Did you know that over the past three decades, there has been a 45 percent decrease in entertaining friends and a 33 percent decrease in families eating together? And more than half of those families watch television as they eat together – I know it…that’s what my family did growing up (research from Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone).
What did you eat today? Whom did you eat it with? When’s the last time you had a meaningful time of relationship and community with another person? Was it around food? Most of us not only organize our day around our meals, but is is the social glue that connects families and friends together. Isn’t that why the big holidays, like Christmas and Thanksgiving are celebrated with family, friends, and a big meal?
However, we oftentimes eat without knowing and understanding the significance of it, other than satisfying that hunger or satiating that palette.
So what would it look like if we began seeing food and our meal times through the eyes of Jesus? How did he view the table?
Well, in the New Testament, here are three of the ways that the sentence “The Son of Man came…” is completed:
- …not to serve, but to serve (Mark 10:45);
- …to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10);
- …eating and drinking (Luke 7:34).
