Have you ever stood on the losing
side? All the way back to elementary
school – on the playground or in phys.ed class, do you remember that crushing
feeling of defeat that twisted your stomach, made a knot of your anger, and
just made all of life feel drastically unfair?
Or maybe you still know that
feeling. You’re at the bottom of the totem pole at work,
given the worst assignments that are unachievable while others sail past you on
the promotion scale. Your relationships
are in tatters. Your bank account is
getting increasingly slim while your bills are getting larger. You’re a…loser.
The apostles could commiserate with
you. In spades.
The gospel lesson for today is the
conclusion of Jesus’ appearance to some believers on the road to Emmaus. But it starts a bit earlier.
It starts right after the
Resurrection, on that same day. Luke notes that Jesus has risen and appeared to
Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, the other women who went with
them to the tomb, and last of all to Peter.
But the other disciples thought the
women’s proclamation to be (and I quote from Luke 24:11) ‘an idle tale, and
they did not believe them.” In the face
of a bitter, crushing defeat the disciples simply chose not to believe, to
consider the women as too dumb to know the truth – they were losers. Jesus was dead, they’d watched him die –
heard his cries and his screams of anguish, heard the taunts of those who
crucified him and of those who died beside him.
Dead is dead.
That’s what the apostles said:
“you’re wrong. You’re
hallucinating. Jesus hasn’t risen – he’s
still as dead as he was before. We have
nothing to be hopeful for.”
There was no sun to peek through the
clouds of their grief and hopelessness.
And two of them get on the road to
continue on their journey, to the city of Emmaus
which is about 7 miles outside of Jerusalem
And while they’re walking a stranger
joins them, and quietly listens to their conversation. After a while, he asks: “what are you
discussing?”
And those two people (identified
only as Cleopas, and one other) look at the stranger like he needs his head
examined: “are you the only stranger in Jerusalem
And the stranger said, “tell me,” to
which they replied: “the things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet
mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, who was condemned and
crucified, even when all our hope and trust for the future rested with him. And even more – this was three days ago, but
today some women of our group astonished us! They went to e tomb this morning,
and when they did not find the body there they came back and told us that they
had seen an angel who said that he was alive.
Some of us went with them back to the tomb and they were at least partly
right – no body, but no angel, either.”
Now consider those two travellers –
they’re followers of Jesus, certainly.
They know that Jesus was tried, condemned, and executed. They’re close enough to the apostles to be
with the group that morning. But other
than that, they’re nameless. They’re
like everyone else who hovered on the fringes of the movement – aware of Jesus,
putting hope and trust for the improvement of their lives on him – and now
bitterly disappointed that their hope was (they think) unfounded. For them, at that moment, there is no
resurrection.
But that stranger keeps walking with
them, and tells them, “how thickheaded can you be?” and he begins to tell to
them all the things written about the Saviour in the Scriptures. They wanted a messiah; they got a saviouri. But even in the face of this, they are still
slow to understand until the evening when they finally encourage the stranger
to stay with them, to share a meal with them.
As the stranger breaks the bread at the table, their eyes are opened and
they recognise that the stranger sitting with them is, in fact, their Lord
Jesus.
And in that moment, Jesus
disappears, leaving the disciples astounded, amazed, and kicking themselves for
being so hard of heart that they even failed to recognise joy and healing when
it was offered. Right at that moment,
they get up and run back to Jerusalem
And it’s from here that our gospel
lesson picks up. But in reality, as they
almost always are – the gospel lesson for today is a mirror of ourselves, how
we act, how we think, and how we too try to ignore Christ in our lives.
Think back to the last time you
found yourself without hope, hurt and angry, disgusted with yourself and too
tired (or so you thought) to care anymore.
Now, consider what those two travellers did:
-
they withdrew from their
community, as we often want to do when under stress.
-
They left the place where
their troubles had started, and tried to get as far away from it as possible
-
They endlessly rehashed the
possibilities – the should’ve/could’ve/would’ves
-
They reacted sarcastically – you must be the only stranger…-- when
someone asked about their trouble.
That’s human nature. We want to turn into ourselves when we’re
hurt and sad; we don’t want reminders of that sadness around us and we often
want to get away from it.
And you know what? Sometimes we need to, because sometimes Jesus
appears to us on the road, bringing us a resurrection of a different sort. The disciples didn’t need bodily resurrection
at that moment – they needed a resurrection of hope, of their spirits, of their
future. So do we.
Think of your own life. You’ve found yourself in the pit before –
facing nothing but a long and high dark wall.
Take a moment, and reflect on this:
who, for you in that moment, was Jesus, to you? Who embodied the resurrection for you in that
moment?
Who
walked with you and listened as you told your story?
Who
appeared in your life and gave you hope?
What
community showed to you their own scars, and welcomed you into their midst?
Those people proclaimed the
resurrection. They proclaimed hope to
the hopeless, rest for the weary, love for the brokenhearted. That is what it means to be Christ, to
witness of the unbelievable grace and mercy of Christ.
We are no different, no better, have
no greater potential that the apostles who gathered in that room. God calls each and every one of us to
proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ as certainly as the apostles were sent out
into the world.
Shout the good news! But, remember: preach Christ. Don’t read the bible
to people. Don’t quote bible verses at
people, helpfully prefaced by “the bible says…”. I can quote scripture at you until I’m blue
in the face and your ears are bleeding.
If I’m not preaching Christ – if I’m not feeding you the Living Word of God – then you’re dying of spiritual
malnutrition.
Live as resurrection people – live as people who are aware of their own
times of trial and depression, and despair, but who still form a community of
hope, who are fed and nourished by the Word of God, broken and shared.
Be conscious, not only of how people
help you in your life, and of how those people embody Christ to you – seek to embody
Christ to them. Proclaim to them – in
word, in deed – the liberty of those in bondage to death and its many faces
through the grace of Christ.
You have, each and every one of you,
your own story you can tell of resurrection.
We rest in hope knowing that for us death is not the end but everlasting
life – and in that same way all for all those times when we walk through the
valley of the shadow of death we need fear no evil, for Christ is with us – in
community, in relationship, in life.
Your minds are as open to
understanding the scriptures as were those of the apostles, the message of
forgiveness and mercy, love and understanding, repentance and change. Go out and be witnesses of these things. Let your lives be witnesses for your. If you want to speak but don’t know what to
say, just make one thing certain: In all
that you do, in all that you say, let those to whom you speak understand one
clear and simple message: Christ is Risen!
You are the resurrection people --
we proclaim new life…in community…in abundance…in hope…in Christ. Christ is among us. You are witnesses of these things.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment