"In search of..."

Breakfast at Dawn by Mike Moyer

In Genesis 18 we are told the story of Abraham receiving unexpected visitors.  If you recall the story, it was a very hot day.  Abraham was taking a break when he noticed three men kind of looking around, perhaps looking for someone to offer them shelter from the merciless sun.

So, Abraham decided to go out to meet the men and to invite them home.  He arranged for them to sit at the shade of a tree, brough water, and asked the long-suffering Sarah to cook a meal, right then and there.  And you know how the story follows with the promise of the birth for Abraham’s son.

Taken the story in isolation and knowing that God was present at the event, let me suggest that it would be fair to ask, “Was God present in the unknown visitors who told Abraham about an unexpected heir, or was God also present in the generous hospitality which Abraham offered the unknown strangers even when he had nothing to gain from the exchange?”

The story also begs another question, which, as you will see is very much related to the lessons appointed for today.

And the question is, “During the last week, where and when did you felt the presence of the Lord?”  -- Even if was right after the fact!

If the Resurrection teaches us anything, it is that God acts beyond our hopes and desires and makes his presence known unexpectedly.  And so, what at first glance appear to be random acts of kindness – given or received – turn out to be moments of divine grace, healing, and unexpected hope.

Psalm 30 tells us the story of David who, as you well know, was not exactly a saint.  And in verse 2 and 3, he tells us that when he was in battle and in a dire situation, he called upon the Lord and God showed up.

Now the Hebrew text makes clear that David actually called upon the Lord as in the sort of cry that a baby makes when suddenly he finds himself alone.  And who would have thought?  According to David, God showed up! 

David doesn’t tell us in which way or how God showed up, other than he was pretty sure that God appeared to restore him – even if it was in the nick of time!

Our first lesson tells us the story of God’s appearance to Saul of Tarsus.  If you jump forward in the lesson, the Lord asks Ananias to take care of Saul.  And for sure, you’ll soon find poor Ananias very much puzzled.  First, because somehow God showed up in a vision.  And then, for asking him to take care of no less than Saul, the most famous persecutor of the church.

One can very well imagine Ananias arguing, “What’s the matter with you God?  Don’t you know Saul is bent in destroying all of us?”  Yet God, even if it was not needed, told Ananias that He was going to use Saul in a new and mighty way – as we know he would become the Apostle Paul.

So here we find someone who if anything deserved way more than being kicked off a horse.  Saul who made his business in life to get rid of the Church, now is called into a new mission – to build up the Church of God.  And, as you know, even Paul, later in his years, was still very much amazed of the – literally – turn of events.

Finally, the Gospel tells the story of an extraordinary breakfast.  John tells us that the disciples had gone back to their old business – fishing.  So, it is fair to say that if anything, Jesus or God was out of their minds.  Then they were concerned with making a living.

After a long night, however, they return emptyhanded, however.  Upon returning they found a stranger telling them to try again.  As they did so, they got a huge catch.  And then the penny dropped – “It is the Lord!”, John cried.

So, when they arrived back ashore, they found that Lord had already started a fire!  Peter brought the fresh catch, and so they had breakfast.  As the gospel tells us, they didn’t ask, but they knew it was the Risen Lord who had set up the table for them.  Another “random” act of kindness!

Professor Alyce McKenzie once told the story about a question she asked her Sunday School class.  She asked, “‘Why do you think Simon Peter, after making this amazing discovery of the empty tomb, went home?’  And she recalls that one of the men in the class said, with a grin and to great laughter, ‘He went home to hide from Jesus!’” 

And even if everybody laughed at the quip, the answer was not too far from the truth.  For as the gospels tells us, the disciples shut themselves for being afraid.  But were they just afraid of the powers that be? 

Was Peter afraid of meeting Jesus whom he had denied not only once but three times?  Were the disciples afraid that Jesus was coming back to scold them for their unbelief and unfaithfulness?

But no.  Jesus appears to have fellowship with them, and like Abraham of old, to offer them unwarranted hospitality.

This act of hospitality, with bread and fish offered by the Risen Lord, stands as a gentle reminder of God’s abundant grace and forgiveness.  Such minutes will not be signed by disapproval or reproach, but by a spark of connection such as shared meal and the quiet and almost fleeting divine touch offering renewal and reconciliation.

And it is only then that Jesus affirms Peter in a new ministry, an improbable new ministry and new beginning for a rethread like Peter.

Even if was a meeting reserved for the future apostles, it also was an invitation to open ourselves to the unplanned presence of the Lord in an act of hospitality – given or received –, be it in the intangible but irresistible sense of God’s presence in prayer or just looking to a beautiful sunset.

Such moments will not only to heal and affirm us but will strengthen us for the days ahead.  And whenever is our turn to dish out grace and tenderness, we will become the Lord’s hands touching lives.

Such encounters also reassure us that when we are busy doing our own things or even when we are at our worst, God still may appear to lead us into a better future.  In other words, as the Parable of the Prodigal and the calling of Paul reminds us, there is no one who is so far gone that God’s outstretched arms cannot reach. 

And so as the Scriptures calls us, do not neglect to offer hospitality, grace, and kindness, for without knowing, we may end up hosting angels, (Hebrews 13:2).

God’s divine pursuit reveals the depth of divine love, a love that refuses to remain distant or detached, but it is always reaching out.  Such initiative should help us to recognize the moments when we, too, are sought after—through trials, triumphs, in the glass of water offered to the stranger, in the friendly pat in the back which we needed so badly, as well as in the quiet whispers of grace.

So, my friends, all through the next week be on the lookout.  God may be out there looking for you!  But also, be on the lookout for those who, perhaps like David, are looking out for a touch of unwarranted grace and kindness.

Fr. Gustavo