3rd Sunday of Easter
Luke 24:36-48
While [Jesus’ followers] were talking about [his appearance on the road to Emmaus], Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 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.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. 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.” Then, he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 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, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”
A Story of Hospitality
About a year ago, there was a story going around about a church that was being fined for giving food unsheltered people. I couldn’t remember the specifics, so I did some digging, and I found out that this wasn’t an isolated incident. I found similar stories involving at least 4 churches in California, Oregon, and North Carolina, that were being fined for giving food to the needy. The various cities involved in these lawsuits cited zoning restrictions, code violations, and safety concerns as the reasons for these fines, and for the most part, the churches have fought back, citing generosity, mercy, and the teachings of Jesus as their reasons for what they’re doing.
I remember when I first heard this story how shocked I was that this was happening. What person in their right mind would fine a church for feeding the hungry? Throughout human history, hospitality was one of the most important values of almost every culture. It was necessary, especially in places where resources are scarce, and travel could be dangerous. It was an essential component for the continuation of the human race. Instead of fighting over resources and hoarding what we had, we had to learn how to share, how to work together and take care of each other. Hospitality is the basis of civilization.
Have you ever noticed how many of the stories about Jesus revolve around food? We have his first miracle at the wedding at Cana, where they ran out of wine, so Jesus turns the water in six stone jars, something like 100 to 200 gallons of water, into wine. There’s the miracle of the loaves and the fishes, the incident with the fig tree, the parable of the prodigal son, who looks longingly at the pig slop, and whose father throws him a banquet when he finally comes home. There’s the last supper, which we observe every month when we celebrate communion.
In our gospel reading today, Jesus appears to the disciples, who are in a locked room. They weren’t expecting to see him, not only because they were in a locked room, but because he was dead! When they first saw him, they thought they were seeing a ghost, so Jesus asks for some food, which he eats in front of them to prove that he was flesh and blood, resurrected in body, as well as spirit.
We’ve started a Bible study group, and we had our first meeting just this last Tuesday. Luke 24:36-48, today’s gospel reading, was the text that we looked at. It’s amazing how much more you can get from a text when you look at it with a group of 15 people instead of just trying to figure it out for yourself. I don’t know if I would have ever picked out the food component in this passage if I was looking at it on my own, but as the group talked about it, various people kept mentioning the part where Jesus asked for something to eat, and they gave him a piece of fish. And, it dawned on me that this was a moment of hospitality. Jesus asked for some food, he was asking for hospitality, and they gave it to him.
The process that we went through for our Bible study is called exegesis, which is a very close reading of a text, typically scripture. This isn’t just carefully reading something and trying to understand it. When you’re doing exegesis, you carefully and slowly pick the text apart, trying to get as much out of it as you can. Not only are you trying to read it to understand it, you need to pay attention to what kind of writing it is: is it poetry or prose? A parable or a narrative history? Who wrote it? When and where did they write it? Why did they write it; who was the intended audience?
One of the questions that I always ask when I’m studying scripture in this way is “What is the trouble in the text?” Meaning, what is the problem that is being presented here, or why has it become necessary for God to intervene? We know that this is the resurrected Christ, so sin and suffering are two of the obvious troubles, but there are other troubles, here. The disciples were beginning to doubt. They were scared, not only when Jesus appeared among them, but before that, when they were trying to figure out what to do because Jesus was dead. They were not understanding the scriptures. They did not believe in what the prophets had prophesied. So, Jesus had to come and remind them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”
The scriptures that we have today are not the same ones that the disciples had. They didn’t have the gospels or the rest of the New Testament. But, as we look at our situation in the present day, a lot of the troubles are the same. There’s doubt, as fewer and fewer people go to church. People are scared, for so many reasons, war, the economy, crime, climate change. And, even among those who claim to believe, there seems to be a lack of understanding of the scriptures that have been given to us.
Somehow, the stories of love, mercy, and hospitably are now being used to lift up racism, nationalism, and greed. In our Acts reading today, Jesus is called the Author of Life, but now his words are being ignored in favor of ideas that can only bring death, ideas like xenophobia, individualism, and the hunger for power. We need to go back to the scriptures to fight back against these rising ideals. We need to go back to love, mercy, and hospitality.
Calling ourselves Christians isn’t easy in today’s world. So many people have been hurt by those who claim that title. So many people have seen people that they care about hurt by people who claim that title. Which is all the more reason that we need to speak up. We need to talk about Jesus, talk about the scriptures, talk about what Jesus talked about. Because, when we go back to the source of our faith, when we read the texts, when we remember what Jesus said, what Jesus did, we cannot live a life that leads only to death. There was more to Jesus coming to earth than his death and resurrection. Jesus is the Author of Life! Jesus came so that life would flourish. And, we have been called to bear witness to that.
But, what does it mean to be part of a community that bears witness to something that happened so long ago, that no one living today has first-hand experience of it? We have to go beyond convincing people that it happened. We have think about what the resurrection means. Jesus was resurrected here on Earth, not in some far-flung mysterious heaven. Here, among the people, among God’s chosen. Bearing witness to Jesus is not just about what we think of heaven; it’s how we think about the world around us, now. It’s what we think about our neighbors, and who we say are our neighbors. It’s how we take care of each other, and how we come together at the table.
Jesus was always talking about taking care of the orphans, the widows, the foreigners, the outcasts. What is that if not hospitality. The story of the Good Samaritan is a story about hospitality. When Jesus spoke to the woman at the well, he offered her water that would quench her thirst forever, an eternal hospitality of life-giving water. The story of Jesus’ own birth is a story about hospitality. What would our Christmas narrative look like if that last innkeeper had told Mary and Joseph that there wasn’t any room at the inn.
All Jesus asks of us is to be hospitable, to take care of the people around us who need help. That’s why we collect food for the needy and why we work so hard to help our unsheltered neighbors. That’s why we need to for a safer world. Feed the hungry, heal the sick, work for peace and for a clean and healthy environment for everyone. And, be hospitable. Amen.
~ Rev. Charles Wei
