Eucharistic meditation

Isaiah 28:28: Grain for bread is crushed.

You are God’s field, God’s vineyard. You are His planting, yield from the seed of His Word planted in the ground of your heart. You are the grain and the grapes of His harvest.

The Lord is a wise farmer. He knows His land, knows just how much plowing it needs to give the best yield. He knows His dill and cummin and wheat and barley. He knows when to thresh with a rod, and when to thresh with a wheel, and when more threshing would damage the grain.

He threshes the church to separate wheat and chaff; He threshes you until your chaff falls away. But threshing isn’t the end. The Lord is a skillful baker too. After He removes the chaff, He grinds you to flour, kneads you into dough, then sets you in the fire to become the bread of God, bread broken to feed the world.

The bread and wine on this table are signs of Jesus. They are signs also of what the Lord is making from you and making from us. At this table, you become what you receive; at this table, you receive what you will become, receive it with thanksgiving.

Grain for bread is crushed. It cannot be bread unless it is crushed. You cannot be bread unless you are crushed, nor the wine of gladness unless you are trampled.