The Theme of Food
- Robert Karris

We saw how the theme of justice helped Luke answer the question of how Jesus, God's righteous one and prophet, got himself crucified. Now we will explore the Lukan use of the theme of food to answer the same question.

My major point in this chapter is that in Luke's Gospel Jesus got himself crucified by the way He ate. I will develop that point in three parts. First, I will give a presentation of Luke's pervasive use of the theme of food in his Gospel. In the next two parts I will capture some of the richness of the Lukan motif of food by gathering materials into two bins: in Jesus, God demonstrates his fidelity to his hungry creation by feeding it; Jesus is 'a glutton and a drunkard'.

Luke's Pervasive Use of the Motif of Food
There is considerable truth about what one wag said about Luke's Gospel: Jesus is either going to a meal, or coming from a meal. The extent though of Luke's use of the theme of food is appreciated only when the reader realizes that the aroma of food issues forth from each and every chapter of Luke's Gospel. Food is definitely an important theme and, as such draws the reader into Luke's faith inspiring kerygmatic story! It is a theme which because of its elemental nature, resonates at the depths of our contingent being.

Readers may have some difficulty appreciating this motif. As part of a society which consumes diet books by the millions because food is so bounteously available and appetites so rapacious, and which has developed its own language and life-style about food - fast food, convenience food, junk food, high protein food - readers might find it difficult to see through such language screens and reflect upon the profound truth that food is life and that sharing of food is sharing of life. Readers who are Roman Catholics may have special difficulty in appreciating Luke's use of the motif of food because of a tendency to reduce almost all occurrences of this motif to eucharistic references. For them the Benedictine Demetrius R. Dumm provides provocative food for thought:

Luke shows a special sensitivity for the table fellowship, not just for its own sake but also because it is a sign of a deeper kind of hospitality that entertains the strange and alien elements in life and looks for good everywhere. This large and generous spirit derives from his faith understanding of the profound goodness hidden in the mystery of God.

With our eyes at-the-ready to immerse ourselves in Luke's food symbolism, I will offer a big 'picture view' of the occurrences of this theme in Luke's Gospel and touch upon some of Luke's richly diverse vocabulary for food. This macro viewpoint will prime us for our subsequent consideration of two major facets of the Lukan theme of food. All of these occurrences are leading towards Luke 22-24. Luke's account of "The Last Supper' (22:14-38) is the last event of 'sharing of life' in a sequence of such events. Jesus the giver of abundant food for all, is given vinegar on the cross (23:36); he promises that the crucified evildoer will eat of the tree of life in paradise (23:43). Jesus shares the new life of the resurrection of the just by breaking bread for two disciples who have abandoned his way of justice (24:30-31, 35).

The "Big Picture" of the Motif of Food in Luke's Gospel
Before listing the passages in sequence, I want to offer some suggestions to the reader. Readers should try to enter into Luke's rich theme of food by arranging the materials into patterns for themselves, e.g. Jesus as host; Jesus as guest; Outcasts are the hungry. I have tried to express the gist of each passage in a provocative way to entice the reader to see a familiar passage in a new light. Readers should check each passage for themselves to see whether I have been provocative or obscure. In any case, the reader should situate the passage in the flow of Luke's Gospel. The reader might also want to note the various connections between the theme of justice and food. Finally, the reader might want to check the bibliography given in the various footnotes for leads on the diverse dimensions of Luke's food thematic.

Luke 1:15 No strong drink for the prophet of God; see 7:33-34, which contrast the life-styles of John the Baptist and Jesus on the basis of food and drink.

Luke 1:53 In his justice God will provide the hungry with food; see the beatitude about the hungry in 6:21 and the woe about the full in 6:25.

Luke 2:7, 12, 16 Jesus in the manger is food for the world.

Luke 2:37 A widow, symbol of dependence on God, fasts.

Luke 3:11 Repentance is shown by an act of justice, sharing food.
Luke 3:17 Repentant are wheat; unrepentant are chaff.

Luke 4:1-4 Jesus fasts as a sign of his dependence upon God for life.

Luke 4:25 God's gracious justice to a pagan widow caught in famine.

Luke 4:39 A person healed by Jesus waits at table (diakoneo)

Luke 5:1-11 Peter abandons the food of fish to follow Jesus the source of true food of life.

Luke 5:29-38 A dispute between Jesus and the religious leaders about his eating habits.

Luke 6:1-5 The Sabbath: a day for celebrating life and the question of eating.

Luke 6:21 God's Kingdom justice will provide food for the hungry.

Luke 6:25 The full are given a prophetic warning.

Luke 6:43-46 Good fruit and bad fruit.

