From The Rectory
If
I may say so, I thought The Big Lunch, a community event organised on Rushlake
Green on 3rd June, was particularly excellent this year. It is quite
amazing how this event has grown and this year’s big crowd and glorious
sunshine was a huge contrast to the Dunkirk spirit I seem to remember from a
previous year when a small group of us huddled in the wind and rain.
The
Eden Project communities website describes The Big Lunch like this: “The Big
Lunch is the UK's biggest annual get together for neighbours. It's a
simple idea - that for a few glorious hours, cars stop, shyness stops and
neighbours come together in the street to meet, greet, share, swap, sing, plan
and laugh. In 2017, 9.3 million people took to their streets, gardens and
neighbourhoods to join in for a few hours of community, friendship and fun.”
I
guess it’s no secret in the parishes that I enjoy my food. And perhaps an
occasional pint too. But I think we would all agree that food and drink are
important in bringing people together. To eat and drink together can be a sign
of friendship and fellowship. Deals are sometimes done or relationships develop
over a meal or a drink. Eating and drinking are often part of the most
important celebrations in life, as well as being a basic human necessity, of
course.
And
the Bible has a surprising amount to say about food and drink – much more than
I can go into here. Leaving plenty for another day, we can sketch out a few
headlines.
At
creation, God gives human beings animals and plants for food, to sustain them,
and for their enjoyment. We are by design hungry and thirsty, dependent
creatures, physically, but spiritually too.
At
the very beginning of the Bible we are told of the Tree of Life and the Tree of
the Knowledge of Good and Evil in The Garden of Eden. The primordial sin was
disobedient eating – snatching forbidden fruit in unbelief and ingratitude.
Jesus
often spoke of food and drink and of meals and parties. He described himself as
The Bread (or perhaps we might say, Food) of Life. He is the essential staple
of our existence without whom we cannot really live spiritually and without
whom we would not have eternal life. Jesus offered those who would trust in him
an unfailing supply of living spiritual water which he said would bubble up
within them to give them life and to sustain them, satisfying their inbuilt
thirst for God.
The
gospels often show Jesus eating and drinking. I imagine he would have loved the
Big Lunch! His opponents falsely accused him of being a glutton and a drunkard.
And they objected to the company he kept. Jesus would eat with the hated and
often corrupt tax-collectors, who worked for the occupying Roman army, and with
prostitutes. Those whom everyone thought of as notorious sinners were welcome
to come and eat with Jesus, and were called to a transformed life. We can think
of his Feeding of the 5000 as a picture of the life he offers which will bring
God’s people to the Promised Land of the New Creation, eternal glory in Jesus’ everlasting
kingdom.
Jesus’
disciples were his companions, which is literally those who share bread
together (via French and Latin etc.: com
– panis – with – bread).
Jesus
also gave his people a meal of bread and wine (The Lord’s Supper / Holy
Communion / The Eucharist) as a fulfilment of the ancient Passover celebration
in which to remember God’s rescue of them from sin. That meal too is a
foretaste of what the Bible calls The Wedding Supper of the Lamb, the heavenly
climax of all things to which Jesus invites all those who will trust in him.
There can be nothing more important than responding to Jesus’ free invitation
to this biggest and best of banquets, and there is no more wonderful prospect.
When
you next eat and drink with others, perhaps you will take a moment to think of
that great feast that is to come, and to thank Jesus for it. Enjoy all your
lunches, big or small!
The Revd Marc Lloyd
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