52 Weeks at the Table – Week 28

It reads almost like a footnote to the main narrative – the two verses of 2 Kings 13:20-21 – “Elisha died and was buried. Now Moabite raiders used to enter the country every spring. Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.” The man’s name isn’t given. His fate isn’t disclosed. Something so astounding – life arising from death, without a breathing, speaking prophet as the channel of it – should seemingly deserve more information! But, like the army raised from dry bones before amazed Ezekiel (chapter 37), no more is said of the matter.

In fact, the short passage reads almost like the two verses of Matthew 27:52-53 – not disclosed in any of the other three gospel accounts: “The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.” No names. No details. And yet, those few words communicate the power of resurrection unleashed on the earth at the very moment Jesus died. Who these “holy people” were seems to be of little or no consequence compared to the fact that they lived again, and that the power of resurrection was associated with Him even after His death.

Two spare verses say it all.

A Prayer Over the Bread

Creator and Sustainer, we are completely humbled by Your power to create life from the dead; to raise children unto Abraham from rocks and earth; to bring dead works to life through faith in Christ; to bring life back to those who have passed beyond it in the body of Christ. For this bread, which both recalls it and builds it up, giving life to the dying, we give You our awed thanksgiving through Jesus: Amen.

A Prayer Over the Cup

For the lifeblood that flows through our veins and arteries, O God, we give You thanks. It should have been required of us to atone for our self-filled sins, but You provided Your very own dearest blood; that of Your Son Jesus. It took the place of ours as His life took the blame for ours. We remember it throughout this life in the sharing of this cup, on which we ask your blessing through Christ: Amen.

52 Weeks at the Table – Week 27

After the death of Elisha, another succession of wicked kings ruled Jerusalem – with the exception of Josiah, the reformer-king who sought to destroy the altars and worship-objects of the detestable false gods and rebuilt the temple and re-instituted Passover. It was not enough to turn the hearts of Judah back to God or to turn His wrath away from their sin – so God turned His back on them, as it had been with Israel to the north. Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem, and when he had starved its populace into submission, he razed its holy and royal buildings to the ground. Those who escaped deportation to Babylon, fled to Egypt. The second of the acrostic Lamentations mourns:

My eyes fail from weeping, I am in torment within, my heart is poured out on the ground because my people are destroyed, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city. They say to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” as they faint like wounded men in the streets of the city, as their lives ebb away in their mothers’ arms. (2:11-12)

It was a meal featuring bread and wine which preceded the capture of Jesus and His final exile to a cross on a hill outside of Jerusalem. The apostle whom he loved records that there He entrusted the care of his mother to John just before a spongeful of wine vinegar was lifted to His dehydrated lips. Then He surrendered His Spirit and bore the weight of sin not-His-own to the death He did not deserve. (John 19)

A Prayer Over the Bread

Holy, Righteous, One God … what You have done for us in giving Your Son exceeds the boundaries of love and grace that man can perceive. It is inexplicable, inexpressible and incomprehensible. We cannot grasp nor measure its dimensions. We can only bow, with this bread – His body – dissolving in our mouths as His sacrifice dissolves our sins, and remember Him in gratitude a for which we have no sufficient words. Amen.

A Prayer Over the Cup

Sovereign Lord God, if we can only begin to understand the grief and pain of Jesus’ mother at the cross, then we can surely do no more to comprehend Your own as His Father. We remember the trembling of the earth; the rending of the temple’s veil; the moment of Your wrath expressed to and yet withheld from us by the grace of His blood. Bless this cup – His blood – and we who share it to always remember Him, and remember why. Amen.

52 Weeks at the Table – Week 26 (Alternate)

When a drought caused Elijah’s brook to dry up and he had to move on from where ravens fed him, the Lord sent him to the house of a widow in Zarephath and her son. God provided for them through containers of flour and oil that were always, miraculously, full. When the boy died, Elijah’s prayer restored his life (1 Kings 17). Similarly, following Elisha’s instructions, a prophet’s widow and two sons found relief from debt through a vessel of oil that did not cease pouring until there were no more vessels to pour into. And Elisha was hosted in Shunem by a woman whose husband was old – yet Elisha’s prophecy of a baby in her arms came true. And when the boy later died, Elisha did as his master had done with the widow’s son – and the child revived. Not much later, he fed a hundred with a mere twenty loaves of barley bread (2 Kings 4).

Jesus, known as a prophet during His incarnation, also fed bread to five thousand (Matthew 14) and four thousand (15) and, shortly after healing the illness of a centurion’s servant, raised a widow’s son to life (Luke 7) as well as His dear friend Lazarus (John 11). In the end, His compassion led to His demise, for there John records: “Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. ‘What are we accomplishing?’ they asked. ‘Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.’ ” Then, Matthew adds: “So from that day on they plotted to take his life.”