Luke 7:31-35 Criticism of the prophet's eating habits: eating habits: John the Baptist has a demon; Jesus is a glutton and drunkard.

Luke 7:36-50 A woman recognizes God's justice in Jesus, a Son of wisdom, (7:35) and comes for life; the religious leader who invites Jesus to a meal to share life fails to understand the gift of life.

Luke 8:3 Followers of Jesus share his life (diakoneo) with one another.

Luke 8:11 The word of God as preached by Jesus gives life.

Luke 8:55 Jesus' mercy involves concern that people have something to eat.

Luke 9:3 Those who follow Jesus depend on God for their sustenance.

Luke 9:10-17 Jesus as giver of abundant life.

Luke 10::2 Harvest as image of mission.

Luke 10:7-8 Sharing of life of food and sharing of the Gospel are intimately connected.

Luke 10:38-42 A meal, discipleship, and sharing life (diakoneo)

Luke 11:3 Daily bread comes from God.

Luke 11:5-12 Food is sharing of life with friends and children.

Luke 11:27-29 Where is true nourishment? In mother's milk or in the Word of God?

Luke 11:37-54 At a meal Jesus criticizes the religious leaders for lack of justice; is sharing life a matter of external hygiene?

Luke 12:1 The teaching and lifestyle of religious leaders is leaven.

Luke 12:13-34 Can one trust God to provide life? Can one share life with others by deeds of justice? (almsgiving; 12:21, 33)?

Luke 12:35-38 Reversal of expectations: The Master serves (diakoneo) the servants (douloi) at table with food.

Luke 12:41-48 Disciples are to provide food for others.

Luke 13:6-9 Patience with the fig tree so that it might bear fruit.

Luke 13:19-21 Parables of the kingdom of justice are imaged by growing things.

Luke 13:29-30 The tables are turned at the eschatological table.

Luke 14:1-24 Who comes to dinner? The rich, or the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind?

Luke 14:34-35 Disciples and salt that works

Luke 15:1-2 Religious leaders murmur about Jesus table mates.

Luke 15:11-32 Without its many references to eating = life, the Parable of the Prodigal Father is dead.

Luke 16:19-31 Lazarus, a miserable poor wretch is a child of Abraham, for he has a choice spot at the messianic banquet (16:22)

Luke 17:7-10 In contrast to 12:35-38 servants at table remain servants.

Luke 18:12 Fasting is not used as a sign of dependence upon God by a religious leader.

Luke 19:7 Murmuring about Jesus eating with a chief tax collector, Zacchaeus. See 5:27-32; 15:2.

Luke 20:9-18 Who will share the fruit?

Luke 20:46 Occasion for sharing of life becomes occasion for self exaltation.

Luke21:34 Celebrating life to the point of drunkenness avoids life.

Luke 22:1-38 Jesus does not eat his "last" meal with his family, but with his followers,. Jesus' lifestyle is that of one who serves at table (diakoneo).

Luke 23:43 To his dying breath, Jesus gives the food of life.

Luke 24:28-33 The giver of life is not dead. He continues to share life. God's kingdom is realized as Jesus eats with his disciples. (see 22:18)

Luke 24:41-42 The disciples receive Jesus as a guest, who opens their eyes to see and to share life.

In the next paragraphs I will not burden the reader who may have little or no knowledge of the New Testament Greek, with largely incomprehensible detail.

Two general points will suffice:
Luke uses a minimum of forty-five different words to refer to the theme of food, e.g. harvest, hunger, drunkenness. He also uses synonyms for food some of which are found nowhere else in the New Testament. Here is a sampling.

Luke 9:12 "Provisions" (Greek episitismos)
Luke 9:13 "food" (broma)
Luke 12:23 "food" (trope)
Luke 12:42 "portion of food" (sitometrion)
Luke 24:41 "anything to eat" (brosimos)

As it is readily apparent, Luke is very versatile in his use of food imagery.

In summary, this first part of our study of Luke's use of the language of food, has been general in tone. In the next two parts we will bear down on the specifics.

In Jesus God Demonstrates his Fidelity
to his Hungry Creation by Feeding it.

This specific arrangement of Luke's general theme of "food" will deal with the following representative passages.

