The Jesus Meal and the Resurrection

3 Easter Sunday  b      April 1,  2018   

Acts 3:12-19  Psalm 4
1 John 3:1-7  Luke 24:36b-48

 Lectionary Link

I would like to tell you a story about a little girl named Sally.  It may seem like a sad story, because Sally was a young girl who got sick as a baby and she lost her eyesight.  Sally was blind.  But Sally had good parents, grandparents and friends and she had a brother and a sister. 

And the family had a special name for Sally; they called her Super Sally.  Why?  Because even though she could not see, she had a super sense of touch, she had super hearing and she had super smelling ability.  Her brother and sister would sneak into the room and Sally would say, ”You guys are so loud, I know you are here.  I can smell you Jim in the corner and Sarah, I can smell you on the other side of the room.  You can’t trick me.” 

Sally had a special grandma and she really loved her Nana’s cooking, especially her chocolate chip cookies.  Nana had a secret recipe and Sally could recognize Nana special cookies, while her brother and sister could not recognize the difference between Nana’s cookies or store-bought cookies. 

   Sally and her Nana always had a special time together, but Nanas take vacations too.   And Nana and Papa went away for a long vacation for an entire month.  And Sally really missed her Nana.  Every day she would wake up and ask her mom, “Is Nana home yet?”  And mom would say, “Not yet.”  And every day Sally would wake up and ask the same question, “Is Nana home yet?”  And mom would say again, “Not yet.”

Well one morning Sally was awakened by her nose; she could smell something very familiar.  She ran into her mom’s bedroom and said, “Mom, Nana’s home, Nana’s home, get up!”  And Mom said, “how do you know?”  And Sally said, “I can smell her cookies.”

So they went down stairs to the kitchen and there was Nana and she had a plate of her special chocolate chip cookies.  Sally said, “I just knew you were home because I could smell your cookies.”  After they hugged and kissed they sat down and they broke the rules of breakfast.  They had milk and cookies for breakfast.

   Today we read a story about the disciples who were friends with Jesus.  Jesus left and went away.  They were very sad that they lost him.  Jesus died.  And yet some of them suddenly had the ability to see Jesus alive again.  And many of them did not believe this.  So, Jesus proved that he was alive.  He ate some fish with them.

  Before Jesus left this world, he asks his friends to gather and to have a special Jesus meal in his honor.  And this is what we do every week; we have a Jesus meal.  We remember Jesus and when we remember Jesus in the Jesus Meal, we know that he still lives close to us inside us because like Sally,we have something Super;  we have the Super Spirit of God to know that God is inside of us to help us know that Jesus is close to us.  Isn’t that wonderful?