Eating out has become much more commonplace than it was years ago. Karen and I rarely go out to eat. Certainly, we eat out more often now that we are not paying for seven people each time. Still, to me, eating out is an event. It's a date. It's special. When I eat a meal, it is almost always with somebody, and I despise eating at a restaurant by myself.

Whenever I eat out and see someone eating by himself, I think, "That's sad." Who wants to experience an event by himself? I realize that for many, eating out is not a special event. For some, food is just fuel for the body, and eating is a chore. But when I see a guy sitting at a booth in Panera Bread with a beautiful-looking salad and he's by himself, I ask, "Why?" If you are really just fueling the body, then why eat something beautiful? And if you are going to eat something beautiful, don't you want to share the event with others? "Wow, that's a big, beautiful salad!" "Isn't it, though? Hey, that soup smells good. What kind is it?" "French onion. It's my favorite!" Before the meal is over, you have talked about work, the kids, concerns, controversies, fun times, etc.

Such is the nature of eating in general. The supper table is a place for the sharing of things from the mundane to the divine. It is a place where we connect and bond as a family. Lest we think this is only a modern idyllic image, notice Psalm 128:1-4 which uses eating at a table with wife and children to symbolize the blessing of one who fears the Lord.

In Scripture, suppers are typically presented as a gathering to share in something more than the literal food. This is true whether the people involved are worldly or spiritually minded. Herod threw himself a birthday party and invited the important people in his domain to his supper (Mark 6:21). When Jesus went to the home of Mary and Martha, "they made him a supper" and "Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him" and others were present to witness Mary anointing Jesus' feet with oil (John 12:1-3). Supper was an event.

Notice how Jesus used suppers as illustrations in His teaching. On one occasion when He was at the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees, He challenged the one who invited Him to, "When you give a dinner or a supper...invite the poor, maimed, lame and blind," encouraging him that he would "be repaid at the resurrection of the just" (Luke 14:1-14). It was then that one sitting at the table with Jesus observed, "Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!" The assumed blessing was not eating bread by oneself in the kingdom of God but eating bread with others.

In response, Jesus told a parable about a great supper to which many were invited but from which many excused themselves with a variety of lame reasons. In response to the rejection, the master instructed his servants to invite the poor and lame and as many others as they could so that his house would be filled. The point of Jesus' parable was to warn those with whom He was eating "that none of those men who were invited [but rejected the invitation] shall taste my supper" (Luke 14:15-24). The warning was not about missing an opportunity to taste food but about not being able to share in the event. Specifically, Jesus was warning His Pharisee host and all present for that event that if they rejected His invitation, they would not "eat bread in the kingdom of God." Again, it's not about not eating bread as much as not sharing in the event.

Of course, one of the most famous suppers was the Passover meal that Jesus shared with His disciples the night He was betrayed by one with whom He supped (Luke 22:15-22; John 13:3, 4, 26). It was in this context that the Lord took the bread and the cup and gave special significance to them in what would become a memorial supper of His body and remembrance of" Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 11:18-25). Again, this supper is not merely the breaking of bread but involves a sharing with one another in remembering and proclaiming Christ as He instructed. This is the fellowship meal of the Lord that proclaims His death until He comes (vs. 26).

Finally, regardless of how you interpret the book of Revelation, there is the "marriage supper of the Lamb of God" to which all the blessed ones have been called (Rev. 19:9). It's not about the food. It's about being together before the throne of God for eternity. It's an event that you do not want to miss.

- Think On These Things, Jan-March 2014