Besides being a pastor, author, teacher, gardner, daddy, and husband, I am also a very good cook. I do all the cooking in the house, from simple things like chef salads (which we had last night for supper) or large meals like coq au vin (that's a fancy French name for chicken with wine!) and rice pilaf, I can do it all. Cooking gives me pleasure. Eating gives me pleasure too. There is nothing like sitting down with friends or family and having a big meal and sharing stories and life together; that's the best. Jesus liked to eat too. Not sure if he was a good cook or not but he certainly fed 5,000 people one day with five loaves of bread and two fish. He also told people that he was the bread of life. He changed water into wine. After his resurrection he sat down and ate some broiled fish on the shore of Galilee.
Yea, I think Jesus liked to eat well. He didn't eat alone either. He shared what he had with others.
Eating with family, friends, or even a stranger is an intimate act. I am not talking McDonald's takeout when you bring your own meal and sit down. I'm talking sharing from the same bowls and plates. Swapping stories and laughing and crying together.
Jesus used many eating images for the kingdom of heaven too. He said that the kingdom of heaven is like a banquet that a king gave for those who were invited. Yet those folks never came. They turned down his offer.
Did he cry and put the food back in the fridge? No.
He invited others, as the gospels say from east, north, south, and west, which means from all corners of the world to come and join him at his table.
What a wonderful image to have for the kingdom, a culinary feast, of all types of food with all types of people who hear that call to come and eat and drink for ever in God's house. Hope to see you there one day......................at the table that is!!!!!!!!!
