Spiritual Message
SPEAKING OF EMMAUS…
We’ve always known how special it is to be able to sit down and eat with
friends and family. Recently I came
across an interesting piece of scholarship.
If this information is true, it opens up a new under-standing of
scripture for me. See if it does
for you as well.
In biblical times, the act of offering someone something to eat or drink
had significance beyond the act itself. To
offer a thirsty person a cup of water was to offer the thirsty person friendship
for a week. To sit down and eat a
meal with another was to make the offer of friendship for life.
No wonder, then, that so much is made of a cup of water and the image of
the meal. This puts a deep and
fresh interpretation on the 23rd Psalm:
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
How about, “Jesus ate with sinners.”
Or this one- Jesus drank from the bucket and cup of a Samaritan woman.
And especially this one: The
Master prepared a banquet and all the invited guests made excuses not to be
there. So, he instructed his
servants to go out to the street and invite the stranger in to his house to eat
with him. The Last Supper takes on
a powerful new meaning. Finally, of
course, is the image of the heavenly banquet, and the greater meaning behind it
when we interpret it through the lens of lifelong friendship.
This image reinforces the love of God for humanity, and the hope God has
for our love returned to him.
The next time you sit down and eat with someone, remember this biblical
principle of offering friendship. Especially
in Emmaus, when we realize how much we mean to each other as children of God,
this meal among friends becomes deeply moving for us in our spirits.
Invite someone to lunch or dinner. Realize how special it is to be able to “break bread”
with someone. When you invite that
person to dinner, do so with the understanding that you are inviting them to be
your lifelong friend.
DeColores!
Darryl R. Owen
Northwest Walk #39, Table of Matthew
