A Meeting Over Dinner
A Sermon preached Sunday, April 6, 2008
by Pastor Terry Davis
First Presbyterian Church, Hartford, CT
Scripture for this Sermon
Last week I said “I believe that what the Christian faith offers is not certainty, but an opportunity for doubters to have experiences that move them to faith. I do not believe that we have a doctrine that is provable either by logic or by irrefutable facts. I do not believe that the Christian faith can be described by a creed that we must accept in order to be acceptable to God. I believe that what the Christian faith offers is an opportunity for doubters to have experiences that move them to faith.”
This morning’s gospel lesson gives us insight as one kind of experience that can move doubters to faith. One important way that Christians come into contact with the divine is in the Lord’s Supper. There are different traditions as to when we experience the Lord’s Supper. Some traditions do it every week, some every month, others only a few times a year, but we each believe that these services are special opportunities to experience the Holy, to experience the real presence of Christ in our midst.
I would like to suggest to you that as important as the Lord’s Supper is it is not the only way that we may move from doubt to faith and it is not the only way that we can have our eyes opened in the breaking of bread.
We have heard the Emmaus story repeatedly, and often at the Lord’s Supper we are reminded that our Lord took the bread; blessed and broke it and their eyes were opened and they recognized him. However Cleopas and his friend had no idea that they were sitting down to a service of the Lord’s Supper. They probably knew about the holy meals that the Lord had held in the desert when thousands had shared bread and fish and experienced the mysterious presence of God. Perhaps they had even been at one of these feasts; or perhaps they had been at the Last Supper, it is uncertain that this meal was limited to Jesus and the 12, but they did not connect these meals with the stranger on the road. Luke says that they told this stranger “we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” We had hoped; these are two people who have lost their faith; the stories of the women filled them with doubt and defeat and they are heading home to dull and meaningless lives. But when they sat down and shared their meal with one another and with a stranger their eyes were opened, they recognized him, they recognized the holiness of this event and ran back to Jerusalem filled with faith in the resurrection.
I want to suggest that the Lord’s Supper is only one way in which we experience the presence of the Holy, not the only meal where our eyes may be opened and we may recognize Jesus. What Cleopas and his friend were doing was to share their goods with a stranger who appeared to be in need. Why else would he be going on along the road when evening was coming? Any sensible traveler would stop for a meal and a place to stay for night. Perhaps the stranger seemed embarrassed not to have the money for food and lodging, and guessing this to be the case the two travelers invited the needy stranger to share their bread and probably their bed as well. This would suggest that a meal the needy may be an occasion when our eyes are opened and we recognize the holiness of the event, when we recognize the presence of Christ in our midst. It may occur to us that Jesus said as you fed and gave drink and clothing to the least of my brothers and sisters, in-as-much as you visited the sick and those in prison, you have ministered unto me. We see the face of Christ most clearly in the face of the needy.
Need is more than hunger and thirst and the soup kitchen is not the only place to meet people in need. People hunger for friendship, for company, for a listening ear and a sympathetic heart. I would encourage those who want to experience the holy, to see Christ in the face of the other, to take every opportunity to break bread with others. Note that the first converts devoted themselves to four disciplines, Apostles’ teachings, fellowship, breaking of bread, prayers. First of all it is important to sit down for meals together as a family at least once a day. We have frequent opportunities to participate in occasions for eating together as a Church family. We can invite friends and Church members to beak bread in your home, or even at a restaurant, and accept those invitations we receive to share meals with others. It will not happen every time, but I am surprised to discover how often breaking bread together is an opportunity for conversation that goes beyond the trivial, and an opportunity to have our eyes opened to the presence of Christ among us.
And then there is the matter of our stylized meal together, the Lord’s Supper, the Holy Communion. It can happen when ever the bread is broken, the words are spoken and the prayers are said, but how much more likely it is if we come not as individuals and strangers, but as friends sharing this service together. We do not need to sit scattered across this great sanctuary, but we could come together and sit shoulder to shoulder with one another front and center. We could greet one another as we enter the pews, even converse if the service has not begun; there is no sign or requirement that we be silent in the church in this place. We could sit close enough to hear one another’s voices when we pray and sing, we could greet friends and strangers during the peace, and we could speak to one another as we serve and receive. The instructions are in the bulletin, but few of us follow them: to say this is Christ's body for you, this is the blood of Christ shed for you as we pass the elements. While the standard verbal response is to say, amen when you receive; I always liked to serve communion to Mr. Anderson. The old man was very deaf and consequently spoke very loudly, and I would say, brother, the body of Christ for you, and at the top of his voice he would say, thank you. While that is appropriate, isn’t that what you say when someone passes you the meat or potatoes over dinner. Every thing we do to make the experience more intimate, more communal will help to increase the likelihood that our eyes will be opened and we will recognize the real presence of Christ in the Lord’s Supper.
Acts 2:36 - 42 36Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.” 37Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” 38Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” 40And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. 42They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers
Luke 24:13 - 35 13Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. 18Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” 19He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. 22Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.” 25Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” 27Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. 28As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. 32They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” 33That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. 34They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” 35Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.