What is Your Favorite Feast?
Good Morning Friends,
Oh I do like a good meal, rich and savory in taste and smells and in the memories evoked. Last night we had a potluck with friends on the beach at one of their condo timeshares. Everyone were friends we have known for more than thirty years. Some remained in Naples. Others had moved away from Naples but remained connected. We were eating up all their leftovers before they had to leave and brought some of our own dishes too. In good Presbyterian tradition we celebrated as the sunset, in a Presbyterian version of the Shabbat dinner. As it worked out we took home more food than we brought. Somehow I think that is how it worked in all the great stories about meals in the Bible. What is Your Favorite Feast?
Scripture: In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.
Exodus 16:13 (NRSV)
After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’ He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, ‘Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?’ Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.’ So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets.
John 6:1-13 (NRSV)
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.
John 6:35 (NRSV)
On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?’ He said, ‘Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, “The Teacher says, my time is near; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.” ‘ So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover meal.
Matthew 26:17-19 (NRSV)
Again he sent other slaves, saying, “Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.”
Matthew 22:4 (NRSV)
Message: The people who followed Moses and the people who followed Jesus often lived on leftovers. In today’s Bible stories we see how the Sabbath declares God’s provision and abundance. We remember the feeding of the 5000 and see in our minds the crowds following Jesus to get their next meal. We remember the Passover and the Hebrews in the desert in conflict over what they perceive as their own interests and what God demands in obedience in the collection of manna. Friends, when it comes to food it is the same story of Adam in the garden all over again until the second Adam comes on the scene and becomes our Sabbath… our daily bread…our teacher in gleaning…
Jesus becomes our
food for life. Amazingly, the divine community of God does not drive us, it draws us to the Word made flesh, and it is a witness to that which we seek in the feast of life. It prepares a satisfying meal for our souls and invites us to His table and grace. Friends, most great memories last only a generation or two but in today’s text we are prompted to remember something from generation to generation forever. Here we celebrate as a human family a focus on the cup of the Kingdom of love beyond dogma…here we share the experience of acts of community…of living in the now but not yet. Here we are about the hard work of finding meaning in our life around a meal with others.
Pray that we see beyond the function of the feeding to the intimacy and completeness of being at Christ’s table partaking of a meal that truly satisfies. Pray that we would discover Christ as the first fruits… as the temple of God on a pilgrimage, as the great harvest…. as the Passover meal… a feast every day. Pray that we experience God’s provision. Pray that we experience God’s abundance… Pray that we experience the Sabbath as a feast not a fast. Pray we declare our fellowship with one another because of our fellowship with Christ. Pray we remember His sacrifice and anticipate His return. Pray that the Lord our God, the King of the Universe brings forth bread from the earth and fruit of the vine to feed the whole world with goodness, grace, kindness and mercy. Pray we make each day count as if it is our last. Pray the next time we smell and taste a good meal we think of Christ.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 