Journey with Jesus #5

New Testament - Feast 03/06/09

The Pharisees were a relatively small group at the time of Jesus, located mainly in Jerusalem but cells were also found in Galilee. They had been in existence for about 150 years before Jesus came on the scene. The Pharisees were educated and knowledgeable about the Jewish Scriptures & faith. They believed that the troubles (such as the exile & Roman invasion) that had befallen the Jews had resulted from their failure to keep God’s Law. In an attempt to prevent further transgression, and alternatively to hasten the day of liberation and vindication by God, they built a safety net, a “hedge” around the Law. This was a collection of laws (largely concerned with ritual cleanliness, diet and the keeping the Sabbath) that if observed would protect the more important Torah. These Rabbinic laws were written in the two centuries before Jesus, and after. The Pharisees had a table fellowship – haberim – closed to outsiders (the impure) and many of the practices associated with the meal were dictated by these purity rules. The position and practice of the Pharisees were a logical reaction to Jewish history and experience, but they were not the only one possible.

Feasts were characteristic of Jesus’ ministry. In MK2:15-17 he is described as eating with tax collectors and sinners and as a result finds himself in conflict with the Pharisees. Their objection is not that these people are sinners and not worth Jesus’ attention; rather that Jesus is undermining their program. It is a religious issue – the tax collectors and sinners, in the minds of the Pharisees, are the ones that have created the problem. When Jesus says that “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick” he is making a stand against the Pharisee’s main agenda, which is separation and purity in preparation for God’s final act of judgment.

LK 7:36-50 gives the account of the meal at Simon the Pharisee’s home. When Jesus allows the sinful woman to anoint his feet and wipe her tears away with her hair, he is offending against numerous purity laws. (Sinner, woman, bodily fluids…). Jesus reinterprets her action from disgusting to beautiful – transformed by love. Her sins are forgiven “because she has shown great love”. Jesus is not arguing legally, morally or ritually – but humanly. Because she has loved, her sins - the barriers that keep her from God –have been broken down and are no longer meaningful to her. She experiences forgiveness. Sin is a lived experience, not a legal judgment. Jesus uses feasts in his ministry as a symbol and practice of invitation to all, but particularly the outcast and sinner. In contrast to the Pharisee’s meals, all are invited to share the physical proximity and intimacy associated with a communal meal – a sign of the new human experience coming from him.

In LK 10:38-41 (the story of Martha and Mary) Jesus uses the meal setting to impart a different message. Here Martha criticizes Mary for not fulfilling her expected gender role. In supporting Mary’s adopting the role of disciple (a male prerogative) he is not offending purity laws – rather societal and cultural dictates.

The greatest feast in the New Testament is the feeding of the five thousand. It is the only miracle found in all four gospels. MK 6:30-44 tells the story – and also a similar feeding (of the four thousand) in chapter 8.1-10. In the first account Jesus blesses and breaks the bread and divides the fish; in the second account he gives thanks and breaks the bread. These expressions – giving thanks and blessing are found together in the account of the Eucharist in MK 14:22-25. These two meals act as forerunners to the last supper. In the Eucharist both of the themes – blessing from the feeding of the five thousand and forgiveness from Jesus’ table fellowship – are united. Jesus in his ministry has been the source of both blessing and forgiveness– so it makes sense that he would associate himself with the bread that represents both, and then with the pouring out of the wine which anticipates his pouring out of himself. In the feeding of the 5000 no one is excluded – just as no one is excluded from the Eucharist. In the Eucharist the elements of blessing and forgiveness are united with absolute self-giving which is at the root of both.

In MK8: 14-21 Jesus warns his disciples about the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod. Yeast is a generative principle – it is what gives life to the dough. For the Pharisees this was their focus on the wrath of God and purity, for Herod it was political power and violence. With the yeast of Jesus you don’t have to worry –his generative principle leads to life for all – with baskets of food left over.

John does not have a Eucharistic meal. Instead he has a long conversation of Jesus with his disciples and he washes their feet. Jesus does ultimately share a meal with his disciples – but it is after the resurrection and by the shore. In Jn 21:9 Jesus cooks fish on a charcoal fire with bread. There are echoes here of the feeding of the five thousand. The only other mention of a charcoal fire in John is the one in the High priest’s courtyard –the charcoal fire around which Peter denies Jesus (Jn 18:18). Peter is the link to both passages. In Chapter 21 Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him (“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”). The final time he changes the word for love from philos to agape. It is at this point that Peter becomes upset. It is at this point that Peter understands. Jesus asks him to “feed my sheep” – to continue Jesus’ work of self-giving feeding.

Finally the gospels look to the eschatological feast – MK 14:25. Jesus will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom comes. He looks forward to the definitive sharing of love.