Sermon Luke 24:19-34

All admit that this is a strange story ... this story of two disciples ... one named Cleopas ... and another, perhaps his wife or a friend ... and the two of them are leaving Jerusalem in despair ... they have been followers of Jesus ... they saw all the wonders he performed ... they saw how he amazed people with his deeds and his talk of God's wisdom ... he was their teacher ... their Rabbi ... they shared all these good things with him... and THEN they saw him put to death .. their Jesus had been killed ... killed on a cross as a common criminal ...

The word despair would be too weak to describe their feelings... they have just had their world drop out from under them ... their hopes and their dreams for their country have just been dashed on the rocks of history ... they had dreamed that Jesus might be the one to redeem Israel. The one who would end the Roman occupation of their lands ... like refugees of any age, they hoped that an outside power would swoop in and with guns blazing ... and bombs dropping, they would force the oppressors back to their own soil. But Jesus disappointed them .. for he did not choose the way of war ... for he chose another way ... the way of the cross ...

And the word "way" is important ... "Way" ... Christians, before we were called Christian's were called people of the way ... or more accurate... people of the road ... the ones who traveled the road of Jesus ... a way overshadowed by the cross.

And, this morning, along this particular road home, we encounter these two disciples traveling to Emmaus ... and I wonder what Emmaus meant to them? Perhaps they were going back to their home ... to leave behind the other disciples in Jerusalem ... perhaps they were headed back to enter into their ordinary lives ... to somehow just get on with things ...

Isn't that one of the great human temptations ... to just get on with things ... to either go back to our old ruts when things don't work out ... or to just tolerate the ruts we know ... choosing the devil we know over the devil we don't know ... my brother once said that our ruts sometimes become so smooth and tolerable that we find we can not climb out of them ... We find ourselves living lives of quiet desperation ...

But this morning we see the power of Easter at work. We see Jesus encountering disciples on the road of life. But they do not recognize him ... mysterious stuff ... I don't know why the disciples do not recognize him, but it is him. Jesus, the Risen Christ. And as they walk along, he asks them what they are talking about and why they are sad.

To which Cleopas replies ... are you the only one in Jerusalem who does not know about Jesus of Nazareth? "What things?" asks Jesus ... so Cleopas tells Jesus the story of Jesus ... he tells him about all the things that he did ... the great things ... the things that filled them with amazing hope ... and then he tells him that in the end he was put to death by the authorities ... then he adds ... "and it is the third day" ... the day that Jesus said he would rise ... yet, all that happened so far was a group of women saying that had seen the tomb empty, and that told them that he was risen ...

And you can tell by their sadness that they do not believe it ... they do not think the stories of his rising are true ... This is an irony of ironies ... here it is the third day, and they think Jesus has not yet risen from the dead. And Cleopas and his friend are sharing their disappointment and despair with the Risen Christ himself.

But Jesus will not let us give in to despair so easily ... to all this disappointment, he says, "Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared!" How quick you are to let go of the possibility that all I've said might indeed be true.

Now one might think that Jesus is being too harsh with them ... it IS nearing the end of the third day ... they can see the sun going down, and still he has not appeared. This is not like in the movies where we know the red phone will ring ... or the hero will ride in to save the day ... for Cleopas, this is the closing of the Jesus Story ... the ending of a journey of disappointments ...

And did you notice that on their journey they almost missed seeing him for who he was?

For when they come to their village ... Jesus was going to continue walking on ... for Jesus was not going to impose himself ... he wished to be invited into their lives. The disciples need to make a choice ... and they do. Wait stranger, he is told, stay with us, because it is almost evening, and the day is almost over."

And so he went and stayed with them, and when he was at the table he took bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight."

He took bread and broke it ... we can not escape the connection with communion. It was when they shared the bread that they finally realized it was Jesus ... and it was also then that they embraced the reality of who Jesus was ... he was the Messiah ... the Risen Christ ...

But why the breaking of bread ... why didn't Jesus just pop out of the bushes and say ... "Cleo! It's me ... with tears and hugs they would embrace ... or perhaps a more Hollywood encounter would be better ... clouds unfolding, with angels trumpets ... beams of light ... but not so ... Jesus chose this way ... a mysterious way to show himself to these disciples ... he met them on the road ... he shared the wisdom of scripture with them ... they welcomed him into their home ... and in the breaking of the bread these two companions Jesus reveals himself to them ...

