In the aftermath of World War II, thousands of children were orphaned and left to starve. Many of these children were rescued and sent to refugee camps where they received food and shelter. However, they had experienced so much loss that many of them could not sleep at night. They were terrified they would awake to find themselves once again homeless and hungry. Finally, someone thought to send a child to bed with a loaf of bread. Holding onto bread, the children were able to sleep.
I love this story, but a young woman in the throes of an eating disorder may find the story troubling. For a growing number, the thought of bread is far from a source of comfort. Eating disorders are a rapidly escalating epidemic no longer thought to be solely an American phenomenon. The Middle East, Africa, India, and various countries in southern Asia, including Hong Kong, China, Singapore, and South Korea are now reporting eating disorders. Many individuals cannot sleep at night because they know that they will face food again in the morning.
The thought of Heaven as a feast that God prepares for us is disquieting for a growing number of people. The images of table, banquet, and feast are clearly intended to bring something positive to mind. As the psalmist writes, "The poor will eat and be satisfied...All the rich of the earth will feast and worship!" (Psalm 22:26, 29). But for some, food is exactly what they have been trying to avoid. The table is a symbol of stress representing a daily battle. Yet how often God invites us to face the one thing we cannot, the very thing that brings us to surrender. God prepares a table in the presence of our enemies, and at times the enemy is us.
On the night Jesus was betrayed, he took bread and broke it and gave it to those he loved. Holding onto him, like children with bread, we are given peace in uncertainty, mercy in brokenness, something solid when all is lost. In his severe mercy, we are invited to the table: Come, take and eat.
Mike Tucker