Meals with Meaning

Meals with Meaning

   What is the most important meal you’ve ever eaten?  I know this is an odd question but stay with me. Meals are important and significant throughout our Bible. In Genesis, Adam and Eve share a rebellious meal, in that, they eat a forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. After eating the fruit Adam and Eve feel a deep sense of shame, nakedness, and fear. They recognized their separateness from God. In the eating of the forbidden fruit, they expressed their mistrust of God and displayed a disobedient streak that would plague humankind. For centuries, theologians and pastors have taught that this meal marked the beginning of humanity’s sin and separation from God. Christians believe that God is good and holy, while we recognize ourselves as weak, rebellious, and deceitful.
   In the simplest terms, one meal broke our relationship with God. As a result of this broken relationship, sin and shame entered our world. There are many types of shame, but the one ushered in by Adam and Eve is a painful emotion caused by consciousness of one's own guilt. And so, sacrifices were brought in that helped humanity feel like we have made some amends for our wrong. Stories circulated of how God loves you, but also stories of how you and I could be on the wrong side of God. For instance, Job cannot understand the hardship in his life. Job's friends argued that he had somehow offended God. And so many would wonder if they sacrificed enough, with the right heart, in the right way to be on the right side of God. With this sacrificial system, could you ever really know if you were on the right or wrong side of God?
   Many of us feel a deep pain when we upset a loved one, and a deeper pain when we know we have upset God. We all want to make things right, to seek amends, and fix our mistakes, but can we?  Many non-believers and Christians still live with this anxiety, wondering if they have done enough to compensate for all the times they have messed up.
   At the heart of our Bible there is another meal, the last supper (also known as communion.) One meal broke our relationship with God, and yet another meal frees us from that punishment, sin, and shame. Each time we participate in this meal we are reminded that because of the cross, our sin is paid for, that we have been forgiven, acquitted, and adopted. Just as God made a covenant with Noah, Jesus makes a new covenant with us.  A promise that His death was enough, and that resurrection is our future. Our salvation does not depend on participating in the Lord's Supper, but it is a reminder that our shame and sin no longer stands between us and God. The meal reminds us of our union, and our forgiveness.