3rd Sunday of Easter
April 30, 2017
Luke 24:13-35
This morning’s Gospel continues the Easter resurrection
story. In fact, it’s even the same day. Two weeks ago, on Easter, we read what
happened early in the morning. Last week we read about the disciples in the
upper room in the evening. And in today’s reading it’s the same day. Later on the same
day two of Jesus' followers were traveling to a village called Emmaus.[1]
As we are wont to do when traveling with friends, they were talking. And as we
are wont to do when there has been big news, they were talking about the big
news, “all the things that had happened.” And while they were discussing these
things, up shows Jesus along the road and joins them on their journey. This is
not something that would easily happen in 21st century America.
Except on airplanes or trains, you wouldn’t get another passenger on your trip
and think nothing of it. I mean, can you imagine driving to Ocean City with
friends, and there pops up another person in your backseat? You’d know right
off the bat that something was up. But first century Palestine, you walked
between towns. Everyone did. And so you gained traveling companions who walked
with you, even if they were strangers. Then Jesus asks them what they’re
talking about and their jaws must have just about hit the ground. How on earth
can you be traveling on the road from
Jerusalem and not know what’s
been going on?! Even without telephones and social media, big news always spreads quickly. Always. Yet
these two disciples patiently explain to Jesus… about Jesus. It’s kind of like the
TV show “Undercover Boss.” The employees don’t know they’re talking about the
company with the person who owns the company! These followers of Jesus tell
Jesus about who they understand him to be and what has happened.
They begin with the description, “Jesus of Nazareth was a
prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people… Our chief
priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him.”[2]
I don’t think Jesus took issue with that part. Facts are facts; this is what
happened, no matter how you look at it. But then comes the first subjective
statement. The two disciples say, “We had hoped that he would be the one who
was going to set Israel free.”[3]
We had hoped. What hopes have you
had that didn’t happen? What have you hoped? The disciples had hoped that Jesus
was their Messiah, their Savior. What have you hoped? Perhaps you had hopes
about your family or your health or your life in retirement. Perhaps you had
hoped that the Orioles were going to beat the Yankees Friday night when they
had that eight run lead! Now that was a completely reasonable expectation. That
was more than just hope; it’s hard to come back from an 8 run deficit. What
expectations have you had that weren’t
met? Probably quite a few, because reality and expectation are two very
different things, and that’s a hard concept to learn. You expect to go in for a
routine doctor’s appointment… and it turns out not to be so routine. You take
your car to the mechanic to fix something minor… and the bill ends up being
$600. You expect one thing, and life turns out quite different. You had hoped.
You knew what you wanted to happen. And, usually, we have a pretty good idea of
what’s a reasonable hope and what’s simply idealistic. The disciples saw all
the signs and miracles Jesus did. They heard him preach. They believed him. And so they had hoped that he would be the one to
redeem Israel, just like he said. But then he died. Got the death penalty from
the government.
And yet… these two followers know that Jesus’ death was
not the end of the story. They continue on, telling Jesus, “But
there’s more: Some women from our group have left us stunned. They went to the tomb early this morning and
didn’t find his body. They came to us saying that they had even seen a vision
of angels who told them he is alive. Some of those who were with us went to the
tomb and found things just as the women said. But they didn’t see [Jesus].”[4]
So, we had hoped, but it didn’t happen. But
there’s more. And now we don’t know what to think. We were completely
surprised by this news that his body isn’t in the tomb. We know the great
lengths the government went to to seal the tomb and guard it and prevent anyone
from stealing the body. Whaddya mean Jesus isn’t there? Whaddya mean angels
talked with women? Whaddya mean they said he’s alive? [Make confused face.]
What are we supposed to make of that?!
This
has hit the point beyond our comprehension. Our hopes didn’t turn out. We’re
grieving that loss, that things didn’t turn out how we wanted them to. And now
we’ve heard news that we can’t make sense of. Where on earth would Jesus’ body
be, if it’s not in the tomb? How can he be alive? We saw him die. We saw his
dead body. We have not seen, just like Thomas last week, his resurrected body.
We’re not even sure if we believe in resurrection. So, from this grief that
what we had hoped didn’t happen, now we’re being told things that just boggle
the mind. You know, if you’re at least starting off even-keel, on a good day,
got enough sleep the night before, you can handle better things that don’t make
sense. Your brain’s in a position to try to process it and try to make sense
out of it. But starting off from grief, we
had hoped, but it appears we were wrong, and now there’s more? It’s a good thing Jesus showed up on that road,
because these two followers are just at a complete loss.
