Worldwide Communion
TAKE & EAT
… based on Luke 7:31-35
“Jesus Changed the Rules. “
Give or take a few here or there, I have eaten around 86,000 meals throughout my life. So, it goes without saying, that’s obviously one of my favorite pastimes. And I don’t mind saying it, but I’ve become rather good at it. Practice makes perfect, right? That being said, I am blessed & I know it. I’m married to a woman who is incredible in the kitchen. Kathy loves to prepare meals & they are wonderful. I am also living at a time & in a place where we have access to good food. And I am aware of all that when I say grace before eating a meal. (The Acts 27:35) I’m blessed.
In addition to all of that … there are a plethora of terrific eating establishments available. What are some of your favorite restaurants? …
In that regard, here in Indiana we have “food trails.” Are you familiar with these? We have a book that describes them. There’s the tenderloin lovers trail … the sugar cream pie trail … the sweet temptations trail … to name a few. And Kathy & I vow to take one or more each summer.
Well, obviously I want to talk about food today, so, listen now to Good News, as recorded by Luke, to us who have gathered here for worship.
Within our hearing comes the Word of the Lord …
Jesus said, “Now to what can I compare the people of this day? What are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace. One group shouts to the other, ‘We played wedding music for you, but you wouldn’t dance! We sang funeral songs, but you wouldn’t cry!’ John the Baptist came, and he fasted and drank no wine, and you said, ‘He has a demon in him!’ The Son of Man came, and he ate and drank, and you said, ‘Look at this man! He is a glutton and wine drinker, a friend of tax collectors and other outcasts!’ God’s wisdom, however, is shown to be true by all who accept it.” (Luke 7:31-35)
Jesus said, “Heaven & earth will pass away,
but my words will never pass away.” (Mark 13:31)
May the Lord grant that we may engage in contemplating the mysteries of His Heavenly wisdom
with really increasing devotion, to His glory and to our edification. Amen
I don’t know if you ever thought about it … but apparently Jesus liked to eat.
All too often we concentrate on the divinity aspect of our Lord & forget the humanity part. But Jesus got hungry, (Matthew 4:2); Jesus got thirsty, (John 19:28); Jesus got tired, (John 4:6). The Gospels paint a very human portrait of Jesus, & as such, He would have appreciated a good meal the same as you & I do.
However, His options back then would not be as appetizing as to what’s accessible for us today. And they certainly would be a far cry from what was available to Him in Heaven. (Philippians 2:7) But nevertheless, He enjoyed food to such an extent that there were those who referred to Him as a “glutton.” But before we begin to imagine Jesus as a candidate for Weight Watchers, here’s what a typical day’s menu might include.
Each morning began with a light breakfast of bread or a piece of fruit.
Bread was baked every day … that was one of the mother’s main chores. At midday there would be a light lunch of bread, grain, olives, & figs. The main meal was eaten at the end of the day. Dinner was a 1-pot stew served in a common bowl. Bread was used to “spoon” the stew which, most often, would be a thick porridge of vegetables, lentils, & chickpeas spiced with herbs.
Meat was only served occasionally, fish more often,
mostly when the family had an important guest. Among the wealthy, lambs or calves were kept in stalls so they could be fattened for feasting. (Luke 15:23)
Now this “sermon” is going to be a little different this morning.
We’re going to be looking at some meals that are discussed in the Scriptures, & the theological implications of them.
Now, as I was doing my preparation, I quickly began to realize that there are at least 5,280 examples of food & eating in this Book. In fact, with only a few exceptions, almost every important milestone, practically every major character, includes a description of a meal they had, or of a particular diet. Follow along with me as we look at several of the significant events that occurred around a dinner table. Actually, this shouldn’t come as any surprise. Consider our own lives. Think of the amount of time that we spend planning for, shopping, preparing, & eating food. And every major happening has a dinner tied to it. Holidays, weddings, funerals, baptisms, birthdays, anniversaries, celebrations … you name it, & food is there.
So, let’s consider some of the passages that are found in the Scriptures.
We begin with God & the very 1st chapter of the Bible with Adam & Eve in the Garden. God said, “I have provided all kinds of grain & all kinds of fruit for you to eat.” (Genesis 1:29) So, right from the very beginning we see that God is responsible for our food. He provided … & He still provides.
