3rd Sunday of Easter
Acts 3:12-19
Psalm 4
1 John 3:1-7
Luke 24:36b-48
Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
grace and peace to you
from the one who shares our humanity. Amen
The disciples thought they were seeing a ghost.
gathered together on that first Easter Sunday,
they’ve heard that Jesus is risen and appeared to Simon,
and the two disciples who had left town for Emmaus
have returned and told them all
how Jesus traveled with them on the way
and appeared to them in the breaking of the bread.
But even these reports
don’t prepare them for Jesus’ appearance
in the middle of their gathering
“Peace be with you” he says
and “They were startled and terrified,
and thought they were seeing a ghost.
He said to them ‘Why are you frightened,
and why do doubts arise in your hearts?’”
Really Jesus?
You appear out of nowhere
risen from the dead
and you wonder why they are frightened?
It seems like Jesus has more faith
in the disciples’ ability to believe
than the disciples have belief.
But his questioning is brief
and he shows the disciples his hands and feet,
still bearing the marks of the nails that fixed him to the cross
but also healed and whole again
and this proof they cannot deny
and they start to react with joy,
but “while in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering”
While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering
Have you ever noticed that faith, life
is never as clear cut as we’d like it to be?
How as humans
we have this capacity, inclination even,
to experience conflicting emotions and beliefs
when it would be so much easier
if we could just stick with one?
The disciples,
unequivocally faced with the truth of the resurrected Jesus among them
react with joy,
and facing the resurrected Jesus
who is defying the laws of nature
that they have known their whole lives,
mostly that dead is dead,
still wonder at his presence.
So what does Jesus do?
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.”
As author Debbie Thomas notes this is:
“A simple act, but an act that shifts the story. As Jesus chews and swallows, something becomes possible that was impossible before. The disciples lose enough of their fear to draw close and actually listen to what he’s saying, and their receptivity allows Jesus to “open their minds to understand.” By the end of the encounter, they are no longer frightened human beings; they are “witnesses of these things,” emboldened for life and ministry. Simply by expressing physical hunger and accepting bodily nourishment, Jesus turns trauma into communion.” https://www.journeywithjesus.net/lectionary-essays/current-essay?id=2982
This act of shared humanity,
the act of eating,
is able to bridge the gulf between joy and disbelief,
it creates a connection and a way forward
and then Jesus tells the disciples
that they are witnesses of these things,
and implied in that is that they are to share this experience with others
so that others may believe.
We humans often need physical proof to believe
and when we can’t have that
we like to hear from someone else
who has had proof or a moment of clarity,
and sometimes we need a piece of fish,
a bit of shared humanity
before our minds are open enough
to hear the truth being shared with us.
Have you ever had one of these experiences?
Where meeting someone
Hearing their story
Has helped to change your perspective,
Even just a little bit?
Shared humanity is powerful
more so than trying to convince
or be convinced with words or theories.
This is why in the ELCA mission work
is done using the model of accompaniment,
which means that relationships are built on mutual understanding,
meals are shared, and relationships built
before there is any teaching or service,
and when there is teaching and service it is done
based on shared humanity and respect
even when there are conflicts of emotion and disbelief.
This practice of sharing humanity
Shows us what may be done during the other times in life
where like the disciples
the truth we encounter before us
conflicts with what we’ve known our whole lives
and confuses or frightens us.
It might be something big
like our experience of race or poverty
or lack thereof
or trying to understand
the many divides between peoples in the world
like between the Israelis and Palestinians,
situations that from an outside surface level seem simple,
but as soon as humanity is shared and stories told,
take on a whole complexity we didn’t see before.
Understanding that shared humanity is key to opening closed minds
points us to the problems and conflict in our own nation and society,
the political and social polarization is marked by a lack of shared humanity,
a lack of interaction.
It’s easy to vilify the other, those people,
to keep minds closed
when you haven’t sat down with them
and shared a piece of fish,
shared a piece of humanity with one another.
Sharing humanity might also be the key to something smaller, though no less significant
understanding the disconnect between a neighbor’s words and actions
or even the sharing of an experience of faith
and our own doubts.
The sharing of humanity
opens our minds to understand the truth before us.
Jesus’ resurrection appearances
call us, in these moments
to embrace all of the emotions,
and to seek a simple connection,
as simple as sharing a meal,
to create a way forward
for hearts and minds to be opened,
witnesses, shared and created.
And while this can be very difficult,
it helps to remember
that the world is not yet perfect
and therefore neither are we
but we do have the hope of perfection in the risen Christ,
as the author of 1 John puts it
“Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. “
what we will be has not yet been revealed,
we don’t know exactly what the future will bring,
what we do know is that we are God’s children,
and nothing can change that.
So while we’re not perfect,
we try,
we gather with one another
in the midst of joy and of fright and disbelief,
we share food and what we have seen,
we listening to the witness of others
and we have hope because we are God’s children. amen