Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“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.”
NL Daily Devotion for Monday, April 5, 2021
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Eating is a thoroughly embodied act. The disciples wondered if Jesus was a ghost, but ghosts don’t eat. He showed them the wounds in his hands and feet but that in itself didn’t prove life. Enjoying a lovely piece of broiled fish? Now that was proof. Delicious proof.
And it came on the heels of this wonderful phrase: “While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering…” Joy, disbelief, wonder, all coexisting in a single moment of encountering the risen Jesus. I love the humanity in that, just as I love the humanity in Jesus saying, “Dudes. I’m hungry. You got anything to eat?” It makes everything so relatable, so achingly real, that I can imagine myself among them.
I am so grateful for the deep and full humanness of Jesus, even a Jesus miraculously resurrected from the dead. He is approachable and down-to-earth. It makes me believe it’s totally possible to sit down with God and split a sandwich. How awesome is that?
Loving God, thank you for sharing my humanity. Amen.
