No Water Until He's Dead

~Acts 23.12-14, 16, 20, 22

The next morning a group . . . bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul. There were more than forty of them in the conspiracy. They went to the leading priests and elders and told them, “We have bound ourselves with an oath to eat nothing until we have killed Paul. ” But Paul’s nephew—his sister’s son—heard of their plan and went to the fortress and told Paul [who sends him to the commander]. Paul’s nephew told him, “Some Jews are going to ask you to bring Paul before the high council . . . . They have vowed not to eat or drink anything until they have killed him.” . . . . “Don’t let anyone know you told me this,” the commander warned the young man.

In II Corinthians 8 and 9 and in Romans 15 we learn that Paul is collecting an offering from the new outlying churches for the central church in Jerusalem. In Acts 20 and 21 we see him determined to take this gift to Jerusalem himself, despite great personal risk. Some Jewish radicals in Jerusalem are so hostile to Paul's message they vow not to eat or drink until they have killed him. As the human body can only go a few days without water, that's a serious intent. Do you suppose any of these guys actually died after Paul was safely whisked away under guard of Roman soldiers?

Sleeping in "Church" Leads to Meaningful Meeting

~Acts 20.7-12

On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking, . . .and he prolonged his message until midnight. There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered together. And there was a young man named Eutychus sitting on the window sill, sinking into a deep sleep; and as Paul kept on talking, he was overcome by sleep and fell down from the third floor and was picked up dead. But Paul went down and fell upon him, and after embracing him, he said, “Do not be troubled, for his life is in him.” When he had gone back up and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while until daybreak, and then left. They took away the boy alive, and were greatly comforted.

Wouldn't we love to have more details of this story. The group gathers to "break bread." That could mean they gathered to have a meal together, but since the talk came first and went on until midnight, it seems more likely they gathered to take the sacrament of communion, honoring the death of Christ. Warm light flickers from the lamps; Paul's voice intones on and on. The teenager Eutychus, whose name means fortunate one, slowly slips into daze phase and then his body relaxes into sleep. One moment he is there; the next there's a soft shuffling sound, and whoosh, he's gone!

Who saw it? Maybe his friends who had been watching and snickering as he drifted off? What excitement for them! Maybe Paul who would have been facing his audience was the one to sound the alarm. Certainly it wasn't his mother, for we know that no self-respecting mom would have let her kid fall asleep in such a spot. Did the audience hear the scrape of his sandals against the wall as he fell from the window sill or the thud as the body hit the ground below? Maybe no one really saw him go, but hearing a sound, a curious person standing nearby went to the window and looked down.

Either way, the alarm was sounded and doubtless there was a sudden speedy exit from the room as everyone rushed down the stairs, Eutychus' family with some fear I would guess. Young's Literal Translation says the youth was "lifted up dead." What does Paul do? The translations have different views, from J.B. Phillips' "bent over him and holding him gently in his arms" to the statement of The Message that Paul "stretched himself on him, and hugged him hard."

Gently or vigorously, the boy was revived, much to everyone's relief. After returning to the room, the thankful believers having just looked death in the face and experienced an amazing resuscitation, shared the Lord's supper. Perhaps they were more attentive after that, as the text says Paul continued talking with them until dawn. What a service that would have been to attend.

Sowing Generously for a Great Harvest

~II Corinthians 9.10

For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.

This time a food analogy is used in relation to generosity in giving. God provides the seed, which, when sown into the ground by the farmer, will produce a great harvest. So be it!

Gone without Food

~I Corinthians 6.4-7a In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every kind. We have been beaten, been put in prison, faced angry mobs, worked to exhaustion, endured sleepless nights, and gone without food. We prove ourselves by our purity, our understanding, our patience, our kindness, by the Holy Spirit within us, and by our sincere love. We faithfully preach the truth. God’s power is working in us.

~I Corinthians 11.27 I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.

Going without food was a cost this apostle sometimes had to pay in his extensive work and travel to share the knowledge of God in Jesus.

Does ice cream hesitation make it sin?

~Romans 14.22b-23

Blessed are those who don’t feel guilty for doing something they have decided is right. But if you have doubts about whether or not you should eat something, you are sinning if you go ahead and do it. For you are not following your convictions. If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.

