sermon notes: Easter 3: Luke 24:13-35

The "road to Emmaus" story from Luke's Gospel is a favorite for many people.  There are so many things in it which resonate with us.  There is the theme of walking together, of Christ "coming alongside" us unawares, there is the mysterious "burning in our hearts" as Jesus explains the Scriptures, the theme of not/recognizing Jesus, knowing Him in the breaking of the bread, we have two disciples walking away from Jerusalem only to return to Jerusalem.  It's a start, at which I will pick away over the next day or two.

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.

The opening of the story shows two disciples walking away from Jerusalem.  It is a great image with which to begin.  After all the events of the past several days (let alone years), we have these two walking away, perhaps more than a bit disillusioned about the whole Jesus project.

One of the most puzzling, but most consistent features of the resurrection appearances of Jesus is the fact that so many of his followers did not recognize him when he first appeared.  On Easter Sunday we heard the story of Mary, who mistook him for the gardener, and now today we have two disciples who also fail to recognize him at first.

They are walking along and discussing the recent events in Jerusalem.  And in the midst of their walking, Jesus himself just sidles in and joins the group.  That in itself is an interesting feature:  Jesus comes along, without making a particular announcement about his arrival.  And like so many others, “their eyes were kept from recognizing him.”  Now before you jump to any conclusions, perhaps we need to ask why their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 

Some have supposed that Jesus – God – had done something to prevent them from recognizing him, as if their “tunnel vision” was something imposed on them from the outside.  But a closer look at the story reveals that it was they themselves who kept their eyes from recognizing Jesus.

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.

Jesus' question to them has an arresting quality - it stops them in their tracks.  Imagination can fill in the blanks here with several possibilities.  "They stood still, looking sad."  Perhaps they are absorbed in their grief and disappointment or confusion over what they thought would turn out differently.  It is interesting to compare their description of Jesus with the declaration of Thomas from last week.  Do they have a limited understanding of (or faith in) who Jesus is?

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.  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."

"But we had hoped..."  And here I think we can all fill in the blank with our own personal disappointment or disillusionment.  We had hoped God would do this or that, we had hoped that Jesus would do this or that.  It is such a common experience - we had hoped for this or that, but we are disappointed in our hope.  The two disciples had heard the testimony of the women (but it seems that testimony was dismissed).  It is really quite ironic - the two disciples telling Jesus about some key events in His life, and then telling Him about their own expectations of what they hoped the Messiah would be.  And of course, He is the One who redeems Israel, but not in the way they think He does.  This misunderstanding of the kind of "Messiah" Jesus is sets up Jesus' response to them:

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.

Now it is Jesus' turn to talk about Himself.  The disciples' explanation is inadequate, and we have Jesus explaining His own life and ministry.  Jesus' words here probably strike us as a bit of a dressing down for these two grieving disciples.  Not a terribly "pastoral" way of engaging these two!  While we don't have specific footnotes on Jesus' exegetical interpretation of the Old Testament, we have an image of Jesus telling us that the Hebrew Scriptures tell us about the Messiah.  Specifically, Jesus gives us the images of "suffering" and then "entering into glory".  When Jesus "begins with Moses" we can take that to mean the whole of the Torah - the 5 books of Moses at the beginning of our Bible.

As a connecting note, we might want to jump ahead to where Jesus is "known in the breaking of the bread", but we also come to learn that their hearts were "burning" while Jesus opened the Scriptures to them.  Word and Sacrament go together. 

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.  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?"

Jesus is quite a character in this story.  First he comes up alongside them unawares, then gives them a lesson with saying that He himself is the object of the lesson, and now it seems he gives the impression that he intends to go on ahead of them.  Maybe he really was going to go on ahead.  Maybe He was giving them an opportunity to show love by offering Him hospitality.  The image here is a reversal of Jesus' call to the disciples to watch with him even one hour only a few nights ago.  A million sermons revolve around the breaking of the bread as a "eucharistic" kind of image - which is not an entirely bad thing in and of itself.  But the disciples' words about their hearts burning while He opened the Scriptures is the necessary prelude to recognizing Him in the breaking of the bread.  Word and Sacrament.

It is also interesting to note that while they invite Jesus to stay with them, it is actually Jesus who performs the duty of the host:  it is Jesus who offers them hospitality by breaking the bread and giving it to them.  Even when the disciples think they have something to offer Jesus, it is really Jesus who is offering something to them.

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.

And now the physical imagery changes direction.  Instead of heading away from Jerusalem, they are now returning.  (I keep thinking of the Neoplatonic exitus-reditus theme, but somehow I don't think I will work that into a sermon...)  At any rate, the disciples now return with joy and a sense of urgency - "that same hour".  And they join the other witnesses of the Resurrected Christ:  both what had happened "on the road" and at the "breaking of the bread."