1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14 and John 6:51-58
Way to Pray
I think that we could learn a thing or two,
Consid'ring Solomon, whose point of view—
After he gets established on the throne—
Revolves around not if he'll be o'erthrown,
But if with wisdom over all he'll rule.
He prays. He asks for help.
Is it now cool
To pray this way today? That we might serve?
Or do our prayers just serve to calm our nerves?
When Jesus so bizarrely talks of eating flesh that's bread,
He wisely knows that living in his way, is how we're fed.
Scott L. Barton
Then David slept with his ancestors, and was buried in the city of David. The time that David reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.
So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David; and his kingdom was firmly established. Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David; only, he sacrificed and offered incense at the high places. The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the principal high place; Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.
At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I should give you.” And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?” It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you. If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.”
+ + +
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”
John 6:51–58
Kind of Disturbed By Some of These Scriptures
No doubt, few Protestants believe—
Perhaps, e'en Catholics can't conceive—
How, when they take the sacrament
That flesh and blood from heaven's sent.
The Zwinglians said, "Represents;"
The Calvinists gave their assent
To "action parallel" that brought
The life of Christ that they all sought.
But in our formulas and prayers,
I wonder if we tend to scare
Some people from the church's news;
Instead of celebrating, bruise.
Perhaps the cart's before the horse.
Here, Jesus did not speak, of course,
Of bread and wine that we partake
Which therefore would our lives remake.
Instead, he bids us to be fed
By him, who Love raised from the dead;
If he's our newsfeed, and our food,
We never on his death should brood,
But know that living as he did
Is what he means, when we are bid
To drink his blood and eat his flesh,
For then his life will ours refresh.
Let not these words make you disturbed;
Partake the life he led, superb.
Scott L. Barton
"I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”
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