The mystery of the incarnation - God became flesh and tabernacled among us.

Because of our fallen nature, we seek Jesus for his gifts. We ask, "What will he give me?" This is what the nation of Israel asked him in John 6.

And he gave them his flesh...

Think deeper than food and drink. The flesh of Christ is united to the divine nature in the unity of person. This man who ate and drank, felt and wept, was at the same time the Son of God, infinite in the heavens, upholding all things by his power -

When he gives us his flesh, he is giving us Himself - the Son of God.

There is a lot there, but think about this. When we come to Christ, we have come to God. When we are united to him (symbolized by eating his flesh and drinking his blood) everything that is His becomes ours.

That is, WE are the beloved children of God as HE is the beloved child of God. Our nature doesn't change, we remain human - But we possess a new relationship to God. Beloved children, accepted, welcomed by God himself.

THIS is who you are, because of who Christ is. You aren't nothing, you aren't worthless, you aren't despised, you aren't a filthy vermin.

Nor are you simply an afterthought. God will not be taken by surprise when you enter the new heavens and the new earth, because you already have a place there.

You belong, because it is home.

And it is home because your Father is there.

This is the perfect love that casts out fear. The more we grasp our identity as children of God, the less able we are to fear what man can do to us.

The next time you take the sacramental bread and wine, remember that promise - that we are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone, and partakers of everything that is His.

He gives us the true heavenly bread - his flesh, which he gives for the life of the world.