The main thing that distinguishes mealtimes with Jesus, as…

““The main thing that distinguishes mealtimes with Jesus, as Conrad Gempf has shown, from the meals of his contemporaries are four verbs.[44] Whether it’s the feeding of the five thousand, the Last Supper, or the Emmaus meal, four things take place: First, Jesus takes something. Second, Jesus blesses what he takes. Third, Jesus breaks what he has blessed. Fourth, Jesus gives away what he has broken, to be a miracle in the lives of others. First, Jesus takes something. It doesn’t matter what it is. No matter how meager or damaged or out-of-touch it is, it comes to life at the touch of God. Second, Jesus blesses what he takes. You never get a blessing for yourself. You get a blessing to bless others. In the words of the black church, “a blessing can’t get to you unless it first can go through you.” We are blessed to bless. Third, Jesus breaks what he has blessed. The word company derives from Latin words cum and pane, meaning “breaking bread together.” Companion means “the one who brings the bread along,” a community of broken people breaking bread together.[45] Every day I make plans to live forever, but bless everyone I meet that day as having one broken thing in common: the life we soon must lose. Fourth, Jesus gives away what is broken. For Jesus it is not enough to be creative and witty and wise in oneself. Are you the cause of creativity and wit and wisdom in others? Just as we are blessed as we bless, we are fed as we feed. At the table we feed others the Bread of Life to be fed the Bread of Life. The more we give, the more we receive. Of course, these four verbs become one in Jesus himself, who is the Bread, blessed, broken, and bestowed. Some of Jesus’ followers thought he came to give bread to them like manna in the desert. The truth was Jesus came to be bread for them—and for us.””

— Leonard Sweet