Food and Drink

“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them”

Luke 15:2b ESV

One thing I have learned since moving here is that German’s love their festivals.  Around the world everyone knows about Oktoberfest in Munich. The reality is that is only the tip of a very large iceberg..   From Spring through Fall and into December they have all sorts of festivals – Street fests, wine fests, lantern fests, Night at the Museum fest, fountain fests, beer fests.  You can attend multiple festivals on the same day and not go very far.  Last week Linda and I to a beer fest about an hour and a half south of here in a town called Hassloch.  We had a great time.  It has all the elements that make for a great German fest – good food and drink, music and singing (and lots of it).

I am constantly amazed at the power of good food and drink to create a sense of community.  That’s what that beer fest was  – the community of Hassloch coming together to celebrate life.  We experienced it here last Sunday at Trinity.  It was “Friendship Sunday” and after the service we had a Potluck meal.  The food and drink, as always was great. But the best part was what happened as people gathered round that food and drink.  They spent time visiting with each other.  New members, people who have been visiting, sat and visited with the long time members.  People hopped from table to table, getting to know one another.  The Lord was doing His work of creating community. 

Jesus did this often during His ministry.  He often sat to eat and drink with all sorts of people and in those times together formed friendships and created community.  What made that truly amazing is the great variety of people He ate and drank with.  The one thing they had in common was that they were all sinners.  That astonished people like the Pharisees who grumbled, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” (Luke 15:2b ESV)  He attended weddings and turned water into wine.  He had dinner with a Pharisee and while there had a prostitute wash his feet with her tears.  He called Levi and Zacchaeus (both despised tax collectors) to follow him, then went to their homes to eat and drink with them.  Out of those very different people He was creating a brand new community.  Around food and drink He was creating the community of saints.  Don’t you wish you could have been a part of one of those meals with Jesus?

You can.  Indeed You are a part of one of those meals… a part of the meal!  Jesus still welcomes sinners and eats with them.  At Trinity He does this every Sunday. He invites sinners like you and me to gather around the food and drink of Holy Communion. Here He is both host and feast.  In the bread and wine He offers us Himself to eat and drink.  As St. Paul said of the Lord’s Supper “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? “  (I Cor. 10:16 ESV)  This is a holy, special, sacred meal.  Yet amazingly like those tax collectors and prostitutes – He still invites sinners.  He only invites sinners. He invites you and me to come, eat and drink.  As he does, He accomplishes two tremendous things at once – He unites us around the fact that He has forgiven all of our sins.  Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. (1 Cor. 10:17 ESV).  Here at this table He takes us “a community of sinners” and makes us the “community of God’s forgiven saints!”  It’s amazing what God does around food and drink, especially around this food and drink – His body and blood in, with and under the bread and wine given for us sinners to eat and drink.