Note: This meditation uses two visual aids; one fresh produce and a canned version of the same produce.
Replacing corn with different produce of choice delivers the same message.(Hold up an un-shucked ear of sweet corn) Fresh sweet corn is the greatest food on Earth! Perhaps its popularity is related to the rarity of availability. Most of the year if corn is on the menu we have to settle for canned corn. (Hold up a can of corn) Canned corn is OK to eat, but it is nothing like eating fresh corn on the cob. Canned corn serves to remind us of the past harvest and encourages us that another crop of sweet corn is coming. Corn eaters live in the hope that a harvest will come when we can again eat fresh corn on the cob.
Jesus is much like a fresh ear of sweet corn. Jesus is the greatest man who ever walked the earth. The impact of his life change the trajectory of humanity away from the abyss of self-destruction. As we look back on his incredible ministry we celebrate his good works, his powerful teaching, his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. We also long in hope for Jesus’ promised return. John wrote spoke of the hope that promise should create in our hearts:“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” (1 John 3:2-3, ESV)
Jesus is much like a fresh ear of sweet corn, but communion is closer to canned corn. It reminds us that Jesus is real, of his death on the cross, and that he is coming again. The bread of communion is NOT Jesus’ body, but it reminds us that he had a body. A body that was broken for us. The cup is NOT Jesus’ blood, but it reminds us that he willingly poured out his blood for our freedom. Christians gather around the table of communion to remind each other of the past sacrifice and live in the hope of the coming harvest of righteousness.
Stuart Powell
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