Luke 1:53; 4:1-4; 6:21-25; 8:11-21; 9:10-17

Luke 1:53 He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent empty away

This verse is part of Luke's Magnificat (1:46-55), which gives an advance interpretation of who Jesus is. In this song God's fulfillment of all that he has planned for creation and for human kind is seen as beginning with Jesus' conception. God's plan involves feeding the hungry. The rest of Luke's kerygmatic story will detail how God is faithful to his creation by feeding it through Jesus' ministry of Word and mighty deed. I stress the "rest" of the Gospel for it would seem that on the cross, the God who in Jesus fed his hungry creation is unfaithful and not able to give life to His own Son. But God is faithful to his hungry creation, even and specially in the person of his crucified and righteous Son. For as the psalm of the suffering righteous one expresses it, God's vindication of the righteous takes the form of feeding them to the point of satisfaction. See e.g. Psalm 22:27: "the needy (penetes) shall eat and be satisfied (emplesthesonatai)". Nothing, not even death itself, will stand in the way of God's accomplishment of his purpose and plan. In the Christ event the faithful God feeds all who hunger.

Luke 4:1-4 [read the text]

This passage occurs in a section (3:21-4:13) where Luke is giving his readers greater insight into the significance of Jesus whose Galilean ministry he will begin relating in 4:14-30. A few comments are in order.

Jesus himself, the one in whom God is to feed his hungry creation fasts. The hungry Jesus is at one with those who are hungry.

In his refusal to succumb to the devil's temptation, Jesus shows his utter confidence in his faithful God who will take care of him and his creation. This son (3:21-22) also shows his obedience to and trust in His father's plan of feeding the hungry, a plan which the remainder of Luke's story will reveal.

Joseph Fitzmyer makes the challenging observation that the three temptations of Luke 4:1-13 symbolize the seduction present in the hostility, opposition, and rejection which confronted Jesus constantly throughout his ministry. For our purposes this observation means that Luke 4:1-13 contains advance summaries of the opposition Jesus, the righteous one, will meet at the hands of the religious leaders. In the remainder of Luke's kerygmatic story it will become quite clear that one of Jesus' major temptations deals with food (4:1-4). Luke's story will describe Jesus as the obedient Son of the Father who serves his Father's food to all by assuming the role of the table servant (22:27) and by shunning a life style of being waited on hand and foot.

The opening of Luke's passion account in Ch. 22 will narrate the devil's next full scale attack on Jesus. Significantly the 'opportune time' (4:13) will occur during a holyday and a celebrative meal. The devil's attack will succeed with Judas (22:1-6) who is won over by the life-style of the religious leaders. During this celebrative meal, Jesus' Last Supper, he will warn and encourage his disciples to be faithful to his life-style in giving the food of life to others by being waiters (22:24-27).

Luke 6:21-25 (read the text)

Our comments must be necessarily brief on a passage which boasts of an extensive bibliography. Luke 6:21-25 occur in Luke's sermon on the plain (6:20-49) which gives a sampling of Jesus' teaching on God's kingly justice and contains a minor refrain about the seriousness of hearing Jesus' word aright. (6:27-47).

Luke's kerygmatic story invites the reader to hear the prophet Jesus as he tells that God's promise of a 'messianic banquet' is being fulfilled. And as the storyline unfolds, that fulfillment of the gift of food to the hungry is not something in the far distant past or future. It is fulfilled now for the reader who hears and believes in Jesus: in Jesus whose 'word of God' produces life just as a seed does (see 8:11-21); in Jesus who gives food in abundance to those who hunger in the desert places of life where food seems impossible to find (9:10-17). It is fulfilled now through disciples who help Jesus to distribute food to the hungry. (9:16).

In Jesus God is reversing an apparently impossible situation. The evil of hunger does not stand in the way of God's fidelity. He is faithful to his hungry creation which he feeds through Jesus' word which is actually his own, and through Jesus' gift of plenty.

Luke 8:11-21 [read the texts]

This passage also occurs in Luke's account of Jesus' Galilean ministry. It is set in a content of Jesus' preaching and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God (8:1) and underscores 'hearing'.

Luke identifies the seed with the 'Word of God' (8:11; see also 5:1; 8:21; 11:28 on the 'Word of God') Although the Lukan interpretation of the parable of the sower (8:11-15) accentuates the types of soil which receive the word/seed, the 'food' aspect of the 'seed' is still present. The seed gives life especially when allowed to mature within the listeners (8:15). As a matter of fact, the nature of the seed is to give life which is salvation (8:12). This 'word of God' which gives life is sown in Jesus' preaching and teaching.

Those who have ears to hear should hear (see 8:8). As in the previous block of teaching we examined above (6:20-49) the reader is challenged to listen and understand the word of God as preached by Jesus. We can take this 'listening' motif a step further. Raymond E. Brown is of the opinion that Luke 8:19-21 (along with 11:27-29) is the basis for Luke's presentation of Mary in his infancy narrative. Mary is the model disciple, the one who was made alive by hearing and responding to God's word. Further, there is an element of 'inter signification' between Mary as the ideal disciple who is fed by God's word and Mary the humiliated one (1:48) who must turn to God for justice. Luke presents Mary as a disciple, not only because she said: 'Be it done to me according to your word', but because she understood what the word meant in terms of the life of the poor and the slaves of whom she was a representative."

