Thoughts on the Dinner Table in the Jewish World

I was preparing for a sermon last week in John 12 when I came across a verse that seemed to be a throw away verse. I knew that there had to be more meaning behind the verse. Verse 2 of John 12 says, "So they (Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and others) gave a dinner for him (Jesus) there (in Bethany where Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead)." I got a little nerdy and wonder what a typical dinner would look like for a Jew in the days Jesus. I did a little research and found out that dinner or Supper in the early Christian and Jewish culture was a very important time of eating, enjoying family and friends, and was seen as worship. The Hebrew word for table is the same word that God uses for his table or alter. The word is shulchan. Supper even started with a reading from the Torah and then a little devo. How crazy does this seem to our way eating dinner. Most of the time for us it's Dine and Dash. We don't spend that much time with friends and family eating with a Christ centered or God centered meal. Family meals are quite or very surface level discussions.
I found this quote in the Talmud, (which is a record of rabbinic discussion pertaining to the Jewish law, ethics, customs, and history) which says, "Before a man eats and drinks, he has two hearts, after he has eaten and drunk, he has but one heart. An empty stomach has a disturbing effect on the mind and interferes with the concentration of thought." So it seems that when early Christians and the Jews came to eat a meal it was a worship service.
After this conclusion I decided to find out what some of the staples to be found on the table and if they had any meaning behind them. Oh boy did they every.... Three things that can be found on their tables were Wine, Salt, and Bread.

1. Wine: wine is a symbol of great joy. It was believed that drinking wine in moderation was to be good for the body and in making a marry heart. For Christians it is a reminder of the Last Supper Christ had with his Disciples and the New Covenant.
2. Salt: salt is a reminder of the fall of Adam and results of sin and rebellion against God. In Gen 3:19 God says, "In sweat of your face you will eat bread." If you have ever sweat hard after a long work-out you know that your sweat taste like salt. Maybe for Girls it's not know because they don't sweat they glisten. Salt was also added to sacrifices for sin in the Temple.
3. Bread: bread is a constant reminder that the children of God were fed manna during their years in the wilderness. It also brings memory of God's provision to his people. For Christians it reminds us that man doesn't live by bread alone and also that Christ is always with us (I am the bread of life John 6).

Every time the early Christians ate they would be reminded of these things just because of what's on their dinner table. Oh how meaning has been lost in our culture in eating. What if we had a mind shift in that we would began to thing more about Christ in the small thing of our daily lives. For example our breathing. A small yet important reminder of God giving us life. Check out the Nooma video called Breathe. Find Christ in the simple everyday things!

It's done... Another Summer @ the GP is finished

You know that point in your life when you have just finished Finals and you sit back and let out a huge sigh of relief? I know that you do! That's what this week and the next week will be like for me. The Summer at the Gathering Place has come to a close and yet again it has been a bitter sweet longing. My summer consisted of hanging out with college peeps, teaching, directing, preaching, planning, and also being the Director of Finance for the Gathering Place. This up coming week I plan to sit back and chill in Athens, Atlanta, and maybe in the Ham, Al. So if you are around give me a call. I hope to see the Braves play and maybe see Barry hit 556+, see some bull dawg friends, and an old friend from high school.

This is just a picture from Orange County that I took a few years ago. Oh I would love to sit on the beach in Orange County and relax! But I guess the Atlanta area will be fun.