Sunday 04/23/23 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “The Walk To Emmaus!”
Old Testament Scripture: Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19
New Testament Scripture: 1 Peter 1:17-23
Gospel Lesson: Luke 24:13-35
So, this has happened to us all. You
know that moment when you are at the grocery story, the mall, or somewhere
else. Someone excitedly comes up to talk to you, and you have no idea who they
are! They of course seem to know you very well, however!
This has happened to me more than
once, despite my best efforts to learn names and faces. In those moments, which
are rarer than they used to be, I definitely do not want the person to know
that I have no idea who they are. I mean that would just be embarrassing! Even
worse is when you know you have met or seen them before but you just cannot
remember where or who they are.
The person you don’t know in my case
might say to me, “Hello Pastor Paul, how are you?” I then might say in response,
“Hello, I’m very good, how are you?” To which they might then ask, “How is your
wife and your dog?” Uh oh, now I am a little stuck. So, I might just ask “How
is your……. Pause,” and sometimes the person goes, “You mean my husband and
kids?” Then I, still not knowing who this woman is, says “yes how are they
doing?” Then she tells me. This is all in front of a box of Captain Crunch in
the cereal aisle, by the way.
Then she might say, “I am still so
upset that he is in the hospital.” Uh oh. Then I might say “It’s terrible that he
is in the hospital…….Pause.” Thankfully she then says, “I just love my uncle Bill.”
Well maybe at this point, I realize that this is the woman that came to a Sidney
UMC Christmas Eve service four years ago, and whom I met once for 30-seconds.
In this hypothetical case it worked out though.
I have had instances though, where I
finally just say, “I am sorry and feel bad asking, but how do we know each
other again?” Has this ever happened to anyone here? Isn’t it the worst?
Or how about when you see someone somewhere
and you think it is someone you know. So maybe you shout and wave “Hey Lucy how
are you?” Unfortunately, the person that turned around is not Lucy, but she
might approach you a month later at the grocery store in cereal aisle, in front
of a box of Captain Crunch and ask you how you are doing. In those situations,
I have said things like, “I am sorry, you look just like my friend Lucy,” “Or
sorry wrong person.”
To
take this a step further, when Melissa’s maternal grandparents were alive, we
went to the grocery story with them one summer day in Canton, NY. Well, we
drove her grandparents to the grocery store in my 2002 gold colored Dodge Neon.
Here grandparents were in front of us in the grocery store line, and then headed
out of the store to our car while we checked out. Unfortunately, though they
had gotten in the back of the car, but a gold-colored Mercedes, because you
know a 2002 Dodge Neon looks just like a gold-colored Mercedes. Boy did they
get out of that car quick!
I tell you all of this, this morning, because
this morning in our gospel of Luke reading, we have the story of “The Walk To
Emmaus”. Last Sunday in our gospel of John 20:19-31 reading, Jesus appeared to
his disciples after his resurrection. Jesus says “Peace be with you” to encourage
and calm them. The Apostle Thomas wasn’t present and would not believe until he
saw the rise Christ. Thomas saw and believed.
This morning, in the gospel of Luke,
it is literally the day of Jesus resurrection. It is Easter Sunday, in fact, it
is the first Easter Sunday. The tomb of Jesus had just been found empty and
those who witnessed the empty tomb were amazed. Shortly after this, Jesus
appears on the road to Emmaus, but the two people walking cannot tell that it
is Jesus. They see the man, but it is as if Jesus’ true identity was hidden, just
like that person in the grocery store that comes up to you and thinks that they
know you!
Let’s look once again at our reading
from Luke 24:13-35 for this morning. Beginning in Luke 24:13-35 it says:
13 Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16 but their eyes were kept from recognizing him (Lk. 24:13-16, NRSV).
Maybe the next time I am in Price
Chopper and someone comes up to me that knows me, but I don’t seem to know
them, I can use this excuse. “Pastor Paul I can’t believe that you don’t
recognize me!” I can then say in response, “Sorry Jesus must have been keeping
my eyes from recognizing you, like the walk to Emmaus!” Like me though, the two
disciples keep talking with the person, even though they no idea who it is that
they are talking to. To “Cleopas” or Peter and the other disciple who was talking
with Jesus having no idea who he was, I want them to know that I stole that
idea out of their play book the next time this happens to me.