Luke 9:10-17 [read the text]

What was presented in beatitude earlier in Luke 6:21 is narrated dramatically in this story: those who hunger are satisfied in the kingly ministry of Jesus. At the end of Luke's presentation of Jesus' Galilean Ministry those in a 'desert place' (9:12) are given so much food that they are satisfied and there are leftovers aplenty (9:17). In Jesus God has truly fulfilled his promise of feeding his creation.

And as Luke 9:11 makes it quite clear, Jesus' fulfillment of God's promises of giving food to his needy creation is linked to his preaching the kingdom of God. A hungry creation mocks God's kingly justice. Jesus' kingly justice not only involves extending God's mercy to the poor but also embraces those who in their hunger cry out for God's justice. And Luke 9:15 shows that disciples are to be involved in this justice ministry of feeding the hungry.

This story of God's bounteous gift of life to his creation in Jesus is followed by Luke's first prediction of Jesus' passion and vindication (9:22). The cross is on the horizon. Human selfishness represented by the religious leaders mentioned in 9:22, will not tolerate such largesse of food. They will plot the demise of the giver of life, but God will thwart their plans. The faithful God will resurrect Jesus who will be recognized when he again breaks the bread of life (24:28-31, 35). And disciples who have been beneficiaries of their Master's bounty are instructed about carrying their cross daily after Jesus (9:23). "In Luke's mind, The Master breaking bread with his followers is the Master sharing his mission and his destiny with them!"

Luke's kerygmatic story presents the reader with Jesus, the righteous one and preacher of God's Good News to the poor, who by his words and mighty deeds embodies a God who deeply and graciously cares for and feeds his hungry creation. This is the faithful God of Jesus.

Jesus is a Glutton and a Drunkard

Another way of arranging the Lukan materials on the theme of food is to use the proverbial "glutton and a drunkard" of Luke 7:34 as a focal point. Applied to Jesus this proverb means that Jesus got himself crucified because he ate with apostates from true religion.

We will examine three representative passages: Luke 7:34 which speaks of the religious leaders criticism of Jesus' eating habits of the religious leaders. Luke 22:14-38 which is Jesus farewell instructions to his disciples on how they are to eat after his death, in memory of him. I would advise readers to be on the lookout especially for the 'together with' and 'separation from' aspects of Jesus meals.

Luke 7:34 [read the texts]

This verse is important for Luke's presentation of Jesus during the Galilean phase of his kingly ministry. A number of observations will bring out its importance.

The phrase, 'a glutton and a drunkard' is proverbial for an apostate and is based on Deuteronomy 21:18-21 [read texts].

Jesus' 'apostasy' is eating with tax collectors and sinners - social and religious outcasts, people regarded as apostates by the standards of the religious leaders.

When we link the Lukan Jesus' eating habits with his proclamation of God's kingly justice we begin to spot another aspect of the importance of Luke 7:34. By eating with outcasts, Jesus is saying in dramatic form that God shares life together with them. His eating and drinking with sinners and tax collectors is an 'acted parable' of God's kingly justice. In the Lukan Jesus' kingly ministry, God shares food with all, even those considered 'non-elect'. Joachim Jeremias captures much of the meaning of the Lukan 'acted parable':

In the East, even today, to invite a man to a meal was an honour. It was an offer of peace, trust, brotherhood and forgiveness. In short, sharing a table meant sharing life. In Judaism in particular, table fellowship meant fellowship before God, for the eating of a piece of broken bread by everyone who shares in a meal brings out the fact that they all have a share in the blessings which the Master of the house had spoken over the broken bread. Thus Jesus' meals with the publicans and sinners too, are not only events on a social level, not only an expression of his unusual humanity and social generosity of his sympathy with those who were despised, but had an even deeper significance. They are an expression of the mission and message of Jesus (Mk 2:17), they are eschatological meals, anticipatory celebrations of the feast in the end time (Lk 13:28f; Mt 8:11-12), in which the community of the saints is already being represented (Mk 2:19). The inclusion of sinners in a community of salvation, achieved in table fellowship, is the most meaningful expression of the message of the redeeming love of God.

Jeremias' points are generally very well taken, but as we have implied from time to time earlier, Luke's thematic symbolism should not be restricted to a particular locality or ethnic group. Thus, his food thematic is universal, transcending the culture of the East and of the Jews. Luke's kerygmatic story of Jesus' eating with social and religious outcasts resonates with all readers in whose cultures sharing food is sharing life.

