Sermon for April 1, 2024: Easter Dinner based upon Luke 24:36b-48

​Luke 24:36b-48 Jesus Appears to His Disciples

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.
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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.

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​     Last week, I had an extraordinary meal... well, several very good meals. That’s part of the joy of weddings. The people getting married, or their friends and family, will feed you. I want to talk about one of the good meals. When I am anywhere between Texas and California, I want to get Mexican food. Our friend Cherie, who grew up in Phoenix and went to college in Tucson, made sure we got some.  After conversation with our other friends Simone and Shauna, we went to a local chain with loads of options. I spied something called a birria taco and knew I had to have it. Birria is usually a stew, often with beef that has been cooked for a long time so that it is tender enough to be easily shredded with a fork. When you get the shredded meat in tacos, they give you a little bowl of soup broth in which you can dip your tacos.

     The food was so good that I got it on both my shirt and pants and used not less than three napkins to clean up my face and hands. The meat was cooked perfectly. The broth was delicious. The corn tortillas were just the right amount of crunchy. There was also guacamole and salsa that was made right at our table. We sat outside on the patio on a beautiful, if windy, 70-degree day with a good friend who we hadn’t seen in-person since before the pandemic and ate really good food. It wasn’t exactly Easter dinner, but it was only four days after, which is close enough for me.

     I can’t imagine Jesus’ ministry without food. How many times in each of the four Gospels do we see him sharing a meal with his friends, sharing a meal with his enemies, being hosted by other friends while he teaches, feeding people who show up to hear him teach, talking about the ethics of harvesting, and declaring keeping hungry people fed to be a central act of faith. The post-resurrection accounts of Luke share a couple of poignant resurrections accounts where food plays a central role in the disciples’ recognizing a Resurrected Christ.

     The first is one I often share with communion. On the day we call Easter, the women disciples saw two heavenly representatives at the tomb who told them Jesus is resurrected. The men disciples didn’t believe them until Peter went and verified their account that Jesus was no longer in the tomb. On the same day, two other disciples were walking to a village called Emmaus, and they met a man who they thought was a stranger on the road. It was Jesus. He asked them what they were talking about, and they shared their story about the death of Jesus at the hands of Rome and about how the women disciples told them he’d been resurrected. Upon hearing uncertainty in their voices, Jesus began to teach them.

     It is fascinating to me that they don’t recognize Jesus when he teaches them. You would think, with all the hours of teaching they had heard, through the months and months of his public ministry, that those words would have been familiar enough to shake loose their understanding so they could realize that Jesus was walking with them. But, it wasn’t Jesus’ words that helped them understand, it was his actions. Specifically, it was his blessing and sharing a meal with them that made his identity clear. Of course, Jesus, the one who told his disciples to feed the hungry and, also, invited them to share the bread and cup to remember him, would finally be recognized in his resurrected form when he shared food.

     That story is the story right before today’s reading. Once the two disciples recognize Jesus, he disappears before their eyes. They ran all the way back to Jerusalem to tell the rest of the disciples what had happened. While they were telling the eleven their story, Jesus stood among them. You might guess that he’d say, “be not afraid.” He says something close: “Peace be with you.” Understandably, the disciples don’t have a lot of peace in that moment. They are terrified and pretty sure they are seeing a ghost. Again, it is actions that bring a measure of clarity, not simply his words. María Teresa Dávila notes in her commentary on this chapter, even the loving power of the resurrection has not removed the marks left by torture on Jesus’ body. Jesus knows that his friends will know how he was harmed and invites them to look at and touch the places he was hurt, his hands and feet. “Ghosts don’t have flesh and bones,” he says. The next part is my favorite part.

     They are overjoyed but still unsure about what to make of his appearance, so he asks for some food. The subtext here is that ghosts can’t eat food, so he’s going to eat food with them to demonstrate that he is alive. Dávila points out in her commentary that lofty ideas such as “reconciliation and victory over injustice” always take place within the concrete realities of human bodies harmed by injustice. Salvation doesn’t take away scars from previous harm. In a similar manner, resurrection and renewed life require concrete sustenance and reconnected relationships to flourish. Ghosts don’t eat, but Jesus did. And his disciples did. And, upon his direction, they fed other people. Remember that story about the bread and the fishes? That miracle over a simple meal showed them something about who Jesus was. So, did this simple meal of broiled fish.

     To be clear, I did not see Jesus when I was eating my birria tacos. It was close, but, it wasn’t what happened to the disciples. I was reminded, though, of the unique joy that comes along with sharing a meal with people I care about. It is the memory of that kind joy and everyday connection that happens over food that appears that seems to have made the greatest impression on Jesus’ disciples. Dr. Jin Young Choi describes Jesus as being present in hospitality. I would argue that Christ in still present in our hospitality to this day. In the times when we share food with those who need it, fight for the workers who grow it and serve it, and welcome strangers into our churches, communities, and nation, we are enacting the hospitality that shows people who Jesus is. This might be the power God clothed the disciples with from on high.... the power to follow the work of Christ in our time, guided by his spirit. This week, I hope you get to have a meal that makes you see Jesus. Sustained by that meal, may you go forth, belly and heart full, as a witness to the power of resurrection and as a worker for the kin-dom of God.
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Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
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Jin Young Choi: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/third-sunday-of-easter-2/commentary-on-luke-2436b-48

María Teresa Dávila, "Third Sunday of Easter," Preaching God's Transforming Justice: A Lectionary Commentary, Year B, eds Ronald J. Allen, Dale P. Andrews, and Dawn Ottoni-Wilhelm (Westminster John Knox Press, 2011)