Sermon was proclaimed on April 26th at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, Rock Valley, IA
Grace and Peace to you from the one who is, who was, and who is to come, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Today’s gospel text speaks to us in this place we find ourselves. There is something incredible about the Bible, that we don’t often find in other texts written throughout history, this text written nearly 2000 years ago, still speaks volumes to us.
Two of Jesus’ followers are on the road, they are getting out of town that first Easter morning. (They don’t even know yet what incredible thing has happened.) They had expected a messiah who would redeem Israel, a ruler and a leader who would cast Roman out of the Holy city. Instead this man who they believed to be the messiah, was broken and murdered by the very people they thought Jesus would cast down.
Then, that morning, the women and later some of the men had gone to the tomb and found that Jesus’ body was missing. They were not expecting that Jesus would be risen from the dead. They probably thought that Jesus’ body had been stolen.
They are walking away from Jerusalem, back out to their homes.
Depression, disappointment, sorrow, fear, betrayal, anger, exhaustion.
These are all emotions that the two men on the road are experiencing.
I don’t know about you all, but each year at Easter, I expect a certain uplifting, exciting, celebratory mood. This year I knew would be different, my first-year leading worship on Easter morning, I expected to be both exciting and terrifying. Something new is happening.
This Easter was not what I was expecting. Celebrating from a distance, my preaching mediated through digital means, no handshakes, hugs, or breakfast with the youth and members of the church. Instead, my words came out to you all and anyone who wanted to view the video via long strings of zeros and ones.
I imagine that we are all feeling some of the same emotions that the followers of Jesus were feeling that first Easter. We all had plans this spring and early summer. But, this year is not at all what we expected. Birthdays, holiday, funerals, are all weird. Our work or school experiences are not only different, but difficult. Milestones are being missed, graduation ceremonies are pushed back, cancelled or digital. Proms are cancelled, concerts, plays, games. Vacations are being altered. I know that at least one member of the congregation had a vacation / reunion planned for next week, or the week after, but that has been cancelled.
It is hard not to be sad, angry, frustrated and hurt by all the plans that we made being slowly and steadily undone.
That is precisely where Cleopas and his travelling companion are as they walk the seven miles to Emmaus. It is also exactly where Jesus meets them.
When Jesus meets them on the road, he could have immediately revealed who he was. Immediately he could have revealed that he had risen, that yes their expectations weren’t met, but something greater than their plans had happened. Not just the redeeming of Israel, but of all the world was accomplished on that cross.
Instead, Jesus sees their sorrow and hurt, and asks them what has happened. Jesus gives them time and space to voice their fears and frustrations.
Sometimes that is exactly what we need. We know that telling someone what is wrong will not fix the problem, but the sharing, the speaking out our emotions makes them real. We can own them, know them. I know that many times I really haven’t known what is bothering me, what the emotion that I am feeling, until I am given time and space to talk about it. We don’t always need someone to fix our problem or improve our mood, often times what we need is someone to hear us. To actually listen and hear our thoughts and feeling, someone who acknowledges that sometimes things just are not right.
In my pastoral care class this week, some of the class was focused on strong negative emotions, particularly the text we read was about anger. We don’t often allow anger to be part of our religious experiences. We talk about a worship service being joyful or comforting, but we don’t oftentimes talk about worship in terms of anger. Sometimes though it might be appropriate. We come to worship with sorrow, why not bring our anger too that it might be transformed.
We believe in a God who is able to take our anger. I know that I have said this before, but it bears repeating. The Bible is filled with times and prayers of people who are angry with God. Or at least angry with the situations that they find themselves in, and they blame God for where they find themselves.
It seems reasonable that in this time and in this place that we find ourselves, we might be angry. God, why did you allow the coronavirus to spread. Why isn’t there enough medical supplies? Why is it that it is still the poor and the vulnerable who are paying the greatest price in this pandemic? Why is it that it is the lowest paid people who are forced to continue to work, to risk infection as “essential employees?” If they are so essential, shouldn’t they be paid more than the countless non-essential workers? Or, Why is it that what I do isn’t considered essential?
After giving the men time to talk about what had happened and what is going on, Jesus speaks and explains to them all the scriptures, still the men do not recognize Jesus. I almost wonder if they were even able to hear Jesus as he explained and rationalized the emotions that they were experiencing.
I have a really bad habit of doing that. Someone tells me what is bothering them, and then I try to explain to them why what they are feeling is justifiable, or try to redirect their emotions through explaining what happened in a different light. I am sorry, Kym. It doesn’t often work. When you are really in that space, no amount of explanation will change what you are feeling. It seems that Jesus is doing the same thing here when he goes through the scriptures explaining that what has happened is what needed to happen. Useful later, when the fear, depression, anger has passed, but in the moment, it often falls on deaf ears.
Then, they invite Jesus to stay with them that night. They will host this stranger in their home, immediately Jesus takes the role of host from them, he blesses the bread breaks it, and gives it to them. This isn’t the second communion, Lord’s supper this isn’t them participating in the sacrament of communion, but it is sacramental, it reminds them of the sacrament, the very act reminds them of Jesus’ feeding the crowds, the meals that they ate with Jesus, and the last supper they had with Jesus. Jesus in the act of blessing and breaking the bread reminds them of the promise Jesus had made in the last supper.
When the hour came, he took his place at the table, and the apostles with him. 15 He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
Immediately they saw that it was Jesus, they remembered his words on the road, they understood that Jesus had been present with them the whole day through. Jesus disappeared, and they leapt up even though it was evening and returned to tell the disciples all that they had seen.
This week in my systematic theology class, we were talking about the work of the Holy Spirit. Something Lutherans are not always all that good at talk about or understanding is the role and work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Triune God.
Specifically we talked about the fact that through the Holy Spirit, God continues to reveal God’s self in created things. Our words and selves are some of the created things that God choses to use to reveal God to other people. Think about those times when someone told you something they were going through. You might not have known what to say to comfort them, but you spoke anyhow, and they were comforted. That is the Spirit working through you to remind others of God’s promises of life, redemption, and healing. God’s promise to be with us, even in, or more specifically, especially in our moments when we feel furthest from God.
In the rite of Baptism, we light a candle and hand it to the sponsors or the person being baptized and say, let your light shine before others so that they might see your good deeds and Glorify your Father in heaven. Your light is the Spirit of God working in you to be a light to others. You might not be aware that what you have done or are doing is revealing God to others, but God has chosen not only to die for your sake, but also to use you to show God’s self, God’s love to all those who you have contact with.
Luther said that we should daily remember that we are baptized. Remember that God has promised you life eternal, the forgiveness of sins, and healing through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord, through faith, with the power of the Holy Spirit. Despite what we see in our lived experiences, God makes this promise, and God is faithful to God’s promises. We can trust God will fulfill the promise in each of our lives.
Hear this, and let your hearts burn within you, knowing that Jesus walks with you even in difficult times.
Peace my siblings, Peace be with you.