Jesus pitching up

At the lunch-time service today I was highlighting the way in which the risen Jesus pitches up at meal-times with his followers.

The two longest pieces in the resurrection narratives focus on an evening meal (Luke) and a breakfast (John), at which the risen Jesus comes among his disciples.

It's Eugene Peterson (I think) who in one of his books draws attention to this, and underlines the importance of the meal in terms of our knowing the presence of Jesus. There's a lot that's really quite challenging in all of this, since the way society works today, such meals are going out of fashion.

We still eat, of course. We still have breakfast and lunch and tea (whatever we choose to call them).

But the sharing the meal with others is not such a common phenomenon now as it used to be. And I mean by the meal the whole extended process which starts with the way we acquire and select the ingredients, right on through the choosing of the recipes, the 'preparation' time, the actual eating itself, to the cleaning up time and the consequent chat by the kitchen sink thereafter.

A lot of folk live (and thus eat) on their own today. The extended family doesn't exist quite the same as it used to do. Convenient fast-foods have reduced by a massive big factor the time that's involved in a meal. And the TV screen doesn't help.

We lose out a lot when there isn't the time or the space or occasion for eating together like this. Because one of the things that's apparent in both the accounts of the meals Jesus shared with his friends once he'd risen from death, is the fact that (to start with) they simply didn't recognise that he himself was there.

Jacob's words come to mind. "Surely the Lord is in this place. And I was not aware of it."

Jesus present. Jesus speaking. Jesus at work, anticipating needs, addressing vexing issues.

"And I was not aware of it."

That was the theme that I took for the service I conducted later on this afternoon along at the crematorium. And the Lord was in that place as well today, of that I am quite sure. Though maybe others present there were likewise not aware of it.

How often do we actually miss him? How many different times and places have there been where the truth of the matter has simply been that the Lord was in that place - and you were not aware of it?

You can go through the whole of your life like that. You can miss so much. You can miss the whole point. You can miss him.

Perhaps because you're not expecting him. Perhaps because it simply doesn't cross your mind that he might actually be there. Perhaps because you'd rather that he wasn't there - and don't want to think that he might be.

Or perhaps because of a 'fast-food' sort of lifestyle, which doesn't afford you such moments.

A leisurely meal with your family or friends at the end of a troublesome day. Or a leisurely breakfast with colleagues on the back of frustrating pursuits or surprising results.

Jesus is risen! He pitches up in all sorts of wonderful contexts. Today was no exception.

The Lord was in the place. Were those who were there aware of that? Some, I think, for sure.