“Christ is bread awaiting hunger.” – St Augustine
Breaking Bread – The Table Series – Part 2
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 | PART 7
There’s something about sharing meals and gathering together to eat. Preparing a table, opening our homes, breaking bread and drinking wine (or any other beverage that you might enjoy).
So much life happens around our tables. Sometimes death, too – depending on the situation, and the words and intentions shared. Food is present at nearly every single important event in our lives.
Birthdays
Weddings
Funerals
Reunions
Graduations
Dates
Catch-Ups
Business Meetings
Parent Groups
Recovery meetings
Christmas
Easter
Other religious celebrations
And Breakfast. The best meal of all (in my humble opinion).
There’s almost always a table to gather around, that is almost always offering food, refreshment, and nourishment.
For the ancient Hebrews, the table was a sacred and holy place. So much so, that who you could have at your table, and the customs observed around it and on it, were ritualized and regulated. For instance, a Pharisee wouldn’t share his table with a prostitute, or a Tax Collector. They tended to eat together by social ranking. What you offered your guests said a lot, too.
On a particular day, in the middle of what was probably His most hectic season yet, Jesus disciples had just returned from a mission he had sent them on. They had much to tell, including the fact that his cousin, childhood friend, and the voice who “prepared the way” for him, had been beheaded by Herod. John, the Baptist, had been killed. On top of that, “The Passover Feast” was quickly approaching – The feast that would change everything.
Jesus wanted to be alone (introvert time!); he and the disciples tried to slip away from town quietly. But the people caught on and followed them. They pursued them so far that they ended up having a huge congregation in the middle of no-where. So, Jesus and the disciples spent the day healing and teaching and speaking – pouring themselves out for the thousands who had followed them. Late in the afternoon, someone suggested to Jesus that he should send the crowds away so they could find food and lodging as there was none in the remote place they had converged on.
The people were hungry.
The disciples were tired (maybe even “hangry”).
Perhaps Jesus was too. Grief-stricken and poured out. Hungry for rest.
Hunger on all sides.
Jesus replied to his disciple's suggestion of sending the people away:
“You feed them.” All five thousand men and their families. (Matt 14, Mark 6, Luke 9, John 6).
It would have been easier to turn the crowd away. After all, they had done their job, right? Taught, healed, loved… they had gone out of their way, changed their schedule, put aside their personal needs to attend to the crowd. And now, they were done. Finished. Spent.
But Jesus knew what they really needed, what HE needed at the moment.
There is something holy about breaking bread with someone. Sharing a meal. Talking over food. It’s connective. That’s why our celebrations are often over food and drink. The table brings us together. It’s a place of common union, togetherness, and nourishment. Sacred and transformative.
John wrote that Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35.)
St Augustine said, “Christ is bread awaiting hunger.”
Maybe what we need more than anything is to gather around a table, with others, and share a meal. Who knows what we could accomplish if we put aside our differences, set aside our schedules, bring some food, and sit together side by side to eat.
Go to Part 3 – Wonder of a Child »
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