Thursday, July 7, 2011

The Lord of Leftovers

Luke 24:36-53
"While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, 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" (Luke 24:41). It is tempting to make some significant assumptions based on these few verses. After all, this is an account of the risen Christ appearing to the disciples. And in the face of their wonder and disbelief Jesus goes so far as to ask for food. Can a resurrected person actually eat? Would he or she need to?

We can leave those very interesting questions for another time. What strikes me today is the relative mundaneness of the event - as mundane as a risen Savior can be. Any number of things might have happened, and a number of important things did, but the resurrected Jesus is Lord of more than just the big stuff, the healing and the storm-calming. Jesus is also the Lord of leftovers, of broiled fish eaten among friends. Whatever that piece of fish may have meant at that moment it was still fish. Someone had caught it, someone had cleaned it, someone had cooked it, all in ordinary, everyday ways. And now Jesus was eating it, and the sacredness of the everyday took on a new clarity. Or maybe we can look at it this way, that the same man who fed a multitude with just a few fish ("big stuff") is not above eating a little fish himself ("small stuff").

Whatever may be going on in your life, whatever issues you may face, they are neither too big nor too small for Jesus' attention. Even the leftovers.

Prayer: Lord of all creation, both great and small, both cosmic and earthbound, your love is offered in our most profound moments of wonder and awe and in our seasons of forgetfulness, of disregard, of self-importance. Help us to recognize your presence. Help us to see the sacred potential in every person and event and that we are constantly on holy ground. In the name of the risen Savior. Amen.

No comments: