come & eat

Victoria Hutchinson looks at how God constantly invites us to come and eat with him

Exhausted and exhilarated, euphoric and empty of calories, we delight in this NHS fine-dining experience, newborn babe snuggled against our skin, learning to juggle this new way of life. Just as the resurrected Jesus invites his hopeless and hapless disciples to ‘come and have breakfast’ (John 21:12) as he cooks fish over a fire, this simple toast feast speaks more than a thousand words.

Our Bible teems with meals and food and welcome. It is impossible to know where to stop once you start to look! In Exodus 2:20, Reuel asks his daughters ‘And where is he? Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.’

Martha welcomes Jesus into her home in Luke 10:38 as she busily prepares food for her Lord. We see Boaz in the Old Testament showing favour and compassion to Ruth and inviting her to ‘Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar’. (Ruth 2:14a) She is a foreign woman in a foreign land, alone and vulnerable, receiving the kindness of a stranger as he provides her generously with employment and food, and so dignity, welcome, and worth. ‘She ate all she wanted and had some left over.’ (Ruth 2:14b)

The wasteful son is welcomed home to a fattened-calf BBQ and a party. The 5,000 are fed, the wedding wine continues to flow, and the widow’s jar of oil does not run dry until all her needs are met. (Luke 15:23, Matthew 14:20, John 2:9, 2 Kings 4:6)

But so what?

Do food and drink really matter? On a busy shift, on a busy ward, in a busy hospital?

That pot of tea for the team, that tin of cookies nibbled at 3 am, that tray of flat whites kindly delivered by the consultant, that spare banana for the colleague who forgot breakfast, and that royal-purple tub of Quality Streets from a thankful family, they are all demonstrations of fellowship and sharing, caring and kindness, sustenance, and provision.

Remember all those pizzas and take-home meals during the battleground of Covid? It caused a small tingling somewhere deep down, didn’t it? We felt valued. Loved. Supported. Cared for in the Wilderness.

But is God especially bothered about my neglected sandwich in its clingfilm wrapper left behind in the fridge? Did he notice that the emergency bell went off just five minutes into my break, ousting me back out, ‘I’ve eaten nowt’, into the fray in the bay?

And the answer, of course, is yes, yes, yes!

‘All at once an angel touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat.’ He looked around, and there by his head was some bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.’ (1 Kings 19:5-6)

What tenderness Elijah receives! The pressure of the angel’s fingertips was gently persistent. In Elijah’s state of defeat and exhaustion, God provides him with fresh, hot-baked bread. How utterly tender is the love God had for Elijah. God feeds his body. This is the love the Lord has for you too.

 Take that break whenever you can. It matters! Take the weight off your feet for a moment! It restores! Eat that Tupperware of leftover lasagne. It nourishes! You have a Father who sees and is watching over you. Who notices. Who cares. And who invites you to come and sit with him over breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

 Victoria Hutchinson is a recently retired midwife