Easter III

Sermon for Hope Episcopal Church

By the Reverend Martha Frances

Year A, Easter III

6 April 2008 

Text:  Luke 24: 13-35 & Acts 2: 14a, 36-41

Other Readings:  I Peter 1: 17-23 & Psalm 116: 1-3, 10-17 

      On this 3^rd Sunday of Easter, we continue to celebrate the event which is the bedrock of our faith:  Jesus' resurrection.  From now until Pentecost, we light the Paschal or Christ candle every time we worship, just as we do at baptisms & funerals whenever they occur.  Last week, we recounted two successive Sunday evenings in the Upper Room with the closest disciples as they encounter the risen Christ.  This week's scriptures I visualize as 3 acts in an Easter drama through which we gain strength for our own church's life by glimpsing several parts of the journey Jesus' 1^st followers made toward spreading the Good News throughout the known world.

      Now we return to Easter evening but venture out to accompany disciples otherwise unknown—Cleopas & perhaps his wife—as they return from the Passover celebration in Jerusalem to Emmaus & are joined by a stranger who seems not to know about the events of the previous days yet has spiritual wisdom which warms their hearts.  But I get ahead of myself. . . .

      These 2 disciples return from Jerusalem to a nearby suburb—Emmaus.  These companions of Jesus have witnessed Jesus' triumphal entry on Palm Sunday, then perhaps the dinner & footwashing in the upper room the night before his death followed by the horror of the arrest, trial, the crucifixion itself & then Jesus' burial.  They waited through the longest day they'd ever seen on Saturday, only to be astounded early Sunday morning by stories that the tomb was empty & Jesus had risen. 

      So intent are Cleopas & his companion as they walk along, perhaps in reevaluating the story the women told this morning as they returned from the tomb, they don't recognize the stranger who joins them & asks what they're discussing. The stranger's apparent ignorance gives them a chance to chronicle the happenings & declare their belief that Jesus was a prophet who preached persuasively & demonstrated mighty deeds.  The depth of their disappointment & grief is clear as they reveal the lost hope that he was the one to redeem Israel.  Jesus breaks open the Word to them to reveal those Hebrew scriptures which point to his own death & resurrection.  Like any Jewish rabbi, he appeals first to Moses' law & then to the prophets as he tells his own story, but they still don't see Jesus for who he is. 

      Then, as they come to their home & Jesus appears to be continuing his journey, they offer good Middle Eastern hospitality to him & invite him in for dinner.  I'm reminded of the prayer from our Evening Prayer service based on this story:

      Lord Jesus, stay with us, for evening is at hand & the day is past; be our companion in the way, kindle our hearts, & awaken hope, that we may know you as you are revealed in Scripture & the breaking of bread. 

      And that's exactly what happens.  Part of the miracle is that the guest at their table is no longer the guest.  He is now the host who takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, & gives it to them.  The scripture says their eyes are now opened so that they recognize their rabbi, Jesus the Christ.  What an amazing moment when these otherwise-unknown disciples realize that God has found them! 

      Is this a Eucharistic meal?  How can we see it as anything other than the Eucharist foreshadowed in the feedings of the multitudes & the Last Supper celebration?  Perhaps these disciples remember he told them to share such a meal as often as possible in remembrance of him.  Here, in this story, we have the 2 essential elements of the worship we offer each Sunday—the breaking open of the Scriptures for our intellectual nourishment followed by the breaking open of the bread—now become Christ's body for our physical & spiritual nourishment.

      Before we go on to Act 2 of our drama, let us follow these reenergized disciples hurrying back to Jerusalem.  They must now return to their friends, the larger community, to relate their story, to share with the 11 apostles & their companions that Jesus has made himself known in the scripture conversation on the road & in the breaking of the bread.  We, too, are called to respond to Christ's call to us as a community of disciples who must go & tell the Good News of our risen Christ.  During Easter season, we are called to reach out much more effectively to those in our neighborhood & beyond who may not treasure these resurrection stories.  Further, we are challenged to pattern our own community after those early ones of the disciples.

