Discovering The Risen Christ Along the Road You Walk

For us, Easter was three Sundays ago, and we're still talking about it!

Like most of us, the Disciples put their faith in a specific person or thing that they had hopes for, and promises of dreams come true.
And they saw the man die.
Their hopes, their dreams, their faith, began to fade.
All of these things were caught up in the visible presence of this man from Nazareth, they knew so well.
And now where was he?
He was gone.
And where were they?
They were going - away, to Emmaus.

What the disciples did after Easter, was much more important than what they had done before Easter.

And what we do after Easter is of much more importance than what we did before Easter.

Easter is the one event in history that explains and gives meaning to Christianity.

Friends, there were no Christians until after Easter . . .

Cleopas and his unnamed companion on the road to Emmaus thought they were "well-informed".

They were amazed that this "stranger" who had quietly joined them while they were "deep in conversation," – or as Phillips puts it, "absorbed in their serious talk and discussion," –
[they were amazed that this stranger] knew so little, or nothing at all,
of the events in which they were so completely engrossed.

"How can you possibly have been in Jerusalem during these last few days without knowing what happened?" They asked the stranger.

And he replied, "What do you mean?"

"All this about Jesus of Nazareth" and they went on to spell out the facts they knew so well.

Friends, I really believe this story is of crucial
importance for each of us –
in order to understand about Christianity,
in order to understand about Easter,
in order to understand ourselves.

Of all of the stories that have great importance to our faith, I would have to pick this one as having the greatest significance upon my personal life and understanding.

For me, the first to keep in mind is that
We can be equipped with all of the facts in the world, and we still may not know what happened. We may be blessed with a wonderful Christian education,
We may know a catechism as well as our own name,
We may be able to recite the books of the Old and New Testaments and spout Scripture passages like a fountain,
We may be very proud of our knowledge of Bible names and Bible facts, and Bible history,
And someday, we may suddenly be brought to the realization that it means very little, if nothing
at all, if we have never grasped the true meaning and significance of those facts and events for ourselves and for others.

Cleopas and his friend blurted out their knowledge of the things they had seen and experienced while being with Jesus.
At the same time, they demonstrated that now they really doubted the whole business,
and that they were deeply disappointed in the Prophet from Nazareth, who had failed them so miserably.
"We had been hoping," they said, "that he was the man to liberate Israel."
"What is more," they went on, "today three days after his crucifixion, some of the women in our company have astounded us, telling us that they went to the tomb and found it empty.
They failed to find his body and returned with a story that they had seen a vision of angels who told them that he was alive.
Then others went and found things just as the women had said; but him they did not see."

You see, they were sure of their facts.
They had been personally involved with this Jesus of Nazareth.
They had even been granted the privilege that morning of hearing the good news for the first time. And they were sick about it.
They were sad.
As J.B. Phillips gives us the story, "their faces were drawn with misery."

You see, they still just didn't get it.
Oh, they had all the facts, – but no understanding of what they meant.
They had enjoyed the best opportunity for a Christian education ever granted to anyone.
They had lived with Jesus.
And now, it was he, still un-recognized, who made it clear to them that they actually knew so very little.
That they had almost no understanding of the true significance of what had happened.

So, I imagine, with a smile on his face, this "stranger" said, "You are so dense!
You are so slow to believe all that the prophets said!"
And then he proceeded to reveal to them the true meaning of the facts they knew so well
and the events in which they had been personally involved.

"This is your Messiah," he told them, "and beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he explained to them the passages which referred to himself in every part of the scriptures."

It was a Bible class five or six miles long on that road between Jerusalem and Emmaus.

By the time they reached the village they were so engrossed that they couldn't bear the thought of parting with the still-unknown stranger who was doing so much for them.

So they invited him to stay over and have dinner.

And it was at that time, at supper, when he took the loaf of bread, and blessed it, and broke it,
just as he had done in the upper room not many nights before, that "their eyes were opened and they suddenly recognized him."