We pray each Sunday, “Give us today our daily bread.” (Matthew 6:11)
Then God said to Adam …
“You may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden, except the tree
that gives knowledge of what is good & what is bad. You must not eat
the fruit of that tree; if you do, you will die the same day.” (Genesis 2:16-17)
So, one of the very 1st commands or requirements of God was associated with eating. In fact, this was the only limitation put on humanity in the Garden … otherwise they had free reign. But Adam wanted his own way. (Genesis 3:5) (Wanting our own way is the worst of all sins … since it means abandoning God’s way.) God told them not to eat the fruit of one particular tree; & that should have been enough. But, of course, you know what happened. Adam & Eve disobeyed, ate the fruit, & sin entered the world.
(Romans 5:12)
Let’s jump ahead to Noah. Noah, his family, & all those animals were in the ark for 377 days! (Genesis 7:4,11-12,24; 8:4-6,10,12-14) How did they live? Once again, we find God providing. He instructed Noah … “Take along all kinds of food for you & for them.” (Genesis 6:21) Imagine that grocery shopping trip!
“Do you want plastic or paper?” “I think boxes!”
I’m in no way trying to diminish the enormity of that task,
but the animals would be extremely limited in their activity, & some would even be in a hibernation state which would curtail much of their appetite.
Having said that, getting ready for their yearlong adventure would take considerable preparation.I imagine there were some interesting conversations between Noah & his family as they rationed out their food every evening.
Well, the year has come & gone. The water has receded.
And then we come to an interesting passage.
God is talking to Noah about animals, birds & fish, & He says,
“Now you can eat them, as well as green plants; I give them all to you for food.” (Genesis 9:3) There are various theological interpretations as to whether human beings were vegetarians up to this point. Arguments can be made on both sides. But certainly, from this moment on, God puts His blessing on our eating meat as well as fruit & vegetables.
What this means is that every meal should remind us that life is made possible only by the death of something else. We’re alive only because other things have died on our behalf to sustain our life … either animals or plants.
We don’t live in & of ourselves. We live by “feeding” upon other life.
Now this ought to impress upon each one of us a fundamental fact.
We aren’t independent creatures, going our own way, being our own masters,
& in need of nothing beyond ourselves.
Actually, we’re the most dependent of creatures. We have no life force of our own. It’s all borrowed. “In God we live & move & exist.” (The Acts 17:28)
Jesus was talking about this when He said …
“I am telling you’re the truth: if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man & drink his blood, you will not have life in yourselves. Those who eat my flesh & drink my blood have eternal life, & I will raise them to life on the last day. For my flesh is the real food; my blood is the real drink.
Those who eat my flesh & drink my blood live in me, & I live in them.” (John 6:53-56)
I remember when I was younger being totally grossed out by that.
But Jesus wasn’t speaking literally, but symbolically, spiritually.
We’re to “feed” on Him & draw from Him all that we need.
Jesus Christ is necessary for life, & without Him we can never fulfill the “hunger” that exists in each one of us. (John 10:10)
Okay, does anyone remember a meal in which Abraham participated? …
We read in Genesis that …
“The LORD appeared to Abraham at the sacred trees of Mamre.” (Genesis 18:1)
Picture the scene, here’s Abraham, sitting by his tent about 3:00 in the afternoon. He looks up & sees 3 “men” … one of whom is God Himself!
So, he jumps up, runs to them & invites them to stay & have a meal.
Now what really interests me about this story is Abraham’s personal desire to be involved. We know that he had more than 318 servants, (Genesis 14;14),
yet he does this himself. (Genesis 18:3)
He says to his wife … “Sarah, ‘quick, take a sack of your best flour & bake some bread.’
Then he ran to the herd & picked out a calf that was tender & fat, & gave it to a servant, who hurried to get it ready.
He took some cream, some milk, & the meat, & set the food before the men. There under the tree he served them himself, & they ate.” (Genesis 18:6-8)
Abraham prepared a wonderful meal.
There was cottage cheese salad with figs cut up nicely in it … a tall glass of cool milk … hot veal cutlets … & fresh warm bread, right out of the oven.
Are you visualizing this?
We can almost smell the bread, can’t we? And as they ate, Abraham visited with them. What an incredible experience that must have been!