      Our Act 2 comes from Peter's Pentecost sermon in Acts.  Peter lands quite a punch as he reminds the crowd they are responsible for having crucified the man God has made Lord & Messiah.  The crowd is cut to the heart & wants to know how to respond.  Peter then gives the famous altar call:  Repent.  Be baptized.  Receive the free gift of the Holy Spirit.  The promise is for those in his hearing on that day but also for those "who are far away," he says.  Salvation is available to all, even those of us in future generations.  You did not have to be present at the first Easter or the first Pentecost to win!  We are called, over & over in our lives, to repent, fulfill our baptismal vows, & welcome the gift of the Holy Spirit.

      This passage from Acts describes elements important to the first community who responded to Christ's offer of salvation to continue, to remain steadfast, & to grow the faith, even after Jesus' ascension.  The description of the new Christians' activities has become the first question after the creed in our baptismal covenant:  "Will you continue in the apostles' teaching & fellowship, in the breaking of bread & in the prayers?"  And we all respond vigorously, "I will, with God's help." We at Hope model our gathered worship & prayer life on this promise.  If you do not currently study the Bible with others weekly, we offer Bible studies on Sundays at 9:00 & Wednesdays at noon.  We worship at 6:30 on Wednesday evenings also.  God's help is still with us, & we still need to pray for that help daily.

      What are the expected results when we grow in faith & gain the strength to share it with others?  Continue the Acts passage.  The early Christians were awed because of the signs & wonders the apostles were capable of doing with the power of the Holy Spirit.  They shared their possessions & gave the proceeds to those who needed them.  They worshiped together in the temple.  They broke bread & ate their food with glad & generous hearts, praising God & having the good will of all the people.  And God added many who were being saved to their community.

      Sometimes when the going gets tough, we assume that those early Christians who had known Jesus in the flesh or who knew the first apostles got along great in community because the Holy Spirit hovered among them so closely.  Act 3 of our drama takes us to the present day & to near northwest Houston where God is doing a new thing in us.  If one of those first apostles could just be here to help Hope work out the rough spots, we'd be great!  Right?

      Even a glance at Paul's letters to the Corinthians or Galatians tells us otherwise.  The first Christians were an unruly & quarreling bunch with frequent disagreements about almost every aspect of their corporate life.  Our 2^nd reading hints at similar difficulties encountered by even the super-apostle Peter with the congregations he oversaw.  He reminds them they have been ransomed from their futile ways with the precious blood of Christ.  It doesn't take much imagination to guess what some of those futile ways were.  Peter recognizes that coming to faith is a process when he says that through Christ they have come to trust in God.  We also come to trust one another by daily turning our pains & disappointments, our self-will run riot & our determination that the way we've always done it is the best way over to the care of our loving God. 

      Peter reminds us that the Holy Spirit will purify our souls if we are but obedient to Jesus Christ.  We don't have to do it by ourselves.  In fact, we can't do so.  We need each other.  The outcome of our willingness to be obedient, to remain flexible & teachable, is the genuine mutual love that Peter exhorts us to.  He calls us to love one another deeply from the heart & that, in so doing, we will be born anew. 

      At Eastertime, we proclaim that Christ is arisen & that as the new comes, the old passes away.  Experiencing the passing of what has been as well as what we wish could have been & never was is sometimes excruciating & always involves some pain.  We still must call upon the Holy Spirit to sustain us as we continue to experience the birthpangs of being born anew in a transformed community of Hope.  As we grow in grace & love at Hope, we worship a loving God, a God who calls us each by name, takes us by the hand to walk with us, & continues to purify our souls so that we may develop genuine mutual love, loving each other deeply from the heart.  This is the Easter season & we are Easter people.  May we celebrate the transforming love of God, trusting that God's power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.  Glory to God from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever & ever.  Amen. (Ephesians 3: 20-21)