When Jesus rose from the dead, He was hungry. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus shows up talking with two disappointed disciples on their way out of town after the crucifixion, and Jesus joins them for a meal. Later that same day, Jesus met all of the disciples in Jerusalem gathered together, and Jesus asks them if they have any food. They had fish and honeycomb on hand, and so He ate some. In John’s gospel, Jesus meets the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias early one morning, and Jesus called to the disciples still out in their boats, “Children, do you have any food?” When they said they didn’t, Jesus suggested throwing the net over the other side of the boat, and when they did, they hauled in an enormous catch of fish. Then Jesus made breakfast for all of them. When Jesus rose from the dead, He was hungry. Part of the point of these meals is to prove that Jesus is really alive. Ghosts don’t get hungry. But another part of the point is to show us what resurrection life is like. Resurrection life is spent around tables. Lots of time is spent around meals. Food is a central part of resurrection life. If you’re alive from the dead, you should be hungry, and I don’t just mean that spiritually. I mean that you should genuinely like food. Why? Because Jesus does. You should love gathering with other disciples of Jesus and eating together. You should be hungry for food and fellowship. Now there are pagan feasts and unbelievers can eat meals together too, so it’s not an automatic, magical thing. But generally speaking, when a culture doesn’t know Jesus, people have eating problems and they don’t eat together. But when Jesus raises us from the dead and breathes the life of His Spirit into us, we wake up hungry. Jesus gives us appetites. He makes us hungry for food, He makes us hungry for fellowship, and He makes us hungry for Him. And so here we are at His table where there is real food, real fellowship, and Jesus Himself is here for you.
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