The Lord’s Supper

When we invite someone we don’t know very well over to our homes for dinner for the first time, we expect that their behavior will be fairly formal or proper, don’t we? Imagine having your child’s fiancé’s parents over, for example, as the first time you ever meet. If they had been quarreling in the car on the way over, we wouldn’t expect them to continue the argument in front of us relative strangers over dinner. If they were worried about something we wouldn’t expect them to cry in front of us. If they felt high-spirited and mischievous, we wouldn’t expect them to start playfully tossing dinner rolls at each other – not with new acquaintances, not at a first meeting. There’s a certain standard of restrained, proper behavior. […]