At this point, Jesus, who’s identity
is concealed says:
17 And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” 19 He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place (Lk. 24:17-21, NRSV).
So “Cleopas” or Peter and the other
disciple tell the person who do they not know is Jesus, what Jesus did. I have
heard stories before of people having entire conversations with people who they
actually thought that they knew, but didn’t. Luckily for me when this happens,
they generally recognize me, but I don’t recognize them. Imagine telling a
person all about themselves, not knowing that the person you are talking to, is
actually that same person.
So, Jesus has just been
resurrected, the tomb is empty, and “Cleopas” or Peter and the other disciple encounter
this man while making about a 7-mile walk to Emmaus. This was the distance from
Jerusalem to Emmaus. We know that one disciple is Peter, and the jury is still
out on who the other was. Scholars have debated this for years.
The other example I will give, is if you
want to say something about someone you might find it easier to say when they
are not present. I have had moments where I have said to Melissa as she gets quiet,
“There standing right behind me aren’t they?” Then I turn around go, “Oh I didn’t
see you standing there!”
Continuing on, our
gospel of Luke reading picks up once again in Luke 24:22 with the two disciples
explaining to this other man the resurrection of Jesus. Starting in 24:22 it
says:
22 Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23 and when they did not find his body there they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see him” (Lk. 24:22-24, NRSV).
At this point, Jesus,
who Peter and the other disciple still doesn’t recognize says:
25 Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26 Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures (Lk. 24:25-27, NRSV).
The two disciples still don’t know it’s
Jesus, as they get close to the village of Emmaus. The gospel says picking up in
Luke 24:28 with disciples talking to this mystery man, who turns out to be Jesus.
It says once again:
28 As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29 But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them (Lk. 24:28-30, NRSV).
This mystery man, who is Jesus stays
with them, and even has Holy Communion or the Lord’s Supper with them again to.
Just imagine, Peter and the other disciple had the Last Supper with Jesus a few
days earlier on Maundy or Holy Thursday, and now on Easter Sunday, Jesus
blessed and broke bread with them again. Clearly Jesus was showing them the importance
of not only eating together and spending time together, but the importance of
Holy Communion or the Lord’s Supper.
The gospel then goes on
to speak of what happened when Jesus blessed and broke the bread, and then gave
it to his disciples. Picking up in Luke 24:31 it says once again:
31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” 33 That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem, and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. 34 They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then they told what had happened on the road and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread (Lk. 24:31-35, NRSV).
Like Jesus in our gospel of John
reading from last Sunday appearing post resurrection to his scared and confused
disciples saying “Peace be with you,” this morning Jesus walks with us, talks
with us, and is present in the break of the bread. There is various theologies
of Holy Communion or the Lord’s Supper, but in the United Methodist Church we believe
that Jesus Christ is present in Holy Communion or the Lord’s Supper. When we bless
and break the bread, and when we share the cup, Christ is present. We would say
spiritually present, but present in us, in the bread, and in the cup. We call
this the “Real Presence” of Christ.
Even though the two disciples did not
realize it until the end of there walk to the road to Emmaus, Christ was with
them. Christ is with us, even when we don’t realize that he is there. Similarly,
when Christ blessed and broke the bread in the scripture this morning the
disciples saw him before he vanished. In a similar way then, Christ is with us
when we bless and break the bread, and share the cup.
A big take away from the Walk to
Emmaus story is wherever we go and whenever are breaking bread in Christ’s name
he is with us. Anywhere we are, Christ is with us, even if in the moment we can’t
see that he is with us. On the Walk To Emmaus Jesus was with the two disciples
even though they didn’t see him at first, and in our lives sometimes we don’t
realize Jesus is with us. Then at some point we might realize that Jesus has
been there the whole time.
In fact, there is a 72-hour spiritual
retreat sponsored through the United Methodist Church called “The Walk To
Emmaus”. This retreat is for women, and there is a one for men. During this retreat
we walk with Jesus, draw closer to him, and grow in our faith. This retreat
changed my life, and these weekends still occur if anyone is interested in attending.
For as our 1 Peter 1:17-23 reading for
this morning says:
18 You know that you were ransomed from the futile conduct inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. 20 He was destined before the foundation of the world but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. 21 Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your trust and hope are in God (1 Pet. 1:18-21, NRSV).
This hope in Christ is with us here, was and is on the road to Emmaus, and is with us every minute of every day. Amen.
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