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Summary
“Eat me! Eat me!” This is what Agent K of the Men in Black screams into the face of the giant alien bug that has swallowed both a galaxy and his gun in the movie by the same name. When the monster swallows the man, the man blows up the monster from the inside out and saves the world.
According to Gregory of Nyssa in the fourth century, this is also how Jesus saves our world. “The Deity was hidden under the veil of our nature, like a fishhook under bait.” Darkness swallowed the Light, Death swallowed the Life, and the King of Heaven defeated Hell from the inside out. “He appeared to destroy the works of the devil,” writes John.
“Eat me! Drink me!” said Jesus to a mob of vampires and zombies on the side of the sea in John 6. Or to be more precise, He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”
We really do behave like zombies and vampires.
Howard Storm died and then found himself being led into the darkness by “people” who began to bite and devour him. He recounts the story in his book, My Descent Into Death. At one point, he realized that he had been just like those who bit and devoured him — zombies and vampires. He heard a voice in his chest; “Pray to God,” it said. Then his own self as a little boy, buried deep in his soul, began to sing “Jesus Loves Me.” Jesus appeared, destroyed the works of the devil, took Howard to heaven, and said, “We don’t make mistakes.”
Eat me! Drink me! “Do you take offense at this?” asks Jesus in John 6:61. At the Last Supper, Jesus says, “You will all be offended because of me this night.” In John 6:64, John comments that “Jesus knew from the beginning who it was who would betray (“hand over”) him.” Keep reading, and we discover it was “the Jews” and everyone who takes his body and blood. It’s Adam (mankind).
John 6:66-7:1, “ After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So, Jesus said to the twelve, ‘Do you want to go away as well?’ Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? [“We’re trapped!”] You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and we have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.’ [“We’re trapped, but we chose to believe, and we chose to know.” ] Jesus answered them, ‘Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one [out of] you is a devil.’ 71 He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him. After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him.”
Am I a monster or a child of God? A sinner or a saint? Judas (the worst of sinners) or Peter (the saint)? This is really all so terrifying that we just read quickly and don’t wrestle the Word. We assume that Jesus is saying, “Try harder to be Peter and not Judas.” And if we’re Protestants, that means “Try harder to choose to believe like Peter and not disbelieve like Judas.” And this is what’s most terrifying: Neither Peter nor Judas chose Jesus; Jesus chose Peter AND Judas. “You didn’t choose me, I chose you… to go and bear fruit,” says Jesus to the eleven in Chapter 15. But He also chose Judas to, apparently, not choose Him, but to betray Him . . . “to fulfill Scripture.”
He doesn’t blame Judas as if he could’ve done differently.
And he doesn’t congratulate Peter as if his faith were his own decision.
We forget that the name “Judas” is “Judah,” and “Jew” means “of the house of Judah,” and every Christian is a Jew — the Bride, Body, and Living Temple of the King of the Jews. God chose the Jews to not choose Him but to instead take His life on the tree, that He might reveal that He has always given His life on the tree, so that they might choose Him in freedom — even as He chose them to be His Bride, Body, and Temple from the foundation of the World.
Judas hung himself on a tree before he saw Christ crucified on the tree for him. But Peter died to himself after he saw Christ crucified on the tree and risen from the dead. Yet, nowhere does Scripture tell us that Judas cannot still see Christ crucified and risen from the dead. In fact, John quotes Zechariah, saying just the opposite — that every eye will see Him; they will look upon Him whom they have pierced. That’s how Jesus destroys the works of the devil. He makes himself a monster trap.
Judas threw the “blood money” into the temple. The high priest used the money to buy the Potter’s field in the Valley of Gehenna. Judas hung himself there (in “Hell”), and Jesus had already bought the field with His own blood. God is the Potter who takes broken earthen vessels and makes them new. God in Christ Jesus tells great stories. We . . . not so much.
The way we’ve told the story is that there is this “Plan of Salvation”: That Jesus died in your place, so you don’t have to die if you choose to agree to the plan. But if you choose to reject the plan, you will be tormented forever without end. You really don’t need to love Jesus, only use your knowledge of Jesus to save yourself. You choose. You save. You pass the test.
The way the story tells itself is quite different: Jesus himself IS the plan of salvation. He dies in your place so you would die with Him and rise with Him. He destroys the bad choices in you and becomes every good choice in you. He tests you, such that you would know that you didn’t choose Him; He chose you, and so now with Him, you will choose life in freedom as He has always chosen you. He chooses you. He saves you. He is passing the test for you, with you, within you, and even as you. He has written the story, and He is writing the story in space and time.
