Take & Eat

Julian Merrow-Smith’s Bread and Wine. Oil on board. 2014

Take & Eat

I love you Jesus and at Your table
Your flesh is bread from heaven
Your blood is the new covenant

I hunger and thirst for righteousness
And am more than satisfied

Wicked spitting
And dogs tearing
And justice crushing
And nails and thorns and insults piercing
Yet purity

Broken for me

Anguish alone
And exceeding sorrow
And friends deserting
And shame and treason and betrayal
Yet innocence

Poured out for me

What love is this
This love that I now hold in my hand
Take and eat
This love that I drink from your cup
Take and drink

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I wrote this short poem/prayer in May of A.D. 2020.

I have always found it incredible that Jesus started the Supper by saying, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you.” The fact that the Son of God longed for that moment with His disciples should cause us to wonder at the grace He gives us by means of the sacraments. I hear the Savior say, “I have earnestly desired…” and I find myself earnestly desiring that ultimate supper where we drink wine anew with Him in His Father’s kingdom. 

I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom. (Matthew 26:29)

In a few short hours, He would be going through extreme suffering. He would be drinking the cup of the wrath of God. The Lamb’s blood was soon to be wiped on the doorposts, and the angel of death was on his way. But in these moments, all we hear in His voice is a love for His disciples, and an authority in His words that can only be the authority of God. Take, eat. Take, drink of it, all of you.

Have a great rest of your week,

“…for Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7).

In Christ,

Cody

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Here are some related posts,

Remembering the Forgetting

Grapes From Thorns

and other poetry from Power & Glory here.