by Joan Mitchell, CSJ
More frequently than any other gospel writer, Luke pictures Jesus eating with people, both friends and critics. Luke points to Jesus as nourishment for a hungry world when Mary lays him as a newborn in a feed trough.
Jesus feeds a multitude with a few loaves and fish. He shares the meal Martha prepares when he visits. He hosts a last supper for his friends. He is the stranger who becomes the invited supper guest of two disciples on their way home to Emmaus after his death. In Sunday’s gospel Jesus is the dinner guest of a Pharisee.
We human beings eat to live. We also live to eat. We live to find nourishment in one another’s presence and conversation. We live by gathering for meals that celebrate special events and people.
Some meals stand out for the food. Gumbo at Dooky Chase’s in New Orleans. A hillside picnic in Iowa on fried chicken and coleslaw with a friend’s mother. Sharing sandwiches and their insights with the Sunday by Sunday group that gathers at the Caritas Community in Memphis.
Some meals stand out for the company. Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas and Easter meals, Fourth of July picnics bring family and friends together. When people die or move, we often miss them most on these days when we stop, continue our traditions, and remember who we are. Sameness makes these meals memorable — the same people, the familiar turkey and dressing, and the continuity across the years and generations.
Some meals mark public events of importance to people who are strangers to one another. Weddings, receptions, convention banquets, roasts, retirement dinners, teas, receptions for dignitaries, formal White House dinners — such meals mingle strangers, colleagues, acquaintances, friends.
- Describe a meal you remember for its food.
- What meal remains memorable for its compelling conversation or intense conflict?