Thursday, April 14, 2022

Taking Your Meds

 

Thursday, April 14, 2022

For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself.  On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it.  Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.”  In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood.  Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.”  For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.  1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Medication time is somewhat tedious if you're the giver, and the patient has four legs. 


But our dog, Wellie, who is in a long term relationship with chicken (in any shape, size, original, or extra-crispy), gives me no problem with pills.  I could wrap a lethal tarantula the size of Cleveland in an ounce of chicken skin and he would swallow it like a vacuum inhales a feather.  Problem solved!

Overweight Shih-Tzus aside, few people enjoy taking their meds.  I could be biased…, but nonetheless, I’m one who utterly despises any medication, even though taking the stuff helps keep me breathing.  Of late, when my doctor asks me how I’m doing, I growl, FINE!  It seems to be effective in avoiding more trips to the pharmacy!

The apostle Paul’s words to the Corinthian believers sounds somewhat like a doctor prescribing:  Do this…it’s an announcement of the cross, a reminder of the resurrection, and strength for when Jesus comes back.  And, truth be told, this was a vitally-required spiritual medication for the Corinth church.  They were in dire need of healing for their selfish, hedonistic ways.  They had little appreciation for the worship moment of The Supper, which, in their case, had turned into a dinner-on-the-grounds pig-out.  

There are some who, for whatever reason, view The Supper that way…a routine to be followed…ho-hum, pass the bread and Welch’s, please.  It goes down like the regimented swallowing of a pill, absentmindedly giving little or no thought to the holiness of the moment.  Somehow the magnitude of what’s going on at the table is lost, and (sadly enough) so is its’ grace-filled benefit.  It leaves no lasting aroma like the gift of Mary’s anointing of Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume, or savoring of the taste of what Isaac Watts called sorrow and love flow[ing] mingled down[1].

For You Today

Maundy Thursday of Holy Week, is a particularly poignant time for celebrating the coming cross, and eating the Holy Meal, remembering that passion of our Lord’s sacrifice.  Our eternal souls should not need the meal wrapped in chicken to go down gladly.  So, let’s go there allowing the Proverb writer the last word on taking our meds…

A cheerful heart is good medicine....  Proverbs 17:22a

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title image: Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©  


[1][1] From Isaac Watts’ 1707 hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” (United Methodist Hymnal #298)

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