Jesus longs to give you his presence, his peace, and a piece of food for your deepest hunger.
While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
The liturgy of food and the theology of presence go hand in hand in the most mundane and miraculous ways at a common table. Jesus longs to give you his presence, his peace, and a piece of food for your deepest hunger.
I do not know what bemuses me the most about this story: that Jesus appears suddenly to startled disciples and declares “Peace be with you” or that he asks if anyone has anything to eat and they casually give him broiled fish? I like to use my spiritual imagination and imagine Jesus chomping down on some fish tacos with salsa verde, lime on the side, taking his time for his friends to grasp the magnitude of his appearance.
“He ate in their presence.” It’s almost comedic: Did he eat while they watched him eat? Jesus is humorous to me, at least in my own inner storytelling! These are his best friends whom he has done life with, probably terrified because they are still traumatized by his gruesome death. What do frightened and doubtful friends need the most in such situations? The peace of presence around a common, ordinary meal. Isn’t this the way of Jesus? He dined and wined his way through the gospels. Isn’t this how the other disciples on the road recognized him the best? When he took the bread, gave thanks and gave it to them, just like he had done dozens of times before. While they were in their joy and still disbelieving, he asked for food to eat! Can we stop here for a minute? This joy and belief are unfolding over food that carries opportunities for faith to arise.
Jesus eats at ordinary tables with ordinary people at ordinary times over ordinary food. Food is a means of faith and presence a means of peace. I read an article recently that advocates for parents to spend time with their children. The article argues that it is not so much large amounts of time spent with them, but the undistracted and undivided attention even in shorter periods of time, that will nourish them. If parents were distracted while physically present with their kids, their lack of psychological presence actually could affect mental health and render behavioral problems in the children. I wondered how this translates to our adult world and how presence relates to our peace. In this small detail tucked in the gospel story, the provision of Jesus’ presence is a spiritual practice accessible at a common table. If you have a piece of food. If you have someone to sit with. If you have doubts and anxieties. If you have terrors and pains.
The liturgy of food and the theology of presence go hand in hand in the most mundane and miraculous ways at a common table. Jesus longs to give you his presence, his peace, and a piece of food for your deepest hunger. I often wonder how many times I miss it because patient presence is not productive or effective. I cannot help but think that the light of his presence is as common as the light of someone else’s energy eating just a few feet away. May you be present, may you be patient, may you find peace.
Many of today’s Easter foods probably weren’t eaten on that first Easter, when Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, rose from the tomb. Chocolate candy eggs? No. And certainly not baked ham, since eating pork was forbidden under Mosaic law.
So many foods from Biblical times became teaching tools during Jesus’ ministry. Some food-related sayings are still widely used today — “Man shall not live by bread alone,” “Eat, drink, and be merry,” and “Salt of the earth,” for instance.
Most people wouldn’t consider the Bible a cookbook, but perhaps its food symbolism provides spiritual recipes for life.
Christ’s miracles included turning water into wine, and feeding 5,000 with five loaves of bread and two fish. His parables included fig trees, mustard seeds, vineyards, and feasting on a fatted calf to celebrate a prodigal son’s return. In addition, important teaching moments took place around meals — including the Last Supper, where apostles were given bread and wine in remembrance of His body and blood that would be given.
Why so many food references in the Bible? I spoke with pastors of different Christian denominations, and most agreed that food was a great common denominator, something that people could relate to.
Back then, people spent more time raising, hunting, and preparing their food than most of us do today. How many modern-day Americans grow and harvest our own grain, then grind it into flour and make our own bread? Or grow grapes and press them into wine, or raise animals and slaughter them? But these endeavors were part of survival in Jesus’ day.
Ancient foods that are still around today include bread (both leavened and unleavened), legumes, olives, garlic, leeks, lentils, beans, cucumbers, melons, grapes, pomegranates, figs, dates, and almonds. Here are how some of those foods figure into Jesus’ teachings:
The bread was truly the staff of life for ancient Hebrews, writes Kitty Morse, author of “A Biblical Feast: Foods From The Holy Land.” Made from wheat, spelled or barley, it was the staple food of the general population, who rarely could afford to eat meat. In light of this, Christ’s “The Bread of Life” sermon tells us that He is essential to our spiritual life. This sermon wasn’t well-accepted by the hangers-on who showed up after his miraculous feeding of 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish. When they asked Jesus for bread, he tells them “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
These folks were expecting him to provide for their physical needs, and Jesus was talking about their spiritual needs. In John 6:27, He advises, “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.”
The meat was mainly reserved for special occasions — such as the “fatted calf” in the parable of the Prodigal Son. In the Old Testament, Hebrews demonstrated obedience to Mosaic law through meat offerings — firstborn lambs, rams, bulls, doves, and pigeons.
Lambs and sheep: Lambs and shepherds are powerful metaphors of the mission and Atonement of Jesus Christ, as he was known both as the Good Shepherd and the sacrificial Lamb of God. Sheep were valued for their wool and their milk, as well as for their meat. Lambs were slaughtered to honor a guest or mark a special religious event. Unblemished lambs being used for sacrifice as a way to remember Christ’s ultimate sacrifice of his life.
Honey was the main sweetener of the time, although syrups were also made from grapes, pomegranates, figs, and dates. In the Book of Luke, the resurrected Christ ate honeycomb and broiled fish.
Salt was the main seasoning, hence such references to salt losing its savor in Matthew 5:16. “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good. for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under the foot of men.” Other flavorings included cinnamon, coriander, cumin, garlic, and saffron.
Fish and fishing come up often in the New Testament. Jesus fed the multitudes with five loaves and two fish; on another occasion, he did it with seven loaves and two fish. After being resurrected, he ate broiled fish and honeycomb in front of his astonished apostles. In the Gospel of Matthew, after Jesus told Peter and Andrew were to let down their nets to catch fish, he invited them to become “fishers of men.” And they did it.
Grapes, vineyards, and wine are also prominent in New Testament stories. Jesus’ first miracle was turning water into wine. In the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, the point is that any ‘laborer” who accepts the invitation to work in the Kingdom of Heaven, no matter how late in the day, will receive an equal reward with those who have been faithful the longest.
Olives are one of the oldest and most important fruits of the Holy Land. Ancient Hebrews crushed the ripe fruit to extract oil, which they used for cooking, as sacred anointment in temple ceremonies, and as fuel for lamps. In the parable of the Ten Virgins, the foolish virgins didn’t fill their lamps with oil and thus weren’t prepared when the bridegroom came.
The kind of oil that is needed to illuminate the way and light up the darkness is not shareable. How can one share obedience to the principle of tithing; a mind at peace from righteous living; an accumulation of knowledge? How can one share faith or testimony? How can one share attitudes or refraining from extramarital sexual intercourse…. Each must obtain that kind of oil for himself …. In the parable, oil can be purchased at the market. In our lives, the oil of preparedness is accumulated drop by drop in righteous living.”
Figs. The fig tree is the third tree to be mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible (after the Tree of life and the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil.) Adam and Eve used the leaves of the fig tree to sew garments for themselves after the Fall when they realized that they were naked (Genesis 3:7). Christ shared parables of both a budding fig tree and a barren fig tree, and also cursed a fig tree that withered (Mark 11:12–20).
Knowing more about the foods of Christ’s day helps us better understand His message to us, his great love for us, and provides a spiritual recipe for our lives.
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