"Grace for the Journey, Part II: Food for the Journey
"
Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Dr. Andrew Stirling
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Text: Luke 24:28-35
My words this morning are primarily for the members of the Confirmation class, but everyone else, please feel free to listen, if you so wish. My grandfather had a particular phrase that he liked to use. He said, “The world can be divided up into two groups of people. That's it! The first group includes those who eat to live; the second group is made up of those who live to eat.” He said that the group with which you identify determines the priorities you set for the rest of your life.
Many times, I have scratched my head thinking, “What was he on about and which category do I fall into? Do I eat to live or do I live to eat?” I haven't yet made up my mind on which one it is. It is probably the latter, if the truth is known. That is why, at about your age, I decided to write a song. It is among many great songs I have written over the years, but I consider this to be one of my most profound.
I have clearly borrowed the metre from somebody else and I have no idea what the tune was really like, but let me just give you the opening stanza and the refrain. I think it will inspire you and you will love it. It goes something like this:
I eat because I am happy;
I eat because I am sad
I eat because I am contented;
I eat because I am mad
I eat because I have to;
I eat because I am free
I eat my chips and burgers,
but I hate my broccoli.
Now, we are all going to sing the refrain: “I eat my chips and burgers, but I hate my broccoli” - and that is repeated over and over again. It is probably an ode to George Herbert Walker Bush, but that would be well before your time!
Food plays such a profound role in the way we live. It is part of our culture, it permeates advertising, and who we associate with is often determined by the food we eat. What we eat affects how healthy we are going to be. There is no separation between how we view culture, food and eating. This isn't new. From the very beginning of time, anthropologists tell us that food, either the acquisition of it or the eating of it, has been an integral part of how societies develop and grow.
In the Bible, it is no less so. In fact, if you look at the life and ministry of Jesus you find that in so many instances in his life, food played a central part. For example, the first miracle he ever performed was at a wedding banquet in a place called Cana; this was the first time Jesus really revealed his power. There were times when he fed 5,000 people around the Sea of Galilee, again to demonstrate his power.
When he ran into a man named Zacchaeus, a little guy who nobody wanted to pay attention to, Jesus said, “I am going to come to your house and have dinner with you tonight, Zacchaeus,” and all of a sudden a bond of fellowship and friendship developed. When Martha and Mary received Jesus into their house, Martha prepared a meal and they broke bread. Then, when Jesus wanted to say goodbye to his disciples, just like all faithful Jews at a Passover dinner, he gathered his friends together, broke bread and drank wine. During this meal he revealed to them his ministry and his purpose. In the life of Jesus, food, meals and celebrations were important, just as they have been throughout the whole history of the Jewish people, and indeed, as part of the Christian heritage and tradition as well. The celebration of a feast or meal is an important part of our lives.
I want you to tuck that away just for one moment, because in today's passage we read about an incredible encounter. I want to set the stage a bit. Jesus had just been crucified. It was a few days after this, and some of the people who had followed Jesus and seen him crucified were on their way back to their hometown of Emmaus, about six miles from Jerusalem, although we do not know where it is now - it no longer exists. As they were on the road, something miraculous happened. We are not told precisely what happened, but Jesus appeared to them and they didn't recognize him. Jesus, you see, had been raised from the dead. He was walking beside them on the road and they were talking about the events that had happened in Jerusalem, when this man Jesus was crucified. They were downhearted, worried and frightened, and they did not know what was going to take place. Finally, after he spoke with them, they had a meal together. They sat down, the risen Jesus and these followers, and when they broke bread, they recognized Jesus for who he was. In this meal, God was doing something powerful; he was revealing himself to them so that they might know who he was.
Now, why would this be? Maybe because one of them, possibly, or a friend of theirs, had been at the Last Supper when Jesus broke bread and shared the wine. Maybe they just saw him in a new light when they actually took the time to sit down with him, as opposed to just walking down the road. Who knows? But, during the meal, they recognized him and their hearts were full of joy.
In a few moments time, all of us are going to take part in a meal. It might not be a meal like any other meal - we might not sit down and have dessert and chat. But, we gather, break bread and take some wine. We do three things that tell you a lot about the life of faith that you are going to live and that you already believe in.
It tells you, first of all, that the food that we have here, though it is very small, is a symbol of the strength that it gives. If you don't eat, eventually you will wither away and die. If you don't eat and have the proper nourishment, you are not going to be able to perform to your best. You are not going to be able to live a good and a healthy life. You need good food to keep you going.
