Emmaus sermon notes may 4

May 3 Luke 24:13-35 I Peter 1:17-23

Cleopas and one unnamed man are walking. Both are looking sad. It is a difficult thing to pour your hopes onto someone a or some cause and see it turn to ashes. It hurts, and it pushes some into bars and some into depression.These two men on the road are  struggling to come to grips with death of Jesus even though they had heard of resurrection. To me they sound like people who are mourning a loss. to me they are trying to make sense of  a terrible injustice. they are given clues to unravel their loss through a tour of the Scripture.When we have a choir procession, Nancy carries a heavy Bible. We touch four readings from the common lectionary week after week. They offer in a way a dual invitation-they are discussing-tossing back and forth religious ideas and responses, but then they make a full offer of hospitality for Jesus to stay with them and then find Jesus in Communion for Easter-no communion until they offer hospitality.

I do not know if they failed to recognize Jesus as he was incognito or disguised or if they could not recognize him as they could not believe their eyes. After all he was crucified, dead,and buried, as we say in the Creed.They are met on the road by a  stranger but in the end they have seen Jesus.They then turn right around and head back.TFind Jesus in part through the scriptures, as I Peter puts it the living and enduring (abiding)word (logos) of God.You can tell it is a living word as the living Jesus re-interprets it.It endures not only through time, not only through different situations and encounters, but it remains, abides wihtin us. this passage is one of the reasons a our tradition  conjoins Word and sacrament. we see the bible as a precondition for the reception and understanding of the sacraments.

Jesus disappears as quickly as he appears After Easter the presence of Jesus will not be frequent. If we have eyes to see, we can find the elusive hidden Jesus. If we take the passage  we engage Jesus through the study of Scripture. We more fully touch the reality of the risen Jesus in the sacrament of the bread and cup.The elusive Jesus is fully present in the sacrament of Communion. In our tradition the spirit transports us into the presence of Christ.

I love that this resurrection story occurs in the midst of grief and its struggles. I love that they have a Bible Study that is taught by Jesus, and still they do not get the fullness of his presence. When their eyes are opened to the risen Jesus, he disappears again.God remains elusive. Luther spoke repeatedly of a hidden God, hidden in the event of suffering and loss and pain. Mother Teresa spoke of seeing Christ in the face of the poor wretches her order worked to provide a bit of comfort. Jesus is present as a therapist helping someone come to grips with a loss and trying to put a life back together.

I Pet. 1:17-23 (esp22-3) gives us a glimpse of Easter life by speaking of genuine mutual love from the heart. In the midst of our own fragile mortality, one thing endures the word of God. (ch. rhema or logos here)  Here being born anew comes from that enduring a word, a word that Jesus interpreted for them on that lonesome road to Emmaus.That very word is bound to our two sacraments of Easter life, baptism and the Lord’s Supper.The presence of the risen Christ is all around. With eyes of Scriptural focus, of sacramental lenses, we encounter Christ in love, love that is indeed divine, all loves excelling.