Suddenly, everything was changed for them.
Suddenly Easter made sense.
Suddenly the whole message came clear.
And now they understood a whole new way of religion and a whole new way of living.
No longer sad and sick and miserable,
without a moment's hesitation,
they returned to Jerusalem,
crossing those seven miles in a fraction of the time they had spent in coming.

They immediately found the other disciples and, with great excitement, they heard that Jesus had appeared to Simon.
They then shared their own experience with the others that evening of Easter Sunday.
And the next words are startling to us, and tremendously significant. "As they were talking about all this, there he was, standing among them."

Understand where they were and what they were needing: having followed him to Calvary, they needed disparately to know the significance of the open and empty tomb,
having seen him die,
and having been shocked by his death into a kind of stupor of unbelief,
they needed to know and to understand what it meant for him – and for them – to be ALIVE AGAIN.

And this begins to get at the center of Easter and Christianity, and us (what we believe, and what we do, and how we live!).

For us, Easter was three Sundays ago, and we're still talking about it!

You see, what the disciples did after Easter, was much more important than what they had done before Easter.
And what we do after Easter is of much more importance than what we did before Easter.

Easter is the one event in history that explains and gives meaning to Christianity.

Friends, there were no Christians until after Easter –
until after these things started happening,
that those closest to him – the disciples –
finally understood [and believed and understood] a faith – a whole way of living –
that was indeed about liberating Israel!

Again:
We live and move about and be within certain boundaries, or human limitations.
We are obviously bound between points of time in space.
We experience a beginning and an end.
There is a point when we are born, there is a point when we die.
And even with all of our tremendous technological expertise, we have no way of transcending time – of getting beyond either point in time.
We have no time machine wherein we can go into the future or into the past.
We humans are pretty well limited to the time we have been given to experience.

And it's within this framework then, that the early Christians began to see that Easter was an event through which God breaks the chains of human limitation,
moves beyond the points of birth and death,
and expands the whole concept of life itself.

The early Christians saw, experienced and understood that a life for others breaks out of the
personal, the egotistical, the selfish, and transcends the limits of birth and death.

And, they say that Christ showed us the way of totally giving of yourself –
living for others –
giving of yourself so others may live –
that puts us in the company of the saints that have gone before,
and places an eternal, hopeful quality for future generations.

The Easter event liberated Israel from being slaves to the idea that their God must be restricted to a particular person,
bound to a particular time period,
or a given space in history.

Now, note, that like most of us, the Disciples put their faith in a specific person or thing that they had hopes for, and promises of dreams come true.
And they saw the man die.
Their hopes, their dreams, their faith, began to fade.
All of these things were caught up in the visible presence of this man from Nazareth, they knew so well.
And now where was he?
He was gone.
And where were they?
They were going - - away, to Emmaus.

There are two points of discovery in this story – and there are two points of discovery each of us must make before we know what life in Christ is all about.

The first point of discovery occurs at supper – when the bread was broken
(the story says, their eyes were opened)
they suddenly realized they were in communion with the presence of Christ through this "stranger".

And the second point of discovery was quickly made as they recognized the presence of Christ wherever they went.

You see, they understood Easter as taking the Presence of Christ, the idea of God working in history,
the idea of God-with-us (Emmanuel),
and separating it from the physical confines of the body of Jesus,
separating it from the limitations of time and space,
and placing it in the on-going process of life –
wherever life is lived.

Talk about liberation.
Talk about freedom.
Talk about redemption and salvation.
Brothers and Sisters as they found out on the road to Emmaus, Easter did liberate Israel (and liberates us)
from IDOLATRY.

In all of the stories in the New Testament,
no one ever believed until they had an awareness of the Presence of Christ.
Until they became aware that Christ was present and God was acting in their midst,
belief made no sense.

So, look again at your faith, and read this story again – at first, the disciples were totally
unaware of the presence of Christ as they walked along the road to Emmaus.

