Luke 24:13-35
I
often find myself wondering why Jesus had to be so inconspicuous in his
appearances after his resurrection. He
could have used a little more fanfare.
Perhaps he could have descended from the sky with a cape and angels
escorting him. It would have gotten everyone’s attention. It would not have left anyone in doubt that
he was resurrected from the dead. Alas,
he was resurrected much like he was born the first time. Very few people
witnessed it and even fewer recognized him for who he was. That made sense when
he was born the first time. He was a
baby for goodness sake. However, in his
resurrection appearances, people should have known exactly who he was. He was not appearing to random people. They
were his friends and followers, people who had spent hours and hours with him. How
could they not know who he was? There are many theories on why people did not
recognize him. I think the reason that
most people did not initially recognize him was because they did not expect to
see him. They were not looking for him. They were grieving his death, not
searching for the living Christ.
Our reading from the Gospel of Luke is a perfect
example. We have two individuals walking
down the road. They were not one of the
12 apostles. They were followers of
Jesus, disciples of Jesus. They were
walking away from Jerusalem. Jerusalem
is where everything happened. It is the
Holy City. Yet these two people are
leaving. Luke does not say why. He just
says they are leaving.
While these two travelers are talking, a stranger
approaches them and joins the conversation.
He asks them what they are talking about. They are flabbergasted that this strange man
does not know what just happened. They
tell this stranger that Jesus, a great prophet mighty in word and deed, has
been crucified. They tell him that some
people in their group have reported that they saw angels and an empty
tomb. Angels were not a common
occurrence. If they had believed this account, they would have almost surely
stayed and waited to see what was going on.
But they didn’t believe.
Notice the words they used. “But we had hoped that he was the one to
redeem Israel.” They had such high hopes
for Jesus, who was mighty in word and deed.
He was going to be the one to save them all---deliver them from the
Romans, ensure that they were once again in God’s favor. But he hadn’t. He was killed by the very people who he was
supposed to defeat. It was a tragic
ending to a great life. While there were
rumors that he was back from the dead, those were only rumors, wishful thinking
of a few misguided people. So they were
leaving. Where they were going really
did not matter. What mattered was that
they were putting as much distance as they could between them and their
unfulfilled hopes—the happy ending that never was.
Because of their grief and inability to open
their minds to the possibility that Jesus was alive, they could not recognize
the Messiah who walked beside them.
While Jesus was a little frustrated and called them foolish, he remained
patient. He went back to the beginning
and told them the stories that they had known since their childhood, of Moses
and the prophets. He told these stories
in such a way that they were able to see the death of Jesus in a different
light and perspective.
This was not enough. They still not recognize
him. But just because they were not
quite there yet, did not mean the story was over. They asked Jesus to stay with them. They were
worried about this man who was traveling alone.
They wanted to make sure that he had a good meal and a safe place to
rest. They invited Jesus to stay.
Jesus was never one to say no to dinner, no
matter who invited him. He agreed to
have dinner with them. He broke the
bread and blessed it. He didn’t do it
with any fanfare. He probably did not
hold it over his head like we clergy tend to do. There was no altar or fancy
silver. He just broke the bread. Then everything fell into place. They saw Jesus, the Messiah, the one they had
been hoping for not only for their lives, but for all of history. And before they could even say, “Hey it’s
you!”---he vanished. What I find
fascinating is that they do not seem troubled by this vanishing act. Perhaps what he had given them in that short
time was so fulfilling, that they could not possibly want for more.
We
expect a lot from Jesus. We expect him
to love us. We expect him to forgive us.
He loves us and forgives us beyond our expectations. We also expect that he will be there when we
need him. He is. He is always there. Yet what we forget, is that Jesus has some
expectations of us as well. He walked
with these two individuals on the road to Emmaus. He walked with them for miles. He listened to them and taught them. But there came a point when these two
individuals had to do something. They had to invite him to stay. If they had said, “Well it was nice talking
to you. We have reached our destination
and no longer need your company” they would have never recognized him. They would have had an educational and
perhaps inspirational conversation with a kind stranger, but they would have
never experienced what it was to be with the risen Christ. Yet even though they did not quite understand
what was going on, they were willing to take a chance with this strange
man. They invited him to stay.
I
believe that Jesus is always with us, even those of us who do not believe. Yet
to fully recognize Jesus, to know him, we need to invite him to stay with us.
We have to be willing to take a chance that things might not go as expected. Our lives might not work out exactly as we
want. Our prayers might not be answered
in the specific way we requested that they be answered. But just because things have not happened as we
planned, does not mean that God is not on the journey with us. Even though he is our constant companion, we
still need to invite him to stay. We
have to show some initiative in this relationship. It’s not a one way thing. If we are willing to invite him in, our eyes
will be opened and we will see him in all aspects of our lives.
Those
two disciples of Jesus did not merely recognize him in that moment. Once they had that moment of recognition, they
were able to identify his presence and his impact before they really knew who
he was. They said, “Were not our hearts burning
within us while he was talking to us on the road…” That is what happens when we
ask Jesus to stay with us. We are given
a new lens in which we see our whole lives. Perhaps that is why Jesus was so
inconspicuous in his resurrection appearances. Maybe that is why he did not
come down with a cape flanked by angels.
Because he knew that it would be much more fulfilling for us if we
learned how to see him in our ordinary, everyday lives.
There is a beautiful prayer on page 139 of our
prayer book. It is a prayer for the
early evening. I would like to end the
sermon reading it together.
Lord Jesus,
stay with us, for evening is at hand and the day is
past; be our companion in the way, kindle our hearts, and
awaken hope, that we may know you as you are revealed in
Scripture and the breaking of bread. Grant this for the sake
of your love. Amen.
past; be our companion in the way, kindle our hearts, and
awaken hope, that we may know you as you are revealed in
Scripture and the breaking of bread. Grant this for the sake
of your love. Amen.
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