Good food + godly conversation = fantastic fellowship.
Next, we look at Abraham’s grandsons … Esau & Jacob.
They were fraternal twins, with Esau being born 1st. Now, even though they were twin boys, they were as different as different could be.
“Eat, drink, & be merry!” (Ecclesiastes 8:15) That’s the phrase the perfectly describes Esau’s life.
He was only interested in satisfying his bodily desires, whatever they were … immediately.
Now, because he was the 1st born, he should have received the family blessing. (Deuteronomy 21:17)
But one day, because he was so hungry, Esau sold it to his brother Jacob
for “some bean soup.” (Genesis 25:29-32)
“Hey Jacob, I’ll give all my wealth for some of that bean soup.” ?????
And then we find Jacob officially getting the “inheritance” by actually deceiving his father, Isaac, for it.
(This may be one of the most pathetic stories in all of Scripture.)
Isaac, who was now old & blind, wanted to “bless” his 1st born son before he died.
But before he did that, he instructed Esau to go hunting for some venison, & then cook it just the way he liked it.
“After I have eaten it,
I will give you my final blessing before I die.” (Genesis 27:4)
Jacob & his mother, Rebecca, who was in on the deception, overheard the request.
So, they hurried out, fixed a meal, & quickly brought it to Isaac. Jacob deceived his father, telling him that he was Esau, even using the Lord’s name. (Genesis 27:20)
This is a grim & distasteful episode in the life of Jacob.
There are many more examples that we could consider:
- Joseph’s meal for his brothers. (Genesis 43:34)
- Moses’ instructions concerning the Passover meal which continues to be celebrated today. (Exodus 12:43-51)
- The manna & quails that God provided during the Israelites time in the wilderness. (Exodus 16:12)
- Ravens brought “bread & meat every morning & evening” to Elijah while he was in the desert. (1 Kings 17:6)
- Daniel, with his special diet, (Daniel 1:12) & interpreting the handwriting on the wall at Belshazzar’s extravagant banquet. (Daniel 5:1)
- And then, of course, there’s the Lord’s wonderful promise found in the 23rd Psalm, “You prepare a banquet for me.” (The Psalms 23:5)
That’s something certainly to look forward to!
Turning to the N.T. we immediately meet John the baptizer,
who, we’re told, ate “locusts & wild honey.” (Matthew 3:4) (Which may be the most common/disgusting “meal” that we’re talking about this morning.)
John’s food was something that could be easily obtained out in the desert.
When Matthew was called to be a disciple, he excitedly “had a big feast”
so all his friends could meet Jesus. (Luke 5:29)
Upon raising his daughter from the dead,
Jesus instructed Jairus to “give her something to eat.” (Mark 5:43)
Jesus miraculously fed the 5,000 & the 4,000
using a small amount of bread & fish. (Matthew 16:9-10)
In fact, Jesus, Himself, enjoyed eating, & was known for it,
as our Gospel lesson this morning implies.
And even in His resurrected body we find Jesus still involved with food.
The afternoon, the day of His resurrection, Jesus walks with 2 of His followers on the road to Emmaus. Somehow, they don’t recognize Him,
but they’re enthralled by His knowledge of the Scriptures.
So, they ask Him to join them for dinner. And when Jesus “took the bread & said the blessing; then he broke the bread & gave it to them.
Then their eyes were opened & they recognized him.” (Luke 24:30-31)
A short time later John records the moment that Jesus Himself
prepared bread & fish for the disciples to eat following a night of fishing. (John 21:9,12-13)
Peter learned the truth about God’s relationship with non-Jews by having a large sheet being lowered in front of him from Heaven.
“In it were all kinds of animals, reptiles, & wild birds.”
And God “said to him, ‘Get up. Peter; kill & eat!’” (The Acts 10:12)
And remember Jesus’ words from The Revelation. “Listen! I stand at
the door & knock; if any hear my voice & open the door, I will come
into their house & eat with them, & they will eat with me.” (The Revelation 3:20)
Then finally, there will be the wedding feast of the Lamb.
“People will come from the east & the west, from the north & the south,
& sit down at the feast in the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 13:29)
What an exciting & worshipful experience that will be when all believers
are gathered together with our Lord!
But with all the passages in Scripture concerning food, there are only a couple of times that the command “to eat” is given.
