08 | April | 2015 | betsybeadhead

Tax collectors and sinners were coming to Jesus to listen to what he had to say. The Pharisees and scribes complained about this saying “This man welcomes sinners and dines with them!”

LK 15:1-2

(People also questioned why Jesus would bless small children.)

“Be careful that you don’t belittle young children. You need to know that their angels constantly see my Father in heaven. The Son of Man has come to rescue the lost.”

MT 18:10-11

“Consider this, if one of you has a flock of 100 sheep, and one of them wanders away and gets lost, don’t you leave the 99 on the hillside to go find the one who wandered away? I assure you, if you find it you’ll joyfully put it on your shoulders and come home, calling your friends and neighbors together to rejoice with you that you have found your lost sheep. You’ll celebrate over that one sheep more than you will about the 99 that stayed. In the same way, your Father in heaven will celebrate more about one sinner who returns to Him than over the 99 righteous people who never turned away. It is not the will of your Father in heaven that anyone should perish.

MT 18:12-14, LK 15:3-7

Why don’t we skip the food part of “comfort food” to go straight into comfort?

Part of the problem is that we have equated everything with food. If there’s a party, there’s food. If there’s grief, there’s food. Happy or sad, we use food. We use food to celebrate and to bring ourselves out of a funk. Food is equated with feeling good.

We self-medicate with food all the time, in part because this is what we were taught to do. We aren’t taught how to deal with our feelings or with problems.

We teach our children that if they are upset they should put something in their mouths. We do it with actual food or we do it with a pacifier. This is incredibly unhealthy. You may think food isn’t as bad as drugs but the side effects of overeating can include obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. And the problem still isn’t solved. The reason for the need for comfort is still there.