So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross. Col 1:19-20 (MSG)
Bread and Wine – The Table Series – Part 7
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 | PART 7
In the Gospels, whenever Jesus had a meal with someone, it was almost always controversial. He did not eat as you would expect a king would. He dined at tables that he shouldn’t have. He sat down with tax collectors and prostitutes, had a picnic with five thousand-plus people, and on the night of Passover, he didn’t observe the proper rituals and rites one usually would.
But the times were unusual – politically, socially and religiously. The meal Jesus shared with his disciples that night – his final Passover meal, and what we know call the first Eucharist meal – subverted the dominant paradigm. It broke away from all that they knew and pointed toward something different. Something that had been promised and foretold, but was yet to be revealed in the world.
The Jewish community was pregnant with change, they longed for freedom, to give birth to their true selves and callings. Revolution was whispered in the alleys and filled dreams at night…. But they believed their freedom would come through domination, control, and conquering.
And in the middle of all that was going on, Jesus had dinner with his friends.
Bread and wine around a table.
There was an expectation that if he were the Messiah, he would lead the revolutionary charge against the Roman Empire, or call on Heaven’s Army to come and vanquish their foes. Then there were those who wanted him to get in line, be a good Rabbi, keep the status quo. And again, there were the Romans who were happy to use him as a pawn in their game of domination, control, and conquest.
But he subverted all expectations.
He broke bread and wine, said it was his body and blood, and asked his friends to eat and drink it. He was about to submit himself to whatever the powers of the day, would do. He knew his body would be broken; he knew his blood would be poured out; he knew he would die. He never intended on dominating anyone with force and weapons and war and death.
Jesus method of conquering takes place on a deeper, more intimate, yet simple, level:
Bread and wine.
Tables and chairs.
Lives and meals.
A walk to a hill where he would be murdered. And he let it happen because there is a better way than violence and “us versus them.”
There is no “us versus them.” There is only a divine ‘AND.’
Richard Rohr says,
“If you are filled with your own opinions, ideas, righteousness, superiority, or sufficiency, you are a world unto yourself and there is no room for “another.” Despite all our attempts to define who is worthy and who is not worthy to receive communion, our only ticket or prerequisite for coming to Eucharist is hunger. And most often sinners are much more hungry than the saints.”
Maybe we are eating and drinking Christ whenever we eat together, whenever we live in harmony with each other, whenever we forgive, extend mercy, show compassion; whenever we choose peace over violence, mercy over judgement; whenever we take in widows and orphans, feed the poor, find help for the sick, visit the imprisoned, grant freedom to captives; whenever we do the hard work of living with authenticity, grace, and vulnerability…
Jesus is our good gift, our Eucharist. And our response to this gift of himself? When we eat and drink him in? Mix him into our lives? We become Eucharists too… Our bodies and lives poured out into kindness, broken in humility, spilled into forgiveness, preparing table upon table upon table… For the healing and redemption of the world. For one and all.
World repair through bread and wine.
Around tables.
Your table.
It's that complicated.
It's that simple.
[vcex_image_grid columns=”3″ pagination=”false” thumbnail_link=”custom_link” link_title_tag=”true” custom_links_target=”_blank” overlay_style=”title-category-visible” columns_gap=”5″ img_hover_style=”fade-out” image_ids=”20934,20935,20937″ custom_links=”https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1239768002?pt=118656308&ct=blog%20footer&mt=8,https://www.pktfuel.com/dailyemail,https://www.pktfuel.com/support” img_height=”350″]