They were totally insensitive to that stranger in their midst that seemed to know so much.
They were so caught up in their own despair, their own struggle with their faith, that they couldn't recognize Christ was with them as they walked.

Friends, today the words of the hymn,
"Open my eyes that I may see,
open my ears that I may hear,
open my mouth that I may speak",
informs our task as Christian folk.

As we celebrate this communion today, we participate with a fellowship of saints from all the
ages, and we come to grips with the source of life itself –
through the images of the bread and the cup – symbols of sustenance and life itself –
where communion becomes a celebration of illumination,
where in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup, our eyes and ears are opened,
to see and to be aware of the presence of Christ among us [in our neighbors along our road] and the significance of a life literally poured out for others.

My sincere prayer is for each of you to make some discovery about how Easter affects your faith and find some special significance in communion this morning. Amen.

These thoughts were presented to the congregation from the pulpit of The Connecting Place: Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, April 18, 2010.

Palm Sunday: Join the Parade

Today, we remember the parade -- the longest running parade in history!

This parade was extremely significant to the Gospel writers and the early church.
I can think of no other event in the life of Jesus that occurs in all four gospels.

It is important for us to remember Palm Sunday.

It is up to each new generation of believers to keep the story of this moment alive so that Jesus himself lives on in the church.


Today we remember Palm Sunday --
the beginning of the week that was –
Jesus' entrance into the city of Jerusalem.

According to Mark and Matthew this was the first time Jesus ever went to the big city.
Up until now, his entire ministry, his entire life,
had been spent out in the hinterlands, in Jabip,
in little rural communities within walking distance of one another in the countryside known as Galilee.
But, now he went to Jerusalem --
the capital city --
the only big city --
the center of commerce for the whole region --
but, more importantly, the sacred city,
the home of the Temple,
the Holy See of the Jewish faith,
the center of all Judaism.

And here comes Jesus – the country-boy,
the itinerant preacher,
a man on a mission –
and a small rag tag band of his followers,
all simple county-folk,
all probably approaching the big city for the first time in their lives.

No doubt there was excitement in the air –
and a lot of fear and apprehension.
They all had heard stories about the city.
How you had to watch yourself at every turn.
They did things differently in the city.
They knew not about city ways, city customs, about city life.

His closest followers tried to talk Jesus out of going:
We've been fairly successful getting the word out around the country-side.
There is still much to be done among our kind of people.
Why rock the boat?
Why move into Jerusalem now?
Why not stay where we are a little longer?

But, Jesus was on a mission.
It was like he was obsessed –
he was drawn to the city –
he had to go.
In spite of the warnings, Jesus approached the city.

Today, we come here and we remember the parade.

It is right for us take time each year to remember, and to be reminded of, the parade.

One preacher asserts that it is the longest running parade in history!

Our parade is older, and far more meaningful, than the Mummer’s parade.

Our parade is older, and far more meaningful than Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.

Our parade is older, and far more meaningful than the St. Patrick’s Day parade, the Columbus Day parade, and any “other-Day” parade you can think of.

Our parade could be the original “ticker-tape” parade –
the original million man march –
the original demonstration march.

Parades seem to have a way of stirring up emotions and releasing us from inhibitions, don’t they?
(I believe that is one of the main motivating factors for those who participate in the Mummers Day Parade each year.)
It's what we see in Marti Gras parades.
And it's what we see happening in our scripture reading today.

Contrary to some of the movies you have seen,
not every one in Jerusalem participated in the parade that day.
To be sure, most people didn't know anything was going on – or hadn't a clue what it was about if they did see it happening.
It would have been not unlike a demonstration on Broad Street that ties up traffic during rush hour some times.
Unless you were there, and encountered the crowds, you wouldn't even have known what had happened.
And even if you were there, chances are you wouldn't have had a clue as what they were protesting, or celebrating.

But, the parade into Jerusalem turned into one of the most significant events in the lives of the first century Christians.

