When cultural observers fret over the disintegration of once-intact families in our culture, one of the things they point to is how often people eat their meals separately, or eat them in haste, having breakfast over the sink. This concern is well-grounded—there is something to it. We should focus on table fellowship, both here and in our homes.
At the same time, we should know that this is not the entire picture. For example, what did God tell the Israelites when He established the Passover?
“And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord’s passover” (Ex. 12:11).
There is a time and a place for us to eat our meals in haste, and there is a sense in which this meal should remind us that we are pilgrim people. This is not only the bread of life, it is bread for the way. But do not worry over it. God has prepared us. Our shoes will not wear out. The Rock that accompanies us is Christ. We have been given everlasting waybread.
“When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, With the voice of joy and praise, With a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast” (Ps. 42:4, NKJV).
We are a pilgrim people, and this also is a pilgrim feast. The apostle Peter reminds us that this is part of what reminds us to stay on a wartime footing. The fact that God prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies should not make us forget that we have enemies.
“Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul” (1 Pet. 2:11).
So come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.