Scripture: Genesis 3:3-7; Luke 24:28-35; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Sermon: The Three Meals
This sermon involves the setting up of three meals – you can place the three meals on a table that is in the front of the sanctuary – all three can fit on one table – use a nice tablecloth to accept the meals. Each meal is on a plate – if possible, use plates that are earthenware – it adds to the effects as well.
1. A Meal called the Poisoned Meal – Genesis 3:3-7 – this meal refers to the meal in the Garden of Eden (you can use grapes, apples, figs or what most rabbis refer to as the fruit – Wheat – see Rabbinic teaching)
2. A Meal called the Meal of Opened Eyes – Luke 24:28-35 – bread on a plate with a cup
3. A Meal of Grace and Salvation – 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 – Holy Communion
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
How many here this morning like to go out and have a meal with your family or friends?
Most of us like eating and we like eating with other people; especially those that we enjoy sharing life.
We like birthday meals, we like intimate meals, and we like special meals like the ones we enjoy on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Thanksgiving.
The Bible is full of stories surrounding a meal. In fact, some of the greatest passages of the Bible center around a meal.
+Abraham and the Angels in Genesis 18
+The Passover Meal in Exodus 12
+Boaz and Ruth’s first meal together – Ruth 2
+Jesus feeding the 5,000 in Mark 6
+Jesus asking to share a meal with whomever will open the door and let him come in – Rev. 3
This morning, I would like for us to look at different three meals. Three meals that were some of the most important meals that ever happened. Three meals that can teach us and show us how to live a better life.
I. The Poisoned Meal – Genesis 6:3-7
The first meal we are going to look at took place in the most beautiful place ever created on God’s Good Earth. It was a place that was created by the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY Himself.
It was a place filled with all kinds of beautiful trees, plants and animals. There was even a stream that flowed through the middle of it. It was one of God’s favorite places to visit in the cool of the day.
We know that place as the Garden of Eden. If you close your eyes, you can almost see it.
+The skyline is perfect.
+ Flowers are blooming everywhere.
+There are always some types of trees that are bearing edible fruit.
+All kinds of animals and birds are just enjoying life.
+There is no decay, disease or even death.
But then one day, the Devil comes to give Mother Eve some cooking advice. The Devil tells her if she would just add one thing to her and Adam’s diet then true life would really happen for them.
This something was the very thing that the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY didn’t want them to eat at that time. They had not lived long enough and matured long enough to eat what the Devil was attempting to give them.
In time I believe God would have wanted them to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and evil. In time they would have matured enough spiritually, emotionally and mentally to handle that type of knowledge.
But at the moment, while they had a desire for it, they were not ready for it. Plus, to grab it would mean that they had to turn away from the LORD and listen to the Evil One – Satan/Devil.
We know the story. Like a small child that only wants something when they see it, Adam and Eve thought they liked how the fruit of the Tree looked and perhaps even tasted so they made a meal and ate it.
We also know how that story ended. The fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Eve wasn’t for them at that time.
Their mere eating it caused their hearts, minds and bodies to change. Instead of it bringing good into their lives it only brought pain and misery. Instead of it being able to bring life it brought death and destruction.
It has been theorized that that simple meal has brought decay, disease, and death to over 108 billion people that have lived on our planet. If there ever was a meal that could be said to be poisoned it was this meal shared by Adam and Eve.
II. Then there is a second meal – the one we read about this morning in Luke 24.
It was a rather spontaneous meal.
The three people involved had not planned to sit down and eat together.
In fact, the couple that we read about (most like Cleopas and his wife Mary) were not even thinking about food.
Instead, as we read, they were just leaving Jerusalem after Passover and returning home.
It was going to be a long walk home. They lived some seven miles from Jerusalem, so it was going to take them at least 3 hours to get home if they kept up a quick pace over a rather rugged terrain.
The reason we have the story is not to focus on this one couple traveling down the road together but the stranger that comes up and joins them while they are traveling.
Luke at first doesn’t tell us who He is or what He is doing there. Luke gives us this wonderful story full of mystery, suspense along with sorrow and eventually astonishment and revelation.
