Food for Thought and Life

As we all know, one of the best ways to get folks to show up at church is to have food available. We all love a good potluck, and anything advertised as being “catered” is sure to get a good response. Jesus must have known this; in fact, we share a meal named after Him, which He instituted, the Lord’s Supper. Not much of a meal, in regards to the amount and variety, but we have come to rely on the many other blessings we receive when we come together to partake, and I only name a few: the receiving of a divine blessing in the Spirit, the sense of unity we share as God’s people, and a foretaste of the feast to come in Heaven, which we will joyfully share with all believers. Food is found throughout the Bible, and today is a source not only of sustenance for us but is a source of joy and fellowship.

Sharing a meal is foundational in most cultures around the world. It is the way to make new friends and forge social ties, and deepen our relationships with those we have known longer. The busy-ness of the modern world has made the opportunities for such times of bonding increasingly less frequent, but all the more special when they take place. God made us for relationships, and we intuitively feel the importance of shared meals. We may know how stressful they can be when we are with folks we don’t get along with, but we treasure the shared meals with those we love.

One of the things I have missed the most during this time of social distancing is the food we used to have here at church, not just the potlucks, but the juice and Karen’s bread for the Lord’s Supper, and the cookies and coffee we share after the service. As the months have passed, it seems like we are getting back to the fellowship we shared after the service, hanging out a little longer than we did at the start of pandemic, and so it isn’t as hard to endure the lack of cookies. We are still getting the best rewards of our time together, as we catch up and share what is going on in our lives, but it has been an adjustment. Having food available somehow makes interacting a little easier, and more enjoyable. Eating the same things helps us feel connected at a very basic level. But even without treats to eat, we still have that sense of a special connection with each other, bound together in the love of Jesus, even though briefer perhaps than our shared times used to be.

Food was often central to the stories of Jesus before His death, and it seems a little odd that food is involved in stories after His resurrection, before He ascends to Heaven. You’d think Jesus would no longer need earthly food, but in today’s Gospel, he asks for some food and they give him a piece of fish, which He eats. Considering the stupendous event that has just happened, Jesus’ resurrection, why do you suppose this sharing of food is even mentioned? (It may not be necessary for Him, but it is still a prime way to connect with His disciples, and is proof that He is not a ghost but risen indeed; it outs them at ease).

Our passage from Luke comes immediately after the story of Jesus joining two disciples as they are walking to Emmaus. They don’t recognize Him at first, and they have a long discussion about the recent events, including Jesus’ death and resurrection. They are very confused, so Jesus explains everything to them, but they still don’t recognize Him. When do they realize who He is? Jesus joins them for supper, takes a loaf of bread, blesses it, and breaks it in order to share it with them. At that moment, they recognize Him, and He disappears. Why did it take them so long, and what triggered their recognition of Him? Could it not be His words so much as His sharing of meals, the breaking of bread?

Immediately after recognizing Him, after He disappears, they get up and run back to Jerusalem in order tell everyone what has happened. This is where our passage for today begins. As they are re-telling their story of meeting Jesus on the way to Emmaus, Jesus appears to those who have gathered. Luke tells us:

While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, "Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. (Luke 24:36-43)

The most important message is that Jesus has risen from the dead and is bodily appearing to folks, but isn’t it interesting that he is recognized by what His hands show and do? First, Thomas and others want to see the wounds caused by the nails when He was crucified. That’s something we will never do this side of Heaven. But He is also recognized when He grasps that loaf of bread and breaks it to share it with them. Jesus isn’t just remembered for who He is, but for what He did. He was a man of action, always on the move, always doing something.

Those present after the resurrection needed proof that Jesus was risen from the dead, even though He was standing right in front of them. They couldn’t touch Him, but they were shown the various wounds. And even more, Jesus shared meals with them, breaking the bread again, and eating with them. Few things are as basic to living as a community as sharing a meal.

How do we recognize Jesus at work today?

First, the bread that we share at communion is His body shared with all of those who partake. We recognize that He is truly present in the bread and juice, and through the Spirit, He is goes with us as we leave here. Second, we recognize the work of His hands, performing miracles and breaking the bread today. Where are those hands at work today? Are they not our own hands, working in Christ’s name? And isn’t one of the most meaningful works we do is to share food with those in need, spreading the blessings of God’s providence and the love of Jesus shared in food? Is this not what we do today as we provide a blessing box, grow a garden, and share in other ways?

The love we share when we are able to eat together is also spread into the world when we share food with others. It not only is a blessing to the body, but carries that seed of grace we pray will help others come to Christ. Even those in not in need will see our Blessing Box and know that we are serving others in Christ’s name, and we pray that our service will inspire them to ask who Jesus is and maybe join us for worship.

Of course, it is just the beginning, the door that opens to greater and deeper things. After sharing a meal, we can then delve into other things. Luke continues, after Jesus ate something:

Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you--that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. (Luke 24:44-48)

We don’t just come together and go straight to the serious stuff, we ease into it, focusing on our relationships first and then studying the harder lessons to learn. 1st John says:

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure. (1st John 3:1-3)

We know that we are to follow God’s commands and purify ourselves, but that is not where we start. We need to know why. We do it because we are God’s children, joined together in the love of Jesus. As we seek to strengthen our relationships with each other, we seek to grow our relationship with God, and that is through obedience and worship.

We do all of this as a response to what God has done for us, especially because of what Jesus did for us on the Cross. God so loved that He gave His only begotten Son, and now we sacrificially love all people in Christ’s name. The hands of Jesus now working in our world are our hands.

Our readings lately have been showing us the importance of the witnesses of our risen Lord. “Witness” has two meanings for us. First, we read of the witnesses who were there to see Jesus after He rose from the grave, as well as experienced what He did before His death. Second, we are called to “witness” to the truth of those accounts and to the reality of what Jesus is now doing. We share with the world that He is risen indeed, and that because of what Jesus has done for us, we have the forgiveness of sins, acceptance into the people of God, and eternal life.