April 11, 2013

Today’s text

John 21:9-13

As soon as they came ashore they saw that there was some bread there and a charcoal fire with fish cooking on it. Jesus said, 'Bring some of the fish you have just caught.' Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net ashore, full of big fish, one hundred and fifty-three of them; and in spite of there being so many the net was not broken. Jesus said to them, 'Come and have breakfast.' None of the disciples was bold enough to ask, 'Who are you?' They knew quite well it was the Lord. Jesus then stepped forward, took the bread and gave it to them, and the same with the fish. 

Reflection

Life is about eating. Breathing comes first, of course, but eating is just as basic. We must eat to live, and what and how we eat determines how we live.

For years I often ate lunch alone at my desk, a pattern I am told is common in many offices. I told myself I was getting more work done. Meanwhile, I was starving my soul of community, of laughter, of time to tell stories, share food and … life.

Every invitation to come and eat is an invitation to life, to a communion of presence and welcome that tells us we belong. We are wanted. It tells us that the universe wants to feed us and make us more alive.

Never is this more true than with the invitation of Jesus to come and eat and to do so with other souls as hungry as oneself.

Before anything else we need this meal, early in the morning before we enter the work that will deplete energies of our bodies, if not also ours souls.

“Come and eat,” Jesus says to Peter and his other disciples, including those late to the party like you and me. “Come and eat. The food is prepared. I have cooked it for you, and it is for you. Surely, you know that.

“It is my pleasure to prepare this food. It is not an imposition for me. You are not putting me out.

“The food I give is my life, the life you receive by sitting with me in the warmth of the fire of divine love that burns in this heart of mine for you.

“Come and sit here with me. You will find food for your soul.”

There is no more characteristic action of Jesus than taking bread in his hands and breaking it open to be shared, which is exactly what he does with his heart, his life; and its exactly what he invites us to do, once we have been fed, of course.

So it is no surprise Peter and his buddies didn’t ask whether it was Jesus who was feeding them. They didn’t need to. Jesus was doing what always did.

Pr. David L. Miller