Many of you know that I first met my husband Peter back in junior high school; actually, we recently discovered we first met when were three years old, in nursery school!  But we didn’t realize we were meant for each other until we reconnected at our 30^th high school reunion a few years ago.

 

I’ll never forget the first meeting of Peter and my son, who was then seven.  We were standing in our kitchen chit-chatting with my parents and my daughter Lizzy when Ian arrived home from school.  I introduced him to Peter, and after the two exchanged hellos and handshakes, we all returned to our conversation.  It wasn’t long before Ian interrupted us with, “Mom, is there anything to eat?”  I guess I just kept on talking, because Ian said again, “Mom, when are we going to eat?”  And after getting no response from me, he interrupted for a third time with, “Mom, I’m so hungry!”  His voice was so insistent and urgent that Peter said to me, “Gee, maybe you should give him something to eat.”  And then Lizzy explained to Peter, “No, no, you don’t understand.  Ian is always hungry!”

 

Always hungry.  I think that’s a perfect trait for a PK – “pastor’s kid.”  Because there is a lot of eating at church – coffee hour, brunches, potluck suppers, pancake suppers, Lenten soup suppers, etc. etc.

 

There is also a lot of eating in the Gospels.  Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners.  He invites himself for supper to Zacchaeus’ house.  He eats at the homes of Mary and Martha and of the Pharisees.  He eats a Last Supper with his disciples. And he uses the image of a heavenly banquet to describe the Kingdom of God.

 

Jesus is also concerned that others are fed.  He tells his disciples to give something to eat to the five thousand people who have listened to him preach.  He defends his disciples against the Pharisees when they pick grain on the Sabbath to satisfy their hunger [Mt 12:1-8].  And as soon as he raises Jairus’ daughter, he tells her parents to give the girl something to eat [Mark 5:43].

 

And eating seems to be the pivotal action in Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances.  In the passage from Luke which immediately precedes this morning’s gospel lesson, Jesus appears to two disciples on the road to Emmaus, but they do not recognize him, even as the three walk along together talking.  It is only when they sit down to share a meal -- as the bread is broken and the wine is poured – that the disciples’ eyes are opened and they realize that the one who has accompanied them on the Emmaus road is none other than the Risen Christ [Luke 24:30-31]. 

 

The Gospel of John tells how the disciples have gone back to their former lives as fishermen after the crucifixion, and they are out in their boats when Jesus appears on the beach; once again they don’t recognize him.  And then he calls to them with this invitation: “Come and have breakfast,” and they know it is their Resurrected Lord [John 21:12].

 

And eating is also a focus in this morning’s lesson.  It is the evening of the first Easter, and the disciples are confused, defeated and bereft; their Lord has been crucified, and they are hungry for a word of hope, starving for a salve to sooth their despair.

 

And then suddenly, Jesus appears and, anticipating their fearful reaction, tells them “Peace be with you.”  Even so, the disciples are “startled and terrified” and think they are “seeing a ghost.”  Jesus then shows the disciples his hands and his feet and says to them, “Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”  But while the disciples are overjoyed to see Jesus, they still aren’t quite sure that it is really him.  It seems just too good to be true!  And so he asks them, “Have you anything here to eat?”  The last meal of their old life together was supper; and Jesus is back, ready to break bread with them again.

 

Biblical scholars tell us that the emphasis on eating in these post-resurrection appearances is to prove to the disciples, and to all of us, that Jesus is not just a ghostly apparition but that his resurrection is actual and physical; that he is really, truly, bodily resurrected.  A ghost can’t eat; but the Resurrected Christ can!

 

But there’s more to this focus on food.  When the disciples eat, they recognize the Risen Christ.  Food is a means of grace.  Eating is a religious experience!

 

And it can be a religious experience for us, too.  I always find that when people break bread together, the relationship deepens.  Gathering for a shared meal is a universal expression of friendship, love and welcome, and the act of eating together changes things, for it can nurture relationships, heal families, and repair broken bonds.

 

Eating together can also help us to know God.  Every meal at home, every lunch with a friend, every holiday gathering around a table, every church supper, can be sacramental for through them, we can experience God’s presence. 

 

The fact that Jesus would become recognizable to his disciples through not a prayer or a moment of silence but through the physical act of eating underscores that ours is an embodied, incarnational faith.  Belief in the resurrected Christ can't be argued or explained to someone -- even Jesus didn't try to do that.  He knew that the truth had to be seen, be touched, be experienced.

 

Likewise, the Christian faith is active and experiential.  That’s why the Apostle Paul uses the imagery of the body of Christ to describe the church.  The church is best described not as the heart or the mind or the soul, but as the body, of Christ.  The church is the continuation of Jesus; we are Christ’s hands and feet, arms and legs, eyes and mouth. 

 

Jesus asks “Have you anything here to eat?”  And he asks not just for himself.  He asks for the many who are physically hungry and in need of food.  We announced last week that the Stoughton Food Pantry is in great need of non-perishable food items.  In addition, the youngsters of our church are currently asking for your financial support for next week’s “Feet for Food” fundraiser. 

 

As the body of Christ, we are not just to pray for those who are hungry; we are to put our faith into action and offer the means, the food, the money, to feed the hungry.  In the words of St. Augustine, “In you and through you the work of the incarnation must go forward.  You are to be… the means of grace and the vehicles of the eternal charity.” 

 

And Jesus asks “Have you anything here to eat?” because he knows there is another kind of hunger, a hunger of the human heart, and it’s a hunger we try to satisfy with all the wrong things.  When we sense an emptiness in our life, we often seek to fill the void with money, fame, power, or material things.  Often when we think we “have it all,” we are still hungry for something, but we don’t have a clue what it is that will satisfy us.

 

Jesus asks each and every one of us this morning, “Are you hungry?”  Do you have a longing that money can’t satisfy; a void that success can’t fill; an inadequacy, a loneliness, an ache that won’t go away no matter how much you try? 

 

Jesus wants to know “Are you hungry?”  And to that question he ties a compassionate response: Let me feed you with the bread of life; let me quench your thirst with living water. 

 

Are you hungry?  Then come and feast on what Christ offers – a banquet of hope, forgiveness, compassion, love, understanding, and new life.  Come, and eat, and recognize the Risen Christ.  Amen.