Note 1: <\/strong>All quotes in the sermon are from the English Standard Version.<\/p>\n Note 2: <\/strong>This initial paragraphs in italics<\/em> of this sermon might be used as the basis for a Children\u2019s message. If not used that way, one might adapt it as the beginning of the \u201cusual\u201d sermon, or insert part of it later in the sermon\u2026or later in the service.<\/p>\n Good morning. What do you like to see or watch? (accept answers) I like to watch the sun rise, and I like to watch it set. There is a beauty there. I also like to look at flowers. What do you like to touch? (accept answers) I like to touch the skin on the cheek of my wife and my grandchildren. I like to touch dirt when I plant flowers. What do you like to eat? (accept answers) I like to eat ice cream with chocolate syrup and strawberries. Seeing, touching and eating are important in today\u2019s story of Jesus.<\/em><\/p>\n In the gospel text today, the disciples see Jesus, and initially wonder \u201cIs it a ghost?\u201d Then he shows them his hands and feet, and says \u201cTouch me.\u201d When Luke tells us that they still \u201cdisbelieved for joy.\u201d Maybe they weren\u2019t quite convinced that he was not a ghost. So Jesus says, \u201cDo you have anything here to eat?\u201d They give him some cooked fish, he eats and this interprets for them that indeed he has risen from the dead.\u00a0 It is the same Jesus they knew before his crucifixion and death, yet he is different. Our second reading today says that \u201cBeloved, we are\u00a0God’s children\u00a0now, and what we will be\u00a0has not yet appeared; but we know that\u00a0when he [Jesus] appears\u00a0we shall be like him, because\u00a0we shall see him as he is.\u201d Isn\u2019t that great? Our hope is indeed in this Jesus who appeared to the disciples. Because of this Jesus, we can anticipate that at the end of all things, when we too are resurrected, we will SOMEHOW be like Jesus. <\/em><\/p>\n Would you pray with me? God, thank you for all the things that each of us likes to see or look at. Thank you for all the things we like to touch. Thank you for all the foods we like to eat. Thank you for bringing us pleasure in this life through all of those things. Finally, thank you for sending your Son so that one day we might live anew now\u2026in bodies made new in resurrection. Amen <\/em><\/p>\n Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen<\/p>\n Have you ever found something that was lost and of great value to you? Perhaps a grandmother\u2019s wedding ring, or a watch from your father? Have you ever lost something like that for a l-o-n-g time? Then, when it was found, with joy and disbelief you said, \u201cI can\u2019t believe it! I can\u2019t believe it! I found it!\u201d OR Have you been present with someone on the golf course and they hit a hole-in-one; or watched homerun in baseball; or a long pass that was caught at the end of a football game; or a last second three point shot in a basketball game? You might have said, \u201cI can\u2019t believe my eyes!\u201d yet you were delighted. With each of these, there is reason to be joyful \u2013 an item is found, or a play is made in sports; you could not believe it…not quite.<\/p>\n It seems to have been similar with the disciples. They were probably discussing the events told to them by the women who were at the empty tomb on Easter morning and the message the angels had told the women. They certainly were discussing the events described to them by the two disciples who ran back from Emmaus. These two ran back because they wanted to tell others about how a stranger who walked with them on the road and he turned out to be Jesus when they broke bread with him\u2026and then he vanished. Now as they are discussing those events of the day, and \u201cpoof!\u201d Jesus is there. Usually we think, \u201cpoof\u201d and someone is gone. But today, it\u2019s \u201cpoof\u201d and Jesus is there. Jesus says, \u201cPeace to you!\u201d [v.36] The disciples are startled and frightened thinking they are seeing a ghost. In response, Jesus says, \u201cWhy are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?\u201d [v.38] It seems as if he says, \u201cGet a grip. Get hold of yourself.\u201d But he adds something very different, \u201cSee my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.\u00a0Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.\u201d So, it is as if Jesus says, \u201cRather than get hold of yourself, better yet, get hold of me; get a grip on me!\u201d<\/p>\n Then, in their joy they are still disbelieving and marveling. [v.41] That is, they are joyful, but can\u2019t believe it \u2013 it is too good to be true. Like, \u201cJesus is alive…but he died\u201d \u2013 it is too good to be true. \u201cJesus is standing before us, but he was laid in a grave\u201d \u2013 it is too good to be true. \u201cJesus let us touch his hands and feet\u2026but they should be stiff and cold and in a tomb.\u201d It all seems too good to be true. So, now what?<\/p>\n Now, Jesus asks, \u201cHave you anything here to eat?\u201d\u00a0[v.41] That\u2019s like, \u201cWhat\u2019s for supper?\u201d In my parental home, the Sunday evening meal was usually things adapted from the Sunday noon meal. My mother would make sloppy joes or goulash or chicken salad sandwiches or roast beef sandwiches or whatever. It is Easter evening in the text. In reply to the question, \u201cHave you anything here to eat?\u201d Jesus is given broiled fish. The fish is eaten by Jesus. This IS a body and not a ghost, not a disembodied spirit.<\/p>\n You may have seen cartoons or even action movies made with computer generated ghosts. In these, if someone reaches to grab what is portrayed as a ghost, their hand passes through. It\u2019s often a comedic moment for there is no real body there. In these cartoons or movies, if a ghost eats or drinks something the food or liquid falls to the ground. Again a comedic moment. In the Gospel story, the disciples think Jesus is a ghost or spirit and may expect to grab \u201cnothing\u201d when he says, \u201cTouch me.