But to really understand the story you have to walk with the couple and allow your mind to just take each step along the way.
It had been a hard week. What at first looked like one of those weeks that would change the nation of Israel ended up being a week where they saw their friend Jesus being arrested, beaten, and murdered on a cross.
That is not why they had earlier walked the seven miles to Jerusalem and spent time in Jerusalem. This was to be the Passover that exceeded all Passovers.
Next year they were to celebrate Passover as free people. They were to experience an Exodus type of event only this time it would be the Romans who would be leaving and allowing Israel to be a free nation once again.
They really thought their friend Jesus was the Messiah. He had spoken like a prophet, He had healed people (even lepers and the blind), He had done all kinds of miracles and He had even raised a few people from the dead.
They thought that Jesus was greater than Moses, Elijah and Isaiah. But that was before they saw him nailed on the cross. They watched him take his last breath. They followed those who took care of him and placed him in Jospeh’s tomb.
It was now time to just go home. It was time to hunker down and face the reality of real life again. They had only fooled themselves. They had allowed themselves to believe in the impossible.
It just wasn’t going to happen in their lifetime. There would be no Messiah, there would be no freedom.
They would never regret listening to and following Jesus. They would never forget all the wonderful things He had done. It’s just He wasn’t the One. He was dead.
They shared all this with this person who came up and joined their conversation.
As you read the story you wonder if they weren’t just a bit bothered by this stranger joining in their private conversation.
Was this stranger a spy? Did they need to be worried about either Rome or the Temple trying to find all of Jesus’ followers and doing something harmful to them?
Or was he just clueless? Had he been in the city and not heard or seen anything about Jesus.
But just as they were thinking and sharing some of the news to this man, He in turn started talking to them.
If you ever wonder what Jesus was doing after the Resurrection, He was having a Bible lesson with a class of two going away from the city of Jerusalem. If we ever wonder if it is worth it to teach a small group, you can’t get much smaller than two – but then Jesus did say – Wherever two or three are gathered I will be there.
Anyway, over the last few miles this stranger began to reveal to them what had really happened in Jerusalem. This stranger was not a simpleton nor was He clueless. Instead, he tried his best to get them to see that the story was not over.
But they still didn’t get it. They had heard some strange story of Jesus’ tomb being empty but that was just too crazy. So crazy that they didn’t even take the time to check it out, they just decided to just go home.
By the time we get to the end of the story they were not convinced that the stranger was right in all He had shared. And they didn’t care enough or were so exhausted that they couldn’t even entertain the idea that Jesus had really risen from the dead.
But like most Jews at the time, they invited the stranger to break bread with them. After all that was the courteous thing to do.
It’s here that we get to the really good part.
For in a matter of seconds – we see a reversal of what happened in the Garden of Eden with that poisoned meal.
When Adam and Eve took the fruit, their eyes were opened but it was not heaven that they saw but evil. They saw and experienced sin, despair, and death.
But when this stranger broke the bread, Cleopas and Mary saw heaven, they saw the Risen Lord, they experienced a life change for the better.
That must have been some kind of meal – for they not only had their lives changed they turned around and walked back that seven miles to Jerusalem to share the Good News with Peter.
Now, that’s a great story surrounding a meal – a meal that brings newness of life, that brings hope and that brings revelation.
Which leads us to our third meal – the one that we will be sharing this morning.
III. The Lord’s Supper
One meal brought poison – decay, disease and death.
Another meal brought newness, revelation and everlasting hope.
And the meal we share this morning reminds us that we don’t have to dine on a meal of poison. We don’t have to accept the meal that the Devil or evil fixes for us daily.
We don’t have to sit around a table and listen to His lies. We don’t have to share bread or life with the Evil One. We don’t have to beg for crumbs at the Devil’s table.
Instead, we are called to come and share life with Jesus.
We are called to experience what Cleophas and Mary experienced when they broke bread – the presence of the Risen Christ.
Sharing of Holy Communion
Blessing – Sending Forth
