PHOTO: LUCY LACOSTA KNEW THE MULTITUDE OF VALUES OF A MEAL TOGETHER.
Prayer, sex and dinner tables are some of the most intimate rituals we have.
They bring us together with God, spouse and family.
The dinner table, like the other two, is centered around a need: hunger. So, like so many other things that God does in his wisdom, more than one thing is accomplished at once.
In the case of supper, our olfactory senses and taste buds are satisfied as are our bellies. Moreover, our need to catch up and simply enjoy the presence, humor and plans of our family is more than a bonus; it is life.
Growing up in a large Italian family, I can still remember where everyone sat and the general vibe of the meals. Mom would serve delicious food every night. I don’t ever remember running out of meatballs or having to scrape the bottom of the sauce pan.
In some ways, our life was centered around the dinner table.
Mom’s cancer came suddenly. Returning from the hospital, she sat in her usual chair and my sister Lucille said, “It’s good to have you back.”
Mom quickly, but weakly replied, “It’s good to be back.”
She became too ill to sit at the table again.
Holy or Maundy Thursday was a Passover meal and it was something Jesus looked forward to with His disciples. He also knew that this would be their final Passover meal. The scriptures in John 13-17 surrounding The Last Supper are a treasure chest of intimate revelations by Jesus.
It’s enough to make us never look at our dinner tables in the same light again.
PORTAL TO HEAVEN: The humanity and divinity of Christ was so aptly displayed at a dinner table. The portal is that no common thing is common at all. Whether “L’Chaim” or “Salute” or any other way, toasts may be infinitely more sublime that we thought.
"Earnestly have I longed to eat this Passover with you before I suffer…Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’…As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
Luke 22:15 WNT, John 21:12 NIV, Luke 24:28-32