A Prayer Over the Bread

Undiminishable Father God, we praise You because Your mercy toward us has no end, pouring forth like the oil and flour that made bread for Elijah, the widow and her son. In our spiritual poverty, You have provided Your Son through Your limitless compassion, to let Him be consumed like bread. Through Him, You give us the strength of His righteousness and we are filled. Bless now this bread we pray in the name of Jesus: Amen.

A Prayer Over the Cup

Holy, Unchanging One, there is perhaps no miracle more powerful than the way the blood of Your Son changes us; transforms us into Your likeness with ever-increasing glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). Through Him, we cross over from death to life (John 5:24). For this incomparable miracle – the ongoing resurrection of our lives from dead pursuits to eternal glory; for this incomparable blood and the cup it fills, we thank in Jesus’ name: Amen.

52 Weeks at the Table – Week 26

When King Solomon passed away, Judah had been separated from the rest of Israel by their sin. It is a sorry succession of kings which follows the reign of Solomon – who himself had fallen prey to the temptations of wealth and wives, and had fallen into idolatry. Among these kings the Lord sent prophets and men of God (some good; some poor in character) to set them aright or just tell them of the doom they have earned. Elijah outshone them all, even though he, too, had moments of fear and doubt. At the close of his ministry, when the Lord was calling him home, he three times told his protege Elisha that he should stay while his master went on. Three times, the answer of the apprentice was “As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” When just before it came time to part – one on foot; one by fiery chariot in a whirlwind – the younger asked the elder to petition God for a double portion of His Spirit, and his request was granted. He took up the mantle of his master, and the ministry continued in power. (2 Kings 2)

At the end of Jesus’ recorded visits to his closest followers, He went to them in His resurrected body and met them fishing. Having already promised them His Spirit (John 16), His question of the one who had denied Him three times was also asked thrice: “Simon Peter, do you love me more than these [fish]?” Peter’s answer each time was essentially the same: “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” And Jesus told him to quit fishing and begin shepherding. It was not an assignment filled with promise, except for the promise of suffering as his Savior had suffered: “… when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” (John 21:15-23) Yet in just a few days, upon Peter and the other ten descended the Holy Spirit like a mantle of comfort and responsibility, and they took it up and continued Jesus’ ministry in renewed power. (Acts 2)

A Prayer Over the Bread

Heavenly Father of Elijah and Elisha, we pause at this table of our Master to give You thanksgiving and honor and praise for what You have promised and what You have given through Your Son. This bread, His body, reminds us of His devotion to us, and compels our devotion in return. We, like His closest ones, would rather that He had stayed – but know that it was for our good that He went away, leaving us His Spirit; empowering us to perpetuate His ministry; inspiring us to give glory to Your name. So in Jesus’ name we ask your blessing: Amen.

A Prayer Over the Cup

God of Israel and Judah; of Jesus and Peter, we ask your blessing on this cup, the blood of Your Christ. Through it we are given redemption and unity; because of it poured out we receive Your Spirit. Give us the power to eschew the idols in our lives: the gratification of self through power and wealth and pleasure. Give us the power of Your Spirit to enthrone You, the living God, and serve Him only. Like Peter, we would always confess our love for our Master. Like Elisha, we would insist on staying with Him, to whatever end. For He met the end that should have been ours, that we might see no end to life. So in Jesus’ name we make this request: Amen.

52 Weeks at the Table – Week 25

When King Solomon passed away, Judah had been separated from the rest of Israel by their sin. It is a sorry succession of kings which follows the reign of Solomon – who himself had fallen prey to the temptations of wealth and wives, and had fallen into idolatry. Among these kings the Lord sent prophets and men of God (some good; some poor in character) to set them aright or just tell them of the doom they have earned. Elijah outshone them all, even though he, too, had moments of fear and doubt. When a drought caused Elijah’s brook to dry up and he had to move on from where ravens fed him, the Lord sent him to the house of a widow in Zarephath and her son. God provided for them through containers of flour and oil that were always, miraculously, full. When the boy died, Elijah’s prayer restored his life (1 Kings 17). Similarly, following Elisha’s instructions, a prophet’s widow and two sons found relief from debt through a vessel of oil that did not cease pouring until there were no more vessels to pour into. And Elisha was hosted in Shunem by a woman whose husband was old – yet Elisha’s prophecy of a baby in her arms came true. And when the boy later died, Elisha did as his master had done with the widow’s son – and the child revived. Not much later, he fed a hundred with a mere twenty loaves of barley bread (2 Kings 4).