Did you know that that the word companion means "to break bread" ... Com - Pan ... Common Bread ... to share common bread. It was in sharing companionship with a stranger that these disciples encountered the Risen Christ. But not only companionship, but also compassion .... For in their compassion for him ... in their concern that he not be left outside at night ... left on the road at night where he may meet bandits ... they invite him to stay with them ... they had compassion ... and compassion is similar to companion ... Com - Passion ... to share passion ... to share suffering ... some of you remember that Good Friday is called the Passion of Lord ... the Suffering of the Lord ... common passion ... compassion ...

And compassion is an important ingredient to this story ... for in sharing in the stranger's need ... in giving of their meager belonging to another human being ... in breaking of the little bread they had with another who was hungry, they encountered the Risen Christ.

And not only them, but Christians throughout the centuries have also encountered the Risen Christ ... When we share ourr bread with strangers ... when we reach outside our own communities and shared our gifts with others ... with the hurting or the lonely or the lost or the refugee ... when we reach out something amazing eventually happens ... we experience the Risen Christ in companionship and compassion with the stranger ... for there have been times when we have indeed encountered the Risen Christ....

Should we be surprised that Jesus came as a stranger? Meeting God is the stranger is a common theme throughout the bible. Throughout holy scriptures, people encounter God in strangers ... be it Abraham and Sarah ... and the strangers who came and told these two amazed childless seniors that they would have a son and would be the father and mother of uncountable decedents ... and then there is Jacob wrestling with God in the cave ... and in that encounter he is blessed ... and there is Gideon who brings a meal to stranger then discovers that he has encountered the Divine ...

Welcoming the stranger is a common theme throughout scriptures ... and this morning on the road to Emmaus, we see that it is one of the signs of discipleship ... the sharing of our daily bread ... with others ... not just those we know, or who are like that ... anyone can do that ... but sharing our bread with strangers, those who can never pay us back ... When we enter into companionship with others ... even those who are very strange to us ... even those who are our enemies ... when we have compassion for others ... even those who have wronged us ... we are following in the way of the cross ...

For when we enter into the suffering of those who can never pay us back ... when we give our lives away to those in need .... that is the way of the cross ... and that is when we will discover that the Risen Christ has been with us all along ... amid the sadness and struggles of our own lives ...

For the reality of the story of Emmaus, is that it is our story ... for each of us wants to encounter the Risen Christ ... we want to know what difference the resurrection means to our lives ... to the way earn and spend our money, or engage in relationships, or raise our kids or relate to our parents ... we want to know what Easter means for us ...

Yet, like Cleopas and his friend, to GET IT we can't be told about it ... even if we preachers would like to think that we can tell you about it ... telling is not enough ... singing about the way of Jesus is not enough ... read all sorts of books about it won't turn on the light ... only until we walk the road ... until we follow in the way of Jesus ... only until we live the life of a Christian will we get it ... until we walk the road of faith he will remain hidden to us ...

But there is Good News for those who wish to start the journey, or begin again ... the Good News is that Jesus himself IS already there in your life ... and our communities exist so that we can grow strong in Jesus way ... so that we can seek the wisdom of scripture to learn how we can be companions with others ... and to see what real compassion is ...

And when we live out discipleship ... when we break bread with others ... when we share in the suffering of the needy ... then something amazing will happen ... we will be changed and we will begin to see how Christ is at work in the world ...

Through sharing the scriptures with each other in community, we come to live lives of hospitality ... of common bread and common suffering ... and when this happens ... when we have been living the faith ... out of the corner of our eyes we will see him ... in the breaking and sharing of the bread of our lives we glimpse the kingdom ... and our hearts burn within us ... our hearts fill with the joy of true community ... true sharing ... and true humanity ... and we encounter the Divine ... the Risen Christ ... and it changes us into courageous disciples willing to risk ...

And with that courage we are willing to leave our tables, our homes, our churches ... and head out into the night so that we can share the Good News with others through our actions and through our words, so that others might come to know to joy and Good News that we have found in Jesus Christ ... our mysterious Risen Lord who is revealed in the breaking of bread ... our Christ who says to us ... "Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice open the door, I will come to you and eat with you, and you with me." ...

Sermon Luke 24:19-34
by James Love