A final observation on the importance of Luke 7:34 is in order. In Luke 7:34 the 'you' of 'you say' refers to the religious leaders. My argument for this position is based on the context. In 7:29-30 Luke clearly separates out 'all the people and the tax collectors' from the religious leaders. It is the religious leaders who criticize both John the Baptist (see the 'you say' of 7:33) and Jesus for the way they eat. As I. Howard Marshall says of Luke 7:34 - 'once again the Jewish leaders failed to see the significance of the living parable in the one who brought to sinners the offer of the divine forgiveness and friendship.'

In Luke's kerygmatic story the religious leaders criticize Jesus not only because of his table companions, but also because he does not instruct his disciples to fast (5:27-39); (see 18:9-14)

The Lukan Jesus' restrictions on fasting go hand in glove with his happy table fellowship with outcasts. As Joseph Wimmer says so insightfully, Jesus dispensed from fasting

not in order to eat, drink and be merry, but in order to share a fellowship of love and conviviality with tax collectors and sinners, with the outcast and the rejected, those most starving of love and acceptance and yet most deprived of it. The contrast between the fasting Pharisees who fear to touch a tax collector lest they become unclean, and Jesus who calls Levi to be an apostle and who pleasantly dines in the company of sinners is striking.

In sum, in the 'acted parable" of his joyous table fellowship with outcasts Jesus shows a faithful God's universal love and mercy. To the religious leaders Jesus' promiscuous table fellowship is apostasy and an act of perverting the people (see 23:2-5; 5-14). Jesus, a glutton and a drunkard, will die for the way he eats.

Luke 14:1-24 [read the texts]

This representative text comes from Luke's account of Jesus' journey to his Father (9:51-19:44) wherein he describes Jesus as calling the crowds to follow him, giving his disciples further instructions about the meaning of his justice, way of life, and disputing with religious leaders. After giving some general Jewish and Greco-roman background about the imagery of our passage, I will make specific observations about Jesus' criticism of the way religious leaders ate. My main point in this section is: Jesus reveals a God who 'eats with', shares life with society's handicapped and declares a person righteous who does the same.

James A. Sanders has helped us appreciate the Jewish background of Luke 14:1-24, especially 14:13,21: the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind. His investigations of those forbidden access to meals in Jewish society is very illuminative. As I list these individuals I would ask the reader to compare this list with those individuals mentioned in Luke 14:13, 21.

The sons of Aaron who are forbidden to offer the bread of God are: blind, lame, mutilated face, limb too long, injured foot, injured hand, hunchback, dwarf, defect in sight, itching disease, scabs, crushed testicles, any blemish (see Lev 21:17-23). The covenanters at Qumran near the Dead Sea, listed the following folk as those forbidden entry into the messianic banquet: afflicted in flesh, crushed in feet or hands, lame, blind deaf, dumb, defective eyesight, senility (IQSa ii 5-22). The Qumran who also forbade the following a share in the Last Holy war: women and boys, lame, blind halt, permanent defect in flesh, afflicted with impurity of flesh, impure sexual organs (IQM vii 4-6). Luke seems to have been responsible for adding 'the poor' to the list of pariahs in Luke 14:13,21.

There is some evidence that not only Jewish society, but also Greco-Roman society had a bias against the handicapped. As W. den Boer writes:

In Greece the state took upon itself the care of those members of the community who had been maimed in battle. It is to its everlasting honour that the Greek state did not allow those who had served their country with life and limb to waste away in misery. This rule, as I see it, deserves all the more praise, when we consider that other maimed or otherwise deformed persons were more likely to be treated with hostility by the community.

From the evidence adduced above from the Jewish and non-Jewish sources, I would universalize the maimed, 'the lame and the blind' of Luke 14:13,21 to mean the handicapped of society. These individuals are representative of those people whom a society would deem to be outside the pale of its care and concern.

Luke draws upon Greek imagery in setting 14:1-24 in the Greco-Roman symposium pattern. During the flow of this symposium of 14:1-24, the topic of places of honour occurs in 14:7-11. This motif occurs frequently in the literature about symposia. Lucian's Convivium 8-9 offers a comic elaboration of this motif:

By that time we had to take our places, for almost everyone was there. On the right as you enter, the women occupied almost the whole couch, as there were a good many of them with the bride among them, very scrupulously veiled and hedged in by the women. Towards the back door came the rest of the company according to the esteem in which each was held. Opposite the women, the first was Eucritus, and then Aristaenetus. Then a question was raised whether Zenothenis the Scotic should have precedence, he being an old man, or Hermon the Epicurean, because he was a priest of the Twin Brethren and a member of the leading family in the city. But Zenothenis solved the problem: 'Aristaenetus, said, he, 'if you put me second to this man here - an epicurean, to say nothing worse of him, - I shall go away and leave you in full possession of your board.

