Have you ever played the get-to-know-you game where you share with the group the three people, alive or dead or fiction, with whom you wish you could eat dinner? We used to use this question as an icebreaker in the camping ministries I helped lead. Well we’re going to play it right now. It’s pretty simple. Take a few moments to think about the three people throughout history that you wish you could invite to a dinner party. When you’ve decided on one or two or all three of them, share them with the congregation.
Who knows? You might be surprised at who in the room shares your people!
This question is always hard for me, because I feel like my answer always changes depending on my mood, what’s been going on in my life currently, and what the my favorite song is at the time. My answers right now, though, would be: Rob Bell, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Kermit the Frog. Pastor Rob Bell is one of my ministry heroes, and I have read every book he has written and listened or watched every sermon or lecture he’s done. I’d love to be able to have a conversation with him about some of the things he’s said and preached upon. Da Vinci was a genius in his day and would be today as well, and I’ve always wanted to ask what is so special about the Mona Lisa. By the way, hopefully at this meal, Leonardo will speak English or God will grant me the gift of interpretation of tongues. And, well, Kermit is Kermit. Who wouldn’t want to spend the evening hanging out with the frog who has touched so many lives throughout the years?
It’s interesting how many amazing moments in life are shared around the meal table. I can remember as a young boy looking forward to the fourth Sunday of every month because that was when our church would have its monthly potluck dinner. It was wonderful! I remember especially the banana pudding. To this day I don’t know who from my church would make it every month, but it was always there, a giant bowl of the stuff, just waiting to be devoured. Sometimes I would even be lucky enough to take a little bit home with us after it was over!
I’m sure that if you think about it, you can remember a number of fond memories shared over food. Teaching your child how to cook by letting her stir the batter when you made cake. Sharing a smile over an ice cream cone on a hot summer day, or breathing in the warmth of a mug of hot chocolate shared with your sweetheart.
There’s something about food that can bring out the best in people, isn’t there?
Well, this is true for us today, and it was true for the Israelites so many years ago as well. It was through the preparing of a meal that the Israelites prepared for the Passover, a practice still celebrated by Jews today. It is by the different feasts that they set their calendars, one usually happening every forty to sixty days.
For them, food was a much more important commodity than it is for most of us in America today, too. When every day is another chance for your children to go without food, feast days were a big deal.
Food was a big deal to Jesus and the early church as well. It was while dining with noted leaders of the synagogue that Jesus taught about humility and one’s place in the Kingdom of God. It was while breaking bread and distributing fish that Jesus fed 5000+ one time and 4000+ a second time. It was while celebrating the Passover that Jesus took the bread and the wine, gave thanks for it, and gave it to his disciples saying “This is my body broken for you and my blood spilled for you.”
And it was while he appeared to his disciples after the resurrection that Jesus asked for dried fish and ate it in front of them so that their eyes might be opened and they would know that it was him.
You see, there is something about eating, about sharing a meal with someone, that allows you a chance to get to know them in a very special way. This is why so many dates center around food. When we eat, our bodies are relaxed, we feel at ease, and we are able to open up and be ourselves. Food has a power over us, and in this case, it’s a very good power.
For Jesus, on that day, eating food had the power to reveal who he was to his unbelieving disciples.
Can you understand how the disciples felt that day? This man, who was supposed to be dead, was standing before them. They wanted it to be him so badly, but they couldn’t allow themselves to believe.
“While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering.”
We’ve been there, haven’t we?
The first time my dad was deployed to Iraq was my junior year of high school. He was supposed to be there eight months, from December to July. Somehow, though, he was part of one of the lucky few units who finished their duties earlier and were able to come home ahead of schedule. Well Dad didn’t tell any of us this. One day in May, he simply shows up back home, surprising all of us at school. I remember the feeling that overcame me when I saw him standing in the door of my physics class, that feeling of overwhelming joy clouded with confusion and doubt. I was so happy to see my dad, safe and sound and home, but part of me still didn’t believe it until I ran over and hugged him.
The disciples were witness to a wonderful miracle! And yet, even in their joy, they were disbelieving and still wondering. I can absolutely understand that feeling.
So Jesus gives them the proof they need. He shows them the holes in his hand and side, and when this isn’t enough, he eats with them. This is simple practice, something so common that people from all cultures throughout the history of the world have engaged in it. And yet, as we see, it was what opened the eyes of the disciples, gave them confirmation to quell their disbelief.
Friends, in the same way that Jesus was revealed through a meal to his disciples so many years ago, he is re-revealed to us today in the breaking of the bread and the drinking of the juice. In this meal, the Son of God, the Savior and Redeemer of the world, opens our eyes to the truth of his love and life that have been given for all. In just a few minutes, as we gather around the table, I challenge you to truly ponder over the holy act of communion. What does it mean that Christ invites us to sit at his table and participate in his holiest of meals? How are we to come before the Lord for this time at the table? How is Christ re-revealed to us in it?
He told his disciples on that night when he revealed himself to them that they were witnesses of all of the events that had come to pass leading up to and including Christ’s death and resurrection. And they were just that: they were witnesses.
They were witnesses who had been charged with a responsibility to share the message of Jesus Christ crucified and risen with the world, and as we know from Holy Scripture, they met that challenge head-on.
Well, brothers and sisters, they are not the only ones charged with this task. In the breaking of the bread and the drinking of the juice, we join the numbers of holy witnesses. When Jesus reveals himself to us, he also names us witnesses and charges us with the task of sharing this message with the world.
We just have to choose to do so.
So may you always remember the importance of meals and the gift it is to share them with others. May you treasure the blessing of our abundance of food and not forget those who do not share in our abundance. May you remember that Christ revealed and continues to reveal himself in the breaking of bread and the sharing of the cup, and may you remember that we join the ranks of his witnesses when we share in this holy mystery, called to share with the world the wonderful message of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen.
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