Eat Your Wisdom

This meal consists of an edible word, a drinkable word. That word is, of course, the Lord Jesus, who is the eternal Word of the eternal Father. This is His body, and this is His blood. We do not just treat the bread and wine as a visible word and as visible drink, but as a word that we are called to take into our mouths, and to swallow it down in faith.

This is not faith in mere bread, or trust in wine. We do not think that any created thing has power in itself to do anything. But God uses instruments. The receptive instrument that He gives us is faith—living, vibrant, evangelical faith. But He also wields other instruments that this faith responds to, seeing the work of God in and through them—sermons and sacraments, for example.

So this meal is an edible word, a drinkable word, and this Word is the Lord Jesus. But what does the apostle John mean when He calls Jesus the Word of God. The Word is not a single mystic syllable of the sort you find in eastern mysticism. No, the Word of God is the eternal and everlasting Wisdom of God. When men reject the word of God, what wisdom is in them (Jer. 8:9)? We are told to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, in all wisdom (Col. 3:16). The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom (Ps. 37:30).

This is the edible word of God, it is edible drink from Him. This means that it is the edible wisdom of God. It is the wisdom of God in a cup.

Of course, to expect to find wisdom in these elements autonomously is to descend into superstitious folly. That is not wisdom at all. You are not an empty receptacle and this is not a spiritual commodity to put into it. No, you cannot come here a fool and go away wise. But if the word is in your heart and in your mouth already, then you may come here to put this wisdom into your heart and mouth. You are invited to eat your wisdom.

So come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.