Readings
for Easter 3:
Acts 2:14a, 36-47; Psalm 116:10-17; 1Peter 1:17-23; Luke 24:13-35
April 10, 2005
The Rev. Mary B. Blessing
St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church, Cupertino,
CA
Luke is a master storyteller. Today we hear one of the most beautifully told stories of Jesus' resurrection appearances. It is a rich story, filled with movement, irony, teaching and deep theology. Its four "movements" progress like the movements of a well-orchestrated liturgy:
I will focus my sermon primarily on two aspects: the conversation on the road, and the meal in Emmaus. But first, the setting: Jerusalem that week was a bit like Rome this week: packed full of pilgrims, gathered in the name of God. Many came hoping to catch a glimpse of a holy man. Unlike the glory of Pope John Paul II's funeral, the people who gathered in Jerusalem over 2000 years ago left shocked, confused and sad-sad that a holy man could be treated worse than a common criminal. Those who followed the holy man closely were dumbfounded, wondering why God did nothing to intervene or rectify the situation. Confused and dejected, they left Jerusalem after 3 days of waiting, to go home, to get back to normal life, to escape to a safe place, away from such sorrow.
Can you imagine the awkwardness the two disciples felt when a stranger butts in on their rather heated conversation? A literal translation of Jesus' opening question is "What are these words that you have been pitching back and forth to each other?" (Interpreters Bible, p. 477), as if the two disciples were debating who was right about what just happened. They are both clearly disappointed that Jesus' triumphant march to Jerusalem ended in a horrifying death. They don't know what to make of it, nor what to make of the news the women reported of the empty tomb and the angels. The sort of "know it all" says to Jesus, "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who doesn't know what's going on around here??" It's like saying, "What planet did you just drop out of the sky from? You must be nuts not to know what's going on!" It would be as if a visitor to Rome this week came upon some pilgrims walking home from the Vatican, and said, "Hey, what have you been up to?" It would be impossible to have been in Rome and not known that Pope John Paul II had died, and that millions of people had come to participate in the remembrance of a beloved holy man.
But, of course, we as the reader know the irony in the situation. We know that the stranger who asks "What's up?" is the one who truly knows what's going on, not the disciples. At first the disciples do not recognize Jesus; they do not "know" him in his resurrected form. So far, their experience has not given them the awareness to recognize, to know, who he is. They need more information; they need more experience. They do not see him. They see only a stranger.
As they walk along the road, the conversation deepens. The disciples attempt to teach the stranger about the "mighty prophet" who in the end disappoints them. Now the stranger, whom we know is Jesus, instructs them on the significance of scripture. He tells how everything taught by Moses and the Prophets points in the direction of proclaiming Jesus as Messiah. Part of that proclamation includes that Jesus must suffer, die and be raised again. He tells them what he told them before he died, but words alone do not open the eyes of the disciples.
They remain ignorant.
The ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle, said "recognition is…a change from ignorance to knowledge…" He goes on to say the best kind of recognition is "that which arises from the actions alone." (Aristotle Poetics, 1452a-1455a, quoted in Interpreter's Living Bible Commentary, p.479)
A review of scripture is helpful to the disciples, but all the teaching in the world does not open their eyes to know they are witnessing Jesus, the Risen Lord. The action Jesus took as he sat with them in table fellowship is what opened their eyes and moved them from a place of ignorance to a place of knowledge. It was in the 4 acts of taking bread, blessing bread, breaking bread, and giving bread that the disciples "knew the Lord Jesus."
Luke's story, written in the time of the early formation of the church, is a foreshadowing of a truth we have grown to appreciate as the church. Anglican theology teaches us that the church is defined in terms of the presence of the word and the sacraments. (Owen Thomas, Theology, p. 275) The disciples needed to hear the word of God, causing their hearts to burn with the truth contained, but they also needed to experience the action of the sacrament, blessing and breaking bread, in order to fully encounter the Risen Lord.
Each week we gather here to hear the word of God and to reenact these 4 actions: taking, blessing, breaking and giving bread. Word and sacrament are interdependent:
"The word needs the concreteness and breadth of the sacraments, while the sacraments need the conceptual and intelligible structure afforded by the word." (John Macquarrie, Principles of Christian Theology, p.399) Together, word and sacrament, offer us the invitation to experience the presence of the Risen Lord, right here at our own table.
In the early wee hours of Friday morning, I got out of bed to participate in "real time"-- hearing the word of God and sharing the blessing of "breaking bread" with our Catholic brothers and sisters in Rome. Over 100,500 people gathered at St. Peter's Square in Vatican City to hear the word of God, share in the prayers, and participate in the taking, blessing, breaking and giving of bread in remembrance of Christ. Perhaps a million or more gathered around the streets of Rome hoping to at least catch a glimpse. Simultaneously in Poland, over 300,000 gathered to do these same actions, and countless others world-wide participated as I did, by watching television.
I was enthralled with the reverence of so many people, applauding as they heard the word of God interwoven in the eulogy of the Pope whom they loved, the Pope whom many believed exemplified a life lived centered in Christ. But I was especially moved as the Cardinal took the bread, blessed the bread, broke the bread and gave the bread, knowing that in that action, Christ would be present to all who desired to recognize Christ's presence. My heart was moved as I witnessed this profound sharing of our Lord's supper as has never before been experienced-about 350 priests moved from the altar in front of the Vatican out into the crowds of people from all nations, all political persuasions, all ages, all types, offering the body of Christ as never before, to Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
For a moment in time the world witnessed the joy you and I experience each week as we gather in the name of Christ for our Holy Communion. For a moment, all the world was invited to "know the Lord Jesus in the breaking of the bread."
AMEN
| Updated 4/11/05 |
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