Now on the same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus…Luke 24: 13, 15
While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them…’
Ever been to Emmaus? I bet you have. I bet all of you have. Emmaus can refer to more than a place, a geographical location; it can also refer to a condition in life. Being sent to Timbuktu is to be sent far away, To be in Dire Straits is to be in a desperate situation. To be ‘up the creek’ is to be in big trouble. To be on the road to Emmaus …what does that mean?
Well, let me tell you about our trip to Emmaus and see if you haven’t been there before. There was just the two of us…Cleopas and myself. We were both disciples of Jesus. Were. Now that our leader was dead we didn’t know what we were anymore…lost and scared I suppose…but we certainly were not disciples. A disciples is a follower and we weren’t following anyone…just following the road out of town…the road to Emmaus.
They killed him…our chief priests and leaders handed him over to Pilate and he was condemned to death. He was crucified…dead…buried. ‘All over but the crying’ as they say…and actually, a good deal of that was over too. And now that the Sabbath was over Jerusalem was returning to business as usual…as if nothing had happened at all. Cleopas and I had to get away.
It was the third day since his death…and you know what it’s like the week after the funeral? They say the most difficult week of all for the bereaved is the week after. That’s when reality of the loss really starts to sink in. And just when you really need your friends and family, they’re gone…returned to their own busy lives. We couldn’t stand it in Jerusalem. It had returned to ‘business as usual’ - acting as if nothing had happened. So I said to Cleopas, ‘Let’s get out of here’, and we left.
We decided to go to Emmaus…no special reason really , except that the road took us there. Emmaus was no place special other than it was away from the hustle and bustle of Jerusalem and we needed to get away till we could find ourselves again. We trudged along that road with all the speed and essence of a funeral procession. A man came up from behind and joined us on our journey. As we walked Cleopas and I were talking about the death of Jesus. He must was silent for awhile but finally asked us, ‘What are you talking about?’
We stopped in our tracks, and looked at him as if he were from another planet. ‘Are you the only person in Jerusalem oblivious to the things that have happened there?’ I asked him.
‘What things?’ he asked.
And so we began to tell him the bad news…the whole nine yards of it.
We told him about Jesus of Nazareth, a mighty prophet who spoke with authority and did many great miracles. How he came to Jerusalem and was arrested and crucified a traitor. We had hoped he was the Messiah who would save Israel. And besides all that, just today when the women went to embalm his body, it was gone! They came back with some coca meme story about angels telling them he had risen. A couple of the disciples went down to check it out - they found his empty tomb but no angels. We don’t know what to make of all this. It’s all pretty confusing.
Then he looked at us as if we were the ones from another planet and said ‘Why doesn’t this make sense to you? Don’t you believe what the prophets have spoken?’ And then he began to tell us the good news…the whole nine yards of it. Over the course of our trip he told us all that the prophets had said concerning the Messiah…how he must suffer these things and enter into his glory. And the closer we got to Emmaus the clearer things were for us. It’s amazing how studying the scriptures can help put things in perspective. I know you don’t believe me – otherwise there’d be standing room only in all the Sunday School classes…but it’s true! Study of the written word is a tremendous source of life and nurture to God’s people!
Anyway, when we reached Emmaus our traveling companion was planning to go further, but we convinced him to stay the night. The day was well spent anyway and there was plenty of room where we were staying. We sat down together for supper that night and we offered our guest the bread first. He took the bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to us. And in that ordinary moment of sharing bread together something sacred occurred. I hardly know how to express it but if you had taken part you would have known …that in that moment we realized that we were in the presence of our Lord! The manner in which he took the bread, blessed it and gave it to us was the same way Jesus did it just a few days earlier when we celebrated his last supper with us. It was him! But as quickly as we recognized him, he was gone.
That very night we hurried back to Jerusalem again to tell the other disciples. And on the way we remembered the day’s events and how our hearts were strangely warmed as he opened the scriptures to us. The whole last week started to make sense to us! On Thursday when he said: ‘This is my body broken for you.’ Now I understand what Jesus meant !
We found the disciples and before we could speak they stole our thunder! They said ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ We told them what happened to us on the road to Emmaus and how Jesus was revealed in the scriptures and the breaking of bread. In Word and Sacrament…the Lord is revealed.
Ah, I must seem a babbling fool to some of you. I don’t blame you, we thought as much when the women came back from the empty tomb. We didn’t believe it until the risen Christ was revealed to us too. I guess what I’m trying to say is that if Easter is a verb, not a noun. If it only happened once then it might as well have happened ‘once-upon-a-time’. But Easter doesn’t happen just once, but again and again…the risen Lord appears to us over and over…first to the women, then to Simon, then to Cleopas and me. Christ is alive and there is no knowing where he’ll show up next.
But don’t take my word for it. If Christ is alive, you must experience his presence too. Your eyes must be opened …your heart must be warmed. Easter must happen to you. So I ask you – ever been to Emmaus? Ever had your eyes opened by a sermon that brought scripture and life together in such a way that you could hear God speaking? Ever had your heart strangely warmed when you took the bread and shared the cup? Ever had an experience that made you certain that Jesus really is risen? If so, you’ve been to Emmaus too…and if you have, you can’t help but share the good news.
They say it’s in hindsight that we most clearly see God’s hand at work in our lives. It’s reason enough to look back, to examine the past and see if there aren’t signs of the presence of the Lord with you. But keep your eyes open in the present too…as well as the future. Because Jesus goes before us into the future and there is no telling where he’ll show up next. Maybe you’ll meet him in today’s service … in the breaking of bread and the sharing of the cup. Who knows - you may be on the road to Emmaus right now!
Amen