Are you
hungry? If you’re not already, I imagine
you will be by the time the homily is done.
“You are what
you eat” Originating from French and
German writings on diet and health in Europe in the late 19th
Century, and then emerging in English here in America in the 1920’s for
catabolic diets and then again in the 1960’s in advocacy of macrobiotic
wholefoods, this phrase has literal and metaphorical truth.
This morning,
let’s consider the metaphor in light of our lectionary lessons for this third
Sunday of Easter.
Jesus’s
mission was all about nourishment – feeding people’s hunger and healing and
restoring people so that they could take-in the truth of the new kingdom he was
proclaiming and live into a new, better body.
Jesus enjoyed
mealtime and food – he turns water into wine at a wedding (transformation), he
multiplies fishes and loafs (abundance), he enjoys meals with folk considered
otherwise unenjoyable (redemption / reconciliation), he tells parables using
banquets and feasts as images for the new kingdom, and he leverages the
symbolism of the paschal meal (body broken and blood sacrificed for restitution
and freedom) to institute what we still celebrate today in our Communion meal
together.
In today’s
Gospel lesson from Luke (24:36b-48), our risen Lord uses ‘word’ and ‘table’ to
feed people, restore their sight, and fortify them for mission in his name.
To get a
clearer picture, it’s important not only to consider the verses we heard this
morning (24:36-48) but also the verses immediately preceding them
(24:13-35). In Luke’s telling, early on
third day after the crucifixion, the women were first to see the empty tomb and
be told by angels that Jesus had risen from the dead. Then Peter went to verify their story and saw
the strips of limp linen and the empty tomb for himself. In neither case is it clear that they
understood fully what had happened or what it meant. Like newly hatched birds, they were gasping,
mouths agape, for worms but the mother bird had yet to return to the next to
feed them… and then kick them out of that nest as encouragement to fly.
It’s on that
same day, however, Jesus, at first appearing as a stranger, approaches two of
his followers who are walking and talking on their way to Emmaus about all that
has just transpired. It’s clear that
they’re still in shock and grief is setting in – their prophet and hoped-for
messiah has been killed and they’re wrestling with the news that some of the
others have reported that his tomb is empty and that angels have said that
Jesus is indeed alive, not dead. Bewilderment,
suspicion, doubt, fear, cynicism… who knows all of what might have been in
their hearts and minds at this point. They are so consumed by this swell of emotions
that they don’t recognize Christ in their midst.
Jesus meets
them where they are – literally and figuratively – and walks alongside them –
listening to their pain, anguished concerns, dreams, and hopes. Having heard their cries and aware of what they’re
hungry for, Jesus feeds them with wisdom from scripture. He leads them through the prophetic wisdom of
their ancestors and encourages them to reconsider all that has happened in
context of new vision and new hope. But
prophetic and comforting words are not enough to fully open their minds and
hearts to the truth.
Aware the
talk about scripture, no matter how inspired, is necessary but not sufficient
to meet the depth of their needs, he seeks to feed their deeper hunger through
actions in the literal breaking of bread with them. Christ embraces a divine hospitality that
endures in them amid their grief and comforts them with familiar actions at a
table (taking bread, giving thanks, breaking it, and giving it to them) that
finally enable them to remember – to see again – who he is, who they are, and
the power in this community of faith. Their eyes now fully open, they
re-cognize (they have a transformation in their perception and understanding)
this stranger as Jesus. Now restored to
hope and sight by both word and table, they are compelled to go tell the others
the truth. It’s here that this morning’s
passages pick up.
While Cleopas
and his companion are sharing what they’ve come to know with the other
disciples still huddled fearfully together in Jerusalem, Jesus again
appears. Aware that they fear that they
are seeing a ghost (hey, he does appear to walk through walls and such!), he
tells them that he is real… but simply telling them to believe is not
enough. (emphasis: simply telling
someone about the good news is not enough).
