Sunday April 14th, 2024 Worship

I am a firm believer that food can be so much more than just nourishment for our bodies. It can help us to feel loved and cared for, especially if someone makes us food while we are sick or injured. Or if they make us our favorite meal simply because they know it is our favorite. It can connect us with our heritage as we make family recipes and can teach others about our traditions when we share our food. It can gather a community together around something as simple as a loaf of bread and some fish, in Jesus’ case. Food is something that connects us to the power of God, from the seeds that grow into our food to the whole team of people it takes to nurture the crops, transport them, sell them, and cook them. Whether we buy food from the grocery store or harvest it ourselves, we are intimately connected with an entire ecosystem. Food can nourish both the body and the soul, as we are fed and reminded of those relationships. Although, this isn’t always something that we take time for in our busy world, where meals might be eaten in a rush or while still working at our desks. Yet, Jesus calls us back to the importance of food today when he eats in the presence of his disciples.
The role that food plays in our Gospel today is interesting, because it humanizes the Risen Christ for his disciples. When he enters into their midst, they are afraid and confused, they think that they are seeing a ghost. Even after he tells them to look at his hands and feet, they don’t seem to truly believe that Christ is present in their midst until after he eats. Even after Jesus tells them that ghosts don’t have flesh and bones like he does, watching him eat solidifies his presence because why would a ghost need to eat?! Jesus sees that they are still struggling to understand what is before their eyes, so whether he is hungry or not, he eats in their presence to prove that he is present (Luke 24: 36-42). This story today also directly follows the road to Emmaus story, when Jesus is walking with the two people, and they do not recognize him until he is invited into their home and he breaks the bread (Luke 24: 35). It is through food in the Lukan accounts of the Risen Christ that Christ is made known to his disciples. It could have been any number of things, but it was food, because food is so essential to our existence. The disciples are able to know him again once he ate in their midst.
This isn’t just about the fact that Jesus is eating either, but it connects back to the whole history of his ministry, in which many times food is centered. Whether it is the feeding of the five thousand, eating with the sinners and the tax collectors, or discussing washing hands before eating, Jesus was consistently approaching food traditions in ways that people didn’t expect. Even today, we still remember his words that he spoke over the bread and the wine each week when we celebrate the Eucharist too because the “meal” is an important part of our worship experience together. It may not be the most elaborate feast, but it still nourishes us just the same. So, food was an important part of Jesus’ embodied ministry. It mattered that he had a body that moved and existed and needed to be fed in the same way that our bodies do.
One of the other things that I particularly love about today’s story is that Jesus is fed when he asks if they have any food (Luke 24: 41-42). And, when he is fed, it isn’t some big elaborate meal. They don’t make him wait while they prepare something fancier for him, instead they offer him some broiled fish. It recalls for us the fact that so many of his disciples were fishermen, and that this was probably a meal of both convenience and also comfort. It seems fitting that these fishermen would have one last meal of fish with Jesus before his Ascension. One last meal before they are sent out, recalling what Jesus told them about when they were first called, that they would be fishers of humans.
So, when Jesus eats in the presence of the disciples today, he is putting to rest their doubts that it could really be him instead of just some spirit that looked like him. He is calling them back to everything that they did while they were together and preparing them to set aside their own fear in order to be sent out into the world. Yes, Jesus is eating here, but it’s also a symbolic feeding of the disciples for the spiritual strength they will need on the journeys ahead of them. This little, simple broiled fish becomes so much more than that at this moment.
I love that Jesus ends his time with his disciples with food because it reminds us just what can happen when people come together around a meal. It reminds us that even Jesus needed to nourish his body, which is done both with this fish and with this time together in the presence of his disciples. Between the road to Emmaus story and this one, we have bread and fish, and I am reminded of just what Jesus can do, even when everyone else thinks it’s impossible, as it recalls the feeding of the five thousand. In the communing of this meal, he is bringing the disciples together one last time for some final teaching to make sure that they truly understand what it is they need to know before they will be sent out in the world to continue to proclaim the Risen Christ.
It matters that Jesus appears to his disciples one last time. That he fine-tunes their teaching because from here on out, the disciples’ testimony is how Jesus’ story will be told. It matters that the Risen Christ took time to be here, to eat this simple meal, when there are any number of other things that he could have chosen to do instead. Food is what brings them together one last time. It may not have been the most elaborate or even memorable meal in terms of the food, but I imagine that the disciples thought back on that meal in the days and years to come, as they traveled around testifying about the one who showed them his scars, ate among them, and proclaimed “Peace be with you.”