God’s grace, peace
and mercy be with you. … My sermon today is entitled, “Good Eats!” and my focus
is our Gospel (Luke 24:36-49). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist
wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’”
Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we
listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply
as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.
One of my favorite
shows was entitled Good Eats! If you never saw it, Host Alton Brown
explores the origins of ingredients, decodes culinary customs, and presents
food and equipment trends. Punctuated by unusual interludes, simple
preparations and unconventional discussions, he brings you food in its finest
and funniest form.[1]
I mention this cooking show because of Jesus’ question, “Have you
anything here to eat?” The question leads to three points about food:
in Luke, the Lord’s Supper and the Church today.
First, Luke. After
the Risen Lord greeted his disciples with peace, they became startled and frightened
because they thought that they were looking at a ghost. Stories of ghosts and
other phantoms of the night abounded in Jesus’ time, but one point worth noting
is that ghosts lack material substance. You can't shake hands with a ghost or
invite him to eat dinner with you.
In this
Resurrection account, the disciples were startled and frightened precisely
because they thought they were seeing a ghost. So, Jesus invited them to touch
Him, underscoring his point by reminding the disciples that His glorified Body
has flesh and bones.
To deepen this
point, Jesus asked his bewildered disciples for something to eat. This was a
sign that he was indeed raised from the dead – body and spirit. Recall that
Jesus instructed Jairus and his wife to give their girl something to eat after
he had raised her to life. Only the living require food to eat.
But there is
something more important here than good eats. In Jesus’ culture dining with
someone indicated solidarity with that person. To eat with someone meant you
identified with that person. To take a meal with another was to offer that person
the right hand of fellowship in the deepest sense of the term.
Meal fellowship is
an appropriate image for an incarnational Christianity. Meal scenes and meal
imagery (including parables spoken at or about a meal) serve as a “main
course" here. There are ten meal scenes in which Jesus eats with others in
Luke. Three of them have parallels in the other gospels; seven, however, can
only be found in Luke, and are integral to and reflective of Luke’s theological
interests.
Now, when it comes
to sizing up Jesus' table companions, one has to speak in terms of his democratic
eating habits. For Jesus it was not the food but the people he ate with that mattered
most. His dining partners were diversified and inclusive. Every meal was a
shared meal. Jesus never ate alone, and where Jesus was present, salvation was also.
That said, there is no better image for salvation than a feast, the major
metaphor for salvation.
Lastly, Luke speaks of the eucharist in a story of meals and journeys with Jesus. Unlike
foxes who have dens and birds who have nests, the Son of Man had “nowhere
rest his head” (9:58). His entire life was one great journey in which
meals and simple hospitality played a critical part for him as well as for his
followers. Jesus, his disciples, all who would follow later, and the church
itself are a people on a journey, a people of hospitality, both offered and
received. The eucharist is the supreme expression of that hospitality, sustaining
them and us on the journey to the kingdom of God.[2]
With that, we move
from my first point, food in Luke, to my second, the Lord’s Supper. Every time
we receive the Body and Blood of Christ, it is like we are with his disciples,
sitting at table with Jesus. We receive Him, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity.
What we receive is no phantom ghost, but the very substance of the Son of God
Himself. Other Christians do not believe this. Some confess that because Christ
is at the right hand of the Father in heaven, He cannot possibly be present in
Communion. Others believe that the Lord’s Supper is simply a memorial service.
That is not to say that they are unworthy to take the receive the Body and
Blood of Christ, but to share the Lord’s Supper requires one to be in
fellowship with that Church.
Those of you who
were present for Maundy Thursday know that I spoke of Mark’s account of the
Last Supper. I am not going to repeat what I taught from Luther’s Small
Catechism or The Formula of Concord, however, I am going to cite an
even earlier work that I recently re-read.
The Jerusalem
Catechesis was one of the first catechisms of the undivided Christian
Church. Its 24 teachings, given sometime around 350 AD, reflect the deep,
sacramental understanding of the early Christian Church, the meaning of Baptism
and all the Sacraments and the beauty of our participation in
the life of the Trinity through our participation in the Church, the
Body of Christ, of which we are members.
Its use of the
word symbol means much more than we westerners tend to think. It
means an actual participation by grace. That said, the instruction to
newly baptized Christians that “it is with complete assurance that we
receive the bread and wine as the body and blood of Christ. His body is given
to us under the symbol of bread, and his blood is given to us under the symbol
of wine, in order to make us by receiving them one body and blood with him.