This parade was extremely significant to the Gospel writers and the early church.
It is one of very few events all four gospels describe.
In fact, I can think of no other event in the life of Jesus that occurs in all four gospels –
all four gospels speak of Jesus entering into Jerusalem riding on the back of a donkey
and being ushered through the streets by a parade of folks dancing and singing and carrying on.

It was an important event.
It was a significant event.
It was a meaningful event.
It was an event worth remembering for those early Christians.
I believe that it is an event worth remembering for us, as well.

I think it is important for us to remember Palm Sunday for three reasons:

As they did in Jerusalem that day, it is right and important for us to recognize the Christ that comes in to our busy lives, (even – and maybe especially – when we are not expecting it);
and
As they did in Jerusalem that day, it is right and important for us to take a public stand and give public witness to our faith;
and
As they did in Jerusalem that day, it is right and important for us to party – to celebrate the presence of Christ.

It was Palm Sunday, and the mother’s 3-year old son had to stay home from church because of strep throat. When the rest of the family came back from church carrying the palm branches, the little boy asked what they were for.
His mother explained, “Well, People held them over their heads and waved as Jesus walked by.”
The boy fumed:
“Wouldn’t you know it. The one Sunday I don’t go, and Jesus shows up.”

The city was crowded on that day.
It was the high holy festival of Passover.
In those days there were no Synagogues in the towns around Galilee – so everyone had to go to the Temple in Jerusalem to for proper observance of the holy day.

Jerusalem was the largest city for hundreds of miles – it was a cosmopolitan place populated by people from all corners of the world –
from all walks of life –
and filled to overflowing with tourists –
visitors – pilgrims –
there for the festival.

The narrow streets were crowded with the hustle and bustle of people going from here to there and back again.
And, every once in a while, someone important would come through.
Horses and chariots were used to make a hole in the crowd and move VIPs through the throngs. Oftentimes the VIPs would have entourages moving through the crowds with them and people would have to stand back and make a way for them go through.
So, there were many mini-parades like this through the streets of the city every day of the year – and even more so this day.

And, so the Gospel writers tell us that Jesus entered the city that day with his entourage –
in many ways mocking the VIP parades.

Now, when I think about this story, I think if I were writing the script it would be somewhat different.
I would have Jesus coming in riding on a blazing white stallion, (you know?), kicking up a cloud of dust as He rode along.
The people he passed would be in awe of such a beautiful animal –
but they would be even more awestruck by the man who was riding it.
As Jesus passed by, you could hear the people say,
"Who was that masked man?"

You see, there were bad guys on the loose and Jesus had a job to do.
As he rode into Jerusalem he would quickly size up the situation and form a plan to capture the ring leader of the trouble makers:
Diablo, the Evil One.
There would be a short fight, (like at the OK Corral) but the outcome would never be in doubt.
Jesus easily defeats Diablo.
He handcuffs the devil and throws him in jail.

As a large crowd of people gathers to see what the commotion was all about, Jesus mounts his horse and pulls on the reins.
His pure white stallion stands on its hind legs, neighing loudly, and pawing the air with its
front legs.
When it stands as tall as it could stand, Jesus leans forward in the saddle.
Holding the reins with one hand while lifting his white hat in the air with the other,
he shouts with a loud voice, "Hi Ho Silver, the Lone Savior."
As Jesus road off into the sunset, the music begins to play softly and gets louder and louder.
(The William Tell Overture).
{Adapted from "Not the Lone Ranger, But the Lone Savior," by Roger Griffith}

Well, you know, it really must have seemed rather comic-like to some, when the long-awaited Messiah entered the city –
even though it was all happening according to what the Hebrew Scriptures had said –
the Messiah would come lowly and humble, on the back of a donkey.

While the image should have brought people's minds to the teachings, which one would expect them to recall,
just like us –
in the midst of things happening around us –
they probably did not make the connection,
at least not immediately.
The disciples of Jesus seem to be somewhat confused in the whole thing themselves.

