Acts 2:46b, “They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.”

When I went to Israel several years back for a tour, I noticed that our Jewish guides were incredibly friendly and wonderful about making our trip meaningful for us. They couldn't have served us better. However they would not eat with us.

They ate at a separate table because to them, breaking bread and eating together was much more than a friendly expression. It had deep meaning to them about solidarity. To dip your bread in the bowl and eat with someone meant that you cared for them and were committing to a friendship that looked out for each other.

Serving others and giving them what they need is a beautiful thing. There are several scriptures in the bible about serving the poor -moving towards them to meet their needs. Jesus, however, did more than this. He would go to the house of the poor and break bread with them. He would move into a friendship with them in a way that was healing and met their needs.

An example was Zecchaeus. He was well off from cheating and taking advantage of his own people, but he was disliked, lonely, incredibly destitute spiritually. Jesus saw him, went to his house and broke bread with him and many other people who were seen as 'sinners.'

Jesus more than fed them, he established a relationship with them that was based upon caring about them and for them. I loved this about a program I was in at one time... they helped people move beyond serving the poor to moving towards them in having a relationship.

In breaking bread, this place of communion and friendship, Jesus is seen. Luke 24:30,35 says, “When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. ... Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.”

My first pastor (who later died of cancer) comes to my heart when I think of breaking bread with the poor. I still remember getting together with her for the first time for coffee the day after her 50^th birthday. There was no casual conversation with her. The questions she asked me made me uncomfortable. They were so hard and painful to answer that they made me shake under the table as I answered her. I remember being embarrassed about this as I answered them but when I walked away that day, I also noticed it seemed some deep healing had taken place.

Shortly before I felt God speak to me strongly about having coffee with my pastor, I heard Him clearly speak to me, “You don't know how destitute you are.” I know I didn't have anything to add spiritually to our relationship but that day she chose to come into my life as a friend and invited me into hers.  

She didn't have superficial friendship, she broke bread with me by sharing her life and coming into mine.  And in it, I experienced spiritual growth and healing I had not anticipated and could not have received other ways.

It is not enough to hold casual conversation.  Pope Francis writes in Church of Mercy, "True mercy, the mercy God gives to us and teaches us, demands justice; it demands that the poor find the way to be poor no longer.  Accompanying on its own is not enough....Charity that leaves the poor person as he or she is, is not sufficient."

What does it look like in our lives to “break bread “ with the poor? In what ways are we not only serving them but entering into their lives and inviting them into our lives? We cannot “break bread” with everyone, but perhaps there are a few that God would invite us into this.

Lord, lead us to be more like you.