Dining with God: (6.) Learning at the Kitchen Table in the Presence of the Lord

Dining with God: (6.) Learning at the Kitchen Table in the Presence of the Lord. 

“Listen, O Israel! The LORD (Yahweh) is our God, the LORD alone (or, the LORD our God, the LORD is one)! You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your foreheads as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9).

A Table for Discipleship. It’s amazing, and instructive, how family-centric the Jewish Bible is. It appears that a main component of faith development is the celebration of historical feasts and liturgies in the home. That was God’s strategy for how to hand down the Jewish faith, from one generation to the next. Homespun activities centered on the family table, faithful to the Torah, were how Jewish children became true believers. And this was how Jesus himself grew in his faith, through the religious orthodoxy of Joseph and Mary. Faithful Jews lived a life of coherence and united purpose. The Jews were always the most literate, intellectually astute, spiritually inspired nation around, as long as they did what Mary and Joseph did: Keep the Faith as the centerpiece of the home, the organizing principle of daily life. For orthodox Jews, these were not mere idle words, and their role was not to be co-opted by someone else. Their role as parent was a sacred trust, relayed from God-to-Moses-to-them.

A Busy Table at Home. So, to say that Mary and Joseph were doing “everything required by the Law of the Lord” in Luke 2:39 is really quite a mouthful. That means their family table at home was in constant use as they re-enacted faith events in the home through scripted ceremonies, including the weekly Sabbath; they made visual items around the house for reminders; they had roundtable discussions and regular readings of the Word; they celebrated feasts and endured fasts together; they played and sang and learned and worshipped in and around the home. The Faith was not just an intellectual exercise, it was life. The mind and heart and body of each family member were connected, and they were all engaged in their God-centered life together.

The Shema. Being Jewish, Jesus was raised in a multi-sensory, experiential style of learning. The Sh’ma in Deuteronomy 6 makes this clear. This Scripture developed into the central statement of faith in Judaism. Notice the importance the LORD places on teaching the children in the home, on their faith development and education. Every Jewish parent took these commands in the Sh’ma to heart. Education according to the teaching methods of Moses was constant, holistic, and involved eating and cooking, talking and listening, asking and telling, reading and writing, looking and touching, smelling and tasting, memorizing and discussing, experiencing and imagining. Jesus knew these teaching tactics intimately since He was raised in an obedient, practicing Jewish home. God wanted parents, the first teachers, to teach the whole person, all the time. The conscience was just as important as the intellect and the imagination. And every year the children would be taught through a cycle of biblical feasts and festivals and activities. These reenactments would bring their history and faith alive since they centered on biblical events and principles. One can safely assume that Jesus was a full participant in teaching the disciples through the same means, as well as all the other methods He used. Jesus was a Master Teacher, and He would use every method He could think of to reach the people with the Good News of the Kingdom.

God, the Reference Point. Yahweh loved the Feasts and Sacred Assemblies seen in the Hebrew Bible… the fasting and feasting, the family celebrations, the remembrance of God’s saving deeds, the acknowledgment of God’s character, the focus on God’s truth. Of course God loved the Feasts! They were His ideas in the first place! “These are My appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of the LORD, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.” (Lev. 23:2). The Jewish Feasts and Assemblies were opportunities to remember, to worship, to teach, to listen to the Word of the Lord, and speak of His care and presence. They were intended to cause believers to reenact sacred events, to confirm the Faith of the people of God. Celebrations like Sabbath, Passover, Tashlich and Succoth filled a deep need to offer the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving and to be reminded of God’s actions on behalf of the believers.  The people are spiritually fulfilled when they gain the habit of pointing to God as the supreme reference point in all of history.

Instilling the Faith at Home through Biblical Celebrations. Many homes celebrate biblical Jewish traditions in order to nurture the Christian faith in the children and develop a Christ-centered culture in the home. So, many Christian homes celebrate Jewish traditions and activities, as well as a number of Christian liturgies. Two biblical table-centered experiences that have stood the test of time are the Sabbath ceremony and the Passover Celebration:

Dinner Table. There is a practical sanctity to the daily dinner table. The table is a place to “reason together,” a meeting place for the family that is crucial to not only family unity but also the personal development of each family member. The table is much like the family altar, it was not a time for “business as usual.” The family table is not a time for distracting technology, domestic details, daily minutia, family logistics, homework, school matters, or home chores. It is instead the best time to enjoy good food together, discuss more important things as a family unit, to pick each other’s brains about recent thoughts or experiences, to share dilemmas to unpack and receive counsel for, to openly share satisfying or happy moments, to explore the various mysteries of life, etc. The family table is also the perfect time to show hospitality, to be open to friends and acquaintances, who then add to the whole experience together. The table is also the place of discipleship in the home, the student’s desk, the parent’s tool in teaching the faith and handing it down to the children.

