Thought for the Week
Hello again
I was reading about ultra-processed food this week. I really wish I hadn’t. According to a recent report published by the British Medical Journal, eating pre-packaged foods, with long lists of unfathomable ingredients, can be blamed for raising the risk of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, depression and 28 other harmful health outcomes. Eating too much of the stuff can even cause premature death!
Ultra-processed food hadn’t been invented in Jesus’ time, but if you think about it, the simple act of eating may well have contributed to his premature death. Theologian Robert J Karris argues that “Jesus got himself crucified by the way he ate.”1 Why? Because he ate with all the wrong people: prostitutes, the unclean, even Gentiles. His enemies said he was a “a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Matt. 11:19). Jesus’ eating habits attracted the wrong kind of attention and eventually got him into a great deal of trouble.
Nowadays, who we eat with is unlikely to make us enemies and almost certainly will not result in anyone’s premature death. On the contrary, sharing a meal with someone could be the beginning of a relationship that could last for eternity. As John Mark Comer writes in his thought-provoking book, Practicing the Way, “There’s no better place to get to know someone than over a meal, no better place to dialogue and even disagree in love. Because of that, there’s no better place to preach the gospel than around a table, with bread and wine.”
Now isn’t that food for thought?
All the best
Peter
About the Writer:
Peter Mill is a Minister and Regional Co-Pastor for Scotland, Ireland and the North of England.
1Luke: Artist and Theologian, by Robert J Karris