Thoughts going in, Sunday April 19th, Easter 3

35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. 36 While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 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.” 40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41 While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate in their presence. 44 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.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 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, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.

            Before I make my remarks on this passage, I have to say a thing or two about the choice of the text. This is "year B" of the 3yr lectionary (series of readings). Year A for this Sunday has the first half of the Emmaus Road disciples story culminating with verse 35. Year B (our current year) picks up with the story in vs 36 and continues to vs 48. Year C uses John 21:1-19, the story of the disciple's post-resurrection encounter with Jesus on the shore; he cooks breakfast for them, and Peter is restored (the do you love me? feed my sheep episode). I've always disliked the year B version of the Gospel reading because it leaves out the crucial part from vs 35. I suppose some could say that the intent is to have us focus on something different during year B. However, it's noteworthy that vs 35 appears in both year A (at the end) and B (at the beginning) in the Roman Catholic lectionary. All of this is my way of saying that I have empowered myself to include vs 35 in our reading this week.

            And it really boils down to that whole 'mystagogy' thing that we were looking at last week. The Easter readings that appear on our lectionary were chosen with a certain idea in mind; they are all intended to TEACH. I suppose that's not exactly news.... as the whole Bible is intended to teach; however, the gospel readings for the Sundays of Easter are intended to teach in concert with each other. They are intended to shine a spotlight on different facets of the baptized life, all together. This is mystagogical teaching. Last week's big mystagogical teaching was on restoration, or what I in my sermon called the life of the "second chance." John told the story of Jesus giving authority to the Church to forgive sins, (aka restoration) and then he immediately followed that up with an in-house example. Thomas, one of their own number, needed to be restored. As I say, that was the focus last week.

            This week, the 3rd Sunday of Easter, it really doesn't matter which year of the cycle we're on, the theme of eating with Jesus is in there somewhere. And in saying that, we really don't have to look too hard to find the mystagogical point of the day: it is table fellowship.

            This is a concept that is pretty foreign to most of us. The current economic climate of increasing wage disparity and ascendance of 'haves' at the expense of the 'have-nots' over the past 25 years notwithstanding, we still live in what can be termed a land of plenty. While we may not eat our favorite meal every day, most of us do not go to bed hungry. 45,000 total strangers can sit together and eat a hotdog while watching a baseball game. Food, for us, is almost a trivial matter. This was not the case in the culture of Jesus' day. Food was more than just the stuff you cram into your mouth; food was the very SYMBOL of survival; of LIFE. And sharing a meal together was an intimate undertaking. To sit at a chieftain’s table and eat with him was to become part of his family--at least temporarily.  Table fellowship was a bond.

            The gospels tell the story of Jesus and his disciples; of how they travel together, teach and learn together; and eat together. Sitting at table with Jesus meant being able to hear his sayings and learn from him; it meant being able to be close to him; it meant being able to take their concerns to him; and most of all, sitting at table with him meant intimacy... membership in the family circle gathered around him.

            For those who were members of that first community of followers, it would've seemed like all of that came crashing down on Good Friday. Their teacher, their rabbi, their LORD had been betrayed, arrested, beaten and executed. It's all over. And to be clear... it's not just that the informative picnic lunches with him are over, but so is that intimate relationship; that sense that in being close to Jesus through the shared meal, they were somehow getting closer to His Father in heaven. Over. It's all over.

            But wait. Maybe not. And that's the whole mystagogical focus of the 3rd Sunday of Easter. Jesus died, but didn't stay dead. He arose. And this both changes everything, AND keeps everything the same. The meals will continue. The intimacy will continue. The closeness will continue. The familiarity will continue--especially in terms of that idea of getting close to him in this meal means getting close to his Father in heaven. That part is all the same. But now the doors will be flung wide open in terms of where and how often this can happen. He is risen, and that changes everything. Now these meals with Christ can be held simultaneously, all over the world, every Sunday, or even every day. And as this week's passage points out, in this meal we continue to encounter Jesus; we continue to have our minds opened to understand the Scriptures (vs 45), and we continue to be witnesses  of all of the things God has done for us.

            Like many passages of scripture there is a depth and richness to this passage. On the surface it looks like a simple snack story. They give the resurrected Jesus a piece of broiled fish (vs 42). But when we plumb the depths of a passage like this, an image develops: the image of St. Luke's little community of late 1st century believers ... a little community gathered weekly around the stories of Jesus, around the meal of remembrance, and around the sharing of their own testimonies of what God has done for them. They were a community convinced that the risen Jesus was with them, most fully and particularly IN THAT MEAL. And here we are 2000 years later, just like them.

            People always ask me... and maybe you've wondered yourself... why do I have to come to church? Can't I worship God out in nature? And I always answer the same way. YES. You can worship God out in nature. But you can only have that closeness with Christ at the meal. And you don't get that meal out in nature, you get it in here, gathered around table, with your fellow beleievers.

Cheers,

T.M.