The general background material I have given about prejudices against handicapped and those seeking after the first places at feasts will help us appreciate certain key points about Luke 14:1:24. In 14:7-11 Jesus criticizes the religious leaders for the way they eat. In seeking after places of honour, they are using a meal which celebrates God's gift of food and life, as a means of celebrating themselves. Implicitly Jesus, the prophet of God's good news to the poor, is criticizing the religious leaders for not being 'waiters' as he himself is, the one who serves the Father's good food to all. In Luke 20:46 Jesus will criticize the religious leaders for seeking after places of honour at feasts.

In Chapter three we discussed the lifestyle of the 'righteous' person, Luke 14:12-14 makes the clear and forceful point that the righteous person, the one who will be repaid at the 'Resurrection of the just' is the righteous person who shares food with the disadvantaged. And sharing food is the symbol for sharing life.

The parable in Luke 15:1-24 ties all of 14:24 together. 'To eat bread in the Kingdom of God' (14:15) repeats the 'to eat bread' which began this section (14:1). The gathering of the religious leaders 'to eat bread' together is for them an 'acted parable' of the nature of the messianic banquet. Their close table fellowship reveals those whom God has elected and those whom He has rejected. As Charles W.F. Smith says so pointedly "it is then in reply to this attitude (smug self-confidence) that Luke represents the parable as being spoken, as if Jesus had turned to his sanctimonious neighbour and said, "Yes, but let me tell you a story." In this context it is not merely effective but well nigh devastating. As we have seen earlier in this chapter, the true 'acted parable' of God's messianic banquet is Jesus' table fellowship together with sinners and tax collectors.

The final point about Luke 14:15-24 is its reversal theme: the expected ones, the elect do not respond to Jesus' invitation, but the unexpected ones do heed it. For this last point to make full sense, one must remember that the 'poor and maimed and blind and lame" of 14:21 and the 'homeless' of 14:22 are not forced against their wills to come to the banquet. The 'compel' of 14:23 reflects oriental hospitality. The handicapped know their need, are open to the faithful God's call in Jerusalem, and come freely to his banquet of life. Apparent injustice on God's part for their condition has not closed down their search for him and his gift of life.

In the light of the criticism of 11:37-54 and now of 14:1-24 it is no wonder that the hostility of the religious leaders mounts against Jesus. After Jesus' last criticism of how the religious leaders eat (20:46), they will plot his murder (22:1-2)

Luke 22:14-38 [read the texts]

This passage is so rich that it is impossible to capture all of its meaning in the compass of this book. My goal is to set some of the elements of its food symbolism "in motion once more" for the reader. After giving some general perspectives on Luke's gathering together of themes in Luke 22:14-38, I will provide specific exploration on Jesus' fidelity and on the disciples' encouragement.

Perspectives
Luke's general perspectives could be summarized in the following sentences. Luke 22:14-38 is Jesus' farewell discourse at his last meal. This meal center of attention is not Jesus' words of institution in 22:19b-20. This meal is a last supper in a sequence of meals celebrated by Jesus, 'a glutton and a drunkard.' During this meal, God's promises are fulfilled. Throughout the length and breadth of 22:14-38, Luke exhorts his readers. These brief sentences are spelled out in the following paragraphs.

Luke has formed this material into a farewell discourse in which Jesus, like worthies of old, speaks about the meaning of life and tells his disciples how to live life. An example of this literary form is found in "The Testament of Joseph" in the inter-testamental book called 'The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs'. Joseph is about to die and calls his children and relatives to him. His life of fidelityto God becomes a model for them as Joseph tells of his chastity in the face of temptations of Pharaoh's wife and of his conciliatory love towards his brothers who had sold him into slavery. The one who seemed doomed to death and separated from his people is rescued by God and becomes the saviour of his people. Through his story of Joseph, the author exhorts his readers to similar fidelity to God in the midst of adversity. As we will see below, Jesus bequeaths to his disciples a life-style of fidelity to a Father who wants them to help effect his kingly justice of feeding those in need.

