A Significant Piece of Fish (Lent 27, 2023)

As much as I hated the pop quizzes in seminary, always testing us on rather obscure specifics of Scripture in what had been our reading for the day, I must admit, it gave me a sense of awe about God’s inclusion of little details in Scripture and how their significance can be unrelated to their size.

Today, let’s look at the significance of a little piece of broiled fish. The two men from Emmaus, having walked all that while–without knowing who they were with–were sharing with the other disciples their story of finally recognizing Him.

Luke 24: 36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

Might as well have said, “Boo!” It had the same effect.

Luke 24:37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. 38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” 40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.”

Things like this just don’t happen every day. In my mind, I would have been thinking, “Okay, this is seriously creeping me out. It’s unreal.” I would want to believe, it’s just there was no precedent for this kind of thing.

Luke 25:41 “They still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.”

Boom.
The significance of a piece of broiled fish.
Stop and let it sink in.

Humanity is a beautiful hybrid of the physical/flesh world and the spiritual realm…from our initial Creation. Every man, woman, and child since Adam and Eve has had that pairing.

Jesus, however, was not this way until the Incarnation. Jesus’ point was that ghosts don’t have flesh and bones…and they don’t eat. Beings from the spiritual realm don’t need to eat because they’re spiritual only. Moreover, Jesus’ flesh still bore the marks of crucifixion which He held out as His identifying mark. His ID card, as it were. He will return the exact same way He departed: fully human, fully God (Acts 1:3-11).

Focus for Lent: The pre-incarnate Christ was spiritual-only and God’s Very Image. After the Incarnation Jesus would bear true humanity forever as evidence of God’s sacrificial love displaying His Very Image.

Questions for further thought:

The difference between a ghost of the spiritual realm and flesh and blood was evidenced by His eating in their presence. Jesus, post-resurrection, was not just spiritual like an angel, or like God the Father or the Holy Spirit. Had Jesus abandoned His humanity like it was just a costume? Or is He still one of us, even as the perfect man from Heaven?

What would abandoning His humanity have done for our hope? And for us as Image-bearers?

Jesus was in a sense, Incarnated forever. He added full humanity to His full divinity and didn’t shed humanity at His death. Why is that important to the Image of God in us now, and how we will be in heaven?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, please help me to recognize You, to recognize the need for You to suffer, and die, and be raised on the third day. Help me to be grateful and zealous to understand how all Scripture is fulfilled in You and that by suffering and dying for us, You have paved the way for us to be saved, too. It’s overwhelming for us to probe the vastness of Your love and grace. Awaken us so we will increasingly reflect more of You. Amen.

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If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2023 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014.
Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations. We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17.
ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ. It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.
Last year’s devotionals, Revelation in 40 offered 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire us to read the Book of Revelation as it is written and to go deeper. They are archived beginning March 2, 2022.