“Do you think Jesus ate this soup?” 

This thoughtful question was asked by a Sunday school kid as our one-room schoolhouse- style class reviewed an Egyptian Spicy Lentil Pot recipe from Extending the Table. 

After a contemplative pause, I responded, “Yes. I think it is most possible and even probable as lentils were an affordable staple of the time.” 

Another unplanned pause unfolded as we all sat in reverent, reflective silence for a moment taking that in. How indescribably wonder-filled it is to think about this soup being a shared meal with Jesus across continents and centuries.

During Advent I’m getting to spend time with our Sunday school kids, and each week we’ve been exploring the many names of Jesus. On peace Sunday we were in conversation about Jesus the refugee and imagined the kindness of strangers who welcomed his family upon their arrival in Egypt. That naturally led to talking about hospitality often being associated with shared food. This then led to kinetic (hands-on) learning by making soup which we planned to share as an act of hospitality and offering of peace.

Throughout his ministry, Jesus sat down and ate with strangers, tax collectors, sinners, women, disciples, Pharisees, lepers, the poor and marginalized. The list goes on. No one seems to be excluded from his table. Indeed, when I posed these questions to the kids: “Who did Jesus eat with?” and “Who is invited to Christ’s table today?”, the response was a unanimous “Everyone.” How encouraging and challenging this is! So simple and yet not. 

In preparing for the Sunday school lesson, I came across a song by David Bjorlin and Greg Scheer, titled Build a Longer Table. Here is verse one:

Build a longer table, not a higher wall,
feeding those who hunger, making room for all.
Feasting together, stranger turns to friend,
Christ breaks walls to pieces; false divisions end.

We listened (auditory learning) to this song multiple times (repetition helps learning), and we looked at an image (visual learning) for which the caption read, “When you have more than you need, build a longer table, not a higher wall.” This is what hospitality looks like. This is what discipleship looks like. This is what hope, peace, joy and love look like. Eating together is a reconciling ministry of Christ and a delicious one!  

As a Sunday school, we made a double batch of Egyptian soup and served it as a welcome surprise to the adults who were staying on for a meeting to discuss and decide what “welcome” looks like at our church. The result: our church voted and approved extending our table.  

RECIPE

Spiced Lentil Soup

Adapted from Extending the Table’s Spicy Lentil Pot (Egypt) recipe

Ingredients

• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tomatoes, chopped or 8-ounces tomato sauce
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 ½ cups red lentils or yellow split peas
• 6 cups water
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Instructions

1. Add everything into a soup pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes or until lentils are tender. 
2. Puree. An immersion blender works  great for this. A regular blender or food processor also works well. (Note: Be cautious when transferring hot liquids. You may want to allow the soup it to cool a bit and then reheat before serving.) 
3. Serve and enjoy! Additional salt and fresh ground black pepper may be added to taste, if desired.