Text: Luke 24:28-32
One of my favorite experiences while on vacation just now was sharing tapas with Brandon at Jaleo – one of Chef José Andrés’s restaurants.
From a perfect slice of toasted bread, brushed with crushed tomatoes and garlic…
To an incredible dish of fried eggplant drizzled with honey and lemon…
And beautiful cauliflower roasted with dates and olives…
I left incredibly stuffed… and very happy.
Food is my love language.
Whether it is feasting with friends around a table, baking in the kitchen with my mom, breaking bread as a church family, or gathering over a potluck, food is about bringing people together.
And the Bible is full of stories about food.
As Margaret Feinberg reminds us in her book, Taste and See, “God handcrafted humanity to be dependent on food. The Creator could have required us to survive on air or water apart from eating, but He designed the human body so food is not an option but a necessity.
Even more delicious, God creates food as a source of pleasure… God imbues us with the ability to delight in eating.
But food in the Bible is more than a commodity to be consumed. It is often sacred and symbolic, showing up both on tables and in temples… [it] plays a significant role in helping us taste and see God’s goodness in our lives… and something beautiful happens when we gather around the table.” (page 16-17).
I didn’t just want to eat at Jaleo because I knew it would taste good.
I also wanted to support the work of Chef Andrés.
His organization “World Central Kitchen” proclaims that food is a universal human right. He understands that food has the power to give dignity and life.
They are often the first to the frontlines, providing meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises and WCK has served over 70 million fresh meals to people impacted by disaster around the world… including being on the ground in Poland as refugees were fleeing Ukraine the day after Russia invaded Ukraine.
But this is not a dump of free food into a disaster area. As WCK notes – “food is the fastest way to rebuild our sense of community. We can put people back to work preparing it, and we can put lives back together by fighting hunger. Cooking and eating together is what makes us human.”[1]
Food has the power to transform our lives.
A piece of fruit reached for in the garden…
The sacrificial Passover lamb…
The manna from heaven…
The call for fishermen to lay down nets and become disciples…
The countless stories of people being invited, welcomed, fed…
The miracles of provision and healing and new life.
Our scripture for this morning is just one instance of how lives are transformed and the power of God is proclaimed as people gather around a table.
Two disciples have left Jerusalem after the crucifixion of Jesus.
They are despondent and grieving and aren’t quite sure what to do next.
But along the way, the resurrected Jesus appears and walks with them.
They hear him, they see him, but they don’t know it is him.
But when they arrive at their destination, they offer to him all they have – a place to stay for the night and a place at their table.
We read that he took a seat by their side at that table.
And he took the bread…
And broke it…
And they ate it…
And suddenly, their eyes were opened and their understanding was transformed and they recognized Jesus right there among them.
They finally grasped the power of the resurrection… the miracle of new life… and the promise of all of scripture.
And it happened during a meal at a table.
In another resurrection story, some other disciples decided to go fishing.
But all night long, distracted by their grief, they caught nothing.
From the shore, they heard a voice calling out for them to toss their nets on the other side and suddenly the nets were so full they couldn’t pull them in!
Feinberg spent some time on the Sea of Galilee and had the opportunity to catch what is known as the St. Peter’s fish… or an amnon – a type of tilapia.
Because it feeds on plankton, this kind of fish can only be caught with a net, rather than a line.
And, it’s the most delicious catch in the Sea of Galilee… and therefore also the most valuable.
She writes in her book that they had caught very few that day, until one of the fishermen saw them a little near the surface.
I always thought it was strange in the scripture of the disciples at the seashore on this resurrection morning that the scripture says one of them was naked, but as Feinberg describes it, once they saw these prized fish, they sprang into action and leaped out of the boat.
Those who didn’t have fishing waders stripped down to their skivvies.
They marched through the shallow marshy water, setting a barrier between the beach and the sea with the nets and driving the fish in to be caught.
After just two hours, Margaret and her guides had 150 pounds of fish (p. 36-37).
The disciples themselves experienced a miraculous catch… and in this powerful moment, they recognized it was Jesus calling out to them and rushed to come in for landing, dragging their own heavy laden nets behind them.
There, Jesus had breakfast ready.
Some fish on a fire and some bread.
But more than that.
I can imagine that before that moment, Peter carried in his heart turmoil over how he had turned his back on God.
He might even have started to believe that God had turned away from him.
That meal was also about the power of transformation, for Jesus sat down with Simon Peter and turned his guilt over denying him into a call to ministry.
“Feed my lambs.”
“Take care of my sheep.”
“Follow me.”
Margaret Feinberg writes that “if you search your everyday life for the presence of Christ, you’ll begin to see the extra provision, extra might, extra grace that he’s slipping you. The way he provides an unexpected compliment from a friend. Or a familiar face that you weren’t expecting in a crowded place. Or a breathtaking sunset. These displays of God’s power are good and beautiful, like the fish the disciples caught. But the greatest miracle remains the one who sent them.” (page 45)
I know that our lives our busy.
We might grab a granola bar and eat it in the car on the way to work or school.
We eat drive-thru for dinner between soccer games.
More of our meals are eaten in front of the television than around a table.
And yet, what better way to remember God’s power and provision than to take a moment to be thoughtful and grateful when we eat?
This week, I want to challenge us to stop and pray before every meal.
It doesn’t have to be a long, spoken prayer.
It can be a silent thought in your head.
Or maybe something that you share with your children around the table.
And I want to invite you to think about all of the ways that God’s power and provision have made that meal possible…
Think of the fields and the rain and the sun that were necessary to grow that food.
Remember the farmer and worker whose sacrifice of time made your meal possible.
Look for who is sharing that meal with you or who you might be able to invite to pull up a chair.
As Feinberg writes, “eating reminds us that we cannot exist alone; we are created dependent on others…” (Small Group Book, p.31)
And not just in order to get a cracker from a field to your table.
Some of our deepest hungers are not for a morsel of bread, but for someone to truly seek us and know us. To love us and forgive us and laugh at our stupid jokes. To listen and help us start down a path of healing. To remind us of who we are and to assure us that we have an important role to play in this world.
In the ordinary and everyday meals that we share, we experience the extraordinary and transcendent power of God.
The power to create and sustain life.
The power to bring people together.
The power to open our eyes and call us to new ministries.
The power to feed and share and sacrifice in love.
Friends, the psalmist invites us to “taste and see that the Lord is good.”
As we worship together, and study together, and eat together over the next month or so, I think we will discover not just a new way of exploring scripture… but that God will transform how we see the extraordinary gifts of power and love that are all around us.
[1] https://wck.org/story
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