Sermon for April 18, 2021: The Proof is in the Boiled Fish 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. 
​
     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. ​

---

     As I said on Easter, the oldest ending of the book of Mark ends with the women being too afraid to talk about the Resurrection, while, at the same time, we exist as a body of Christ, which shows us that they must have told somebody. The other three Gospels, Matthew, Luke, and John, give us a few more stories after the resurrection. Today’s scripture is one of the stories from Luke, about some disciples who need proof that Jesus had truly risen.

     Like Mark, and, well, Matthew and John, it is the women who are the first witnesses to the Resurrection. And, the women disciples tell the men disciples that Jesus had risen, becoming the first preachers of this particular piece of Good News. But the male disciples did not believe them. The verses before today’s reading tell us that the men thought Mary Magdalene, Joanna, James' mother Mary, and the other unnamed women who were present were simply telling "an idle tale"… a lie or gossip or garbage. The women had seen the presence of God through two beings in dazzling white. They had been reminded of Jesus' own message that death need not be the end. But, the men, with the exception of Peter, did not think their report was worth heeding. Either it was too strange or they were too sad to be willing to entertain any hope after the crucifixion. The women had told them that Jesus had risen. They chose not to believe.

     Eventually, someone believed the women, else we would not be here. Today's reading describes how some people came to believe. There are three stories. The first is Peter’s, who decided to trust the women who had been so loyal to Jesus and went to tomb to see for himself. He learned that they were telling the truth. The second story is the story of the two men disciples meeting Jesus on the road to Emmaus. I tell this story sometimes when we share communion. It's a story where Jesus' friends recognized him when the Risen Christ breaks bread for them after a long day of walking together and teaching them. Those two disciples, Cleopas and an unnamed disciple, run to tell the others, just as the women had. When they arrived, the two men learned that Simon has seen Jesus as well. As they talked about these incredible sightings, verifying what the women had said, Jesus appears once again and offers them peace. Today’s reading, the story about what happens the third time people came to believe in the Resurrection, happens when Jesus appears to the disciples after the women, Simon Peter, and the two men testify to what they had seen.

     One of my favorite things I’ve ever learned about this story is that the things Jesus does to prove that it is really him basically amount to an ancient ghost test. The scholar Mark G. Vitalis Hoffman talks about it in one of his commentaries on the text. He said that, in this era, ghosts were a big enough concern that people developed tests for making sure that a person they were talking to was really a person and not a ghost. Here’s some of the things you do to test if a person is a ghost. 1) You may check the potential apparition's feet to see if they are touching the ground. 2) You might also check their hands, to see if they feel solid. 3) You may examine their teeth and watch them eat. Notice that Jesus’ acts of showing them his hands and feet not only showed them the wounds that they would recognize, but also followed the example of the ghost test. As did his act of eating some of their food. Some might suggest that Jesus saw that they were frightened, so he ran through the motions of a test that would be familiar to them, to help them believe. It’s like he knew they needed proof and the proof was in the boiled fish.

     Once he was sure that they knew who he was, he reminded them why he was there. He reminded them that the Messiah wasn't a military leader who would be declaring war on God's behalf. He reminded them that repentance and forgiveness were central to his life and should be central to their on-going ministry. And, he told them that they had a future... one without his physical presence but still guided by the Spirit. In a lovely little line just after today's reading, Jesus said they will be clothed with power from on high. God will give them what they need to do this work, but they will have to wait for it. They are already the witnesses to God's grace in this story. There will come a time very soon where they will share what they've seen.

     The book of Acts is the sequel to Luke and tells some of the stories of how they went on to preach, teach, and heal after the Resurrection once they are empowered by God. We’ll talk more about that in a couple weeks. For now, though, it matters that we think about how we can follow the disciples’ examples in our own time. Because we do carry on their legacy. We, too, are guided by the Holy Spirit and witnesses to the Resurrection on our time. We have seen the Lord in the faces of our neighbors and felt Jesus move in our lives. Now, we are invited to go and share what we have seen.

     Scholar Lucy Lind Hogan, informed by this story, wrote a shorthand description of today's reading that I think can also help guide us to be witnesses for Christ. The whole process centers around these 5 words:

• Encounter
• Explanation
• Eating
• Enlightenment
• Exit

     Just as the two people on the road to Emmaus and the crowded room of disciples encountered the risen Christ, we, too, encounter Christ every day. We worship as Christ's body. We serve as Christ's body. Every day, we have the potential to meet someone who can introduce us to Jesus, wounds and all. Our work, then, is to remain open to these encounters so we can recognize that yes, Christ is truly among us.

     We won't always initially understand our encounters with Christ. Each encounter we have must be examined. We will practice discernment informed by prayer, the scriptures, and by our interactions in Christian community. With all these sources and some guidance from the Holy Spirit, we can work to more fully explain and understand how we've encountered Christ. While we can never say fully what and who God is, but we come closer every time we are willing to share some of our encounters with others.

     The third E, the eating part, is important, too. And, not because of an ancient ghost test. I think the food he ate can be shorthand for relationality. When it safe for us to gather together, we spend a lot of our time eating and hosting each other. We take communion. We share food at church and with people outside of our church. When we eat together, we demonstrate that our connection is real... that we are really invested in each other and committed to making this Body of Christ as real in the world as Jesus’ was in this story. And, we examine our encounters with Christ best in community, not relying on our own understanding alone, but on the guidance of our siblings in Christ.  With an encounter examined in community and in conversation with tradition, guided by the Holy Spirit, we may feel a sense of enlightenment. Even in times when it's hard to communicate what we experienced and learned, we are invited to try. It just might take practice. Thank goodness we have so many opportunities to practice.
​
     Shortly after our reading for today, Jesus exits the story for the final time, carried away to be with God, leaving his disciples empowered with teaching and guided by the Holy Spirit. We will exit, too, leaving one encounter for the next, excited to meet Jesus again, in someone new, and continue his work of love and justice in the world. Every exit we make is an invitation into God’s loving future, open for us to work alongside God in the world. Even with our fears and our doubts and imperfections, like the ancient disciples, we are still witnesses. May we find the sustenance we need to keep on this Gospel journey, be it a little bit of food that shows us that Christ is real or the companionship of others who have met Jesus along the way.
​
Resources consulted while writing this sermon:

• Mark G. Vitalis Hoffman: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/third-sunday-of-easter-2/commentary-on-luke-2436-48-4
• Lucy Lind Hogan: http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1238