\u201d When they give him the broiled fish, they might expect what he puts in his mouth to fall to the ground through his body. But this is no ghost, no spirit. It is the risen Jesus with a resurrected body!<\/p>\n We might have titled this sermon, \u201cEating with ghosts\u2026 or not.\u201d If Jesus were only a spirit, this text would be a comedic scene with the disciples\u2019 hands passing though Jesus\u2019 body and the fish he swallowed landing on the floor. But instead he eats and the disciples are moved to understand that Jesus has a resurrected body<\/strong>. In addition, their minds are opened to the scriptures. We hear this story, we belong to those who hear Jesus say, \u201c\u201dPeace to you.\u201d We hear this story, we are among those who are invited to move from our own fears to joy and disbelieving to having our minds opened to the scriptures. We hear this story, we may become witnesses of Jesus resurrection and life.<\/p>\n There is an important \u201cbridge\u201d in today\u2019s story of Jesus. I just hinted at it. Initially the disciples hear and see Jesus. Initially they might touch his hands and feet. Initially they watch him eat broiled fish. These things move them from \u201cIt\u2019s a ghost\u201d to seeing that this Jesus is alive and has a resurrected body. Then, at the end Jesus says, \u201cYou are witnesses.\u201d The bridge? It is this, \u201cJesus opened their minds to the scriptures.\u201d We will come back to that in a bit.<\/p>\n \u201cYou will be my witnesses,\u201d says Jesus [v. 48] There are a couple kinds of witnesses. There are eye witnesses \u2013 \u201cI saw these things happen.\u201d There are also character witnesses \u2013 \u201cThis is how I know the person. This is how this person has affected my life.\u201d I think Jesus wanted his disciples to be both kinds of witnesses. Many of them were eye witnesses to the events of Jesus\u2019 ministry, death and resurrection. All of them were character witnesses who could share how Jesus had affected or made for a change in their lives.<\/p>\n Guess what? Jesus says to us, \u201cYou are witnesses.\u201d We can describe the events of Jesus\u2019 life, ministry, death and resurrection as we have seen them in the scriptures. We have not seen the events with our eyes, but we have seen them in the scriptures. In addition, we can be character witnesses. We can witness to how Jesus has affected our lives.<\/p>\n The bridge in the text for the disciples is this: \u201cJesus opened their minds to the scriptures.\u201d The bridge for us is the same, Jesus opens our minds to the scriptures. The bridge connects the events we see in the bible to our witness, as we speak about the way Jesus has affected us. So each of us is a character witness.<\/p>\n There was a movie in the theaters about 6 years ago called \u201cI Can Only Imagine.\u201d There is a song by the same name that you may have heard on contemporary religious radio. The song and the movie are connected. I will NOT try to tell the whole story in the movie, but only a small portion. Bart Millard, the main character, was part of a traveling band named Mercy Me. Bart was raised by a father that had abused alcohol and abused his family. As an adult Bart went to visit his father. It was awkward; the father seemed different, but how? In conversation the father says that he had been reading the bible. Bart was surprised. The father says something like, \u201cYeah, I\u2019ve read it twice\u2026some parts are hard\u2026I\u2019ve been listing to a preacher on the radio.\u201d As the story continued, Bart tried to connect his father to a local congregation (and not just the radio). \u00a0But, part of the surprise in the movie is that the abusive father becomes a witness to how Jesus might affect a person\u2019s life. That happens as Jesus opened his mind to the scriptures.<\/p>\n For us, Jesus opens our minds to the scriptures in congregational life so that we may share a witness to the events in the story of Jesus and also become character witnesses \u2013 we may bear witness to the way Jesus affects us. Just before speaking of being witnesses, Jesus had said, \u201cThus\u00a0it is written,\u00a0that the Christ should suffer and on the third day\u00a0rise from the dead,\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>and that\u00a0repentance for\u00a0the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed\u00a0in his name\u00a0to all nations\u2026\u201d [vv.46, 47] For us to become witnesses, we need to hear again and again the stories of Jesus so that \u201crepentance for the forgiveness of sins\u201d is heard by each one of us! When Jesus says among us \u201cPeace to you!\u201d he addresses us as whole persons. The peace Jesus brings includes forgiveness for you and for me, even if it is not limited to that. Plus, Martin Luther says in the Small Catechism, \u201cwhoever has forgiveness of sins has life and salvation.\u201d (Sacrament of the Altar, part 2)<\/p>\n Filled with the life of the Risen Jesus, we not only are affected by Jesus, but become the body of Jesus in this time and place. Sixteen hundred years ago a man we call St Augustine was a bishop in North Africa. He once wrote, \u201cYou are the Body of Christ. In you and through you the work of the incarnation must go forward. You are to be taken. You are to be blessed, broken and distributed, that you may be the means of grace and the vehicles of eternal love.\u201d You are a witness to the events in the story of Jesus, and at the same time a witness to the way Jesus has affected you. As a witness you and I become means of God\u2019s grace and vehicles of God\u2019s eternal love! Can you believe it? Amen<\/p>\n Now, may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n