This meal is a 'last' supper in a sequence of 'suppers' in Luke. Check back over Luke 5:27-32, where Jesus ate with Levi and other sinners whom Levi, turned repentant and missionary, had called to follow Jesus. Such table fellowship was an "acted parable" of God's universal love. Recall Luke 7:36-50 which narrates Jesus the prophet at a meal in the house of a religious leader. Jesus lives out his teaching about the forgiveness of sins. In Luke 9:10-17 Jesus provides an abundant feast for those in a desert place. The Martha-Mary story of Luke 10:38-42 reveals that Jesus, contrary to the rabbis calls women to follow him and to serve God's needy creation. Luke 11:37-54 presents Jesus at table with religious leaders prophetically challenging them for their lack of justice. Luke 14:1-24 again features Jesus at table with religious leaders. Jesus critiques their way of eating and exhorts them to care for the disadvantaged and not for self. Luke 19:1-10 is the high point of Jesus' table association with tax collectors. Despite the murmuring of the bystanders, Jesus proposes to stay and dine with Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector, whose justice work consists in giving half of his possessions to the poor. Indeed, Jesus is 'a glutton and a drunkard'. The reader should note how many features of these previous meals come together in the farewell meal of Luke 22:14-38, e.g. controversy.

Jesus' predictions of his passion and vindication are being fulfilled in this passage. See Luke 9:22; 9:43b-45; 18:31-34. Indeed a prophet cannot die outside of Jerusalem (see 13:31-35).

The readers' eyes may have been trained by liturgical usage to pay greatest attention to the words of Institution in Luke 22:19-20. Scholars like Paul Minear, rightly caution against this: "in this story the center of gravity lies not in the words of Institution, but, as at earlier tables, in the four key dialogues between Jesus and the disciple. "Since Luke 22:14-38 is a unit, no part, not even 22:19-20, should be isolated from the whole which provides his interpretative background."

The text is directed to the readers. Its intent is kerygmatic to offer proclamation and not historical detail. Its masterful use of food symbolism is meant to draw the readers into the meaning of the supper for their lives. Readers are not to be passive spectators of historical events. For example, Luke 22:21-23 does not mention Judas by name. Luke has moved beyond the particulars to be universal. Readers who have been invited by Luke's kerygmatic story time after time to assume the justice life-style of Jesus can see themselves as the one questioned at a meal which celebrates that life-style.

Finally, Luke's perspective is that of fulfillment of promise. Jesus, God's righteous one and God's prophet of good news to the poor, is described as looking beyond the cross to his endowment with kingly power (22:29-30). The God in whom he trusted as the faithful God has already, in an anticipatory exercise of his justice, given the life of the resurrection of the just (14:14-15) to his righteous one.

Jesus' commitment to his faithful God.
This segment of Luke's kerygmatic narrative leaves no doubt that Jesus, whose life of fidelity was seen in advance in the temple scene of 2:49 and in the temptation scene of 4:1-4, is faithful to his Father even to his death. Jesus, who had in his kingly ministry been servant of God's food to all people, is faithful to God to the end. As he prepares to suffer, he offers his disciples food. That is the meaning of Jesus' gift of the cup in 21:17. And Jesus fidelity to God continues after his death. For, he exercises God's kingly rule of feeding the hungry even after his exaltation (Luke 24:30-43; Acts 1:4; 10:41). And in eating with his disciples, the risen Jesus shows that God's kingdom has come (22:16-18).

Luke 22:19-20 provides a similar but different view of the 'last' meal. Jesus life of serving food to outcasts and apostates earned him the reputation of being 'a glutton and a drunkard'. His criticism of the religious leaders' way of eating issued in their plot to kill him. On the eve of his suffering, Jesus' entire life (body and blood), a life for others to the point of death, is bread and wine for his disciples. Jesus' life gives meaning to their lives. A meal in memory of Jesus is one which celebrates and prolongs a life style of justice and of serving the Father's food to all.

On one level it is not true that Jesus who is depicted as reclining throughout the meal recounted in 22:14-38, is serving at table (22:27).. But, on another - on a more profound thematic and theological level - it is surpassingly true that Jesus is among his disciples as a waiter. In serving God's food to others, Jesus embodies God's kingly justice. Waiting at table is Jesus' life-style and has being contrasted earlier in Luke's story with that of the religious leaders, who seek places of honour at table (14:7, 20:46) and with that of the rich fool and Dives who feast sumptuously without a care for sharing food with others through almsgiving (see 12:13-21 and 16:19-31)

Twice our passage uses Jesus' obedience to God's will as found in Scripture as a means of showing his fidelity to his Father (22:22-37). The stakes of his commitment are the highest possible - life and death. For, to remain committed to the Father is to be in conflict with Satan (22:53). Who is in control of food and of life? Is it the faithful God who is directing his prophet Jesus to continue to give people food and drink even though it seems that this director cannot even sustain his prophet? Or is it Satan who has returned at this "opportune time" (see 4:13) to shake Jesus' disciples vigorously in hopes that their faith in the faithfulness of God of Jesus will fail (22:31-34)? Ever since 4:1-13, Luke has painted a picture of Jesus as a person of integrity, obedient to his Father's will. From Luke 14:22-38 onwards, Jesus' probity and loving obedience are found in almost every verse. These twin themes will hit the literary and theological high point in Chapter 23.

