Let’s Do Lunch
a sermon based on Luke 24:36-48
by Randy L Quinn

Did you hear what Jesus asked?  Is it just me, or is that a rather silly question to ask in the face of miraculous events?  “Have you anything here to eat?” (v 41)

Jesus has been murdered – sometimes when we say crucified we forget how brutal and unjust it was – Jesus has been murdered, put in a tomb, come back to life, and was with the disciples.  The world had been forever changed and Jesus asks, “Do you have anything to eat?”  The events around which millions would later build their faith have just occurred, and this is the question being asked by the central figure?

What if that was the most pressing question in other situations?

·        “Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. O’Brien, it’s a boy.”  “Oh good, got any pretzels?”

·        “Excuse me, Mr. President, Castro is here to apologize for the role he has played in the Elián Gonzalez fiasco.”  “Thanks, Madeline.  Have you seen the Pizza Hut coupon?”

“Do you have anything to eat?”  Jesus has been raised from the dead, the spirit of God is loose in the world, and that’s the question at hand.  “Do you have anything to eat?”

His question reminds me of the times when we’ve had teenagers in our home.  They head straight toward the kitchen after school – or after church or a ball game or any other event that has taken them away from the house.  When they get there, they open the refrigerator door and look at everything there while asking, “Do you have anything to eat?”

Our problem is that we have plenty to eat; we just don’t have anyone to share it with.  Families have become so busy that rarely are they at the table at the same time.  One is staying late at work.  Another has a ball game.  Still another has a Scout meeting.  Throw in a church meeting or two, and we can see why the American family is falling apart.

Then there are those who would relish the opportunity to share a meal with someone.  Widows and widowers, who know how to sit down to eat, but feel isolated and alone at their kitchen own tables.  So they frequent the restaurants and buffets.

Restaurants are full, but lives are empty.

You’ve probably seen the people holding signs that say, “will work for food.”  My question is, will they visit while they eat?

You see, friendships begin and develop over a meal.  Something happens when we sit around a table, face to face, and share our food and our stories and our lives with one another.

When I was in the Navy, I never turned down an invitation to eat at someone’s home.  Not because I was hungry or didn’t know how to cook or couldn’t afford to eat.  I always accepted the invitation because I enjoyed sharing a meal with someone, anyone.

So when Milt and Bettimae invited me to their home for Easter dinner in 1981, I accepted.  They were a couple I had recently met at church.  And that dinner was the beginning of a long relationship, a relationship that continues today.  I’m not sure it would have been the same without the shared meals around Bettimae’s table.

In the Bible, the table is an image for communication between people.  If we are going to save the family, we need to save the table.  We have to be willing to eat together.  “Do you have anything to eat?” may be the most important question we can ask.

Luke tells us several stories of Jesus eating meals with people.  He eats with sinners and prominent leaders.  He eats in private homes and in the open country.  In one chapter, he feeds 5,000 and in the next he is eating with Mary and Martha (ch 9 & 10).

And as I have looked at those various settings, I’ve realized that most, if not all, of the meals Jesus ate were intimate situations.  Even when the 5,000 are fed, Jesus has them sit in smaller groups so that each person is part of an intimate circle (Lk 9:14).

One writer has suggested that eating at the same table is the most intimate thing we can do.  And that is why it is such an important part of our lives.  It’s why I think we should have meals at the church more often.

When we moved here last summer, there were people who made sure we had food to eat.  But the most memorable parts of that story are when we sat down and ate together.  It wasn’t the food we remember, but the people who ate with us.

Last fall we invited many of you to our home to share in food and fellowship.  We used the Greek word for fellowship to describe what we were intending, koinonia.  Our intent was to begin to develop relationships over and around a common table.

The other thing I realized about the meals Jesus ate is that they were typically simple.  There were only two fish and five loaves of bread.  Mary and Martha did not put on an extravagant meal.

And even if they did, the focus was not on the food.  The focus is always on the people at the table.

Those of us who have a difficult time with eating – whether we tend to eat too much or are prone to eat too little – may find it comforting to know that the important thing about family dinners is not the food.  The important thing about potluck dinners at the church is not the food.  The important thing about the bread and cup at the Lord’s Supper is not the food.  The important thing is the fellowship, the communion, the sharing of our lives as we gather around a common table, the Lord’s Table.

In fact, if the only thing we get when we eat is food, we will soon be hungry again.  A true meal happens within a community where our hearts and souls are fed healthy portions of the most intimate kind of love.

When Jesus asks, “do you have anything to eat?” he isn’t concerned about meeting a physical need.  He’s concerned about the spiritual need for fellowship and communion with one another.

Today we celebrate the Lord’s Supper.  It’s a place where we come to God’s table.  It’s a place where the focus is clearly not on the food we eat but the acceptance we find and the communion we share with God and with one another.

“Do you have anything to eat?”  Yes we do.  And whenever we open this table to others, we are witnesses to the love God shared with us in Jesus (v 48).

At our home, the grace we use most often is the simple one that I learned as a child.  As far as I know, it was taught to my mother by my grandmother.

“Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest.  And let this food to us be blest.  Amen.”