Emmaus keeps happening!

For we are not gathered here this morning to talk about the absence of Christ “He is not here,” but rather the presence of the risen Lord Jesus: “...and they recognized him.”

That is the center of things at Easter.

When did this recognition take place?

It was in the midst of two activities:

--the opening of their minds to understand the scriptures,

--and in the breaking of the bread.

In that sense, Emmaus keeps happening with us as well as 2,000 years ago.

Luke gives us a marvelously told story, vivid and dramatic.

It is very precious to us, but there are some who would like to explain it away in some psychological ways.

Donna and I once knew a Unitarian who was preaching in a UCC Church.

As a Unitarian, he did not believe in the resurrection of Jesus, and so he had a difficult time with Easter and with funerals.

One Easter, his sermon consisted of a retelling of the children's book “The Velveteen Rabbit”, about a stuffed toy which gradually becomes worn out, but which was loved to life in imagination, despite how it looked, by the child who dragged it around.

It is a cute tale, but it has nothing to do with the resurrection of Jesus.

So, we'll stick with the text before us and not wander off talking about rabbits or butterflies, or the greening of spring with the gentle rains, or anything else.

The passage should b very familiar to us, because the structure of the story is in fact the four-part structure of our worship service each week.

Part I: Gathering.

The two disciples are walking along and are joined by a stranger.

The disciples are growling about the events of the past few days, summarized by:

“But we had hoped that Jesus was the one to redeem Israel...”

It was sadly and wistfully spoken.

It is a review of just where they are at that moment.

It is a mournful recognition that things have fallen apart and they cannot fix it themselves.

Isn't that what we do in our Gathering time also?

We come from all directions, sorrowful in many ways.

Lots of things have gone awry.

We have made errors and omissions.

We have been ruled by fear and anxiety.

Lord, what is next?

Perhaps our prayers have not been answered in the ways that we hoped or anticipated.

Perhaps death has been having a powerful effect on us and around us.

That whole range of thought and feeling is present in this assembly each time we gather.

Part II With all of those things in mind, we move on to the portion of the service centered on the spoken Word.

The stranger who joined the disciples on the road, after identifying what was wrong and gaining their ear,

then began to retell the scriptures, (meaning of course the Old Testament)

beginning with Moses (which means the Penteteuch, the first five books of the Old Testament)

and the prophets ( which refers to the history of Israel as well as the books of the prophets in particular)

showing how all of them pull together, pointing the way to the Lord Jesus.

Later on, they realize what had been happening to them as he was talking, that God's Word is having its proper effect on them.

They said: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking with us on the road, while he was opening to us the scriptures?”

Can that be true for us also?

When we are gathered together and rehearsing the scripture in reading, sermon, prayers, and conversation with study,

can God's Holy Spirit grab hold of us?

can words which we may have heard dozens of times finally begin to make sense?

It doesn't always happen, but when it does...

watch out for what can follow!

Part III, the Meal

Jesus promptly moves ahead to the meal.

He wants to engage not only the minds, but the whole body, the whole person.

His is both a spoken deed and an acted word.

What he does, is; what he says, happens!

The two disciples thought that they were being gracious in inviting Jesus to stay with them that night.

Jesus takes their common hospitality and turns it into the time of promise-giving.

Jesus was there first as a guest,

who soon becomes the host,

a far more effective host than the disciples ever could be.

And in the speaking and in the doing,

in the combination of their hearing the word and seeing and receiving that word acted out, they realize that it is Jesus who is with them.

The occasion becomes one of great joy.

The promises of God about which they had been hearing through the exposition of scriptures are being fulfilled in their eyes, ears, and hands and mouths.

The first course of the great and final banquet is being served!

Part IV—Sending

So Jesus moves immediately to part IV of the event.

The disciples do not dally once they have recognized the presence of the Lord Jesus.

The new reality which they have heard and received is not a static thing.

It is all about relationships.

One cannot only talk about a relationship; one must do them in order to share them.

It is one thing to say “Jesus loves you”, and it is an even more effective thing to be that loving activity of God

--with a grieving family

--with a person fearing the future,

--with new parents rejoicing in childbirth,

--with a person stuck in day after day drudgery, etc.

Those who have received the body of Christ are to be that body of Christ with others, in all kinds of situations.

And so the disciples go quickly to the eleven and share what has been given to them.

Similarly, after the meal, our service moves rapidly to its end so that we can begin to share in word and action what has been shared with us.

There is – the four-fold shape of the Emmaus story, which is also the pattern for our worship and our lives as well:

--to gather

--to hear the word

--to act out the Lord's promise

--to be sent out to share it.

May our prayer this day be that not matter how sad, confused, or angry, or lonely we are,

we can be enlivened just as were Cleopas and the other disciples,

for we are celebrating not the absence, but the presence of the Lord Jesus.

Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.