+ 3rd Sunday of Easter – April 15th,
2018 +
Series B:
Acts 3:11-21; 1 John 3:1-7; Luke 24:36-49
Redeemer
Lutheran, HB
In the
Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Some of
life’s most important lessons happen around the dinner table, at meals with
family or friends, or at church. We learn manners, polite conversation, current
events, economics; we share each other’s’ joys and sorrows; we laugh and cry;
we tell stories of our day at school, work, or something funny saw or read; we
pray and read the Scriptures together. Listen to someone’s meal-time
conversations long enough, or reflect upon your own, and you’ll quickly
discover some of what is most important.
Our daily
lives are full of this pattern of teaching and eating. And so are the
Scriptures.
Teaching
and eating were the heart and center of the Passover in Exodus. As the
Israelites ate the bitter herbs, the unleavened bread, and the roasted lamb
they learned of the bitterness of their captivity, the haste of their impending
escape from Egypt, and of the lamb who gave his flesh as food and sacrifice. The
blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the
blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when
I strike the land of Egypt.
YHWH spread their tables and painted their doorposts with signs of his promise,
presence, and peace.
Teaching
and eating were a part of Israel’s life in the wilderness too. As the
Israelites gathered and ate bread from heaven, Moses taught them. The Lord said to Moses,
“I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them,
‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be
filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’” The same Lord who revealed himself
to Moses in the burning bush, who gave his personal name of YHWH – I AM WHO I
AM – provides for his people teaching and eating. A sign of his promise,
presence, and peace.
Jesus
continues this same pattern of teaching and eating throughout his life and
ministry. He is the divine meal and lesson planner, whose teaching and eating
always points to the heart and center of his journey –his death and
resurrection for Israel, for you, and for all.
When
Jesus begins his public ministry in Luke 5, the Pharisees ask him, “Why do you
eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners”. “Those
who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I
have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” Teaching and eating revealed who Jesus was, a
Savior for sinners.
When
Jesus fed the five thousand in Luke 9, he began to teach his disciples that The Son of Man must suffer many things
and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be
killed, and on the third day be raised.” Teaching and eating revealed what
Jesus would do to save us, to suffer and die in our place.
When
Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem in Luke 19, he found Zacchaeus, the tax
collector sitting in a tree trying. Zacchaeus hurried down from the tree, went
home, and prepared a meal in his house and Jesus went with him. And Jesus said to
him, “Today salvation has come to this house. Teaching and eating revealed
that the Son of Man came to seek and to save the
lost.”
When
Jesus gathered his disciples for Passover in Luke 22, he taught and ate the
Passover with them. It was old and new all at once. The bitter herbs,
unleavened bread, and roasted lamb were all there. Yet, Jesus taught them
something new in this eating and drinking. A New Covenant. A New Testament in
his body and blood. Teaching and eating revealed his promise, presence, and
peace.
Jesus took bread, and when he had given
thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this
in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten,
saying, “This
cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood, shed
for you for the forgiveness of sins.
This is
the teaching and eating we so desperately need. For without Jesus’ Word and
without the food he provides in his body and blood, we are starved, empty, and
consumed by our sin. Apart from Jesus’ teaching and eating we are left like
Adam and Eve with a belly full of food and a heart full of sinful desires, but
a life empty of God. Like the Pharisees, we are full of ourselves. We have
lived as if God does not matter, as if our neighbor doesn’t matter, and that we
matter the most.
Like the
Emmaus disciples, the Lord must open our minds, eyes, hearts, and ears. The
Lord must teach, feed, and reveal himself to us. And he does. In his teaching
and eating.
“Peace to you!” Jesus declared to his disciples at Emmaus.
“Why
are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See
my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit
does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”
Peace to you, our Lord says today.
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 and the Prophets and the Psalms
must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their
minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to
them, “Thus it is written, that the
Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.
For his
disciples. For the world. For you.
In his
teaching and eating Jesus revealed his promise, presence, and peace to his
disciples at Emmaus. Only at the end of the road, as they reclined at the table
with Jesus, as He took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them –
only then did they recognize him. As their teeth closed on the bread Jesus
gave, their eyes were opened.
Jesus’
teaching and eating revealed the God who clothed himself in their sins that he
might cover their nakedness and ours with his grace and forgiveness. They saw that
he who knew no sin had tasted death for them, and for you. They understood that
Jesus revealed himself in the Scriptures and the breaking of the bread.
So it is
for you today. By His Word and by His Meal, Jesus makes himself known to you.
Jesus is
your Passover Lamb sacrificed to set you free from captivity to sin and death.
Jesus
Passover Lamb whose blood forgives you from all sin.
Jesus is
the bread of heaven, whose flesh and blood are given for the life of the world,
for you. Eat, drink, and live.
Jesus
still eats and drinks with tax collectors, and sinners – with each of us, here
at his table. Today, salvation has come to this house, for you in Jesus’
teaching and eating. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost, to
save you and feed you. For all the days and hours we have lived for ourselves,
Jesus lived not for himself but for you. For all our sinful thoughts, words,
and deeds that devour us, Jesus swallowed up death forever for you. For all
times we’ve fed our passions and desires, Jesus digested our sin and
condemnation. He drank the cup the Father placed before him, for you.
And now
for you there is a meal which is stuffed full – not of condemnation and wrath –
but full of God’s grace and salvation.
Today,
the Emmaus miracle repeats itself. Today Jesus’ promise of forgiveness, life,
and salvation are here for you in his teaching and eating. Today Jesus is
present for you in the Scriptures and the breaking of the bread, just as he was
at Emmaus. Today Jesus declares to you as he did his disciples: Peace be to you
in my teaching and eating. The peace of Jesus in his body and blood for you.
Today our
Lord opens our eyes, ears, hearts, minds, and even our mouths, to taste and see
his death and resurrection for you in his teaching and eating.
A blessed
Easter season to each of you…
In the
Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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