When the Lord instructs the...
Illustration
When the Lord instructs the 70 to "eat what is set before you," both humorous and sad stories come to mind. Every December I can count on gaining at least five pounds. Everyone is doing their Christmas baking, and they all want to feed me. With great joy, parishioners bring boxes of candy and cookies into the church office. The Bible study circles, the quilters, and of course, each of the homebound persons that I visit, delight in feeding me their fudge bars and other delicacies. With all too much joy I gobble down the goodies and pay for it with indigestion and a few extra pounds. Ah, 'tis better to give than to receive!
I also recall being in the little village of Coatetelco, Mexico with a group of people from our church. Our Mexican cook provided us with box lunches for the day. When we opened them, we found sandwiches made of cold scrambled eggs and hot sauce in hard rolls --an unusual kind of meal for our midwestern palates. Some grumbled and others made fun of the food, much to the embarrassment of several local farmers with whom we ate. One of our group said she'd rather have a hamburger and a malt. After we tasted them, however, we found them to be quite delicious. This incident reminded me of embarrassing stories about some of the early Christian missionaries who felt it necessary to supplant whatever culture they found with their own. Sometimes "eat what is set before you" means "accept these people where they are."
--Kaul
I also recall being in the little village of Coatetelco, Mexico with a group of people from our church. Our Mexican cook provided us with box lunches for the day. When we opened them, we found sandwiches made of cold scrambled eggs and hot sauce in hard rolls --an unusual kind of meal for our midwestern palates. Some grumbled and others made fun of the food, much to the embarrassment of several local farmers with whom we ate. One of our group said she'd rather have a hamburger and a malt. After we tasted them, however, we found them to be quite delicious. This incident reminded me of embarrassing stories about some of the early Christian missionaries who felt it necessary to supplant whatever culture they found with their own. Sometimes "eat what is set before you" means "accept these people where they are."
--Kaul
