20 Jun Thursday

The modern American parent calls their children to supper by calling out “Alright, kids, get in the car.” They’re headed for the drive through! Eating together, so often talked about, yet so often, not the way things are. After all, why is the state banquet for some foreign dignity so important or even doe anymore?

First because we need nourishment. In nourishment together we share something more than just the food. A mouth, opened, because a two way street, in that as much goes in and as comes out. People eat and become more voluble. We talk, reveal (open up) ourselves, and share in a common experience of the food and drink.

Jesus left us with a meal, the Lord’s Supper, in its oldest designation. Luke notes that the bread and fish were satisfying, quenching their hunger, satisfied with the meal’s food, but more than that, satisfied with the sharing in a new community that was created.

At diplomatic suppers, there’s the potential for a new community to be created. People talk, sharing the self that it more than the resume or the intelligence briefing. Their humanity comes out. This happens at the Lord’s Supper, when the full divinity and humanity of Jesus are present to us in this new way. We are satisfied.