Week 9 - Breaking Bread
This week in summary| Day 1 : Eating Together | Exodus 12 |
| Day 2 : Special Meals | John 6 |
| Day 3 : Junk Food | 1 Corinthians 11 |
| Day 4 : Prepare | 1 Kings 17 |
| Day 5 : Share a Meal | Revelation 19 |
| Day 1 : Eating Together | Exodus 12 |
| Day 2 : Special Meals | John 6 |
| Day 3 : Junk Food | 1 Corinthians 11 |
| Day 4 : Prepare | 1 Kings 17 |
| Day 5 : Share a Meal | Revelation 19 |
Human beings are funny creatures. Nowhere else in the animal Kingdom can you find anyone that eats so communally. We go to great lengths to prepare food that looks just right, decorate our tables and invite guests to consume nutrition with us. We have elevated eating to an art form and made it something social in a way no pack of wolves gorging on deer carcass comes close.
Meals are a social event where families connect and update each other, where friends share stories and acceptance. Meals have meaning and purpose far beyond the ingestion of nutrients.
Remember how the tables in high school were occupied by specific groups? The popular kids ate together, the geeks had their table, the jocks had a table; everyone was divided into groups. Meals indicate social acceptance, rejection, role and rank. This is exactly how Jesus used meals, but his acceptance has no limits. Jesus intentionally shared meals with the outcasts of society so that He could bring them into His society. His Kingdom is based on radical inclusiveness and Jesus used meals as a way to demonstrate that no one was beyond his love.
If Jesus were at your high school He would claim his table in the cafeteria then stand on it and announce that anyone is welcome to sit with Him and share a meal at His table.
Passover is a special meal celebrated annually by Jews to remember how God saved them. Remembering the works of God is important to building the collective faith of the community. It was so important to the health of the community that anyone who missed the meals was removed from the Jewish society. Without the reminders it's easy to forget what God has done and can do. We easily fall into worry. The meal is deeply symbolic where each dish reminds the participants about who they are and what God has done.
Jesus celebrated his last Passover with his disciples on the night before his crucifixion. He reaffirmed many of the traditional elements including sacrifice and God's work of salvation, but he added new meaning. Those who ate with Him were His students but He now called them His friends. He told them of His imminent departure but reassured them that he would be back soon and described that the situation is like a wedding: the man and wife have an agreement to be united but they must spend time separately before the wedding preparing for their life together. In the same way Jesus is a husband to the community of His followers and we are preparing ourselves for his return.
The community regularly eats a special communion meal together which includes broken bread reminding us of Jesus' body sacrificed for us, and juice reminding us of his blood poured out for our sake. Through His sacrifice God saved us. Through regular communion we remind ourselves what His love accomplished and that He's coming back.
Imagine sharing an intimate meal with God. The table is set, the candles lit the plates are empty of course because God is spirit and the two of you are dining on spiritual food. Across the table sits the King of Kings, the creator of light, more beautiful than stellar nebulae and sunsets. He binds strong nuclear forces. He has stars that sing to Him. He is more interesting than the deepest mysteries. He is going to share a meal with you. This is fasting: an intimate spiritual meal just you and God.
On the outside fasting looks crazy. Why would someone intentionally skip a meal? The body requires food to operate.
But consider fasting as an investment beyond the body. You could invest in your physical body with physical food but the payoff works against you. These bodies are on a slow march toward break-down and eventually death. No amount of food will change that. The best you can do is delay.
On the other hand if you are alive in Christ you also have a spiritual body that grows on things like fasting and faith in Jesus. When someone skips the physical meal to share a meal with God they feed their spiritual body. Physical food is like paying rent, you keep pouring in more and more and in the end you have nothing. The spiritual food is like a growing investment, the interest compounds and the account is eternal, pennies now become millions very soon. Imagine the payoff when you invest more than pennies.
In one of His more enigmatic speeches Jesus identified Himself as "the Bread of Life." His audience didn't care much for Jesus' message of cannibalism so they left. But for Jesus the physical body is saturated with death, the spiritual body is full of life. So bread of life is a spiritual sustenance not physical. This means Jesus is spiritual bread.
Spiritual bread is consumed spiritually. This happens when we meditate on Jesus, his words, his example, his principles, his life model or simply Jesus. He sustains and nourishes our spirit. He is also the substance of our meal with God when we fast and when we eat communion.
But anyone who has not consumed the bread of life cannot be spiritually alive, which is intimidating truth considering the physical body has an expiration.
Jesus used meals to draw people into His community. Human nature is to do the opposite. We use meals to keep people out. Imagine going into a restaurant and sitting down at a table occupied by complete strangers. If you ever try this your intrusion will be immediately apparent by cold awkwardness or open hostility. Few people are gregarious enough to break the ice and gain enough acceptance to cover the offense. The difference in Jesus' all-encompassing hospitality isn't an expectation that we must become extroverts but a belief that there are no strangers, just friends we haven't met.
At this point I hope you can see how sharing a meal is more than just the consumption of food but it is an important tool to connect and reaffirm the important relationships in our lives. This is why it's so important to keep meal time free from electronic distractions (ie phones, TV). It's important for the health of the family to connect with each other over the meal. Get in the habit of sharing ideas and stories at the table. Learn to enjoy each other's company.
Finally there are eating disorders including: starvation, gluttony, anorexia, bulimia, eating to fill an emotional issue, or eating out of boredom. I don't want to trivialize these struggles by commenting out of my limited knowledge. These are significant issues. The discussion should be led by people with first-hand experience and subject experts.
Instead I appeal to the community. It's easy to dismiss the problem in someone else because it isn't your disorder. Guess what, we are a community that breaks bread together. Spiritually this makes it everyone's disorder. We have to support with love and wisdom. There's a delicate balance to the kind of support needed. We must be involved but we must tread lightly the stomach is after all very near to the heart.
But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? 1 John 3:17
If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? James 2:15-16
You had to see this one coming :)
Get your team together for a meal, share stories and connect.