“Everything tastes better with butter!” Julia was a woman with child like faith. She enjoyed butter and she trusted that her buttery creations would delight many as she JOYFULLY  frolicked in the kitchen. Julia Childs was a foodie zealot!  Her passionate cooking of savory delicacies keeps us all rich in ketones. Keto, Vegan or Carnivore we all need to keep from CAVING to craves. IF one MUST be strict, then do NOT read the Biblical insights shared below.  Go ahead, and pass by the wisdom of eating well.  HOWEVER, IF you must know the truth,  then go ahead and splurge and read the rest of this story.  We must on occasion bend a bit and join in the celebration of living! Enjoy a slice of butter pecan pie, or a slice of old fashioned Buttered toast. Do you think Jesus agrees that we should enjoy our food?  Below the picture of KETO pancakes with butter — further fascinate about EATING and DRINKING truths. 

Butter

This is a post from Mexico, the land of spice, color, butter, and flavor. A tale about food for those who enjoy a riveting good story along with their meal. Julia said, “A country that is afraid of food should be ashamed of itself.” Imagine Julia, with a naughty gleam in her eye, adding more butter, swirling in whipping cream, and pouring red wine into a new French fantasy casserole. For sure and certain it was her defiant act to prove to her menacing food Nazis — that it is her plate, her body and that her choices were NOT subject to scientific approval. What would Jesus say about butter?

“People who love to eat are always the happiest people.” Julia Child – With eternity being rolled out soon for all of us, we are indeed unduly skittish about what to eat.  I read an article by an unknown author about the gospel of John.  It proposed that Jesus would have been on Julia’s side!  Back in His earthly days, the aghast hearers of what Jesus said in the Synagogue left them all quite baffled and astonished! The local gossip was that Jesus spoke out of line! Today’s listeners can be equally as dumbfounded as were His ancient audience by that icky suggestion that we eat His flesh and drink His blood. In fact, if we cannot take what Jesus said literally, then the Apostle John infers that we don’t “get” who Jesus is at all. Are we encouraged to rely on our own limited understanding? In any case, we need to ask for the Holy Spirit to enlighten us into a deeper meaning.  John chapter 6 “Taste Me and drink Me in, and you will know the endless, deep, soul-food-deliciousness of God!” Jesus also confounded the wise old Nicodemus when He said “you must be born again”. Nick could not fathom how a person could go back into his mother’s womb and be born again. We must inquire of the Spirit to know the meaning beyond the literal truth spoken. The Greek word translated in this text of John did easily disgust the common folk that backed away saying “no way”! Jesus did not mince His words or attempt to explain the metaphorical intention. The word used was “eat,” which in Greek “gustosyntax” means finger-licking good. Jesus meant to make the point inescapable — The flesh of Jesus is in some SENSE “real” food, His blood is in some SENSE is “real” drink. Jesus meant for us to dine, to savor, to eat what is good for our souls  — yes, devoured— with a very hungry fashion. OK, now follow with me.

John 6:59  “He said all these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.” Ah, now we have a context! John places Jesus in a local town synagogue, preaching a sermon; and that means He has a scroll unfurled in front of Him, going verse by verse, expounding its meaning, making applications, and engaging in back-and-forth disputation. So, what text is Jesus teaching? We can’t know for sure, but if we consider all the references to Moses and manna in the desert in our gospel portion, it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine that in Exodus 16, the hunger and complaint of the Israelites was met by God with heavenly Bread. The application Jesus makes of these verses is to Himself. He said He is the bread that comes down from heaven. He says He is a new kind of sustenance for body, spirit, and the life of the world. There is a tradition of Jewish interpretation that sees scripture itself, the Torah, the Law, as the reality behind the manna of Exodus 16. This tradition teaches that God was indeed feeding the people with bread in the wilderness, but it wasn’t just a wafer-like substance God was providing; it was in reality the holy Law, God’s very Word, the nourishing bread of God’s wisdom.  The book of Proverbs is all about wisdom, and like the manna, we are to eat it up, digest it, internalize it that we may speak out that which we have known to be good! We learn divine wisdom daily, bit by bit, not only with our intellect, but also with our body. Like food, we ingest it, we ruminate on it, and like a cow chewing its cud, we savor it and roll the food around in our mouth. We swallow slowly, luxuriously; and eventually we digest it so that it becomes part of us. Life of Your life, flesh of Your flesh, blood of His blood. “Day and night I ruminate upon your Law, O God,” says one of the psalms. “Your Law is like honey, sweet to the tongue,” says another.

“O taste and see how good the Lord is,” another urges us.  If John presents Jesus claiming to be food, claiming to be the manna, then Jesus is also claiming to be the Word, the Wisdom of God. And thus He invites everyone to eat Him and drink Him, and relish every Word that proceeds from His mouth. This same Wisdom shows up in Scripture in another guise too. She is personified in several Old Testament texts as a mother who builds a house for her children—and wouldn’t you know it, she sets a splendid table and then she goes out and calls to her children, “Come,” the scripture says, “Come from East and West, North and South! Eat my bread, drink my wine! Come to the feast I prepared for you!” This is exactly what Jesus says in John 6:  “Eat me and drink me, and you will know the endless, deep, soul-food-deliciousness of God!”  All this may sound very odd, mystical and impossibly poetic to us modern American Christians who usually expect no more from Jesus and the Word than an ethic for living, a few guidelines to life’s big issues, and some inspiration for action in the world.  Like our Berean relatives, our ancestors looked for more. In Jesus’ life and teaching, in His person and work, and in His continued presence in the Spirit, they expected to taste yummy flavors, complex memorable textures, enjoyment and delight.  Can I believe this?  Of course, be cautious and measured, a little like the way our Father warns us not to be deceived. Is this Word good for me? Will it harm me if I have an extra ounce of this or one more calorie of that? Are there trans-fatty acids in this passage? We hang around the edges of Jesus, hang back on the outskirts of Wisdom. Do we really want to peel off and back away when we reach the limit of our reason and our patience with things that seem odd to us? Is it wise to approach the Bible as an object of religious interest? In our relationship building experience, do we ask a lot of historical, cultural and ethical questions about our new friends? Do we  yearn to live with, in and through Him, in His Word? Do we stand in grateful awe of what Jesus says? Like our Hebrew ancestors, do we chew on His Word, digest it and lick it up as our sweet sustenance? Jesus wants us to enjoy the free banquet He has always been. As the thankful and the poor in spirit; we are meant to feel His Presence and be satisfied with a nourishing good taste “that the Lord is good”.  Who and what could compel me to take the sacred Scriptures and Jesus seriously enough?

“I am bread and wine,” says Jesus. “I am food and drink. I am a body and a spirit. I am Life and Wisdom. I am here to make you hungry and to satisfy all your longings. Come to the table of the Word, and stay with me! At the table of faith, don’t be afraid of your food. Don’t nibble when you could chomp. Don’t sip daintily when you could slug it all down the hatch with gusto!  Praise God for His creation of  Julia Child, who commanded us to eat, and never to be afraid! Jesus the Bread of Life – John chapter 6:25-29

“Rabbi, when did you get here?”  Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for Me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval.” Then they asked Him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”  Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent.”

Another great teacher AW TOZER gives us great insights of faith. Why Deny Myself?