A Snack and a Story

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April 19, 2015

Luke 24:36b-48

Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39Look 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.” 40And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43and he took it and ate in their presence.

44Then 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.” 45Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things.”

Sermon: A Snack and a Story

It’s no secret that I like to eat.  I write a food column for the Sanford Herald each week, my instagram and facebook feeds are clogged with pictures of food, and I read cookbooks for fun.  I’ve always been this way.  Growing up, every night at the dinner table, I would ask the same question.  Mouth stuffed full of green beans or chicken, I would eagerly inquire, “So…what’s for breakfast?”  You need to be sure it’s worth getting out of bed for, right?

I love food.  And so I appreciate the significance of food in scripture. 

Eve and Adam were offered the abundance of food in the garden of Eden, with the exception of the fruit of one tree.  Have you ever told a toddler not to touch the cookies cooling on the counter?  You know what happens.  They ate that fruit, sinning through their stomachs.  Food matters.

Unleavened bread came to indicate the precariousness of life for the people of Israel, where there was no time to settle and wait on bread to rise.  God fed them in the wilderness with manna, even throwing in some quail and water from a rock to be sure they had enough.  And they sought a promised land described in culinary terms: flowing with milk and honey.  Food matters.

Jesus’ first miracle involved sustenance too, turning water into rich wine for a wedding feast.  He ate with sinners, he fed thousands, and had a whopping number of dinner parties, including the last supper where he explained once more what was going to happen to him using, not flowery words or mighty actions, but bread broken and a shared cup of wine.  Food matters.

God continually, it seems, speaks to us fretting, fragile human beings through food.  We see this in our Luke story today.

Jesus had risen from the dead, and showed up to Mary Madgalene.  He’d appeared to his fearful disciples, and finally to Thomas, speaking peace.  He walked with them along the road to Emmaus and revealed himself to them through the scriptures, and through broken bread shared once more.  You’d think the resurrection might have sunk in after all of those appearances.

Apparently not.  Because when Jesus showed up to his disciples while they were actually talking about him being alive, they were still startled!  Talk is cheap, you see.  Their first thought was not joy, it was terror.  They thought he was a ghost.  I’d imagine Jesus might have become a little impatient at this point.  Just how many times would he have to show up speaking peace for them to get it?!  Luke tells us he said, “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.”

With all due respect to the writer of Luke, I get the feeling he softened things in this scene a bit.  Because I imagine Jesus actually saying, “Seriously, guys?  You really think I’m Casper right now?  Don’t you see my scars?  How long is it going to take for you to believe I’m alive?”

Those disciples were looking at Jesus like how my dog Fifi looks at me when I’m holding a piece of bacon.  You know, that look of being totally thrilled and thinking it’s all too good to be true.  Jesus needed to make things abundantly clear.  So he asked for a snack of some fish. 

Now maybe he was legitimately hungry.  Maybe Jesus had a thing for tilapia or trout.  Or maybe, once again, food was being used to prove a point.  Ghosts don’t eat.

Jesus had a snack, and told a story.  The story of prophecy and incarnation, of suffering and resurrection, of repentance and forgiveness.  He told his story.  But he ate with them while he did it.  And, as we continue to see through scripture, food matters.

Luke ends with a snack and a story.  So does John.  The risen Jesus, after finishing breakfast with Peter, asks him if he loves him more than these.  Simon Peter responds, “Lord, you know I love you.”

And Jesus replies, “Defend my church.”

Wait, no.

He says, “Prove you’re right.”

No.

“Acquire lots of wealth.”

“Plead my case.”

No, he didn’t say any of that did he?

Do you know what Jesus did say?

If you love me…feed my sheep.

It all comes down to food, y’all.  Charles Dickens, in Oliver Twist, wrote, “There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.”  Gandhi said the same, “To a man with an empty stomach, food is God.”

The disciples couldn’t believe that Jesus was alive – that God was alive – until they shared food together.  There’s a reason that Dot makes muffins for frequent visitors to our church.  There’s a reason we show love to one another in tough times in casserole form.  Food conveys care more than most anything else can.  And so, if we are ever going to be witnesses to the resurrection, people who proclaim a living, loving God, it begins and ends with that simple call, “feed my sheep.”  It begins and ends with food. 

Get involved with Church World Service and their programs across our nation and around the world to help those who go hungry.  Support our Presbyterian missionaries who are sharing the gospel through full stomachs, educated minds and peaceful communities.  Volunteer at the Sandhills Coalition giving out food to those who are hungry in our community.  Spend time with Manna of Moore County that serves free meals at area churches weekly.  Keep a box of water and nonperishable food in your trunk to give to a homeless person you might otherwise drive by.

Encourage fresh produce to be made available in urban “food deserts” of our state, through calling our legislators to support the bipartisan bills currently before them.  Advocate for support for our farmers and safe, humane conditions for the migrants who work to harvest our food.

Take a neighbor dinner just because that’s what neighbors do.  Break bread together in Dine Time groups, or simply by asking the person next to you in your pew to have lunch.

Remember what actually happened when Jesus appeared to his disciples to show them he was alive.  He told his story, and so should we.  But he told that story with a snack, and so should we.  We experience the resurrection – life abundant -- through our stomachs as well as our hearts. 

“If you love me…feed my sheep.”

The rest is just icing on the cake.  Alleluia!  Amen.