You know those self-serve kiosks that keep on popping up in grocery stores and fast food restaurants? Well, I’m pretty sure those are the work of the devil. Here’s why.
In the early 1800’s, a Jewish preacher and teacher named Rabbi Haim taught a village of Lithuanians an interesting allegory for life. He said that one day a man was praying to God and said, “I would like to know what heaven and hell look like.” God surprisingly answered his prayer to him in the affirmative, opening to him the first door – the door to hell. In hell, there was a delicious pot of simmering stew, but everyone in the room appeared gaunt and sickly. Everyone in the room had spoons, but the spoons were four feet long and they could not get the food from the pot to their mouths with the long spoons. Next God showed the man what heaven looked like. To the man’s surprise, it was the same scene: people gathered around a pot of simmering stew with long spoons, but these people had figured something out: everyone could get food and be happy if they fed one another. That, said Rabbi Haim, is the difference between heaven and hell – people who serve one another.
While Rabbi Haim never meant that story to be a literal picture of what heaven or the Resurrection looks like, Peter does appear to tell us that it is what the kingdom of God looks like in this time before heaven. In his words to the scattered Christians of his day, Peter reminds them of the flavor of the stew, a flavor that can only be obtained by being fed by another.
As much as we would like to think it is, Christianity is not a “self-serve” kiosk or vending machine. Christianity is “other serve” and that is what we are called to do in our sending from God. We are sent, each with our gifts given to us by the ultimate “other” who is God, but those gifts are meant not for us, but to serve others and to give them a taste of the stew.
So when you go out today, ignore the satanic self-serve kiosk and talk to a human. As you do that, imagine that you’re carrying a four-foot spoon with you and let that remind you to give some other people a taste of the stew that is the gift of Jesus Christ given to (and through) you. Amen.