Did you know that the home is associated with healing? In Luke 12:42, 43 Jesus tells a parable of the master of the household who appoints a faithful and wise steward to be in charge of his home and to make sure his servants have food while he is away. This same parable is repeated in Matthew 24:45-47. The word household is “therapeia” in the Greek and means “healing, attendance to medical needs, domestic.”
In other words, our homes should be homes of healing—healing the spirit, soul, and body. That’s why God ordained the home. It is an oasis from the storms of life, a sanctuary from the chaos and strife in the world, a place of safety to nurture and raise children, and a place of healing.
One of the powerful places in the home is the table where we eat and fellowship. It is the gathering place. The home centers around food and fellowship. If we do not smell the wonderful smells of spices and herbs enhancing the food cooking on the stove and the aroma of homemade bread in the oven, we miss some of the joys of life.
If we do not sit around the table to communicate, discuss, and share our revelations and thoughts as we eat together, we miss the true essence of home. The table is communal. It promotes oneness, not independence.
The picture God paints of a blessed family is of children “all around the table” (Psalm 1238:3). Tables are meant to be filled. God didn’t intend the 1.8-member family of today’s society. He loves the filled table. And not only the immediate family, but often grandparents and extended family. And friends and strangers. Each one comes with expectancy, ready for new dialogue. The place hums with conversation. No one is lonely. The togetherness brings healing and joy.
And when we eat, it is important to eat healthy foods. This word “healing” that is used for “household” is used in only two other places in the Bible. Both talk about healing.
Luke 9:11 where Jesus “healed them that had need of healing (therapeia).”
Revelation 22:1, 2 speaks of “A pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing (therapeia) of the nations.” Healing foods; not refined junk foods.
Are we careful to prepare healing foods for our husbands and children? This is such an important part of being a homemaker.
Make your home a beautiful place of healing for the spirit, the soul, and the body.
Love from Nancy Campbell
Granpa's Chair is a photograph by Mike Savad which can be purchased.