Why We Feast?
As our local church prepares for our upcoming meal called "Ascension Feast," where we will celebrate with excellent food, rousing songs, bottles of wine, and rich liturgy focused on Christ's glorious rise to His heavenly throne, I felt like it would be an opportune time to reflect upon the biblical foundations for corporate feasting. I also thought it would be an opportune occasion to help men and women in Christ's body understand the importance of why churches should become centers for eating, drinking, fellowshiping, and the spreading of mirth. Why should churches throw lavish feasts? Why should Christians make every effort to participate? To that end, I endeavor.
THE BIBLICAL CASE FOR FEASTING
Throughout Scripture, God's people are called to set apart special times and seasons for joyful eating, singing, and common liturgy. The people of God were called to mark significant days and milestones with eager celebration. Far from being empty and lavish indulgences, Biblical feasting with the saints of God serves a profound purpose in the life of the church and our battle to take back culture.
First and foremost, feasting celebrates God's abundant provision for His people. When the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, God miraculously provided manna and water, and the Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:40-43) became an annual remembrance of His faithfulness during those years. Today, every morsel of food expresses the Lord's steadfast love and care over our lives. Feasting allows us to enjoy His gifts and to thank Him with rich displays of gratitude.
Feasting also cultivates the bonds of fellowship within the body of Christ. Acts 2 describes the early church gathering frequently to break bread "with glad and sincere hearts." Such communal meals build relationships, foster spiritual kinship, increase our collective joy, and unify us around our shared identity and mission in Jesus Christ. When we feast together, we get the opportunity to tangibly live out being one family united by the gospel, and there are few places better fit to celebrate with family than at a food-laden table.
Moreover, the Bible repeatedly uses this metaphor of a grand banquet to depict the eternal fellowship we'll experience with our God in His kingdom (Matthew 22:1-14). Our earthly feasts offer a foretaste of that heavenly celebration to come. Our feasts also celebrate a God who does not lose and is not leading His church into abject failure. When a triumphant army wins the war, it commences with feasting. Because Christ Jesus won the battle over the cosmos and called His people to spread His victory far and wide, we take great care to stop and feast. We are wise to plan stops away from the hustle and bustle of life to rejoice over shared food and wine. Who has more reason to celebrate and have joy than a Christian? We have been rescued from the throes of death, empowered for a new life in Christ, and are a people awaiting the consummation of all things to come. When we feast, we get a glimpse of the eschatological banquet awaiting us, in all its splendor, when Christ returns to us in glory.
With that, feasting reflects the joy we've been given here and now in the gospel itself. The coming of Christ has always been about "good news of great joy" (Luke 2:10), which means following Jesus should be overwhelmingly joyful. How can we not respond to such gracious redemption with jubilant celebration? When we feast, we get the opportunity to loudly proclaim our delight in being bought by the blood of the Lamb. Our feasting declares that the Bridegroom has come. We cannot help but stop everything we are doing to throw a party, sing until our throats go hoarse, raise a glass and make a toast, belly laugh with friends and co-belligerents, and let loose hardy and thunderous amens and amens (Matthew 9:15)!
Finally, feasting grounds us in the goodness of God's material creation. He fashioned the earth and called it "very good" (Genesis 1:31). When we honor the fruits and flocks of the fields with feasting, we bear witness that this physical world, though corrupted, remains the Lord's beloved handiwork to be received by us with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:3-4). We are not gnostics here!
This is a short but Biblical case for feasting.
THE CULTURAL CASE FOR FEASTING
Beyond the biblical reasons I just shared, the communal act of feasting, singing, and shared liturgy is vital for cultivating a distinctly Christian culture - something desperately needed as we face increasing hostility from a secular age. In an interview I recently had with Douglas Wilson (not yet published), Doug Wilson said this to me:
"You cannot fight a naval battle without a navy. You cannot fight in tank warfare without tanks. And in the same way, you cannot participate in a culture war if you have not built a culture." - Douglas Wilson Forthcoming Interview on the Prodcast.
That concept was like a lightning bolt to my soul. Christians have been called to disciple the nations, which means that we are to enculturate the world into the culture of Christ. We are to teach the nations how to think, talk, and walk like Him. We are to show fallen man how to live consistently with the creator's vision, the one who originally made man to live in a fully furnished paradise with great joy. How can we do this high and holy work if we do not have a dynamic, vibrant, magnetic, and Edenic culture to call the world into?
To say that differently, what counter-vision of reality is the Church of Christ telling? What alternative story are we painting so that the nations will flee from their sin and death and join us in paradise? Suppose it is religious dogooderism, snarky judgmentalism, weak winsomeness, or pharisaical fun policing. In that case, we will only attract the kind of white knucklers who have all but eliminated feasting and smiling from Christendom these days. But, if we have a compelling vision of joy in Christ, triumph in His name, and a celebratory lifestyle because we have been saved from all of that religion, then our feasts play an indispensable role in making the kind of culture that will capture the nations.
In a time of profound cultural decay, the church must become a beacon of human flourishing. Yes, and amen. And one of the ways we will do that is by having a compelling and beautiful culture to welcome the world into. As Western Civilization further collapses, we are laboring to build its replacement, which is a robust celebratory people, born out of Scripture and the Gospel, living in the victory of Jesus Christ, and spreading His joyful reign among the nations one brisket and bottle of merlot at a time.
As we feast on the finest provisions, sing historic hymns and spiritual songs, and join our voices in reciting ancient creeds and prayers, we form catechized citizens of a new and heavenly commonwealth. This will bind current and future generations through shared stories, customs, and sanctifying habits. Just as the aroma of lovingly prepared food can unite a family around the table, so the familiar rhythm of our feasting unites us together for the mission Christ has called us to.
So, with that, let us be a festive people. Let us show the world how to party and feast to God's glory. Let us give them a vision of what joy means. And let us approach this upcoming feast with enthusiasm and zeal for our great King!
