Consuming Christ

So I didn't actually write the following article but sure got my attention. Let me know what you all think.
06/6/07Consuming ChristJill Carattini
At the death of Nobel laureate Milton Friedman last year, the world ofeconomics lost one of its most influential thinkers. He is perhaps bestknown for popularizing the saying "There's no such thing as a free lunch,"which is now a common English dictum. Though our consumer-trained eyes, we understand this phrase as Friedmanintended: Anything billed "free of charge" still has a bill attached. Itis both economic theory and lay opinion. Whatever goods and services areprovided, someone must pay the cost. Thus, economically, we see that theworld of business is first and foremost about profit and market share. And cynically, we suspect that every kind gesture or free gift has ahidden motive, cost, or expectation attached. It was strange, then, to find myself thinking of "free lunches" as I wasstanding before the communion table. Could my consumer mindset apply tothis table as well? Was this really a free meal? My theologicalinstinct immediately recoiled at the thought. Inherent in Jesus'sinvitation to the table is the very freedom he came to offer: "Everythingthat the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I willnever drive away" (John 6:37). And yet, even as we are called to freelycome forward, are we not asked to empty ourselves before the one whocalls? Is there a cost to partake of the Bread of Life? I believe Christ tells us openly that the way of the Cross is costly, butit does not require the kind of transaction our consumer-hungry minds arequick to expect. The cost is his, even as he invites us to share in it. As the disciples gathered together in the upper room where they wouldparticipate in the first communion, Jesus told them, "I have eagerlydesired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer" (Luke 22:15). Heis both the Bread of Life and the one who paid the cost that it mightnourish us. Our consumption at the table holds a great deal in which toparticipate. Unfortunately, we are at times like the poet Alison Luterman who admits itis quite possible not to see the connection between what feeds us and theone who made it possible. She writes eloquently,"Strawberries are too delicate to be picked by machine. Theperfectly ripe ones even bruise at too heavy a human touch. It hit herthen that every strawberry she had ever eaten--every piece of fruit--hadbeen picked by calloused human hands. Every piece of toast with jellyrepresented someone's knees, somone's aching back and hips, someone with abandanna on her wrist to wipe away the sweat. Why had no one told herabout this before?"Holding the bread of the Lord's Supper in our hands, we are indeed facedwith a costly meal. "And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, andgave it to them, saying, 'This is my body given for you; do this inremembrance of me'" (Luke 22:19). Stories of hunger and consumption pervade the world around us. The sametheme pervades the gospel story, but in a manner that transforms both ourhunger and our ideas of what it means to consume. The consumer of Christis not stockpiling one more product for personal use and fulfillment. Nordoes he or she partake of a free service that requires a minimum purchaseor small commitment. Jesus's words are neither selfish nor small: "Thosewho eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them" (6:56). Those who come to the table cannot consume with the same disconnectednesswith which they consume countless meals and materials. We are usheredinto a community, an interconnected life, the Body of Christ himself. Every broken piece of bread represents nothing less than a Person who wasbroken for us. And he calls us to come willing to empty ourselves ascompletely as he did on the Cross. The free meal that is offered in remembrance of Jesus overturns our livesas consumers and turns our hunger inside-out. As Augustine imagines thevoice on high saying, "I am the food of the fully grown; grow and you willfeed on me. And you will not change me into you, like the food your flesheats, but you will be changed into me."(1) Christ is unlike anything elsewe can consume in this world. For all who are hungry, the Bread of Heavenhas come down.