For me, this verse is different. Since it's linked to the verses about causing others to stumble, I assume Paul is carrying through on the same thought here. BUT to me this is about looking at a a carton of Bryers Rocky Road and thinking, "hmmm. I already had some chocolate today. Probably I'd be better off to pass this up." I'm not thinking of others at all. Indeed, I don't know of anyone who would tell me that I shouldn't eat several servings of chocolate a day if I want to, given that I'm in good health. No. For me the issue is that I know that an abundance of desserts is not a great nutritional choice; my grandpa died of diabetes; my bones need more alkaline and less acidic food. So I know that the ice cream is not the best choice and I hesitate. Paul is saying here that given these doubts, if I indulge that's sin.

Limiting for Love

~Romans 14.1-3

Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong. For instance, one person believes it’s all right to eat anything. But another believer with a sensitive conscience will eat only vegetables. Those who feel free to eat anything must not look down on those who don’t. And those who don’t eat certain foods must not condemn those who do, for God has accepted them.

~Romans 14.6b

Those who eat any kind of food do so to honor the Lord, since they give thanks to God before eating. And those who refuse to eat certain foods also want to please the Lord and give thanks to God.

~Romans 14.14-16

I know . . . that no food, in and of itself, is wrong to eat. But if someone believes it is wrong, then for that person it is wrong. And if another believer is distressed by what you eat, you are not acting in love if you eat it. Don’t let your eating ruin someone for whom Christ died. . . . For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

~Romans 14.20-22

Don’t tear apart the work of God over what you eat. Remember, all foods are acceptable, but it is wrong to eat something if it makes another person stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything else if it might cause another believer to stumble. You may believe there’s nothing wrong with what you are doing, but keep it between yourself and God. Blessed are those who don’t feel guilty for doing something they have decided is right.

Paul expounds again here for Roman readers some of the same points he made to Corinthian readers in I Corinthians 8, 9, and 10. "No food . . .is wrong to eat," yet believers are urged to limit their freedom out of love. So if I am a in a setting where something is disapproved of, something which I believe is ok, rather than flaunt my freedom or engage in arguments, I am to "keep it between myself and God."

Give your enemy a drink.

~Romans 12.20-21 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Paul repeats Proverbs 25.21-22, using another food analogy to show us the Christlike way to live.

Scary Verse

~Romans 11.9 And David says:
“May their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them. "

This is Paul quoting what David says in Psalm 69--a scary verse. People who have little to eat and who give it little thought are unlikely to suffer this plight. But when the table is laden with plenty of variety and rich fare, as are most tables in the US today, it's possible for people to get so focused on the food, the comfort, the affluence, that they can lose track of what really matters: their spiritual lives and relationship with God.


~Romans 11:16 If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

. . . another hats off to the power of spreading yeast in dough.

God's Table for Us

~Psalm 23.5

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

I have been reading in Romans in the chronological Bible and not hit on any food references for a week, so I decided to jump to Psalms in the meantime.

How wonderful that in David's most famous poem, his shepherd-influenced picture of how God loves and cares for his children, we have a table set for us. I picture it as an amazing feast. Perhaps it is the one Jesus mentions in the references below.

~Matthew 8.10-11

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said . . . “many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

~Luke 13.29

People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.

~Luke 14.15 [ The Parable of the Great Banquet ] When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus,

“Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”

Wow! Wonder what's on the menu. :-]

Food = Pleasure

~Romans 1:13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you . . . in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles. NIV

~Romans 1.13 I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to visit you, but I was prevented until now. I want to work among you and see spiritual fruit, just as I have seen among other Gentiles. NLB

~Romans 1.13 Please don't misinterpret my failure to visit you, friends. You have no idea how many times I've made plans for Rome. I've been determined to get some personal enjoyment out of God's work among you, as I have in so many other non-Jewish towns and communities. But something has always come up and prevented it. The Message

Paul refers to his beloved new believers as fruit or as a harvest, again using a satisfying food analogy to communicate pleasure.

Death like a wheat seed

~I Corinthians 15.35-38 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.

I don't understand why Paul thinks this is a foolish question. But he answers with an analogy of wheat.