Feast!

“Meals are more than food. They’re social occasions. They represent friendship, community, and welcome.”

Nothing shouts "Feast" more than Thanksgiving. It’s our family’s favorite holiday. We come together to celebrate all we are thankful for, with lots of food, fellowship, and fun.

On a recent trip to Rome, we enjoyed a beautiful meal in the Jewish Ghetto. The menu itself really caught our attention with this bold statement.

‘Hospitality is sacred‘

I thought about its meaning long after our trip. Grady has been in the hospitality business for many years. This statement confirmed his response when someone asked him recently, “Can you sum up in a word what ministry means to you?” Without hesitation, he said, “Hospitality.”

It may not be everyone’s idea of ministry, but it is definitely a good starting point.

Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary defines "Hospitality" this way:

HOSPITAL'ITY, noun [Latin hospitalitas.] The act or practice of receiving and entertaining strangers or guests without reward, or with kind and generous liberality.

A bishop--must be given to hospitality

1 Timothy 3:2

“A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;”

Hospitality requires thinking outside of ourselves and putting others first.

In the gospel of Luke 10:25-27 someone asked Jesus a question

25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[c]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[d]”

Jesus told him that he had answered correctly.

The more I thought about the statement on the menu, the more I was reminded of the scripture in Luke that talks about the 'Son of God' and what He came to do.

In Tim Chester’s book ‘A Meal with Jesus’ He writes

Meals are an important part of hospitality-fostering grace in our communities.

Food matters. Meals matter. Meals are full of significance. “Few acts are more expressive of companionship than the shared meal… Someone with whom we share food is likely to be our friend, or well on the way to becoming one.”

The Son of Man came…

In the New Testament we are told that the Son of Man came to do several things.

Mark 10:45

“The son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many”

Luke 19:10

“The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost”

Both of these statements talk about his purpose.

Luke 7:34

“The Son of Man has come eating and drinking…”

The third is a statement of method: How did Jesus, the Son of Man, come? He came eating and drinking.

Luke’s Gospel is full of stories of Jesus eating with people:

• In Luke 5 Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners at the home of Levi

• In Luke 7 Jesus is anointed at the home of Simon the Pharisee during a meal.

• In Luke 9 Jesus feeds the five thousand.

• In Luke 10 Jesus eats in the home of Martha and Mary

• In Luke 11 Jesus condemns the Pharisees and teachers of the law at a meal.

• In Luke 14 Jesus is at a meal when he urges people to invite the poor to their meals rather than their friends.

• In Luke 19 Jesus invites himself to dinner with Zacchaeus.

• In Luke 22 we have the account of the Last Supper.

• In Luke 24 the risen Christ has a meal with the two disciples in Emmaus, and then later eats fish with the disciples in Jerusalem.

  Robert Karris concludes: “In Luke’s Gospel Jesus is either going to a meal, at a meal, or coming from a meal.”

  Meals are more than just food; they’re social occasions. They represent friendship, community, and welcome.

  Peter Leithart says:

For Jesus “feast” was not just a “metaphor” for the kingdom. As Jesus announced the feast of the kingdom, He also brought it into reality through His own feasting. Unlike may theologians, He did not come preaching an ideology, promoting ideas, or teaching moral maxims. He came teaching about the feast of the kingdom, and He came feasting in the kingdom. Jesus did not go around merely talking about eating and drinking; he went around eating and drinking. A lot

This article is adapted from A Meal with Jesus: Discovering Grace, Community, and Mission around the Table by Tim Chester.

You can read the whole article by clicking on the link above. There you will also find a link to his book ‘Meals with Jesus’

However you plan to celebrate Thanksgiving, we hope you experience joy and thankfulness in your heart that stays with you throughout the holiday.

We are thankful to know you and for the blessing of having you as a part of our lives.

With love,
The O’Briens

Proverbs 15:15
"He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast."

Thank you for your continued prayers and support this past year.

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Notes:

Smith, Justin. "The Son of Man Came Eating and Drinking." Crossway, 3 Aug. 2017, https://www.crossway.org/articles/the-son-of-man-came-eating-and-drinking/.

Webster, Noah. An American Dictionary of the English Language. 1828. "Hospitality."