He Conquered Death, Then Asked for Fish.

An Eastertide Haiku

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He rose from the dead

And He said, I am hungry.

Is there food to eat?

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This is one of my favorite Jesus moments in all the Bible. The Lord Christ comes to earth, lives a perfect life and heals people of their earthly and spiritual diseases. He makes disciples, turns over tables and clears out temples. He is betrayed, suffers the crucifixion, and He dies. Three days later He rises, the conquering King of the universe. Then, He finds His friends, and asks them if they have something to eat. They give Him some grilled fish. It’s marvelously absurd. And to me, it’s one of the greatest comforts we have as Jesus’ chosen people.

Jesus rose from the dead in His forever glorified body. And He was hungry. Our risen Lord is a physical Lord. He is not just a heavenly being that floats around the dimensions. He came out of the tomb with a physical body and He will remain in His glorified, physical, tangible body until the end of time.

Why is this so cool? I’ll explain.

Do you ever feel kinda weirded out by the idea of Heaven? You know—the ethereal, floating Disneyland where there’s no gravity? Like, sure, sounds great. But also what sounds great is the smell of fresh laundry hanging on the line, the touch of my toddler’s sticky fingers, and the site of a dining table chaotically filled with the items of the lived-in day. It’s glorious to be human, is it not? Jesus thought so too. Which is why from the very beginning, He made us in His image and placed us on planet earth - a world designed specifically for the seeing, tasting, smelling, beauty-loving little creatures like us. And not only did He make us in His image, He sealed His own immortal incarnation when He rose from the grave with His rumbling belly.

I’m not sure where the floating Disneyland idea of Heaven came from… but I’m gonna go ahead and unsubscribe from that.

We were made for the Eden Garden. And it was very good.

Scripture talks so much of all the lovely things that we enjoy as humans. Trees, gardens, animals… and food! So much food. In fact food is so important in God’s good Kingdom, that our reuniting with King Jesus will be around a table laid with bread and wine.

Taste and see.

I find it so silly honestly, that I ever assumed God’s future for me would be less exciting than the cursed world I currently inhabit. This is only a shadow! But a shadow is not a separate universe. Scientists agree there are at least 10 dimensions, but we can only perceive 4 of them (height, width, depth, and time). This explains why Jesus, in His risen body, seemed to be able to walk through walls and appear “out of nowhere”.

Basically, we’re in Narnia, folks.

Maybe you’re thinking, what about the pearly gates and the streets of gold? Well, of course. God’s throne exists in a magnificent land that is, well, fit for a King. Think of the Elvish Kingdoms in Lord of the Rings. Or the island of Themyscira in the Wonder Woman series. See what I mean? Heavenly doesn’t mean intangible, but more tangible! What He has planned for us is more colorful, more physical, and more sweet and fragrant than we can ever imagine. I think it will be new, but familiar.

And full of all sorts of glories.

The glory of majestic castles and angelic creatures. But also the glory of the ones I love gathered around an old oak table piled with garlic bread and chicken Alfredo and chocolate cream pie.