Oct 21, 2012
Delicious Choices Set Before Us
11-22-12
“Have a seat!” “Help yourself!” “What would you like to drink?” “Feel free to have a second helping!” Every society through history has constructed grand halls for meetings, and decorated lavish living rooms for entertaining, but common to every culture – indeed to every family – is the dining table, even the kitchen table, for conviviality. It is where we bond, relate, and confirm friendships.
Shared meals have always been the signs of sincere respect between host and guest. It is said that sleepers never lie, and perhaps that is so. But it would seem as likely that hearty hosts and welcome guests, over a prepared meal, cannot stay suspicious or hostile for long. “Ess, ess, mein kind!” “Mangia!” “Bon appétit!” “Guten apetit!” “Buono apetito!” – all the world’s invitations to the table are first marinated in friendship.
If these practice,s and customs, are parts of humanity’s DNA, then it is no surprise that we find the recipe, so to speak, in God Holy Word. Many essential points of doctrine, teaching, and examples are related to food, to dining, to hospitality, to eating, to sharing.
The Lord could have couched His warnings and conditions in the Garden in any terms, but it was eating, of the tree of knowledge amid so many other offerings, where humankind met its first test. Of all the challenges to the Hebrew children, wandering the desert for 40 years, sustenance was the most obvious – but the Lord miraculously provided manna. Jesus’ first recorded miracle was at a wedding feast, turning water into wine. A later, celebrated miracle was feeding five thousand from a few loaves and fishes. Where did Christ take leave of His disciples and ordain the possibility of receiving Him as an indwelling presence? The “Last Supper.”
And so forth. This is not a Bible Bee – these are only a few of the many examples God has used to confirm the spiritual significance of nourishment, beyond physical requirements of eating.
When we think of the imagery of a feast prepared for us in Heaven, we can recall these examples and others, ranging from the celebratory feast prepared for the prodigal son, to the signification of the Host – “Take, eat; this My body, given for you.” But we would starve ourselves, so to speak, if we do not fully appreciate the table prepared for us over yonder, in Heaven.
God does not have a simple table setting, or a mere meal, waiting for us. It will indeed be a banquet table. A buffet table is how I see it. To visit various cultures again, think of a smorgasbord, a tapas menu, a dim sum experience, a churrascaria offering. Unimaginable varieties of surprises and blessings.
In fact, we would even more starve ourselves, spiritually speaking, if we restrict the visions of a blessed banquet table to Heaven, where indeed it awaits us. But we should remember that Jesus is the Bread of Life. We have communion now. The Lord does not just promise a spiritual feast sometime later: He IS a spiritual feast. Christians can behold the buffet – there is salvation, here is healing, there is forgiveness, here is comfort, there is wisdom. All prepared for us, sweet to our taste, nourishing to our souls.
Have a seat! Help yourself!
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A video clip of a moving performance of the classic Ira Stanphill gospel song associated with Gov. Jimmie Davis and many other singers, “Suppertime.” Here it is sung by the beloved Southern Gospel singer George Younce, surrounded by friends. George was undergoing dialysis at the time, and this was his last public performance.
Click: Suppertime
The “delicious choice” our Lord Jesus Christ has set before us. He, himself, is the holy supper. His most precious flesh and blood is the one and only nourishment that grants us immortality and the freedom from our sins. Here is this unbelievable Good News in the holy Gospel according to St. John, chapter 6, the holy Gospel according to St. Luke, chapter 22, and the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, chapters 10 and 11.
John 6:
32 Jesus said to the crowd around him, «Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.
33 For the bread of God is that which A comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.»
A) Or he who
34 They said to him, «Sir, give us this bread always.»
35 Jesus said to them, «I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.
37 Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away;
38 for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
40 This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.»
41 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, «I am the bread that came down from heaven.»
42 They were saying, «Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?»
43 Jesus answered them, «Do not complain among yourselves.
44 No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day.
45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.
46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.
47 Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.
48 I am the bread of life.
49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.
51 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.»
52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, «How can this man give us his flesh to eat?»
53 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.
54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day;
55 for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.
56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.
57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.
58 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.»
Luke 22:
The Institution of the Lord’s Supper
14 When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him.
15 He said to them, «I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;
16 for I tell you, I will not eat it A until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.»
A) Other ancient authorities read never eat it again
17 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, «Take this and divide it among yourselves;
18 for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.»
19 Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, «This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.»
20 And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, «This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
1 Corinthians 10:
16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?
17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
1 Corinthians 11:
The Institution of the Lord’s Supper
23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread,
24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, «This is my body that is for A you. Do this in remembrance of me.»
A) Other ancient authorities read is broken for
25 In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, «This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.»
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Partaking of the Supper Unworthily
27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord.
28 Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves.
A great and eternal joy to all who let their appetites be enkindled by these words of our Lord and the Holy Scriptures, coming to desire this one holy food and Eucharist in the fellowship of Christ’s Holy Church, here in time and space, then in all eternity!
Now that’s a moment. Such a class act, sorely missed.