Monday, May 6, 2013

What’s for Supper? by Martin Wiles

“What’s for supper?” A question we three brothers often asked Mom, but one we also knew the answer to-“You’ll see when I get it fixed.”

Suppers in the South are delightful, but while sumptuous, a traditional southern United States supper is almost always unhealthy. Vegetables are not just placed in a pot and boiled. Real sugar is added-as well as several tablespoons of salt and often hunks of fatty meat. Meats are rarely broiled or baked. Fried is almost synonymous with the South. And not before the meat is rolled in a mixture of egg and milk, covered in self-rising flour, and placed in a pan of hot sizzling lard.

Suppers also represented periods of time extracted from busy days when families sat down together to relax and catch up with each other’s lives. Jesus did the same with his disciples. He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it.

Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.” After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people…which is poured out as a sacrifice for you (Luke 22: 19-20 NLT).

The items on Jesus’ supper menu were symbolic of the graphic event that would soon occur. He gave his disciples bread to represent his body which would soon be brutalized and murdered. He offered them wine to epitomize his blood which would be drained from his body through beatings and crucifixion. The entire meal was a symbolic story of how he’d die for humanity’s sins-a substitutionary sacrifice.

Southern suppers are good but often unhealthy. Eating Jesus’ supper is both eternally healthy and presently gratifying. Eat supper with him.

Prayer: We thank You merciful Lord for the sacrifice You made on Calvary’s cross. Thank You for covering our sins by shedding Your blood.

My PhotoThanks for stopping by. Why not try one of our delicious recipes along with this daily dose of encouragement?

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