On-Line Church "What's For Dinner?" Lectionary Reflections For May 3

"He will come in and go out, 
and find pasture."

Here are some reflections on the scriptures that are the basis for our on-line service at 4 pm this Sunday: 

Plentiful Food, Lots Of Good Company Acts 2:42-47
Imagine this miracle in first century Jerusalem: Urban Romans are enjoying meals around tables with desert nomads from Arabia. Unkempt Cretans are sharing bread in the homes of kosher-conscious Jews. Men and women, young and old, representing three continents and speaking multiple languages, are eating meals together with "great joy and generosity."

It's hard to imagine any more unlikely candidates for forming a joyfully unified family of faith. But it represents the table to which all of God's children are invited.

As Michael Rosen writes in his poem, The Greatest Table,

The greatest table isn't set 
inside a single home--
oh no, it spans the continents,
and no one eats alone.

...Who hasn't eaten? Join us here,
pull up another chair.
We'll all scoot over, make more room;
there's always some to spare.

... The table talk is musical
with every language shared;
in every face the thankfulness 
is more than any prayer.

- selections used by permission

Tables Set With Cups Overflowing With Goodness  Psalm 23
The most beloved of all the Psalms pictures God as a caring Shepherd, and has several references to our being well fed. We are of course not spoon fed, but using the metaphor of our being God's flock, we are led to lush pastures where food is in abundant supply.

Here we are also pictured as being invited to a well-laden table the Host has prepared for friend and enemy alike, where a reconciled people live together forever in God's great household of "goodness and mercy." 

Soul Food For The Suffering And Wounded  I Peter 2:19-25
This letter, written by the apostle who had once frantically denied being a part of Jesus's inner circle (at his trial), reaches out to congregations scattered throughout Asia Minor who are suffering persecution for being followers of the crucified Messiah. 

Nowhere in the New Testament is the teaching of "non-resistance" (to evil-doers) more clear, that Christians are to endure unjust suffering without offering resistance or engaging in retaliation. Rather we are to follow in the very steps of the one we serve, being willing to endure wrong rather than to inflict it, to bear the cross rather than to bear the sword, as Peter himself once recklessly did. 

This passage is the one which Charles Sheldon's classic book In His Steps, is based--and the one which inspired the oft used WWJD? question.

Hosted, Sheltered And Satisfied By A Good Shepherd  John 10:1-10
This is yet another passage using the metaphor of sheep and shepherd. Here Jesus is both shepherd and gate, providing protection for his beloved but frequently leading them out to where there may be danger but where there is also plentiful grazing. Meanwhile there are many would-be and false "pastors" (the word comes from the Greek pástoras or shepherd) who seek to fleece their flock rather than to unselfishly protecting and caring for them.

Jesus's true followers know him by his "voice," they being so acquainted with his words that they can clearly distinguish false prophets from the truly faithful ones.