A Table Before My Enemies

The Reverend Steven Lanclos / March 13, 2026

The Collect for the Fourth Sunday in Lent

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

This collect draws us immediately into the mystery of Jesus’ mission. Jesus Christ came down from heaven for a purpose. That purpose was not merely to be a good teacher or moral compass, but to offer us himself as true bread for the life of the world.

This “true bread” language is a direct allusion to John 6:51: “I [Jesus] am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” Contextually, this teaching comes on the heels of his miraculous Feeding of the Five Thousand. The day after they were fed, many came to Jesus again expecting another free meal. Always the great preacher, Jesus sees this as a teaching moment to relate their physical hunger (and subsequent satisfaction in the delicious bread that he miraculously multiplied) to their spiritual hunger. Drawing from Israel’s history, Jesus teaches that just as God fed the Israelites manna in the wilderness for physical nourishment (Exodus 16), Jesus offers himself as the true bread of heaven to spiritually nourish the world. Notice the scope of Jesus’ mission: the true bread of heaven gives life to the world, not merely a select few.[1]

In the traditional one-year lectionary, the gospel reading for the 4^th Sunday in Lent is the Feeding of the Five Thousand from John 6. In our current three-year lectionary, the Feeding of the Five Thousand is the gospel reading for year B. As we are currently in year A, this collect ties well with our Psalter reading. Psalm 23:5 states, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” In the ancient world, dining at someone’s table was an act of covenant fellowship and protection. The host of the meal took on all responsibility to nourish, provide for, and protect his guests. God takes this posture toward us, and, significantly, God takes this posture at his table in the presence of our enemies. About this table, the 19^th century Anglican bishop and commentator Charles Ellicott writes, “We must imagine the banquet spread on some secure mountain height, in sight of the baffled foe, who look on in harmless spite.”[2] 

This imagery finds its fuller fulfillment in the Eucharist, which is not only a meal of spiritual nourishment, but a sign of victory. Through his death and resurrection Christ has defeated sin, death, and the devil for us. We who are joined to him by faith and baptism share in his victory. We live in the already-not-yet reality of this truth. All of Christ’s enemies—including death—have been ruined. Death itself will be finally defeated at the last day (1 Corinthians 15:25-26).

Every Eucharist, our gracious host Jesus feeds us the true bread from heaven—his own body and blood. This feast is spread out for us before a hostile world—a conquered world, a world in which Christ is already king—but a hostile world, nonetheless. Thus, when the eucharist is celebrated, Psalm 23 is not merely remembered, it is enacted. We acknowledge his present victory in the world today, and we anticipate the future heavenly banquet in the new heavens and the new earth where we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

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[1]  This concept goes back to the story of his birth. Jesus was born in Bethlehem (from Hebrew meaning “House of Bread”) and placed in a manger, which is a feeding trough. Jesus as the true bread of heaven is born in the House of Bread and presented in a feeding trough symbolically offering himself as food for the world!

[2] https://biblehub.com/commentaries/psalms/23-5.htm.