Last week, we celebrated Easter, the day we remember the greatest event in the history of humanity – in the history of the world. After being dead for three days, Jesus resurrected. The Savior of the world was killed on the cross by the cruel Roman government, and God decided that nothing could stop Jesus and his message, not even death. So, on Easter Sunday, when a group of Jesus’ woman followers went to the tomb to anoint and wrap his body for burial, instead of his body they found angels in the tomb….angels who told them Jesus was resurrected.
This morning, we pick up the story of the resurrection where we left off last Sunday. It is still Easter day, and the disciples who didn’t meet the angels in the tomb were confused about what the women told them. They weren’t sure if they should believe that Jesus was resurrected.
Let us read the story where we left off, at Luke chapter 24 verse 13:
Scripture Lesson Luke 24:13-35
Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.
They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.
As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them;
but they were kept from recognizing him.
He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”
They stood still, their faces downcast.
One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
“What things?” he asked.
“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.
The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him;
but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.
In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning
but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive.
Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”
He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther.
But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.
Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.
They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together
and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”
.Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread
Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Sermon Emmaus Road
The first Easter events were confusing for Jesus’ friends. They watched Jesus die before their eyes in a shocking and horrible way – first he was tried, then he was tortured, and then he died a brutal death on the cross. They saw him die. They saw the soldier pierce his heart with a sword to make sure he was really dead. They knew that after he was taken off the cross, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea gathered his body and hastily prepared it for burial before the sun set.
When you witness something tragic, it sometimes feels like the sight you saw is seared on your eyes….Seared on our memories. The disciples stood by and waited for Jesus to die. They were powerless to stop it…to protect him. The horrible images of that event were probably all they could think about. They were probably feeling the early stages of post-traumatic stress and possibly believed they would never be able to adjust to regular life once again.
Then, a few days later, their female friends told the other disciples the tomb was empty. Angels told the women at the tomb Jesus was resurrected. But, the other disciples were grieving, sad, and both physically and mentally exhausted, so they dismissed the women for talking nonsense.
Two of the disciples decided to leave the rest and walk to Emmaus. Emmaus was about 7 and a half miles away from Jerusalem. While they were walking, a man they didn’t know joined the men – Cleopas and another disciple. The stranger asked them what they were up to, and they explained to him the story of Jesus and his horrible death. They told him the “silly” women believed he was resurrected. When they arrived at Emmaus, the disciples invited the man for dinner and to spend the night at their accommodations. While they sat at the dinner table, the man broke the bread and their eyes were opened to who he was….Jesus had been with them all along – and he was indeed risen.
Cleopas and the other disciple rushed back to Jerusalem and told the others the women were correct – Jesus was risen. And, the disciples in Jerusalem told them they also now believed the women, since Simon had also had an encounter with the risen Jesus.
I don’t know why, but the male disciples not instantly believing the women who went to the tomb bothers me more this year than normal. They dismissed the women and chalked it up to them talking “nonsense.” Maybe I have my own baggage from past experiences of being dismissed or accused of talking nonsense – we have all probably had experiences in our lives like this – perhaps we were not believed because we were female or young or old or not an obvious authority on a subject like a doctor or a nurse – we may have tried to tell someone something and that person dismissed us or ignored us or didn’t believe us, and they later discovered we were correct. Sometimes, people who do this to us don’t acknowledge we were right in the first place….they may act like they always knew the information we told them or they themselves figured it out on their own….it is frustrating.
After a few events of disciples having experiences with the risen Christ, they were more ready to believe Jesus was truly alive once again…he was resurrected. And, then they started telling the story…they told the other disciples…Thomas notoriously didn’t believe it until he saw Jesus for himself. They told Jesus’ friends. They told the people who previously came to see and hear Jesus. They told the story.
In this morning’s reading, the people who told the story were Cleopas and the disciple he walked to Emmaus alongside. They told the story of their Emmaus Road encounter with Jesus, and that they now believed in the Resurrection. Everything Jesus had told them, everything Jesus had done previously, now was even more valid, more true, more real.
This summer, we are going to practice telling people what we believe – we are going to practice telling people the story of our faith….our testimony. We will each have the opportunity to give a two to three minute explanation of why we believe in Jesus, why we believe in God, or why we became part of Trinity church. Did we have an Emmaus Road experience, where we were journeying in one direction and then Jesus interrupted us? Did we have something happen in our lives and then our eyes were opened to the Christian faith? Is our faith in God something that we always had and never doubted? Or, did we start out as Christians and then have a series of events that took us away from our faith and somehow we found it once again?
Cleopas and his Disciple friend were excited to tell their other friends about their encounter with the Risen Jesus. Matthew says that as soon as Jesus vanished from their Emmaus room, they got up and returned at once to Jerusalem to tell the others. They were delighted to share the Good News.
Sometimes, we are a bit more timid to share the Good News. There used to be an etiquette taboo that instructed us never to bring up religion or politics at dinner parties. Most of us don’t find ourselves at dinner parties with regularity, but we have extended the rule to the rest of our lives – to be polite, we don’t bring up religion or politics unless we are sure we are in a safe place to discuss them, like a church Sunday morning class or a meeting of our political party. We assume that to be polite, we shouldn’t discuss our faith unless we are talking to someone who is already in the same camp we are in, another Christian.
So, this summer we are going to have the opportunity to practice sharing our stories of faith….we will have the opportunity to share our story with each other and hear the stories of our brothers and sisters in Christ. And, my hope, is that by us practicing telling our stories in the safe environment of our church home, of Trinity, we will also feel more comfortable sharing the story of our faith when we are out in the world. That we will become braver….that we will remember the lives of the first Christian followers of God, who boldly told the story of their faith to people who had trouble believing them…to people who couldn’t imagine how anyone could rise from the dead…to people who would punish them or exclude them or persecute them for believing something that contradicted their listener’s religious views and faith traditions.
Jesus rose from the dead. Then he appeared to his friends. And, they bravely told other people the Good News of Jesus’ resurrection and the Good News of the Christian faith. They bravely told people that God is real, God is love, and Jesus came to tell us our sins and mistakes are forgiven and we are invited to live better lives inspired by our faith. The first disciples were so excited about their relationship with Jesus and their shared faith that they risked everything to tell other people about it. Let us work to be brave like them, and share the story of our faith with each other and with the people we meet out in the world.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment