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Recorded in the Gospel of Luke, this is yet another story of a post-Resurrection encounter with the Risen Christ. It's the late afternoon of that first Easter day, and yes, two sad disciples are walking along the road to Emmaus, the village where we assume they live.
"The road to Emmaus" can also be a metaphor - a figurative road on which we all have traveled at one time or another. It's a road one walks when feeling defeated...confused...when filled with grief and overwhelmed by the mystery that life can often be.
That's where we encounter these two disciples: on "the road to Emmaus." In spite of all their hopes and dreams, Jesus had died. As they walk along, processing together about all that they're feeling and thinking, someone they don't recognize walks up and just sort of intrudes into their conversation.
We know, of course, from the text, that the "stranger" was Jesus. Why didn't they recognize Him? Were they too preoccupied or emotionally overwhelmed? The Scripture says that "their eyes were kept from recognizing Jesus." Who knows exactly?
Frankly, I don't find it too surprising that they couldn't recognize Jesus. We human beings often have trouble recognizing each other. I frequently have the experience of seeing people from church or other community organizations out somewhere, like the grocery story or a movie theater, and not initially recognizing them because, for me, they're "out of context."
Heck, some folks have a little trouble with recognition right here in the church. Rev. Sue and I have laughed many times about how common it is that one of us will have preached on a given morning and someone will come up to the other one of us and say, "Good sermon!" We both just smile and say, "Thanks!" (I guess women with short, salt-and-pepper hair and glasses all look alike to some folks. And, well, admittedly - that does describe about 65% of the lesbian population!)
That phenomenon got a little weird a couple of weeks ago on Easter, though. One of our leaders had been standing in the back, and when the service ended, as people started to leave, she saw someone she knew and stepped up to the back door to give them a hug. Well, then the next person behind them stopped and gave her a hug, too. Pretty soon there was a line of people waiting to hug this woman at the door and, as they did, one person also said to her, "Good sermon!" (I guess the sight-lines in this room are even worse than I thought!)
As for the two disciples, I think the "out of context" thing may have played a role in their inability to recognize Jesus. They knew that Jesus was dead; running into Him now didn't seem very likely. And besides...this guy seemed way too out of touch with things; could he really be the only person in that region who didn't know how Jesus had been arrested, sentenced, crucified and sealed up in a tomb?! The talk was all over the streets! Why would he ask them "what things" they were talking about?
It was interesting, though. As the three of them walked along together, the "stranger" started to explain some things to the disciples in a way they had never understood them before. He started to talk about the meaning of these recent events, and he was able to go all the way back to Moses in the Scriptures and explain all about Jesus and his fate.
By the time the disciples arrived at their home, it was getting late. They knew the importance of the custom of hospitality and, besides, there was something about this guy that they kind of liked. He had really gotten their attention, so they invited him to come and stay and have supper with them.
Normally, in those times, the host of the home would bless the meal and distribute the food, but this man had made such an impression with his knowledge of the Scriptures and with his wisdom, they asked him to do the honors. Luke writes, "While at the table with them, Jesus took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus, who then vanished out of their sight."
What comes next in the story is, I think, the connection that makes all of this still relevant to us today. After recognizing Jesus with them, the two previously sad disciples have a big "Aha!" moment. "They said to each other, 'Did not our hearts burn within us while Jesus talked to us on the road and opened to us the scriptures?'"
"The road to Emmaus" can be a metaphor - a figurative road on which we all travel at times in our lives. It's the road we walk when we feel defeated...confused...when we're filled with grief and overwhelmed by the mystery that life can often be. What we may fail to realize is that the Risen Christ - the Living God - the Holy Spirit - is also with us on that road!
We assume that when we walk those "Emmaus roads," God must be absent completely. We fail to remember that one of the names by which we know Christ is "Emmanuel" - "God with us." Not just on Christmas or Easter or the cool, fun, "everything's-going-my-way" days...but every day - including the "road to Emmaus" days.
Isn't that a large part of the reason we gather here each Sunday to worship? To be reminded that God is with us? To experience that "burning in our hearts" and that renewed realization of Christ's presence here?
Some biblical commentators say that this passage we heard today has in it all the same elements that a meaningful service of worship has: mystery, revelation, explanation of God's Word, the breaking of bread together, the recognition of Christ's presence and the sharing of good news!
The two key elements of our worship are the same as the two key elements of this Emmaus story. First there is the revelation of God through the scriptures. The words from the Bible that we read and the sermons that are given to expound upon those words are intended to make our hearts "burn" with the recognition of eternal truths and the awareness of the Spirit's presence among us. So if my sermons ever give you "heart burn," then that's a good thing! (You can be sure that preparing them often gives me heartburn!)
Scripture and sermons should sometimes give us great comfort and sometimes make us greatly uncomfortable. Both are intended to open us up to a deeper understanding and awareness of God's presence around us and in us. If we are open to it, any scripture can do that...and so can any sermon!
Too often we fall into the trap of only wanting to hear certain warm and fuzzy passages from the Bible while trying to ignore the ones that challenge our narrow minds and hardened hearts. Too often we only want to understand the Bible one way and on one level. I think that's what makes biblical literalism and fundamentalism so attractive to so many people. It's so easy! You don't have to think...you don't have to be challenged to learn and grow and see old things in a new way!
We also fall too easily into the sin of idolatry. Coming to church because a particular person is preaching means placing a person in a position of more importance than God - and that, my beloved church, is idolatry! God can speak to our hearts through many voices and many messages. To close ourselves off to that possibility is to fail to recognize Jesus standing beside us. Besides...even the worst of preachers or the most boring of sermons can connect us with God...if only by causing us to immediately give thanks when they're done!
The sharing of the Word is one key element of our worship - the other is the "breaking of the bread," the moment of "Communion" with Christ. The reading today said Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of the bread. It was that moment when they gathered at the table, when hospitality and openness were allowed to reign, that the burning of their hearts gave way to a feeding of their souls. The power of the idea of Jesus breaking bread with his loved ones has led the Christian church to continue the practice for nearly 2,000 years. We take bread, we bless it, we break it and we give it to those who are gathered because in those actions and in those moments we are mysteriously but absolutely in the presence of the Risen Christ!
Two sad disciples started out on the road to Emmaus. But the "heart burn" of revealed truth and the hospitality - the openness - to whatever might come from the breaking of bread together, turned their despair into joy...and they couldn't wait to go and share the good news about Jesus with others! We will find ourselves on the road to Emmaus, too. But the "heart burn" of revealed truth and the hospitality - the openness - to whatever might come from the breaking of bread together, can turn our despair into joy...and make us just as anxious to share the good news about Jesus with others!
If our Scripture reading this morning was a made-for-television movie, the synopsis in the T.V. Guide might most accurately read, "Heartburn and hospitality combine to reveal joy in the presence of Jesus. Starring Jesus (as Himself), and you and I as Cleopas and the other disciple." Amen.
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