It was, however, a well thought out, pre-planned event, at least on the part of Jesus.
It was in no way a haphazard plan, was it?
It was meant to be an exact representation, which would convey a precise message to all who would see it – hear about it.
We are reminded, nevertheless, that it really did not make all that much sense,
nor was it understood, until after Easter!

While the hosannas and hoopla that accompanied Jesus as he made his way into Jerusalem on the spindly donkey colt may have seemed spontaneous, today’s text from Matthew suggests that he knew exactly what he was doing,
and his entourage even knew exactly what was expected of them.

* Jesus set the stage by calling for the scripturally prescribed animal.

* The disciples acted with complete and immediate obedience – a sure sign that they knew something was up.

* And, apparently, at least some in the City that day seeing Jesus approach, already accompanied by his own disciples and by those he had previously healed and taught, knew what they were seeing.

* Observant Jews, pious travelers on their way into Jerusalem for Passover, had also heard stories of this man Jesus.

Now, as he appeared mounted on the donkey colt, some of the people brought their long-established traditions, their long-held hopes, to life.

They joyfully joined in the moment,
celebrating the symbolic arrival of a messianic figure,
a prophet as foretold,
with the cries and obeisance deserved by such a dignitary.
They recognized and celebrated the presence of Christ in their midst –
even as they had pressing business at hand to attend to.

As we remember and attempt to recreate the moment Jesus processed into Jerusalem,
we reveal a vital truth about ourselves to our friends and neighbors.
This truth is, we are Christians.
Our faith has feet.
This parade is part of a vital heritage,
a history of sacrifice and service,
of triumph and love.
It is up to each new generation of believers to keep the story of this moment alive so that Jesus himself lives on in the church.

So, today, we celebrate and remember.

But where does it go from there?
Does our marching have a destination?

If all we do at the conclusion of Palm Sunday is hunker down and hide our identity, then like those folks that welcomed him with shouts in Jerusalem, we too are abandoning Jesus the moment he gets off the donkey.

How can we justify going back to life as usual when we have just shouted in the arrival of our king,
our messiah, our Savior?
How can we become true participants in the longest running parade in history — the Jesus parade?

It seems to me that the essence of a parade is a party atmosphere and party spirit.
And the faith question for each of us today is:
Can your spirit party even when everything around you is falling down and coming apart?

Can you trust and obey Jesus enough to party through the jeers as well as the cheers?

Can you wave palm branches and sing hosannas in good times – and in bad times,
in the midst of sorrows as well as celebrations,
on Good Friday as well as No-Name Saturday and Easter morning.

Today, we need to remember there really should be one membership requirement for all those who would join the Jesus parade:
Do you promise to party and celebrate the God who became one of us in good times and bad, for better and for worse?

Any church that parades around its block or its neighborhood singing, waving tree parts, and carrying on should also require all its congregation, as part of their membership vows, to sign a party agreement form: you get kicked out if you can’t/won’t party.

What is making us a hardened-heart, stiff-necked people?
What is making us closed-eared, stone-faced, frostbitten?
What is sapping our joy?
What is shutting down our parade?
What is sending us scuttling home to hide?

I think the message for us is that we need to keep the party going
and to keep the parade moving – in good times and bad.

It’s a matter of faith.
It’s a matter of faith affirmation.
It’s a matter of affirming in the face of the whole world around us that Christ is head of our life – come what may, no matter what.

You can’t join the Jesus parade and not celebrate.
When you join the Jesus parade, you party.
You wave your hands and dance for joy –
not just when life is going your way –
but even when that Perfect Storm called Good Friday hits with all its might.

Palm Sunday reminds us to party on people –
in good times and in bad.
Christ is here.
Celebrate!
Hozanna!
Amen!

This sermon was delivered to the congregation at The Connecting Place: Christ Presbyterian Church in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, USA, March 28, 2010