I Had a Hamburger

I had a hamburger for lunch today. The burger was simple - just a cooked hamburger patty between two slices of bread with some ketchup and mayonnaise. Yet, despite the burger's simplicity, it had an unusually strong effect on me.

As I ate the burger, I thought about the sacrifice that had gone into it, and I felt a little bit guilty enjoying a sandwich that a creature had died to produce. This reminded me of another sacrifice, and as soon as I began to think of this burger as representing the Atonement of Jesus Christ, I suddenly saw almost everything about the burger as being symbolic.

The meat and the bread fairly clearly represented Jesus' sacrifice mostly by representing Jesus Christ Himself. The meat of the sandwich was clearly a sacrifice, and the bread represented Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life, and it also reminded me of Him by reminding me of the Sacrament, which, itself, is a symbol of Jesus Christ and His Atonement.

Even the condiments had symbolic meaning. The white mayonnaise was symbolic of Christ's purity, and the red ketchup represented His blood. Together, the condiments reminded me that Jesus suffered agony and death, even though He didn't deserve it, primarily so His blood could wash away the blood on our sin-stained hands.

The more I thought about it, the more symbols I saw. My mom cooked the burger in much the same way as our Heavenly Father prepared the plan that involved the sacrifice of His Son. I regret to admit that I didn't put any vegetables in my hamburger, but if I had, they could have represented the new life we gain through laying hold of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. And the act of eating the hamburger reminded me again of the Sacrament and that we must internalize the Gospel in order for it to have any effect on us.

So, I'm thankful Mom decided to cook some hamburger patties for lunch today, and I'm thankful for the Spirit opening my eyes to the symbolic meaning of what I was eating, because eating my burger turned out to be a strangely religious experience. I hope that my experience at church tomorrow will be at least as religious as eating a hamburger for lunch.