Feasting

Keep the Feast
Darryl Tippens

"Jeff Smith is a gourmet cook known to millions through his weekly television program "The Frugal Gourmet". Smith is a master chef, but he is also a fine theologian who understands the unique role of food in the Bible. 

As Smith explains, the Bible is filled with "food" talk, but the Bible is not talking about food. It is talking about theology, or "God" talk. The word faith is used about 275 times in the Bible...but the verb to eat is used some 800 times. Jesus never says, "Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any one should open the door, I will enter and discuss existential theology with him." No, Jesus says, "I will sup with him." (Jeff Smith, The Frugal Gourmet Keeps the Feast: Past, Present and Future New York, William Morrow, 1995, p. 3) 

When the Bible talks about food, it is almost always talking about something else more important. All of Jesus' appearances after his resurrection (except one) occur at a mealtime. What is the point behind this surprising fact? The meal is the place where friendship, covenant, and love are most evident in ancient Palestine. Truths are revealed at the table, as in no other way. (See Luke 24:28-35) 

Food is a "language" that reveals both God's goodness and our human frailty. The Bible constantly parallels our need for God (the Manna of Life) and our need for daily bread. Human hunger is a lasting reminder that we need something, and we need someone. As long as we know hunger, we can never delude ourselves into thinking we are self-sufficient. Food is a precious gift from God, a daily reminder of our permanent need for God. 

Jesus took out time to eat meals and attend festivals and weddings. He took time to go to the garden for prayer, and he met God in remote mountain retreats. He lingered over quiet conversations with just one person at a time, and he communed with his closest friends Peter, James and John. Daily nourishment, Jesus shows us, comes through communion with the Father and with our friends in the Faith."

I never really thought about feasting in the way that Tippens describes. It does, however, make sense. With a lot of the families that I know, there are two types. There is either the type that seems very close to one another, and then there is the type that does not seem to get along. The families that are typically close to one another are the ones who take the time out to sit at a meal uninterrupted. The other type of family seems to have people eating in different rooms than one another, or not at the same time. Often times it is because the parents say it is not worth the trouble. I, unfortunately, came from the latter. To this day my siblings and I do not seem to have the connection that I feel we should. I insist on my family in my home to actually sit at the table with no music, no television, and no telephones. If the phone rings, we do not answer it; that is what the machine is for. This is the one time of the day that we can all connect with one another and share.