Daily Reading for April 20
I do not know why so many of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances have something to do with food, but they do. It happens twice in Luke—first on the road to Emmaus, where Jesus is made known to two of his disciples in the breaking of the bread, and then later, when he appears to them all and eats a piece of broiled fish in their presence. Maybe it is because eating is so necessary for life, and so is he. Or maybe it is because sharing food is what makes us human. It is, at any rate, one of the clues to his presence. There is always the chance, when we are eating together, that we will discover the risen Lord in our midst.
“It is the Lord!” That is what the beloved disciple said. How did he know? How does any of us know? By staying on the lookout, I suppose. By watching the shore, and the sky, and each other’s faces. By listening real hard. By living in great expectation and refusing to believe that our nets will stay empty or our nights will last forever. For those with ears to hear, there is a voice that can turn all our dead ends into new beginnings.
“Come,” that voice says, “and have breakfast.”
From Barbara Brown Taylor’s sermon “The First Breakfast,” found in Gospel Medicine (Cambridge, Mass.: Cowley Publications, 1995).