Our True Home
St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD
April 19, 2026
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
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
This is your not so subtle signal that, yes, it is still Easter.
Although the world has moved on to other matters, it is still Easter for us. And it is still Easter – it’s still the first Easter - for the two disciples in today’s gospel lesson.
We meet Cleopas and the other, unnamed, disciple, maybe Mrs. Cleopas, on the road from Jerusalem to their home village of Emmaus, about seven miles away.
It is still Easter – but these two disciples don’t yet know that it’s Easter, so this long walk back home is not joyful at all.
The two disciples are puzzling over everything that had happened over the last few days in Jerusalem – Jesus’ triumphant entry into the capital city – remember the crowds shouting “Hosanna!” and placing their cloaks and palms on the road as Jesus rode a donkey into town?
The two disciples are trying to make sense over how everything had gone so terribly wrong – how the shouts of “Hosanna!” were quickly twisted into cries for crucifixion.
Jesus did not resist the powers of religion and empire – he even forgave them - and he died a shamefully public death, seemingly abandoned by just about everybody, maybe even God.
But then there’s this: these strange and hard to believe reports from some of the women that the tomb was empty – and angels had appeared.
Maybe, just maybe, the story wasn’t over.
But these two disciples didn’t stick around to find out what happens next.
Maybe they had simply had enough, thank you very much.
Maybe they need to get back home – maybe they just want to go home.
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about home.
Some of you know that during Easter Week, Sue and I made a very quick trip to Jersey City, where we both grew up, and where we lived before we moved here almost five years ago.
We were only there for about 24 hours, enough time to have dinner with my parents and sister – everybody’s fine – and I squeezed in a walk around our old neighborhood, passing by the church where we became Episcopalians and where I later served as rector.
It’s always somewhat unsettling to be back – no place will ever be more familiar, but that place has changed in countless ways since we’ve been gone – the city has moved on just as we’ve moved on.
And that strange experience of home-not home, got me thinking back to a couple of decades ago when I was discerning a call to the priesthood, one of the things I did not really consider was that this life is kind of transient.
Over the course of our ministries, most of us serve at least a couple of different churches in different places – there are usually a couple of big moves into new communities, a sense of starting again, which always comes with some mix of challenge and excitement.
Of course, it’s not just clergy.
While some of you have deep roots here, I know others have moved around quite a bit and some of us aren’t done moving, either.
So where is our true home?
What is our true home?
On the road to Emmaus, Cleopas and the other disciple encounter a “stranger” who seems blissfully unaware of all that has happened these last few days in Jerusalem.
But this “stranger” shares God’s Word in a way that sets their hearts on fire.
And, to their credit and great blessing, when they reach Emmaus, they invite this “stranger” into their home, to join them at the table, and it’s then, in the breaking of the bread, that Cleopas and the other disciple know – they know the best news of all time:
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
The Risen Jesus vanishes from their sight and then the two disciples do something unexpected – it’s nighttime and they’ve just walked a long way, but these two disciples leave their home and walk the seven miles all the way back to Jerusalem to share the Good News with the others.
So where is our true home?
What is our true home?
As we celebrate Green Sunday today, we’re reminded that one answer is the earth.
The amazing images of our beautiful swirly blue-white planet sent back from Artemis II were a reminder that we are all residents of this space ship sailing through the stars – a reminder of how amazing we are – it was human beings who did this – and also a reminder of how small we are, a reminder of the pettiness of our squabbles, a reminder of how we are all in this together, all part of this web of life.
The plastic bag tossed from a car on St. Thomas Lane lands in a stream that will eventually carry it to the harbor and the Chesapeake and beyond.
The earth is our home, and we must care for it.
And, on an even deeper level, for us Christians, Jesus is our true home.
Jesus, who we meet in the stranger, in Scripture, in community, and in the breaking of the bread.
Jesus is our true home, calling us to leave the familiar comforts of Emmaus – to head out into the world sharing the best news of all time:
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Amen.
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