'He has filled the hungry with good things.' (NKJV)
Good King Wenceslas
'"Bring me flesh and bring me wine
Bring me pine logs hither
Thou and I will see him dine
When we bear him thither."'
To be honest, there's not much in the biblical Christmas narrative about feasting...... which is such an important part of our Christmas experience! So are we wrong to celebrate in this way? Even the references above are about feeding the poor, and not feasting.
If you take the Bible as a whole, there is actually a lot about feasting, from Abraham providing the best quality meal for his angelic visitors to Jesus' story about the prodigal son's welcome home party! Jesus, himself, went to many parties; the wedding feast at Cana and the meals at Simon the pharisee's house and at Matthew's to name just a couple.
I feel sad, however, that so many people have to overindulge, particularly in alcohol, in order to have a good time. It seems for some people it's the only way to drown out the worries of life, fully relax, and let go of inhibitions.
The father in the prodigal son story said to his elder son, "Let's have a feast and celebrate! For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found."
So I would slightly alter that and say,
Let's have a feast and celebrate! For the whole human race was dead and now can live again through Jesus!
No comments:
Post a Comment