Jesus asks them for something to eat – they share a meal together. And, Jesus has them consume again the wisdom
of the scriptures. Word and table –
Jesus uses both to nourish them, opening their minds and preparing them to
receive the Holy Spirit that will equip them to witness and work in his name.
We are what
we eat… or, we might phrase it, we are formed by what we take in, digest, and
absorb. What we consume becomes the
basis of who we are. They quality of what
goes in forms the foundation of strength that enables us to go out.
What were our
ancestors able to take in, digest, and absorb about the reality of their risen
Lord and implications of his resurrection to the messianic mission in his name
into which they were now being commissioned?
Apparently, with God’s help, they ate a lot, were well nourished, and
strong enough to spread the good news of redemption through the resurrected
Christ far and wide.
And here we
are this morning, with word and table, going through the same actions that our
ancestors have for nearly two millennia.
Each time we come into this space together, Christ in Spirit meets us on
our road to Emmaus, encourages us to hear something anew as the scriptures are
opened, and invites us to break bread together at this table in order that he
be revealed in our shared meal. Hopefully,
our minds and hearts are open to all of what we’re being fed by the Holy Spirit
– not only in what we’re hearing (because we know that telling and hearing are
necessary but not sufficient for a full meal) and in what we’re partaking of
together at this table/altar, but also what we’re taking in, digesting, and
absorbing about the reality of all of us making up Jesus’s resurrected body… about us being his eyes, mind, heart, feet,
and hands in the world.
In what we do
here every time we gather for worship in his name, we are very truly
re-membering (putting back together and reanimating) the very body of Christ
and preparing to take this re-membered, resurrected body into a world in need
of good news, redemption, and salvation.
On a personal
level… Consider the totality of who you are today. Can you not see evidence of what you’ve taken
in, digested, and absorbed throughout your own life? Perhaps some ‘bitter herbs’ here-n-there…
perhaps some essential ‘fortifying vitamins’ yield from life experience… and
undoubtedly plenty of ‘junk food’ along the way. How is your health based on what you’ve taken
in?
Perhaps some
of us, now well separated from our Lenten fasts and coming down off the Easter
Sunday high, might be backsliding into consumption of things that we know only
make us more anxious, unhealthy, and dis-eased.
Fear not.
And, as Paul
reminds his fellow Jews in this morning’s assigned passage from Acts (3:12-19),
there is still time to repent (turn-around), wipe out our sins in Christ’s
name, and be refreshed.
As the writer
of 1 John told us last week and reminds us in our assigned lesson this week (1
John 3:1-7), although we occasionally fall into sin (and should admit that to
each other and repent / turn-around from it), we are fundamentally destined to
be without sin through Christ and should be always oriented toward doing what
is righteous (following Christ’s example).
For, as this writer reminds us, “beloved, we are God’s children now… and
all who have this hope in him purify themselves…. Everyone who does what is
right is righteous.” And, “what we will
be has not yet been revealed” – in other words, we’re still works in progress,
becoming all that God intends for us. Consider
Easter time for spring cleaning and an opportunity to shape up.
(ANECDOTES:
WORD + TABLE + ACTION, E.g., campus ministry meals; “Happy Kitchen” community
breakfast program; sharing prayer and meals together in Kenya; thelo! mission
experience eating with ESS/Venture House clients and at Lord’s Diner)
What are you
most hungry for? How are you discerning
the hungers of others around you? What
are we doing to feed each other? Are we
feeding each other with all of what Christ offers?
“You are what
you eat.” Jesus’s mission was all about
nourishment – feeding people’s hunger and healing and restoring people so that
they could take-in the truth of the new kingdom he was proclaiming and live
into a new, better body.
May our
hearts and minds remain open to all that the Holy Spirit is helping us take in,
digest, and absorb from regularly feasting on the living Word here in this
community and nourishment at Christ’s table so that we are strengthened to go
forth from here witnessing through our words and actions the good news
of new life in Christ, feeding those who are hungry (in all senses of that
phrase) and inviting them to join us at the table loving fellowship at the
heavenly feast.
AMEN
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