Jesus offers his strength to his disciples. It is not just physical strength but spiritual strength for your everyday life. None of you know what the future is going to bring. You don't know what great things you are going to accomplish, or what great successes you are going to have. You don't know what the world is going to face down the road and the challenges ahead. You don't know how the world is going to suffer from hunger, drought or wars. You and I don't know what tomorrow is going to bring, but Jesus said to his disciples was, “This is my body which is broken for you, and I want you to take it and eat of it.” In doing this, Jesus was offering them strength for the journey. He was offering them something to help them in their lives. It is spiritual strength that he is giving here: not physical strength but spiritual strength, the strength of the power of God in your life. Believe-you-me, there will be times when you will remember these words of mine that I speak right now. There will be moments when you will want that strength of God in your life and it will make a difference. Your faith will be the one thing that you can hold on to. That is why Paul wrote in the Book of Corinthians, Chapter 11 that you take this bread and remember Christ's death until he comes again; remember all that God has done for you and the strength he will give you in your daily life.
It will also feed you in terms of the fellowship you experience. Epicurus, the great Greek philosopher who was always writing about food, said that the first thing you must do is to find someone with whom to eat and drink before deciding what to eat and drink. In other words, the most important part of a meal is not what you are going to eat, but who you are going to eat it with.
So it is with the Christian faith. You take this bread and wine, and you do so with all those who belong to the Church, not only in this place today, but with all those who have eaten of this meal for 2,000 years, all those who are going to eat of this meal for years to come and all those who gather throughout the world. You join with them - that is why we call it Communion. When you commune, you gather together and you have something great.
There is one last thing I want to leave with you, and that is that this food becomes your source of hope and love. When Jesus said, “I want you to take this bread,” he wanted to give you something that will be a source of love for you for the rest of your days. But, it also means that the moment you take this, you have to show Christ's love to others as well.
I had a friend in Ottawa who I will call Bob. I have been away from Ottawa now for 11 years, but he is one of the few members of my former church who has stayed in touch with me almost every month. Bob is not like everybody else. Bob has some mental problems. He did not grow as strong and well physically as you most of us. He is not a man who has lived an ordinary life - he lived in a home with others who were like him.
But, Bob was infatuated with somebody. There was a woman on television that he couldn't keep his eyes off. Her name was Candace Cameron. She was in a program called Full House. May of you will have seen Full House, and certainly the re-runs. Candace Cameron married a great hockey player, Valeri Bure, who played for the Panthers in Florida. My friend Bob was so infatuated with her that when she came to the Bayshore Mall in Ottawa, he wrote to her ahead of time to tell her he would be in the audience.
To his absolute surprise, when she got up on stage, she asked, “Is Bob here?” Bob stood up, waved his arms, jumped up and down and said “I am Bob.” She came down from the stage, gave him a kiss on the cheek and a photograph of herself and said, “Bob, I think you and I should stay in touch.” She continued, “Bob, what is the most important thing in your life?” Bob replied, “My faith.” She said, “Well, that goes for me, too,” and went back on stage.
Bob eventually got a job at McDonalds - it didn't last very long. He got a job at a coffee shop - it didn't last very long. He was pretty upset that his life was spiralling downward and that people didn't love him as much as he had hoped. Then one day, out of the blue, he got a letter from Candace: “How are you, Bob? I know your birthday is coming up and I wanted to let you know that I am thinking of you.” Bob went out of his mind! He framed the letter, took it wherever he went and showed it to everyone he knew. I thought how wonderful it was of her to do this - after about five years to remember him.
His birthday is on June 8th. Do you know what happened? Last week, he got another card from Candace Cameron Bure. Well, he sent me an email that said, “You won't believe I have got this card! She put at the bottom of it, 'God bless! We guys need to stick together. Love, Candace.'” He just couldn't believe it! He said to me, “You know, Andrew, you told me that our faith is the most important thing and I believed you - sort of. But, I don't believe that this is happening and I had to let you know.”
You see, the moment you belong to the Church, the moment you take this meal, you belong to a fellowship of love and hope with a bond that is so strong that no matter who you are, no matter what you are going through in life, you belong to God first. Believe-you-me, that is the most important bond that you will ever experience. When the disciples met Jesus in Emmaus and sat down in that room, they recognized him and they were never the same. Nor are we! Amen.