Jesus ate with people a lot. It was where most of his work was done in changing individuals. Jesus found that the cause of heaven was found at work at a family meal table far more than in all the pulpits of the world. Here we reflect on some of those meal stories and invite you at the end, if you feel comfortable, to share bread and wine by coming up and tearing a piece of bread, dipping it in the cup and enjoying that way. Break, dip and eat the bread of life and the wine of the new covenant. But listen first and hear, perhaps, your own story in among these meal stories.
Voice 1:
Once I had climbed down the tree,
after Jesus invited himself for lunch,
at my house,
the tax collector,
I found I wasn’t that hungry.
Not for food anyway.
I was hungry for change:
My own change,
and watching him enjoy lunch,
and hearing him talk through mouthfuls
as he opened up the way of faith,
I had had my fill.
I chose to change.
I thought it would have happened in the synagogue
as I was preached at by one of those powerful preachers,
but it was round my own meal table,
over Tuesday afternoon lunch,
and plain breaking of bread,
that I was convinced and convicted.
I was hungry for this new life Jesus offered,
and I have lived on the bread of life ever since.
Go to the table and bread the bread, take a piece, dip in wine and eat. Go back to seat.
Voice 2:
Once I had found my lunch basket among the crowd,
and had spoken to one of the disciples
of my 5 loaves and 2 fish,
I discovered by basket contained a miracle
all wrapped up in an old dish cloth.
It was a sharing miracle,
and as Jesus thanked God,
and people saw what I had done,
they found themselves doing it too:
sharing what they had.
It was the biggest miracle I had seen,
ever!
People finding themselves sharing with each other.
And Jesus smiled to himself,
noticed me watching with big saucer eyes,
and winked at me
as if I was in on the secret.
We fed the poor that day;
we fed the stranger;
we fed the world,
not with some high powered ethical church resolution,
but with a picnic!
I was hungry for this new way of living together,
and I have lived on the bread of life ever since.Go to the table and bread the bread, take a piece, dip in wine and eat. Go back to seat.
Voice 3:
Once I had invited all the guests
I was glad to see Jesus among them.
A Pharisee ought to be seen to do the right thing
and so Jesus had been invited too and sat among us.
As food was served we listened to the words of Jesus.
But it wasn’t his words that charged that meal,
it was what Jesus did,
because just as we were about to begin,
a harlot came into the house,
with an alabaster jar,
and anointed his feet,
and he let her!
If he had been the prophet I thought he was,
he would have known about her,
but he turned to me and reminded me
I had forgotten to bath my guest’s feet.
She was doing that now, to his.
I was silenced.
Then round that meal table
he forgave her sins.
Everyone was silenced.
But he ignored us, turned to her, and told her again she was forgiven.
That meal time I lost my appetite for food,
and gained an appetite for this new way,
and I have lived on the bread of life ever since.Go to the table and bread the bread, take a piece, dip in wine and eat. Go back to seat.
Voice 4:
Once I had prepared the room
and the meal had been cooked:
lamb and herbs and bread and wine,
we gathered together,
singing and talking.
It flowed into our eating:
memories and pictures from the last three years.
But here we were now in Jerusalem
ready to watch heaven break through.
But then the Zealot stood up having tried to force heaven’s
hand;
and the betrayer too denying everything, as he would;
and the rest of us misunderstanding and confused,
and from among us Jesus took bread and wine,
and filled them with promise,
not just this bread and wine but every plate and cup since,
filled them with vision for justice,
promise of a new way,
and the call to become such, in community,
filled with struggle and hope.
The bread tasted flat and the wine was bitter.
It’s not a taste you grow accustomed to.
They just make you hungry again, but for justice,
and I know I want to live on the bread of life evermore.
Go to the table and bread the bread, take a piece, dip in
wine and eat. Go back to seat. The congregation then are invited to tear bread and dip it in the wine to eat as music is played.
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