*SCRIPTURE READING: Luke 24:13-35                                 Gracie Vaughn

Encounter on the Emmaus road

¹³ On that same day, two disciples were traveling to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. ¹⁴ They were talking to each other about everything that had happened. ¹⁵ While they were discussing these things, Jesus himself arrived and joined them on their journey. ¹⁶ They were prevented from recognizing him. ¹⁷ He said to them, “What are you talking about as you walk along?” They stopped, their faces downcast. ¹⁸ The one named Cleopas replied, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who is unaware of the things that have taken place there over the last few days?” ¹⁹ He said to them, “What things?” They said to him, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth. Because of his powerful deeds and words, he was recognized by God and all the people as a prophet. ²⁰ But our chief priests and our leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him. ²¹ We had hoped he was the one who would redeem Israel. All these things happened three days ago. ²² But there’s more: Some women from our group have left us stunned. They went to the tomb early this morning ²³ and didn’t find his body. They came to us saying that they had even seen a vision of angels who told them he is alive. ²⁴ Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women said. They didn’t see him.” ²⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! Your dull minds keep you from believing all that the prophets talked about. ²⁶ Wasn’t it necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” ²⁷ Then he interpreted for them the things written about himself in all the scriptures, starting with Moses and going through all the Prophets. ²⁸ When they came to Emmaus, he acted as if he was going on ahead. ²⁹ But they urged him, saying, “Stay with us. It’s nearly evening, and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰ After he took his seat at the table with them, he took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. ³¹ Their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight. ³² They said to each other, “Weren’t our hearts on fire when he spoke to us along the road and when he explained the scriptures for us?” ³³ They got up right then and returned to Jerusalem. They found the eleven and their companions gathered together.³⁴ They were saying to each other, “The Lord really has risen! He appeared to Simon!” ³⁵ Then the two disciples described what had happened along the road and how Jesus was made known to them as he broke the bread.

               LEADER           The Word of God that is still speaking.

               ALL                     Thanks be to God.

MESSAGE        Seeing Jesus in the Breaking of Bread Pastor Donna Goltry

Margaret Feinberg made the comment in her fascinating study Taste and See: God wants to redeem food just as he is redeeming us.

I wasn’t sure what to make of that. God redeems food?

I know God redeems people. The Bible is replete with stories of people who are given second chances. Given grace. But food?

How so? Devouring the pages of her book, Taste and See, it became clearer what she meant. God uses food as the instrument to guide and provide, to teach and restore people. To sustain us. And in oh so many of the stories we love, food is a part of it.

Maybe you’ve never considered the Bible a book about food.

Just a few of the nuggets tucked inside her fascinating study of how food wafts its way through the pages of the Bible. It begins with revisiting the first three chapters of Genesis where all manner of fruits and vegetables grow in the garden. Adam and Eve live in this bountiful place, with all the foods provided for the taking, save one… the forbidden fruit. Like many of us who are tempted by the one thing we cannot have, they are tempted and succumb. Once they’ve tasted, life changes. No longer are they in a state of innocence.

Next thing we know after a bite of forbidden fruit, they are cast out of the bountiful garden, but not cast aside by God. God’s grace is initiated here in the first chapters of Genesis when Adam is given a second chance, but along with it, a new responsibility: to grow the food, struggling against the floods, droughts, hard-packed soils, to coax out enough food for survival.

Fast-forward past many Biblical stories to Luke 5:4-11, where food plays a great part to the time of Jesus. Here is just one story related to fishing by disciples who were professional fishermen. Their livelihood was catching fish to sell to the villagers so they have delectable fish on the dining table.

One morning Jesus calls out to them when they had fished all night, and hadn’t caught a minnow. They fished at night because the light-colored linen nets they fished with were easily seen by the fish during the daylight. If they wanted to make a haul, the time to fish was at night.

That morning, after a full night of fishing with no catch, Jesus calls out to them, cast your nets over there, in deep water. They groan inwardly, probably irritated at the unsolicited advice plus knowing daytime fishing was futile. But behold, they catch more than they can manage. Peter, so astounded, falls on his knees at Jesus’ feet. Go away from me, for I am a sinner. He knows he has just witnessed a miracle.

It was just a foretaste of what the three men walking along the Emmaus Road encountered. Joined by a stranger who seemed oblivious to all the chatter about what had happened to the Galilean, Jesus, three days earlier when he was crucified. Hadn’t the stranger heard the rumors – the tomb was empty?

But when nightfall approaches, they offer Middle Eastern hospitality – urging the stranger to stay with them for the night instead of being left on the lonely roads where danger lurked. They offered him safe lodging. He accepts, and as they break bread together, their eyes are opened. They see Jesus in the breaking of the bread.

The story raises all sorts of questions, like why had they not recognized him before?

Still today, something happens when we break bread together. In some mysterious way, it can become a holy moment, a moment when the food and conversation around the table takes on an air of a Jesus-moment. As if we see Jesus in the eyes of the person across the table. Or, maybe less dramatically, as if we see another human being created in God’s image, who we are drawn to spend time with. Be it family or friends. We see a spark in them that reminds us of Jesus.

Margaret Feinberg tells the story of the time she had commited her husband, Leif, and herself to going to friends for dinner. But that night they were exhausted. Leif looked at her and said, you got us into this, you go ring the doorbell. From the moment her host invited her in, she began to relax. First came a beautiful charcuterie tray. Yum. The main course was a delectable meat dish, simmered for 30 hours to fully develop the savory flavor. The meal was topped off with a chocolate ganache. Exquisite!. The whole meal spoke to the care and importance their friends had put into making it just right. By the end of the evening, they were refreshed. It was, she said, her most memorable meal. And when she reflected on it, she realized that the food was marvelous, but it was the hospitality that shone the brightest. [1]

Recall the most wonderful time of hospitality and dining that you can remember.

What was it like?

Who was there?

Was it the food, or more the conversation?

The special feeling of friendship and intimacy?

What made that time so memorable?

God can use these times at the TABLE as means of experiencing God’s grace in our lives. In our fast-paced, drive-through culture, sitting at the table has become less commonplace, in many households rare. Pausing to allow these dining experiences to opens us to God’s grace, opens us to friendships that otherwise might be lost.

Maybe Margaret was right that God wants to redeem food just like God is redeeming us. God wants us to pause and savor the means of grace that flows from banquet at the table.

I end with a prayer from Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie.

Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie, The Lives We Actually Have, (NY: Convergent, 2023), #27.

God, awaken us to the everyday miracle of a simple meal.

Whether it is takeout that took a phone call, or a recipe that took an entire afternoon, or the cereal-for-dinner-again feeling this meal creates. bless it all.

So blessed are we, sharing a meal today. May we recognize God’s goodness in the thoughtful preparation, in the delivering, in the eating together, Savoring something that tastes like love. May our time around the table be a gift. May we be present to one another, Engaging all our senses as an act of thankful worship for the nourishment that’s before us with the people we love. Or are trying to.

God bless the hands that prepared this,  those with us now, and the ones we wish were.

Bless us, oh God.

In all of our eating and cooking and gathering and sharing,

Our jokes, talking with our mouths full,

And elbows on the table,

May we taste and see the love that multiplies.

 [1] Margaret Feinberg, Taste and See: Discovering God Among Butchers, Bakers, & Fresh Food Makers, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2019), 11-13.