August 18, 2024

One of the exciting aspects of traveling to different places in the country, and especially the world, is the chance to try out different unique kinds of food. Now this may not always be a person’s cup of tea, so to speak, but the opportunity to branch out into the larger culinary world is there. While new food is a nice thing to try when one is traveling it can equally be said that it is difficult to move to a foreign locale precisely because the food may be so different. This can leave one longing for the food of one’s homeland and perhaps restraining the person from truly settling in their new home. This leads me to the question: do you think God cares what we eat? A cursory look through Sacred Scripture seems to answer the question in the affirmative – that yes, God really does care what we eat.

I’ll attempt an overview of what I mean:

– The fruit of the garden of Eden vs the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

– The sacrificial offerings of Cain and Abel 

– Abram and Sara offering food to the three mysterious guests  

– Joseph, son of Israel, rising to prominence in Egypt and storing up food for the famine

– The plagues sent against the crops of the Egyptians

– The Passover meal with its many layers of meaning

– The manna and quail that the Hebrew people received while in the desert 

– The draw to return to Egypt and their flesh pots and many leaks and other vegetables  

– The many dietary requirements of the Mosaic law

– The many sacrificial requirements of animals and the first portions of all the crops

– The show bread that was kept in the tent of meeting and then in the Jewish Temple

– Elijah reassuring the widow of Zarephath that her and her child would not go hungry

– Elijah being fed under the broom tree in the desert

– Eating the word of God found in Ezekial, Jeremiah, and the Book of Revelation 

– The particular care the Jews took in preparing their Shabbat dinners

– The many uses of fish, grain, seeds, lambs, and bread that are found in the Gospels

– Jesus desire to feed the hungry, even on the sabbath, and the multiplication of loaves 

– Jesus as the bread of life and the lamb of God

– Jesus ate with sinners and with Pharisees, as well as celebrating the wedding in Cana and keeping the traditional meals of the Jewish people  

– Jesus desire to eat the Passover with His disciples which was his Last Supper

– The concern that the early Church had for eating meat sacrificed to idols

– The controversy of Peter eating with the Gentiles

– The instruction of Christ that deemed all foods to be clean

– The concern of Paul over eating the Eucharist unworthily 

– The banquet feast of the lamb found in the Book of Revelation  

– The fact that Sacred Scripture begins and ends with scenes of eating 

Doesn’t it seem obvious that God throughout the Old and New Testaments was very concerned with both food and eating? 

Two Parishes, One Heart,

Fr. Adam