Third Easter
Luke 24:36b-48
Of course we want to go to heaven. Or do we? “My people
aren’t paradise people,” says Garrison Keillor. Keillor is talking
about the people of his fictional hometown of Lake Wobegon. “We’ve
lived in Minnesota all our lives and it took a lot out of us. My people aren’t
sure if we’ll even like paradise: not sure that perfection is all it’s
cracked up to be. My people will arrive in heaven and stand just inside the
gate, shuffling around. ‘It’s a lot bigger than I thought it was going
to be,’ we’ll think. We’ll say, ‘No thank you, we can’t
stay for eternity, we’ll just sit and have a few minutes of bliss with
you and then we have to get back.’”
Some people are better than others at accepting
the new, the novel, the different. Some people are better than others at taking
in some idea foreign to their mindset, some activity outside their comfort zone.
But there’s no doubt that, even as good as some of the disciples probably
were at thinking outside the box, they would have been caught off guard by the
appearance of Jesus back from the dead. Unsettling, disturbing, uncomfortable,
all might describe their feelings.
In his book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,
Thomas Kuhn argues that paradigm shifts come from those on the “edge”.
A new paradigm cannot be introduced by someone outside the present paradigm.
They would be viewed as untrustworthy. The change though, is initiated by someone
within the community.
Clearly Jesus appearance as one risen from the
dead is a paradigm shift for these followers. To their experience dead people
stay dead. To see Jesus might be so uncomfortable that they would simply not
be able to accept. Even though the two disciples back from Emmaus give them
a little prelude, a little insight in to what is about to occur, the others
are just not ready for this. Perhaps that is why Jesus does the things he does.
Perhaps Jesus is trying to “soften the blow” of this new, cataclysmic,
earth shattering idea.
Jesus is about to challenge the disciples whole
understanding of life and death. So He helps them to understand this new paradigm
by connecting what is familiar to what is new. The post-resurrection body is
not a mysterious ghost, it eats and it maintains the marks of the former body.
If we can touch and interact, and if Jesus can eat in this post-resurrection
state, the line of demarcation between life and death must not be as great as
we think. Our future state has some connection with our present state.
In some ways we are very like the disciples. We
live in our comfortable, explainable, scientific world. We may pride ourselves
on being open to change and new ideas. We may talk about ourselves as people
who welcome thinking “outside the box” but scratch the surface and
anything that comes to us without a logical, measurable, quantifiable precedent
is simply ridiculous. It’s just as hard for us to comprehend the “out
of the box” experience of a risen Lord as it was for the disciples.
So these Easter appearances are just as much for our benefit as they were for
the disciples. These stories provide a bridge between the experience of the
first generation of believers and our experience. They help us to open our eyes
and ears to the presence of the Risen Jesus in our world.
Our lesson for today suggests four ways in which
we experience the Risen Christ.
Our lesson says the disciples in telling about
meeting Jesus on the Emmaus Road say “he was known to us in the breaking
of the bread.” The breaking of the bread is a sacrament in Luke. The breaking
of bread is a visible sign of the presence of Jesus. No doubt the disciples
had seen Jesus break bread many times. As he would offer thanks for the meal,
the rabbi would take the bread in his hands, pray and then share it with his
followers. This so familiar action was given new depth and meaning on that last
evening before the crucifixion when Jesus in taking the bread told the disciples
“This is my body.” So in the action of taking the bread they knew
the Risen Christ. We too know, in the breaking of bread that Christ is with
us, ever present, ever living. An action familiar, comfortable, ordinary in
it’s way but ever bearing testimony to that which is extra-ordinary.
The second way that we experience the risen Christ is in table fellowship and
hospitality. Jesus says to those gathered, “Have you anything here to eat?”
and they gave him a piece of broiled fish and he took it and ate it in their
presence.” Note here the difference, Jesus is not the host, Jesus is the
recipient of the disciples hospitality. The community is sharing its resources
with Jesus. To share food with someone, to welcome someone to one’s table
is an act of hospitality, a hallmark of the Christian life. When we feed others
and welcome all people to our tables, we are in the presence of Christ.
Today we lift up a very special ministry of our
church—the ministry of PADS, public action to provide shelter. We do many
things in this church that are important but clearly this is one of the most
important. We see Christ in the family of five who have been living out of their
car for two weeks and find tonight a warm meal and safe place to sleep. We see
Christ in the men who find a respite from the toughness of life as they laugh
together at a movie in the basement of Messiah Lutheran church. We see Christ
in those for whom we provide hospitality, for those who receive that small piece
of fish and who eat in our presence.
Thirdly we see Christ as we read and study the
Bible. Our lesson says, “Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures…”
Certainly reading the scriptures is nothing out of the ordinary for either the
disciples or for us. This is the known that reveals the unknown to us. When
we read scripture and work to discover how the word of God is the word for our
lives today, we bring ourselves into the presence of the risen Christ. Scripture
is one of the ways that Jesus stays alive for us.
I once knew a woman who said she read her Bible every day as if she was receiving
a letter from a friend. Sometimes it was challenging, sometimes it was comforting
but always it was about deepening the relationship. The risen Christ speaks
to us through the word. Our minds are opened. In the familiar we are able to
comprehend, to make sense of that which is new or novel. We come to know Jesus
in the scriptures and our eyes are opened then to the risen Christ.
Finally Jesus reminds the disciples, “You are witnesses of these things.
In a law court a witness is someone who has seen something important, something
the court needs to know. Often we speak of eyewitnesses—those who were
right there at the scene of the crime, who can tell the jury firsthand what
really happened. Yet you and I are not called to be eyewitnesses when it comes
to the good news of the resurrection—how could we? We weren’t there!
What you and I do proclaim about the resurrection of Christ we proclaim on faith.
The kind of witness Christ needs of us is is a witness of another sort. Christ
needs us to be character witnesses. If defense attorneys are angling to undermine
a prosecutor’s argument they are likely to call one or more character witnesses—people
who know the defendant, who are willing to vouch for that person to observe
how unlikely it is that their esteemed friend or colleague would ever commit
a crime. That’s the kind of witnesses you and I are called to be for Christ.
We are joined to those original disciples as we are commissioned to witness
to a personal Christ, a living Lord who we know, one who has touched our lives
and made a difference.
It’s a paradigm shift, a new way of thinking. So we are witnesses—whenever we experience new life, whenever hope is born, whenever love is rekindled and faith grows again.
Amen.