Jesus Was Jewish

From the Passover meal to manna in the desert and the feasts associated with Jewish holidays, shared meals had special meaning to the Hebrew people.  This was Jesus' culture, experience, and starting point.

For God would make himself
Wholly like them,
And he would come to them
And dwell with them;

And God would be man
And man would be God
And he would talk with them
And eat and drink with them;

And he himself would be
With them continually
Until the consummation
Of this world.

John of the Cross, 16th Century

On the table, then--any table--there is never just food. There is, rather, the whole history of creation struggling toward consciousness, of peripheries pushing toward a center, of stone seeking speech, of wood waiting for something or someone to carry. On the table--any table--lies a staggering history of needs felt, met or denied; of stammered confessions; of hands groping for the last crust of bread; of goblets glowing, lifted and struck; of accusations and reprieves; of lost children and drowned lovers.

Nathan D. Mitchell