The same words are spoken … the same action results … but that’s as far as the similarities go.
- The 1st time it is totally wrong. Totally sin.
- The 2nd time it is totally right. It’s a blessing.
The 1st passage is found in Genesis. God has created the universe.
Everything is good. In fact, we’re told 6 times that God was pleased with what He had done.
Plants, vegetables, fruits, fish, animals, all the things we eat were created, & all of it was pronounced “good.” (Genesis 1:31)
But, as we read a few moments ago, the fruit of one tree was prohibited.
Now there’s been a lot of “theological” speculation as to just what that “fruit” was. I was always taught that it was an apple,
which is why we call this an “Adam’s apple,”
because Adam supposedly choked when he ate the “apple.”
Well, I’ve been to Seminary. I’ve learned Hebrew,
& we know for sure that it wasn’t an apple. … It was a coconut!
In any event, God told Adam & Eve … “Don’t eat it.” But the snake came along & said, “Take it, Eve. Eat it, Eve.”
And Eve said, “Take it, Adam.
Eat it, Adam.” (2 Corinthians 11:3) And with those words, & the following action … sin entered the world. (Romans 5:12)
This entire episode totally amazes me. Here is Adam & Eve with everything they could possibly need.
They were surrounded only by good things. But that apparently wasn’t enough for them. Satan got them to desire more.
But isn’t that also what he does with us? Satan attempts to get us
to think that there’s value in something outside of the goodness of God. (Genesis 3:5)
It may be a physical thing that we seek satisfaction from; it may be position or self-importance outside of who we are in God.
Satan tries to get us to claim independence from God, so that we can be our own god, bowing to no one but ourselves.
Satan also tries to make us question God; he wants us to be skeptical of Him.
Here’s the father of lies (John 8:44) calling God a liar … “That is not true; you will not die.” (Genesis 3:4) He’s saying that we cannot trust God.
“Don’t worry about it; God’s just making an idle threat.”
That’s exactly what people think today. If God loves us, He’ll forgive us.
He won’t really punish us for our sins. He’s like that loving grandfather who talks tough but is really just a big ol’ teddy bear.
I remember saying that to my Mom when I was 10-11 years old.
My friend, Fred Burggraf, suggested this very thing.
And it seemed to make sense to me … I mean,
my grandfather wouldn’t ever send me, his grandson, to Hell.
Well, my Mom had a good grasp of theology & quickly corrected my error.
People need to know that God loves them.
But they also need to understand that God is the originator of tough love.
He loves us, but He is to be taken seriously. We cannot ignore Him & His Word. One day we will all stand before Him to be judged. (2 Corinthians 5:10)
Many, many years later, Jesus was in a small Upper Room.
Around Him sat 11 trusted friends who had spent the better part of the past 3 years with Him.
Jesus had changed many things with His ministry.
He often said, “You have heard that people were told in the past …”
& then He would recite some command they were all familiar with, often one of the 10 Commandments. But Jesus kept going, adding,
“But now I tell you …” & then presented a whole new concept to live by. (Matthew 5:21-22; 27-28; 31-32; 33-34; 38-39; 43-44)
Jesus changed the rules.
With His miracles He changed people’s lives completely.
“The blind can see, the lame can walk, those who suffer from dreaded skin diseases are made clean, the deaf can hear, the dead are raised to life.” (Luke 7:22)
And now, sitting in this small Upper Room, Jesus uses those same words,
“take & eat,” which initially brought sin & death to all of humanity,
& made them a blessing.
This bread & cup is spiritual food & drink for us. And as aways, God is the provider.
And what He gives is good. (James 1:17) And with this meal there comes a special promise.
God is making a new covenant with us. (Luke 22:20)
And the guarantee that it’ll be kept is Jesus’ own life.
“While they were eating, Jesus took a piece of bread,
gave a prayer of thanks, broke it, & gave it to his disciples.
‘Take & eat it,’ he said; ‘this is my body.’” (Matthew 26:26)
This Sacrament reminds those of us who’ve come to faith that Jesus has taken the punishment we deserve for our sins
… death … upon Himself.
“Christ himself carried our sins in his body to the cross,
so that we might die to sin & live for righteousness.” (1 Peter 2:24)
His body … given for us.
MARANA THA
