The Church of St.
Paul and Incarnation, Jersey City
April 26, 2020
Year A: The Third
Sunday of Easter
Acts 2:14a, 36-41
Psalm 116:1-3, 10-17
1 Peter 1:17-23
Luke 24:13-35
On the Road, Together
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Well,
it is still Easter!
But,
for us today, in a time of pandemic and social distancing and rising
unemployment, it may not feel very much like Easter.
And,
for the first disciples two thousand years ago, as they tried to make sense of
everything that had happened in Jerusalem – the arrest, the torture, the death
on a cross, and now some women talking about an empty tomb and angels, it
didn’t feel like Easter, either – at least, not yet.
In
today’s gospel lesson from Luke we meet two of those first disciples: Cleopas
and his companion, who some suggest may have been his wife.
Like
other Jews from all over, they had been in Jerusalem for the great Passover
feast, and like all of Jesus’ followers, they had been horrified that days of
hope and promise had ended, it seemed, with suffering and death.
And
now, on that first Easter day, after all of the excitement and tragedy, it’s
time for these two disciples to leave the capital city and make the long sad walk
back to their home village, Emmaus, which we’re told is about seven miles away.
In
telling this story, Luke does such a beautiful job, painting a vivid picture of
these two disciples as they walk along the road, reviewing all that had
happened, filled with what must have been so many emotions: deep sadness and
disappointment and fear and, maybe, even some guilt and anger.
There
were probably a lot of people on the road that day and, as sometimes happens, a
stranger approaches – in this case someone who seems totally out of the loop,
doesn’t seem to know what happened to this fellow, the seemingly failed
prophet, Jesus of Nazareth.
Luke
lets us know that this stranger is in fact the Risen Jesus, but Cleopas
and his companion are kept from seeing him, maybe because Jesus was the last
person they expected to meet on the road.
After
the disciples share their sadness, the “stranger” lets them have it – “Oh, how
foolish you are!” - and then Jesus gives them what must have been the best
Bible study ever – teaching so powerful that it made them feel like their
hearts were on fire!
I
imagine them so absorbed in what they were hearing and learning from this
“stranger” that they lost track of time and distance, surprised when they get
home already, but not so distracted that they forget their manners, or maybe
they just didn’t want this time, this journey, to end.
After
Jesus accepts their invitation into their home, they gather at the table.
And
there, Jesus blesses, breaks, and shares the bread and in that moment – just
like when Mary Magdalene heard her name in the garden – in that moment Cleopas
and his companion they see and they know…
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
After
receiving the best news ever, Cleopas and his companion do the only sensible
thing. They leave home, get back on the road, and return to Jerusalem to tell
everybody.
And
when they get there, they discover that the mood has changed, others have seen
the Risen Jesus, and now, not only is it Easter but it finally, finally, feels like Easter!
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Some
of you know that I love the story of Jesus and the two disciples on the road to
Emmaus.
I
first thought about it when I was in high school, at St. Peter’s Prep, which offered
and still offers retreats based on the Emmaus story.
It was then and
there that I first began to think about life, about my life, as a journey, a
journey on the road where all of us can meet the risen Jesus even when,
especially when, we least expect him.
Over all these
years, I’ve come to see that this story is like the Christian life in
miniature, teaching us so much about discipleship, communion, hospitality,
evangelism, and, maybe most of all, meeting Jesus in the stranger.
The story has
spoken to me in times when I felt Jesus so very close to me and I can’t wait to
share the news and in times when I’ve been like the disciples as they started
out on the road, feeling so sad and disappointed.
I
love this story so much that I selected it to be read at our Celebration of New
Ministry, the great big party that we had here nearly seven years ago that
marked the official start of our work together.
I
picked it because I knew that all of us have been on a journey our whole lives
but now, like Cleopas and his companion, we were beginning to walk on the road,
together.
Just
like right now in this time of trouble, back then we didn’t know exactly where
that journey was going to take us.
Just like now, we
couldn’t really see the road ahead but we trusted that the Risen Jesus would be
beside us each step of the way.
And,
you know, these days, with a somewhat slower pace of life, I’ve had more time
than usual to think and remember, to review the journey we have taken so far –
to really see how we have been on the road, together with Jesus.
Our
journey on the road has brought together two neighboring churches that in the
past, let’s just say they didn’t have too much to do with each other, but are
now one, so united that we can’t even see the seam where we were sewed
together.
Our
journey on the road has taken us down to Greenville, fulfilling a decades-long Episcopal
dream of offering ministry in that often-neglected neighborhood, opening a
community center where people are fed, fed with food, fed with community, fed
with love.
Our
journey has taken us to hosting homeless families in our own space, at great
cost and sacrifice to us, offering hospitality to the stranger just like
Cleopas and his companion did long ago, welcoming strangers who always, always,
turn out to be Jesus himself.
And
now our journey has brought us to this strange and unsettling time filled with
fear and confusion, and yet, on conference calls every weekday, three times a
day, I hear so many of your voices praying for those we love, praying for each
other, praying for our leaders, praying for people who work in health care and
out in public, the people working to keep us safe and to keep the store shelves
filled.
I
hear so many of you grieving the dead, sometimes people we know and more often people
who are just names to us, but are never just just names.
And
I hear so many of you giving thanks – rejoicing in another day, thanking God
for family and friends, for good health, for this community, and for the
technology that allows us to be together even we’re apart.
Over
and over on this journey, and especially these days, our hearts have been
burning within us.
Over
and over on the road, together, even in moments of sadness and despair, we have
helped each other feel and hear and see the Risen Jesus, who has been beside us
the whole time.
So,
no matter what the future brings, we will continue on the road, together –
together with each other and together with the Risen Jesus.
And,
we will go out of our way, maybe sometimes even retrace our steps, to do the
only sensible thing and share the best news of all time:
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Amen.
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