One of my favorite things to do is to have dinner with family and friends.  Doesn’t matter if it is a regular meal at home or at a restaurant.  There is something special about sharing a meal with others.  This is even true for the workplace.  Taking your team out for a meal naturally grows the team.  For whatever reason, a shared meal grows relationships.

This morning, I was listening to a local pastor talking about Jesus meeting with his disciples in their home after his resurrection.  He was helping them to understand what happened through the cross and prove that he was truly resurrected.  And then Jesus ate a piece of fish.  At the beginning of the verse, Pastor Paul, pointed out that Jesus entered their home and said “Peace to You” just as he had taught them to do.  Jesus was living out his instruction.  (He is not just talk.) Jesus is action.

“As they were talking about these things [Simon seeing Jesus on the road in the preceding verses], Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them ‘Peace to you!’  But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit.  And he said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?  See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.  Touch me, and see.  For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’  And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.  And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’  They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.” 

Luke 24:36-42

Why would he be asking to eat something?  This seemed very odd to me, at first.  The disciples must have had many questions.  And Jesus just came back from the dead.  Did he really need something to eat?  Then it reminded me of a verse that has come up several times for me over the past several weeks, Revelations 3:20 ESV:

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”

Jesus doesn’t want us to just know about him.  He doesn’t want us to simply understand that he is our Lord.  He wants to come into our homes.  He wants to come in and share meals with us.  “I will eat with him and he with me.”  Together.  This is something we do with friends and family.  A meal in our home is relationship building.  Having someone over for dinner is about camaraderie and desiring to spend time with one another.  Jesus wants a deep relationship with us.  He wants to share life with us.  And he is not just words – he is action.  See what happens if you were to invite him to share a meal with you.  Invite him in and he will give “Peace to you”.