Have you ever watched the History Channel program Alone? It’s a reality TV show that follows ten contestants, with ten pieces of survival gear, dropped off alone in the middle of nowhere (always a location quite inhospitable to humans). The last person to not tap out or be medically extracted, wins half a million dollars.
The longest any contestant has lasted (to date) is 100 days.
It’s dramatic watching people struggle to find shelter and food sources in the wild, or in other words, try to survive like all of our ancestors did a couple centuries ago.
Contestants leave the show for a variety of reasons: loneliness, hunger, medical emergencies.
Recently a contestant tapped out at 52 days. If I were to paraphrase one of his reasons for leaving: He was tired of the bloodshed.
He said, “I’m getting a little burned out on killing things…”
With sorrow he acknowledged that if he wanted to continue to live, “…then other things need to die.”
And it occurred to me–that’s a harsh reality all our ancestors would have intuitively understood just a couple centuries ago.
This close connection between an innocent’s bloodshed and preserving our life can seem barbaric to our modern sensibilities, but it is not only the truth of physically surviving in the wild, it is also the truth of the gospel.
The sadness and sacrifice of the death of animal after animal after animal dying to give us meal after meal after meal…is nothing when compared to the sadness and sacrifice and bloodshed of the innocent Son, the darling of Heaven, the Lamb of God.
Jesus willingly gave his flesh and his blood so that we could have spiritual life. And not just for the next meal but for eternity (John 6). So that when it’s time for us all to tap out down here below, we can freely feast with Him forever.
Next time I observe communion, it will have yet another dimension of meaning for me. Sweet gospel lessons show up in the strangest places!