Jesus, known as a prophet during His incarnation, also fed replenishing bread to five thousand (Matthew 14) and four thousand (Matthew 15) and, shortly after healing the illness of a centurion’s servant, raised a widow’s son to life (Luke 7) – as well as His dear friend Lazarus (John 11). In the end, His compassion led to His demise, for there John records: “Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. ‘What are we accomplishing?’ they asked. ‘Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.’ “ Then, Matthew adds: “So from that day on they plotted to take his life.”

A Prayer Over the Bread

Undiminishable Father God, we praise You because Your mercy toward us has no end, pouring forth like the oil and flour that made bread for Elijah, the widow and her son. In our spiritual poverty, You have provided Your Son through Your limitless compassion, to let Him be consumed like bread. Through Him, You give us the strength of His righteousness and we are filled. Bless now this bread, we pray in the name of Jesus: Amen.

A Prayer Over the Cup

Holy, Unchanging One, there is perhaps no miracle more powerful than the way the blood of Your Son changes us; transforms us into Your likeness with ever-increasing glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). Through Him, we cross over from death to life (John 5:24). For this incomparable miracle – the ongoing resurrection of our lives from dead pursuits to eternal glory; for this incomparable blood and the cup it fills, we thank You in Jesus’ name: Amen.

52 Weeks at the Table – Week 24

Solomon’s wisdom came at his request; but he was wise enough to ask for it – and wise enough to listen to his father David when the king advised him to seek it (Proverbs 4:1-13). The words of wisdom that he recalls from his father are not to follow evil people because they cannot sleep until they have caused someone else to fall into their darkness. In a poetic – and prophetic – phrase, he is taught: “They eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.”

Jesus was betrayed by a follower who shared His bread of unity and His cup of blessing. John’s gospel (13:30) says it briefly: “As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.” At His abduction, Luke (22:53) quotes Jesus noting ruefully “Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour — when darkness reigns.”

A Prayer Over the Bread

Forgiving God, we remember with this bread of unity Your Son’s body, pummeled and beaten when He was taken in the garden, perhaps not even an hour after the Passover meal. We remember the Light of the World snuffed out, and a darkness that enveloped the earth. We know that there is no intrinsic power in these emblems that prevent us from sinning; no magic in this matzoh; no wizardry in the wine, for we’ve read that as soon as Judas had taken it, he went out and betrayed his Lord. Forgiving God, bring us together in the sharing of this bread, that Your Spirit and the brotherhood we find in it will help keep us accountable and keep us from falling into darkness. Through Christ we ask: Amen.

A Prayer Over the Cup

Lord of mercy, giving rest to the weary, we approach You weary of sin and stumbling under its heavy guilt. May this cup of blessing refresh us, purging from us a thirst for self and for violence to others and for the cover of darkness – because it is to us the blood of Your Son Jesus, washing the burden of it all from our hearts. Father, give us the light of His wisdom always through His Spirit, guiding us into all truth. We beg this in the name of Jesus: Amen.

52 Weeks at the Table – Week 23

The where of worship. There was something of a choice when Solomon began to reign. His father David had brought the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem to reside in a tent … but it seemed to be more of a good-luck charm or trophy or sign of God’s power than a place of worship. So Solomon went to Gibeon to sacrifice a thousand bulls on the altar before Moses’ ancient tabernacle, which had been moved there – closer to Jerusalem – after its sojourn at Shiloh of Samaria. His sacrifices so pleased God that He told Solomon to ask whatever he wanted. Solomon had the wisdom to ask for more wisdom, and God gave it to him in abundance. And more. Because Solomon had asked for wisdom to rule Israel well, rather than wealth or power or the death of his enemies or long life, God gave him much more.

Then Solomon found in his heart his father’s dream to build a temple for the Name of the Lord in Jerusalem. He hired the best foreign skill he could find, and as payment, offered Hiram, the King of Tyre, tens of thousands of gallons of wine and tens of thousands of bushels of wheat for bread.

Hundreds of years later, the mid-day meal for Jesus and His followers was not intended to be bread and wine, but meat and water. The disciples had gone into town at Sychar of Samaria – practically on top of the old tabernacle’s site – to buy food, and Jesus asked a woman at a well if she would draw Him the water. They spoke of prejudice, of sin, of water He could provide from an inexhaustible source toward inextinguishable life. And they spoke of where to worship, a quarrel between their two cultures. Jesus told her it was no longer a question of where, but of how.

A Prayer Over the Bread

Provident Father, when we reflect on the hundreds of years during which fellow believers have consumed these emblems of Your Son’s body and blood, we think also of the millions of bushels and gallons You have supplied simply that we might not forget Your most precious Gift of all. May we share this bread now with a faith than spans generations, encompasses multitudes of souls, and reaches toward Your eternity purchased by Jesus for His body; His church. Amen.