What is that is hanging on the tree? That’s the Logos. That’s the Plot to every story that is any story including your story. And He has a question for you: “Did I not choose you?” The Monster will answer, “No, you didn’t choose me; I chose you. I write the story; I control the Plot.” The Little Child will answer, “Yes, you chose me. Thank you, Abba.”
Perhaps most confusing of all is that we each seem to give both answers, as if each of us were two rather than one. Perhaps each of us is two, and God is One. Perhaps I have two “me”s, two psyches (Me-sus and Jesus), two men (old Adam and new), two selves (false and true), two natures (dark and light), two identities (I Am Not and I Am), two Judgments (my own and Christ in me), two stories (the story I think I’m writing and the story God has written and is writing in space and time).
I think John has another name for the monster, and that name is “sinner.” In 1 John 1:8-10, we learn that if we say that we have no sin (lack of faith) and have not sinned (acted faithlessly), then the truth is not in us (That’s a monster.) And yet, 1 John 3:8-10, “The one doing the sin is of the devil. Jesus appeared to destroy the works of the devil… The one born of God cannot sin for the Seed remains in him (That’s the Child of God).” CRAZY!
I suspect that I can reside in either identity because I am a temple. In the inner sanctuary, which is the garden that God has made, it is always NOW, for it is the presence of eternity. But in the outer courts, it is never NOW, for it’s that building that I have constructed in space and time. It is that place where I can foster the illusion that I am the effect of my own cause, the illusion that I have created myself.
The moment I turn and encounter Christ, I enter through the torn curtain of his flesh and become who it is that I always am. And yet, as soon as I judge myself in space and time, I’m separated from myself — I have left the garden. I’m judging myself, rather than being myself — that is, being the judgment of God. And yet, all is not lost, for even when I leave the garden, Jesus comes with me as a seed — The Seed of Faith, Hope, and Love.
It all sounds so weird, but Peter had experienced this the night before Jesus said these things. When Peter looked at Jesus, he walked on the sea; he was more “real” than this world. But when he looked at the sea, he thought “I can’t write this story.” And he sank. But Jesus pulled him out.
One night, Jesus asked, “Who do you (not others) say that I am?” Peter looked at Jesus like he did on the sea and said, “You’re the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said, “The Father revealed this to you. You are Rocky, and on this Rock (this Peter) I will build my church.” Then Jesus shared that He must die and be raised. Peter must’ve thought, “I can’t write this story.” So, he said, “This shall never happen to you.” Jesus looked at Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan.”
Peter wasn’t Satan, but he had a monster: the work of the devil. It caused him to deny the Lord three times. He sank, but Jesus, resurrected from the dead, met him by the sea and pulled him out. And Peter became who he always was: “The Rock.”
If each of us believed that we had a monster self, but that we were not that monster self, perhaps we’d have grace on other monsters, become a monster trap, and the maker of man. I mean, we’d become the body of Christ in this world. We’d be his body broken and bloodshed.
My new grandson James is perfect, except perhaps for the fact that he doesn’t know he’s perfect, for he doesn’t even know what that means — a bit like Adam in the garden. James is perfect, but he “sucks.” He gave my wife a hickey. If he can’t get milk from the source, he’ll suck on anything around. One day some kid will tell him, “You suck.” School will tell him, “You suck at math, or reading, or baseball.” A girl will tell him, “You’re sucking the life out of me.” Worried that he’s a monster, he’ll fight the monster and hide the monster and become more monstrous. He’ll squander his inheritance in the far country or grumble alone in the darkness of his own self-righteousness; he’ll sin. One day he may say to his parents, “I sucked the life out of you.” And they will forgive him. They will say, “All we have has always been yours. You didn’t take it; we gave it before you were even born.”
That’s how you trap the monster and make the man, and everyone joins the party that is the Kingdom of God. That’s the story that our Father is telling. That’s reality.
And so, the night before we took His life on the tree, He gave His life at supper, saying, “This is my body given to you. Take and eat. This cup is the covenant in my blood. Drink of it, all of you.” Both Peter and Judas (as well as John) were sitting at the table.
This will trap the monster, destroy the monster, and make the Man (the Eschatos Adam). Happy are those who join the banquet this day. Sorrow for those (Woe to them) that run away. But even if you hide in Hell, you will eventually join the party, for no one can escape “such a great salvation.” Grace will trap all the monsters and make the Man.