For almost a month now, we have been looking at Easter texts. First, we heard Mark’s account, then John’s, then Matthew’s. In each story we were left waiting for the triumph and loud celebration of Easter. There was silence, fear, and a Jesus we couldn’t even recognize. But there wasn’t triumph and victory—not like we anticipated anyway. We’ve lived Good Friday trials and were left waiting for the true uplift of Easter.
Today we hear another Easter story—Luke’s. Here we meet Cleopas and his companion on their way to Emmaus. I don’t know about you, but I read this story and wonder how these men could be so blind. How could they be walking and talking with Jesus and enjoying his company so much that they asked him to stay through the night, and yet they didn’t even know who he was? They don’t recognize Christ for who he really is and I can’t help but shake my head at them. I mean, surely any one of us would have recognized Christ if he had walked and talked with us, right?
Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news. The bad news is, not only is your pastor a sinner, but she’s also thick-headed. The good news is, it’s still appointment season and you can ask the bishop and the cabinet for a new one come July.
The truth is, I haven’t just been preaching about the search for Jesus and a real Easter moment. The truth is, I’ve been searching for him. I’ve been living that quest. I’ve desperately been seeking to find a splendid and grand appearance of the risen Christ. And I couldn’t find him.
And then this last weekend, I participated in the El Shaddai walk to Emmaus and the fog was lifted and I saw Jesus. But I didn’t see Jesus in marvelous and extravagant ways. I realized that I was like Cleopas and his friend, I had been walking with Jesus the whole time and I was just too blind to see him.
As I was surrounded with extravagant agape love and ceaseless service, I saw Jesus in each of those people around me. I saw Christ in their smiles and their hugs, in the ways they cooked for each of us and cleaned so that we could focus on the Word of God—it was incredible.
I realized that God uses us to reach us. Let me repeat that: God uses us to reach us. Without our love, compassion and mercy—there is none to be found. Yes, God continues to be a compassionate and loving God, despite what we do, but without love for each other—there is no love to be experienced in the world. Without our acts of compassion, there is no compassion to be known in the world. Without our voice calling for justice, there is no advocate for true justice. If we sit back and do nothing, Christ will never be known.
In order for us to know Christ, we have to experience Christ in each other. We have to live that Christian life.
That seems like a simple idea when I say it, and yet somehow it was an incredible revelation to me. We sing the song “the spirit in me greets the spirit in you” all the time and yet somehow I’ve been blinded to truly seeing Christ in you. I can see Christ’s love and light in you. I can see the semblance of Christ…a resemblance….but I don’t know that I had actually seen Christ in you until this weekend.
Friends, there is more good news and more bad news. The bad news is that in many ways we will never be like Cleopas and his companion. Most won’t travel to the holy lands and walk that road to Emmaus, but even if you do, you won’t find Jesus in the way these men did. You won’t be able to touch him in that 33 year old body from the 1st century.
But there is also more good news. The Good news is Christ’s story didn’t end in the first century. His story continues because Easter did in fact happen. It wasn’t a grand and glorious moment for anyone. Not one of the gospel stories has a choir of angels or another triumphant entry story. There is no pomp and circumstance. He comes simply, and humbly and quietly back into the lives of those who love him. The Good news is he comes! The good news is he comes in way we can recognize and relate to.
And if we’re honest, that’s what we should have expected. After all, time and time again in Christ’s story, God has come to us through this Emmanuel in ways that we didn’t expect. The king of kings and lord of lords was not born in a palace and held by a queen. Instead he was born to an unknown teenage mom in a stable far from home. He wasn’t greeted by the Jewish leaders of high esteem, he was met first instead by lowly shepherds, the outcasts of society. His whole life was spent upending our expectations—he didn’t overcome Rome. He didn’t conquer. He didn’t rule with power and might.
· He ate with sinners
· Touched the unclean
· Offered himself in humility
· Washed the feet of his followers
· Gave himself over for our sins
· Fought the fight against sin and death—the eternal battle, rather than the one against Rome—the temporary battle.
· He loved his neighbor, wholly and completely
· He forgave his enemies time and again
Throughout the Gospel story we are challenged to find God in ways that are difficult and unexpected. Ways that are counter to our expectations. And so why on earth I would have expected something different from the resurrection I do not know.
We are everyday people with everyday problems looking at an everyday world and everyday concerns and hoping that everyday answers will make a difference….why would we want anything other than a God of the everyday? We need a God who will meet us where we are…in the simple things…while we are doing dishes, while we are listening to a friend, while we are eating homemade jam, reading a note of encouragement from someone who cares. We need God who meets us in the simple things, because we are not people surrounded by the spectacular, we are people surrounded by the simple, and we need Emmanuel to truly be with us…in the simplicity of the everyday.
I re-met Jesus over the weekend. He was not the Jesus I was looking for. He was not the Jesus I expected. He might not have even been the Jesus I wanted. But he was definitely the Jesus I needed. I needed to meet Jesus again. I needed to see the Risen Christ in a new light. I needed to see how Christ’s promise that he would “live in [us] if [we] live in him” is actualized in our world.
Christ tells the disciples, “Lo, I am with you until the end of the age.” He promises to live in us if we live in him. So, when we accept Christ, when we invite him to live in us and we do our best to live in him, we become one with Christ. And when we are one with Christ, we are able to share the Risen Christ with others. I do not mean to say we become the Son of God, or that we become more than human, but we do become Christ, and not just Christ-like, but if Christ truly lives in us, then he becomes part of us, and then when we share joy, and love, and compassion, we share Christ because the Risen Christ lives in us.
There is good news brothers and sisters—abundantly good news. Christ is Risen! He lives in us! We can see him when we look to our neighbor on the right or our neighbor on our left. Christ is here in our midst because we have invited him in, because we have offered him our hearts and our lives and because we share the love he gives us. Maybe you’ve never had the chance to meet the Risen Christ, maybe you’ve only heard stories…if you are ready to have him live in you…if you are ready to live a resurrected life because you have invited Christ to live in your heart, this is the day of invitation! This is the day of the resurrection! This is the day of new life! Or maybe you know Christ and are looking for him like I was…in extraordinary and grand ways….maybe you’re ready to see him in the simplicity of the everyday—Christ is ready to reveal himself to you!
Let us pray: Christ I want to see you. I want to know you. Please live in my heart. Please transform my sinful ways. I submit myself to your will. Help me be a revelation of your love to all those I meet. Be with me Lord. Walk with me. Lead me to be a faithful disciple humbly serving you and my neighbor. In your precious and mighty name. Amen.
