the food of the prophet
February 16, 2009
Elijah was fed by the crows at the Kerith Ravine. John the Baptist ate honey and grasshoppers. Jesus drank wine and feasted…food isn’t simply something random for these prophets, it’s intricately linked with their voice, their mission, their being as people reading the signs of their times and speaking the voice of God into their culture… or maybe that was it, it wasn’t speaking, but living the voice of God into their culture.
And in this food was central. For Elijah it was trusting on God to feed him, when all others was praying to Baal and the rain wasn’t coming. For John it was withdrawing from society, living of the land, I don’t know what the meaning of that is. For Jesus it was feasting with those who he wasn’t supposed to feast with. For us…?
For us it seems to be something that need to get us full. We say a short prayer to not feel bad, and then just eat. In a society where many are dying from malnutrition and lack of water, where all the earth moaning because of the way we mess up our ecology, with the massive amount of meat adding to that, cattle taking up too much space for too little food, and taking space that could have been used by plants that help the ecology rather than hinder. A society where those of differing class never eat together, a society where many spend more on restaurants for one dinner than others spend on food for a month. In this society, we must think more about what we eat. We need to think theologically about what we eat!
my contemplations 
February 16, 2009 at 10:23 pm
great entry!!!
February 18, 2009 at 8:20 pm
“We need to think theologically about what we eat!” I like that phrase. When I read it I thought of the petition in the Lord’s Prayer where we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread”. For me “daily bread” is the basic necessities of life. For some a basic necessity is clean water and maybe actual bread; for some it is a good pizza, pop and Doritos. We indeed need to think theologically about what we eat and when we pray for “daily bread” we need to think about what that means for others…AND…be the means to provide “daily bread”…and not just think about it.
Thank you for this post.
btw…I found you through the blog network on Facebook.
May 19, 2010 at 9:43 pm
[…] mentioned a few short thoughts on food and theology in the past. Food is a great liturgical act. For better or for worse. I can go about weekly to pick […]