1. God-with-Us at the Sabbath Meal. The Lord is the Host at this special homespun fellowship time together. The first prayer said in the Sabbath ceremony invites the Lord to be present at their table. The mother prays these words at sundown before lighting candles: “Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who is the Author of peace. You who made the Sabbath, enter our home this night. Almighty God, grant us and all our loved ones rest on this Sabbath day. May the light of the candles drive out among us the spirit of anger and the spirit of fear. Send your blessings that we may walk in the ways of your Word and your light. Enter our hearts this night. You, who made the Sabbath, come sit at table with us. Embrace us with your Tent of Peace. Heavenly Father, we rejoice in your creation! It is from you that we receive every good and perfect gift. Giver of life and love, grant us your peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.” The family Sabbath dinner, the word “sabbath” meaning “stop” or “cease,” is not a time for parents to be too legalistic. The main idea is to set apart an evening in which the family would gather in order to begin a Sabbath day, maybe on a Friday or Saturday night if possible, with candles on the table and a special meal. The Sabbath meal is a time to turn off all technology and other distractions. The Sabbath meal is an important time to pray through the fairly brief Sabbath liturgy, during which time the mother begins the meal by lighting the candle and praying, mother/wife and father/husband are verbally honored by the family, and dad places his hands over each child to offer a personal blessing. The Sabbath celebration is a holy time to teach the children about the need to step away from daily concerns and show God that we mean business when we state our trust in Him for everything in our lives.
2. God-with-Us at the Passover Table. Just as in the Sabbath ceremony, there are special efforts made to invite God’s presence to their table during the meal. All the folks gathered around the Passover table are dining with God Himself. The mother of the house lights the candles and recites this Hebrew blessing: “Blessed are You, O Lord God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us by Your commandments and has commanded us to kindle these festival lights. Blessed are You, Lord God, King of the Universe, who has kept us alive and sustained us and brought us to this Passover season. May our home be consecrated and made holy, O God, by the light of Your face and countenance, shining upon us in the Blessing and bringing us peace to this table.” This important teaching tool is an effective way to teach the children and remind the parents of God’s rescue of His Chosen People from the slavery of Egypt, and how it is fulfilled in the rescue of the world’s slavery to sin through Jesus Christ. It is a meaningful time to host all manners of family and friends, reading through the formal Haggadah liturgy (the “seder”) that recounts the story in Exodus of the biblical time God “passed over”’ the homes of Jewish believers out of His love for them.  The “haggadah,” which means “the telling”, the written order of the readings, also includes an enjoyable family time of song and dance. The teaching experience is amplified when there is discussion during the seder of how Jesus was the fulfillment of the Passover, a Lamb without blemish, who was sacrificed to give us life and freedom. To take advantage of this discussion of Christ’s fulfillment of the deliverance, it’s important to honor the whole biblical story and its traditions while acknowledging that it points to Christ. So it’s wise to use all the elements of Jewish Passover, each detail having historical and spiritual meaning.

Table Study is Holy Worship. The study of Torah, God’s Word to mankind, is the highest form of Worship. And the family table can be the centerpiece of that high worship. How can we be assured of the joyous possibility that “God-with-us” includes at our dining table? Do we have to guess at Who is coming to dinner? A rabbinic tradition states that “When three eat at one table and bring up the words of Torah, it is as if they ate from the table of God, blessed be He.” Or put another way here, “Wherever two or three gather together in My name, there I am in their midst.” (Matthew 18:20). When we honor the Lord of the universe at a meal, we can bank on the fact that He is indeed present at our table. When we are thankful to Lord Provider for His provisions and sustenance, He is without any doubt whatsoever with us in our gratitude at the table. When we mentally and spiritually leave a chair open for God to join us at the table, He is more than happy to take His seat with us as we dine together with Him.