A Prayer Over the Cup

Holy One of Eternity, You are wherever we go and Your presence makes that ground holy. You have freed us to worship wherever we might be and in whatever moment, asking only that our hearts and minds be attuned to Your truth through Your Spirit. May each moment and each place of our lives be filled with worship for Your promise of endless life, bought by Christ’s blood, revered in this cup. Amen.

52 Weeks at the Table – Week 22

It was a particularly low point in the life of King David when he and his small entourage left Jerusalem to the onslaught of his estranged son Absalom. Not far out of the gates, they were met by Ziba, who brought bread, cakes, fruit and wine to refresh the king. Ziba, who had many sons, was awarded the property of Saul’s heir Mephibosheth by David, in gratitude for his kindness – yet one must wonder if David sensed a disingenuous tone in Ziba’s offer.

Not long after, a man named Shimei cursed the Lord’s anointed, throwing rocks and dirt at him – yet David, in his humility, would not order his death. Blessings and cursings.

Then, three chapters later, with Jerusalem reoccupied, we find Ziba accused by Mephibosheth of abandoning him. Perhaps unable to determine the truth, David ordered the property of Saul divided between them. And Shimei, confronted by the king, showed abject penitence, and was shown mercy yet again.

Blessings and cursings. At the last meal Jesus hosts, He serves a cup of blessing … yet there is no question that He senses the disingenuous tone of Judas, and pronounces a curse of woe on the betrayer – confirming exactly who it was. For Judas had already negotiated the price, and was watching for the place and time.

Betrayal over a meal with bread and wine.

A Prayer Over the Bread

Our God, this meal draws us to remember not only who You are, who Your Son is – but also who we are. We have no deep intention to betray You, but when we leave this table, we do forget. We remember only ourselves, and what we desire. May this bread remind us not to offer our gifts to the King out of the desire to receive something for ourselves – like Ziba – but to give selflessly to You and to others, as Jesus gave all for us. Amen.

A Prayer Over the Cup

Holy, Righteous One, please accept our praise for Your forgiving nature. In our rebellion and sin, we have sometimes tossed rocks at Your righteousness and thrown dirt on Your Name. Yet in this moment we see You enthroned, and we are humbled to obeisance. May this cup remind us of the price of our utter disrespect – Your Son’s blood – and may it draw us to the penitence of Shimei each time we share it. Amen.

52 Weeks at the Table – Week 21

This last psalm in the cycle of David begins with a petition for God to endow His Son, the King, with His own righteousness, so that the Son might defend the afflicted and crush the oppressor. Even so, Jesus begins His ministry by declaring that Isaiah’s prophetic recounting of God’s promise has come to pass: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed …” (Luke 4:18). David speaks of this King’s longevity and realm extending beyond measurable time and space. He predicts the gifts of lesser, obeisant kings – not unlike those of visiting magi from the east. Then, in verse 16, his petition seems to suddenly turn to an ordinary plea for agrarian blessing:
“Let grain abound throughout the land;
on the tops of the hills may it sway.
Let its fruit flourish like Lebanon;
let it thrive like the grass of the field.”

Perhaps it is. Yet it is also a metaphor Jesus uses (Mark 4:26-29) to describe the Kingdom of God: grain which grows seemingly “all by itself,” though the man who scattered the seed knows not how. And while sometimes He uses the metaphor of harvest to describe His return, in this instance it seems to indicate the collecting of fruit to be used for productive purposes. He repeats it, perhaps only hours after entering Jerusalem to a royal reception (John 12:23-26), saying that the seed must die in order to bear fruit and produce more seeds. Paul the apostle echoes the simile again and again (1 Corinthians 3:6; 9:11; 15:36-38), urging followers to live and grow and flourish in Christ – to God’s glory.

A Prayer Over the Bread

God of creation and Giver of life, You cause the grain and the fruit to grow, though we know not how. You designed them for food to nourish the bodies You gave man. You gave man the intelligence to create bread and wine from them. Then gave Your Son, Jesus, whose body and blood we remember through them. May this grain abound throughout the land. May our souls be sustained, growing and thriving through the grace of this bread and this cup; through the grace of Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

A Prayer Over the Cup

Holy and merciful God, You have endowed Your Son with Your righteousness to defeat the oppressor and defend us, the afflicted and poor. Through His body and blood we are delivered. As your Seed, He died and was buried to take up life again and share it with us. So also we die to self and live in Him that this seed, this Word of God, might grow and find root among many, many others. May this fruit flourish and thrive like the grass of the field. Amen.