3rd Sunday of Easter

Readings for Today.

Listen to the Sermon.

When I was in college, my roommate started Friday Night Dinners at our apartment.  She invited every young adult we knew - from work, from school, and mostly from HYC - to come over on Friday night to eat and hang out.  We provided lots of food, and, in the gathering of friends, Christ was present. We laughed and cried together, and no one was alone.

Many of us know the power of gathering around food to reveal our human joys and sorrows, as well as the power of the Holy Spirit moving among us to heal and mend, inspire and create.  And I would dare to suggest that those moments around a table with trusted friends propel us into life with a shared purpose - because don’t we always want to be having those kind of life-changing, empowering, hope-filled conversations?

Three times in the past three weeks, we have read about Jesus using the gathering of friends at a meal as a time to teach his disciples.   

Looking back to Maundy Thursday, in the middle of dinner, Jesus got up and washed their feet to show them the kind of love he expects of his disciples.  At that same dinner, he instructed them to remember him when they gathered and shared a meal. Those moments on his last evening with them begin to frame what it means to be in community as Christ-followers, without Jesus physically in our midst.  The world will know we follow Jesus by the love we share with one another.

In the teachings that follow the Last Supper (in John 13-17), Jesus gives some very concrete ways of being a community of faith.  A community of belonging. A community of deep hospitality, where all people are welcomed as long lost brothers and sisters.

As human beings, we all need a sense of belonging.  We need to feel accepted by a larger group in order to have a stable identity and sense of who we are.  Belonging is different from fitting in. Fitting in is changing yourself to be acceptable to the group. Belonging means the group finds you acceptable - more than acceptable, beautiful and whole and worthy - just as you are.  We all need somewhere to belong.

In baptism, we join a community where we always belong.  God loves us, just as we are - and welcomes us into this forever family of faith!  In this community of baptism, we are known by how we love each other and care for one another.

There were the appearances on Resurrection day and again the following Sunday, when the disciples had locked themselves in a room.  Afraid for their lives, doubting and despairing about the future, they met to share food and be together. And Jesus, miraculously, appeared out of thin air.  This Jesus, whom they may not have recognized at first, greets them, saying, “Peace be with you.” And then he breathes the Holy Spirit on them, giving them power and courage to continue his ministry.

Today, we find the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.  Exhausted and hungry from a night of unproductive fishing, a stranger on the shore tells them to let down their nets just one more time.  This last draw fills the net so full that the catch threatens to swamp the boat.  At that moment of excessive abundance, Peter realizes the stranger is Jesus. The others aren’t sure about his identity until he shares the bread and fish with them.  Eating together, they recognize Jesus.

In Christian community, we remember that Jesus is always in the midst of us when we break bread and pray together.  When we eat together, at all kinds of tables, we practice recognizing Jesus among us.

Sharing a meal, knowing that we belong to a community, isn’t the end of Jesus’ teaching.  Jesus’ after-dinner conversation with Peter shapes our understanding of who we are, from consumers of a meal to disciples with a purpose.  

Jesus asks Peter three times whether he loves him. Three times.  Imagine someone you care about deeply asking you whether you really love them, not once or even twice, but three times.  Ouch!

At a charcoal fire a few weeks ago, Peter denied three times that he was a disciple of Jesus. Here, Jesus gives him three chances to affirm his love and devotion.  Jesus brings Peter fully back into the community of believers as he confesses his faith the same number of times he denied it earlier.

Jesus doesn’t stop by bringing Peter back into community, he goes on to give Peter meaningful work to do.  Feed my sheep. Be a leader. Look out for one another. Invite new people to join you in faith. Nurture other leaders.  Jesus gives Peter a purpose, a vocation: to love and lead all God’s people.

Another deep human need, after belonging, is a sense of purpose.  A belief that what we do matters. That we each have gifts to share that the world needs.  That if we did not show up people would notice. Believing we have something of value to contribute draws us again and again into challenging circumstances with joy.

Using our gifts, our lives, faithfully, purposefully, to continue Jesus’ ministry is vocation.  Vocation takes us away from the comfort of the table and out into the world to continue Jesus’ ministry.

Eating is vital to life.  Eating together, in community, reminds us that we belong.  And so we gather at a table, many tables. We offer our whole lives, all that we have and all that we are - body, mind, and spirit - to God.  We invite God’s Holy Spirit to be upon our food, and upon us, to change us from our frail and doubting selves, to transform us in ways we cannot see, to make us holy and strengthen us for love and community and ministry.  

We share what we have offered, in the bread and wine and in our selves - and we are fed in body and spirit. We glimpse Jesus reflected in faces around the table.  We leave the table, blessed and changed, with a holy purpose, with vocation. We go out, to the world, to love and care for all we encounter, to invite others to God’s transforming love, and to be open to meeting Jesus in new and profound ways at tables everywhere.

Suddenly, I feel hungry.  Let’s eat!