robe dipped in blood. Food. Blood. Redemption, restoration, and fulfillment. Christ will save us with blood and food. Awesome.

            At that same breakfast, when I was thinking about meals and fasting, I thought about something Josh the Quarterback said to me. Josh the Quarterback told me that I shouldn’t eat alone so much. I dismissed the comment at first but then, at that magical breakfast, it hit me. Damn it! I need to eat with people! Food is communion. Food is fellowship. Food is intimacy. I’ve been lonely a lot (most of which is my fault because I don’t want to make new friends easily because I miss my friends back home). I’m eating lunch with someone today so hopefully the eating-with-people thing will get going.