Who is this for anyway? Thoughts on breakfast and other matters

A sermon preached at St. Stephen, Summerland on the third Sunday of Easter season, Sunday, April 14 2024 by the Very Rev. Ken Gray

Jesus himself stood among the disciples 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? (Luke 24:36-38)

It’s a good question. With characteristic enthusiasm, in each of the three years of the common lectionary, our texts take us into and through the realm of doubt in the early weeks of Easter season. They proclaim the truth about bodies. With his disciples, as faithful readers of the pre-resurrection stories we remember the pre-resurrection body of Jesus—the physical person with whom twelve (now eleven) learners and followers had travelled for years, the person who had invited them into the realm of truth, justice and community. And then, he seemed gone. And then . . . Mary met him in the garden of his tomb, but not hang on to him . . . Everything came unglued . . . only to come together, differently, in due course.

These followers were understandably confused by the re-appearance of Jesus following arrest, unjust conviction, public murder, and burial. The last time they saw Jesus’ body was of one physically mutilated, humiliated, and dead. It is totally fair to claim with them: What is really going on here? 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. This discovery is exciting, mind blowing, and for the eyes of those who can truly see, life-altering. (v. 41-42)

As the preacher and teacher Nadia Bolz-Weber says: “(This was) breakfast for guys who aren’t very good at fishing. This is weird! And, if in doubt, eat! So they gave him breakfast, and yes, they KNEW to give him breakfast. We may ask what kind of breakfast was this? Broiled fish. Hmm. Personally, I would prefer eggs benedict, waffles, or a bacon wrap. In this case, fish must do. Real fish, for a real, physical body, at least for now.

The nature of the food, and even the nature of the body is less important than the purpose of the sharing. Someone, everyone is to be fed, because of their own needs. If food satisfies the hungry, then why are some folks still hungry today? I met a Nigerian bishop at a South African conference years who refused to say The Lord’s Prayer until the hungry, all the hungry, are fed. Rather literalist for sure, but I take his point.

Still thinking about bodies, in Easter season we tour through the early chapters of the Book of Acts, called by some the “honeymoon of the Church.” As a result of the great things God has done through Jesus, other great things begin to appear. To this we are witnesses. And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you. (Acts 4:9-10)

The setup is like an old joke: “A funny thing happened on the way to the temple.” Peter and John met a man crippled since birth. After some conversation, his ankles strengthened and with minimal assistance he not only walked, but leaped about, ecstatic with praise. Something changed, in the life of the man individually, in the confidence of Peter and John, and in the life of the early church. In the 1980s cult classic  Jesus of Montreal, following his resurrection Jesus’ real presence gives sight to the blind through the gift of cataracts. After his death in a hospital emergency room, Jesus is photographed from above with his hands extended cruciform to each side. A physician asks Mary for his internal organs saying: “he’s a godsend.” Yep. True story.

John the Gospeller tells the same story, though differently. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. (John 1:1-4)

For John, and Jesus, everything in and of the world is God’s gift. God’s creativity, God’s will to create, and God-self will never be exhausted or stifled. It must be admitted however, that it doesn’t always feel like this. The question for me is often, “when, O Lord?” Again, Bolz-Weber: Is there not still a balm in Gilead to heal the sin sick soul? A Gospel balm to heal the soul sick with addiction, sick with despair? Sick with obsessive self-interest? A Gospel balm to heal the soul sick from abuse and neglect, a captive soul sick from oppression and endlessly buying things that the algorithmic overlords sell us on Instagram, sick with false promises of a sick culture telling us lies about our bodies and other people and the what will “make us happy” Is there not still a balm in Gilead?

I am reading Barbara Kingsolver’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Demon Copperhead. I initially demurred from reading the book as it starts out both violent and raw. The principal character however is amazingly resilient, creative, and articulate in a foul-mouthed way—I can’t even quote him directly in church as many would find his vocabulary distasteful. If anyone has any experience of the foster-care system in the US or Canada you will find aspects of your experience on display, from the good to the awful. A few discrete quotes are in order:

“At the time, I thought my life couldn’t get any worse. Here’s some advice: Don’t ever think that.”

“Sunday school stories are just another type of superhero comic. Counting on Jesus to save the day is no more real than sending up the Batman signal.”

More hopefully we hear:

“Never be mean in anything. Never be false. Never be cruel. I can always be hopeful of you.”

Finally, I haven’t got this far yet, but listen to these words, where both the experience of creation and engagement with its symbols and images provides healing and the ability to go on.

“I felt the kindliness of the moss, which is all over everywhere once you get out of the made-world. God’s flooring. All the kinds, pillowy, pin-cushiony, shag carpet. Gray sticks of moss with red heads like matchsticks. Some tiny dead part of me woke up to the moss and said, Man. Where you been.”

Need, hunger, everywhere. We try to keep it distant, but if we genuinely participate in life, it is impossible to avoid. The disciples respond with the words, here and elsewhere: “Lord, to whom shall we go – YOU have the words of eternal life.” Another good question. Good answer: Stick with Jesus, then and now. Bolz Weber: The Gospel will be preached and the sacraments will be offered for as long as this world breaks our hearts. For as long as there is sin, there will be forgiveness of sin. For as long as there is hunger, there will be the bread of life. Because this is who it is for.

The Gospel is for us, and for all, for all creation, for past, present, and future, for what’s visible and what’s invisible, for those in need and those who have yet to discover their/our true neediness. Such is our celebration today, and every day.