Having his body and blood in our members, we become bearers of Christ and
sharers … in the divine nature.
Do
not, then, regard the eucharistic elements as ordinary bread and wine: they are
in fact the body and blood of the Lord, as he himself has declared. Whatever
your senses may tell you, be strong in faith. You have been taught and you are
firmly convinced that what looks and tastes like bread and wine is not bread
and wine but the body and the blood of Christ.”
My friends, through
grace Christ invites us to his holy meal to eat his Body and Blood. Through
God’s grace and our belief as a Church body and members, we share in the divine
nature. What does it mean for us? With that, we move from my second point on
the Lord’s Supper to the Church today.
The Gospel passage
we heard today is the last meal story in Luke. In each of the previous nine,
Jesus was the host. In this one, the Church is the host. The previous passage,
the Road to Emmaus, is one which speaks clearly of hospitality. It is
hospitality that is vital to the Church today, and to speak to the Church
today, I return to one of the Church Fathers recognized by the Synod, Gregory
the Great of the 6th century. Usually, Gregory’s sermons were detailed
exegetical commentaries. Here, he dispensed with that which gave him the
opportunity to sing the praises of the great virtue of hospitality.[3]
We know that the two
disciples were walking on the road and, while not believing in Christ, spoke of
him. The Lord “exchanged a few words with them, reproached them with their slowness
in understanding, explained to them the mysteries of Holy Scripture concerning
him, and yet, their hearts remaining foreign to him for lack of faith, he
pretended to go further. … It was necessary to test them to see if, not yet
loving him as God, they were at least capable of loving him as a traveler.
Truth journeying with them, they could not remain strangers to love: they
offered him hospitality, as one does for a traveler.”
Gregory points out
that they begged, urged, pleaded, pressed or constrained Jesus to stay with
them. He continues, “This example shows us that we should not only offer
hospitality to travelers, but to accept it. The disciples set the table, offer
food; and God, whom they did not recognize in the explanation of Holy
Scripture, they recognize it in the breaking of bread.”
“As
you can see, the Lord was not recognized when he spoke, but he deigned to be
recognized when he was given food. Love, dear brothers, hospitality, love works
inspired by charity.”
Hebrews reminds
us, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some
have entertained angels unawares” (Heb 13:2) As does Peter, “Show
hospitality to one another without grumbling” (1 Pet 4:9), and Matthew,
“I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Mt 25:35).
After citing these
passages, Gregory said, “What great virtue is hospitality. Receive Christ at
your tables, to deserve to be received by him at the eternal banquet. Give
shelter today to Christ who presents himself to you as a stranger, so that in
the day of judgment you are not for him as strangers whom he does not know (cf
Lk 13:25), but that he receives you as his own in his Kingdom.”
My friends, I am
sure each of us has pressed strangers in our midst to accept our hospitality. It
may have been one who was a stranger in our country or community. It may be one
who was a stranger to God or the Christian Faith. At times, simply offering is
met with resistance or refusal. Perhaps people are reluctant to receive
hospitality. Perhaps they think that they must reciprocate a gracious act. But
our salvation, as we know, is a free gift from God. That is why we should and
do offer hospitality to strangers in our midst – to be channels of God’s free
grace to them that they too may receive and enjoy salvation through Christ.
I was thinking
about this point because periodically, I stop by the church during the week,
and notice a car drive up to the Blessing Cupboard. People come when no one is
around to notice, take what food they need and leave. For all I know, they are
strangers in our midst to whom we offer hospitality. A while back Barb Kraynie
explained the history of the Blessing Cupboard. Most of you know it, but it
bears repeating.
“The
blessing cupboard was started in May 2017. I had seen a Facebook page called
blessing box. I thought there are many people in our area that could use the
help but are not comfortable letting people know. With the cupboard they could
come any time anonymously and take whatever they need. It also gives other
people the ability to donate any amount anytime that is convenient for them.
Not only church members but many people in the community stock the cupboard. We
do not keep records of donations and what we give out. Linda has been
instrumental in expanding our giving with the Christmas boxes the past few years. She also has used her contacts to get donations from Blackhawk schools
and Boy Scouts. When I was working, I drove by the church every day. I would
stop and check if food needed stocked. I was amazed the amount that came and
went on a daily basis.”
Friends, this is a
wonderful Christian ministry we provide for the community. As we move through
this great Season of Easter, open yourself to God’s grace poured into your
hearts. Open yourself to divine hospitality, and may the grace of God that
surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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