Encouragement for the disciples
As we have just seen, Luke 22:14-38 underscores Jesus' life-style of trust in his Father and commitment to his kingly justice of feeding the hungry despite the accusation that he is a glutton and a drunkard. Luke presents Jesus' disciples, not his family, at the table with him, and sets them over against the faithful Jesus. They are strengthened by him but they also will stumble.

The disciples are to eat as Jesus ate, in memory of him (22:19). Their continual sharing of food with one another in memory of Jesus' table fellowship is their commitment to Jesus' kingly justice of feeding the hungry and eating with outcasts, although such commitment might result in persecution. And this meal placed in a farewell discourse setting has a dual future orientation. It looks beyond the crucifixion to the resurrection: by giving his crucified righteous one and prophet the life of the resurrection, the Father has dramatized his faithfulness to his promises of feeding a hungry creation and shown what his kingdom really means. As the disciples eat in Jesus' memory they trust in the faithful God who has fed his creation in Jesus, is feeding it now in this meal, and will give it definitive life when his kingdom is completely realized.

Disciples are challenged by Luke 22:21-23 to examine their life-styles at a meal which celebrates Jesus' life-style of giving food to others. Might their lives be the opposite of what is celebrated in this meal?

The religious leaders have provided negative examples of those who seek after the first place at celebrations of life (14:7 and 20:46). The disciples are drilled with Jesus' positive example of one who serves God's food to others to the point of giving his life for the life of others. (22:24-27)

Despite the apparent infidelity expressed in their seeking after greatness (22:24-27), the disciples are defined in 22:28 as those who have faithfully stood by Jesus in his persecution, persecutions to leave the Father's way and to join ranks with the religious leaders and their life-style of injustice and feeding of self. Jesus' care for his disciples is so deep that Satan and his persecutions cannot wrest them from his hands. (22:31-34)

Luke 22:35-38 is not as clear in all respects as one might like, but its main point is clear. As the disciples continue Jesus' mission of feeding others, they are not going to be freed from persecutions and strife. They too may be called gluttons and drunkards. The metaphor of the "swords" points to this violence. And as 22:47-53 will narrate, to understand swords literally is to mis-understand the peaceful Jesus.

In Luke 22:14-38 the disciples are often contrasted unfavourably with Jesus: they jockey for positions of honour, they lack integrity. Paul Minear does not over interpret the evidence too much when he notes that in 22:14-38, Luke describes Jesus as being among transgressors. And the transgressors are not now the unconverted tax collectors and sinners, but his own disciples. Just as earlier meals had celebrated God's forgiveness, so too does this one. Being with Jesus at table provides life-giving forgiveness to disciples to become more faithful waiters to those who hunger for life.

Conclusion to Chapter Four
In this chapter Luke's theme of food has helped us answer the question of how Jesus got to the cross. Jesus got himself crucified because of the way he ate. The religious leaders could not tolerate this prophet of good news to the poor who not only in word but especially at meals criticized their way of life. They also termed him a glutton and a drunkard, for his way of eating did not accord with their view of divine concourse, Jesus was for them, a spokes-person for an alien God. As they will declare before Pilate, Jesus was leading the people astray.

And why does Luke's kerygmatic story depict Jesus as enjoying life so much? Luke's view of God is the answer. And as his narrative goes, Jesus is the revealer of this God, the faithful God who feeds his hungry creation and rectifies the ills that plague it, and rejoices to sup with sinners. Can the readers believe in this God?

Our consideration of Luke 22 at the end of this chapter has prepared us for Luke's description of Jesus' last hours in Jerusalem. The Book of Wisdom offers an excellent advance commentary. Wisdom 2:19-20 bears eloquent testimony to Jesus' passion as God's righteous one: "Let us test him with insult and torture that we may find out how gentle he is and make trial of his forebearance. Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for according to what he says he will be protected." In the face of such insult Jesus maintains his moral integrity and is protected by his faithful God.

And Wisdom 5:4-6 records what the oppressors of the righteous one say when they see how God has vindicated him. "This is the man whom we once held in derision and made a byword of reproach. We were fools! We thought his life was madness and that his end was without honour! Why was he numbered among the sons of God? And why is his lot among the saints? So, it was we who strayed from the way of truth and the light of righteousness did not shine on us."