Feast to Wipe Away the Gloom
I woke up this morning in a kind of haze. It was raining outside, dark at a time when the sun normally shines. It was one of those mornings that had the potential to leave a dark covering over me the rest of the day. But it didn’t. I had a good morning despite the clouds. After I scraped myself out of bed I got on my two wheeler and biked to Nora’s Cafe to have coffee with some friends. I like to think of it as an old timers prep group where we practice loafin’ around and solving the world's problems over 2 dollar cups of diner coffee. After I left Nora’s I felt ready to run through a brick wall. No rainy day blues for this guy, at least not today.
But it wasn’t just the caffeine that boosted my mood. And it certainly wasn’t the scenery. If we’re all honest that portion of second street leaves a lot to be aesthetically desired. Not a lot of art down there unless you count the graffiti in the alley. But I came out of there inspired nonetheless. It was because the conversation was so good.
At one point someone raised the question of whether or not we will eat and drink in heaven. Someone immediately said no. Why would we have the need? We will be in resurrected bodies that will last forever. We will not need to be sustained by food, they said. But then others pointed out the purpose of eating is not just to survive. We eat because food tastes good. We eat for the pleasure of eating. And because God made food and drink in the Garden before the curse of sin brought death to our bodies, it is therefore possible that God will have food for us in the New Creation. Maybe we will eat in heaven because it will be just plain joyful to eat.
Then someone was reminded of a passage in Isaiah 25 where it speaks of God’s people feasting on the mountain of the Lord. And on that mountain they were not just eating food. They were experiencing the pleasure of eating. Isaiah says that on that mountain, God, the Master Chef, will make for his people fat and rich food paired with well aged wine. It doesn’t just say it once. It says it twice. He says wine… really good wine. Not the kind of non-alcoholic juice that passes for wine sometimes at the store. I’m talking about that good good that sits in the King of Kings wine cellar. And you might say, eww I don’t like wine. Well, on this mountain your taste buds will be sanctified and you’ll actually know what’s good for ya.
No this mountain is not the Denver Chick-fil-A. It’s the New Creation. (to some of you those might be the same thing). Isaiah’s mountain of the Lord is a poetic picture of when this world will be redeemed and restored, when the curse of sin is wiped away by God’s big terry cloth, where God’s people will finally rest easy with tummies full in the presence of the Lord. We know this because verse 7 says that on this mountain God will swallow up the covering that is cast over all peoples. It will be a place where all tears will be wiped and death itself will be no more.
Referencing this beautiful verse at 6AM on a gloomy day in downtown Clinton over a plain cup of joe and some ham was exactly what I needed to hear. It was as if God spoke to me in that moment and said heaven will be like this. The black cloud hanging over my city, my family, my life, my soul, was cast away in that moment in Nora’s. It was a foreshadowing, a foretaste of the Mountain to come.
These experiences teach me the importance of eating with friends. Eating does not simply nourish our bodies, it also nourishes our soul. There are people in the Gateway that live with a dark covering of gloom that have never experienced what it’s like to be out from under that. But as Christains we have. By faith in Christ we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. And it is entirely possible to bring others into that. We can literally invite others to taste and see in the life of Christ. By preparing a meal, setting the table, and inviting people to join you, you are helping lift the black covering of the curse from their life. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but fat and rich is best. It doesn’t have to be a meal with wine, but a bottle of well aged stuff helps if you got it. All you really need is a table full of friends, and some strangers that you are making into friends, and you have the makings of heaven. This can happen at your dinner table, a booth at Noras, or at a wedding reception. What matters is that your hearts are open and welcoming to one another and to Christ, most importantly to Christ. Because when Christ shows up, the bread of life is on the table. And that means it’s time to feast.