Aristotle at the Table

Aristotle said that no one can be friends with a god. Why? Because friendship requires equality, and what god would step down from their heavenly status to become equal with lowly human beings?

I wonder what Aristotle would’ve done if he’d been present at the Last Supper (Matthew 26:26-28). For there, Jesus—the Creator of all, who left His heavenly status to become a lowly human being (Colossians 1:16; Philippians 2:6-8)—told His disciples He no longer called them servants, but friends (John 15:15).

Aristotle would’ve been surprised too, at who sat at that table. There was Matthew, the Roman-friendly tax collector; and then Simon, the Roman-denouncing Zealot (Matthew 10:3-4); along with James and John, the “sons of thunder” (Mark 3:17) sitting with quiet Philip. I imagine Aristotle watching quizzically as Jesus described some bread and wine as His “body” and “blood,” broken and poured out for the “forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:26-28). What god would die for mere mortals, even those who’d soon abandon Him (v. 56)?

That’s one reason the Lord’s Supper or Communion is so profound. Through Jesus, God became friends with humans, and enabled friendships between those with political and temperamental differences. As we eat and drink at the Lord’s Table, we celebrate the one who rewrote friendship’s rules, human and divine.