You’ll notice when we get to the last hymn that it was
written specifically from this Scripture. Here’s the description the author
makes: “When we are walking, doubtful and dreading, blinded by sadness,
slowness of heart, yet Christ walks with us/ ever awaiting/ our invitation:
Stay, do not part.”[5]
The disciples are doubtful and dreading, blinded by sadness, by their grief,
and slow of heart. When we, too, are like that, thank God that Christ walks with us. Because when things get that
bad, we are just not in a good position to do, or say, anything. And this is
the point when Jesus speaks and explains to them what was said about himself in
all the Scriptures, beginning with the books of Moses, which means the first
five books of the Old Testament, starting with Genesis, and the writings of all
the prophets. So, basically Jesus explains to them the whole Old Testament.
Wouldn’t that have been a great lecture to sit in on! Or, walk along in on.
Jesus explains that he had to suffer, that death is necessary before new life
can happen. A seed has to die before a plant can grow. We have to eat food in
order for our bodies to function and be healthy. One thing has to end before
another one can happen. And both the original thing and the new thing are good
things. We need seeds to plant gardens. You can’t have a beautiful flower and
its seed at the same time. You can’t have a delicious-smelling fresh baked loaf
of bread, and feel full at the same time. It’s a natural progression of life.
And so, when they reach Emmaus, they are not so lost and
overwhelmed that they forget their manners; they still show hospitality to
Jesus and invite him in and to stay with them. “After Jesus took his seat at
the table with them, he took the bread, blessed it and broke it, and gave it to
them.”[6]
Sound familiar? We just had that meal a couple weeks ago. When Jesus did this
same ritual again that he had done at the last supper, taking bread, blessing
it, breaking it, and sharing it, the disciples’ “eyes were opened and they
recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight. They said to each other, “Weren’t
our hearts on fire when he spoke to us along the road and when he
explained the scriptures for us?”[7]
Wasn’t it like a fire burning in us, as we listened to him talk and didn’t know it was him? Wasn’t it like
some part of our soul recognized him, even though we, consciously, did not? Even
though we were too caught up in grieving lost hope, too caught up in feeling
overwhelmed, we couldn’t recognize him, some part of our of our heart, some
part of us was on fire, and knew this was Christ our Lord, who did redeem Israel, who did redeem us, who did come to save the world. And with that realization, those two
disciples immediately left Emmaus, this town they had just spent all day
walking to, and hurried back to Jerusalem. They found the eleven disciples and
the other followers of Jesus gathered together and shared with them, Jesus really
is alive! We recognized him when he broke
bread with us.
This past week was my last Baltimore Metropolitan
District clergy gathering and we began by sharing joys and concerns. Except,
our concerns far outweighed our joys, and I mean far outweighed. And then our
new District Superintendent as of July 1, Rev. Wanda Duckett, got up, and gathered
our prayers together by saying that what she was hearing God say through us is
that there’s a blessing in the breaking.
There’s a blessing in brokenness. There’s a blessing in broken bread, because
it means the bread is ready to be shared and eaten. You can’t eat bread without
breaking it. There’s a blessing in the breaking of a seed, so that a flower can
come forth. There’s a blessing in the breaking of a pastor and congregation.
Y’all are ready for the next step of your journey together and it’s not my
place to walk alongside you during this next season. God is sending Pastor
Christine to you and sending me to walking alongside the people of Lisbon
during their next season.
Each season begins with hopes and dreams. Each season has
breaking. Each season has times when we say, “We had hoped.” And then a time
when we say, “But there’s more.” During each season, Jesus walks alongside us. Don’t
forget to look for him. Remember, he may be undercover. And pay attention for
those times when God’s words are burning with hope in your lives. And then
don’t forget to tell others. Our world is full of hurting and broken people who
need to hear that there’s a blessing in brokenness, that God can redeem their
brokenness, that God can redeem broken hopes.
One
of my best friend’s favorite bands is the punk rock group Green Day. They
released a song in 2004 called “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” The second half of
the refrain says, “My shadow's the only one that walks beside me; My shallow
heart's the only thing that's beating; Sometimes
I wish someone out there will find me; Till then I walk alone.” As
Christians, we know that Jesus walks with us. As members of his body, the
church, we know that we walk with each other and our pastor walks with us, too.
Yet that line, “Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me,” that’s what
we’re called to do, is go find those persons walking on the boulevard of broken
dreams, walking on the road to Emmaus with broken hopes. We are called to walk
alongside each other, to bear each other’s burden, to be Jesus to each other,
to love each other, to speak God’s words to each other.
May we, like those on
the Emmaus Road, find God’s words burning with hope in our lives. May God
strengthen us and give us courage for the journey ahead. Amen.
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