Sermon Mar. 23, 2008 Luke 24:1-35 Easter Sunday
“This Is That Of Which I Speak”
It hasn’t really felt like Easter this year. I don’t know if it because Easter is so early, but the awe and wonder isn’t what it usually is. It may just be the news of the day. I don’t know if it is the bipolar reaction to the economy in the media. One day, doom, despair and recession, the next, oh no, an indicator is good, we are coming out of it. I don’t know if it is because we have been at war for five years, we are at four thousand dead. I don’t know if it is because this is the most convenient war we have ever fought. There is no draft, there is no rationing, there are no shortages. If you don’t look for it, you won’t see it at all.
The way the world is at the moment, it feels more like Good Friday, the death of Jesus, rather than Easter morning, Jesus come back to us.
It was that way for the apostles. They did not believe the news of the women. Mary Magdalene, Joanne, Mary the mother of James (apparently not to be confused with Mary the mother of Jesus) and the rest went to the tomb with ointment and spices to embalm the body of Jesus. They did not find Jesus in the tomb, but they did meet two men in dazzling clothes-angels. They reminded the women of Jesus’ own words, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again. Then, verse eight, “they remembered his words”. And they believed that Jesus was risen from the dead.
When they returned to the apostles to tell them this, those condescending QUOTE leaders of the church UNQUOTE decided their story was an idle tale and they did not believe them. At least Peter was curious enough to go check it out. He went, saw the empty tomb and the linen clothes inside, but, instead of coming back to speak of what he saw, just went home amazed.
Then Luke follows two of them were headed for Emmaus. They were having an animated discussion about everything that had happened. Jesus was dead, but the women were saying he was alive. How do you get your mind around that? When Jesus joins them and pretends ignorance, they give him a recap of the events of the last few days. And at the very least they confirm the “idle tale” of the women. They saw the empty tomb, not the angels, but the empty tomb. Something was happening, but they had no idea what. And unlike the women, they could not believe it was Jesus resurrected.
And Jesus clobbers them with it. The sanitized version appears in Luke, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared!” A more contemporary rendering might be “Hey, stupid! You’re thicker than a brick! Remember what the prophets said?”
Now the angels at the tomb only had to remind the women of what Jesus had said. They thought back to Jesus’ words in Galilee and bingo, the light went on. Jesus was alive! Jesus was resurrected from the dead! That was God’s promise fulfilled! They remembered and believed. That was why the tomb was empty.
But now we have these two jug heads. Jesus starts with the same reminder. Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and then enter into his glory? For the women, that was the trigger point. In that instant, they got it. But not these gentlemen. Jesus has to go back to Moses, he has to go back to the book of Genesis, and then through all the prophets, all the way through the Old Testament, interpreting to them the things about himself in all the Scriptures.
What a glorious time that was for them. Their hearts burned within themselves while Jesus spoke.
The only problem is they still weren’t getting it. They are hearing all this incredible stuff and they are deeply moved, but Jesus is standing right next to them and they don’t see him. They are hearing all the promises of the bible but without believing Jesus was alive. This was seven miles of walking stupid.
So they get to the village. Jesus was going on, but they urged him to stay. It was almost evening, the day was nearly over, the evening rush hour was beginning, they wanted him to stay, and he agreed.
These two disciples were obviously not auditory learners. Telling them stuff was all well and good, but they did not break out to reach the conclusion that Jesus was aiming for. They did not get it that Jesus was alive and standing right there with them. Rather, these two guys were obviously visual. Jesus repeated the Last Supper. He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.
Baddabing! Their eyes were opened and they recognized him! And he vanished from their sight. So back they go to Jerusalem, tell the apostles, and they all finally believe it after corroborating evidence that Jesus appeared to Simon as well. Our final verse says, “Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he, Jesus, had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.”
Now imagine the women listening to this. Early dawn, they’d gotten the good news and believed it. But the men didn’t believe, they dismissed their testimony as an “idle tale”. But now, these two spend hours with Jesus teaching them, hours having their hearts and minds all fired up, hours having the bible explained to them in detail, they still didn’t figure it out until Jesus broke some bread for them. Then, they walk seven miles back to Jerusalem to tell the apostles. It took a round trip from here to Menlo Park Mall and a visitation of Jesus to Simon and an entire day for the men to believe what the women knew first thing that morning.
This sounds like a marriage. The wife knows the truth, but the husband doesn’t believe her, not until he figures it out for himself, and not until he figures it out the hard way.
No matter how long it took them to believe it, the Good News is that Jesus rose from the dead.
When we walk out of here this morning, we will still be at war. Our economy will still be wildly unstable. Poverty, climate change, all those things will still be there. What will be different is us. The Promise of Easter will suffuse us to our very souls. Jesus conquered death. People will still die, in Iraq, elsewhere, but in Jesus is the hope of heaven. Jesus conquered sin. Our economy is sliding, a lot due to greed and sinful business practice. In Jesus, we know there are things bigger and more eternal then any market fluctuation.
When we walk out of there, may the joy of Christ Jesus, risen from the dead, savior of us all, surround you and kindle in you a love for God and neighbor that will sweep us into Christ’s vision for us this year and for all time to come. May the bad things melt in the light of our Lord Jesus. May his grace be sufficient and his love all encompassing for us.
Amen.
“This Is That Of Which I Speak”
It hasn’t really felt like Easter this year. I don’t know if it because Easter is so early, but the awe and wonder isn’t what it usually is. It may just be the news of the day. I don’t know if it is the bipolar reaction to the economy in the media. One day, doom, despair and recession, the next, oh no, an indicator is good, we are coming out of it. I don’t know if it is because we have been at war for five years, we are at four thousand dead. I don’t know if it is because this is the most convenient war we have ever fought. There is no draft, there is no rationing, there are no shortages. If you don’t look for it, you won’t see it at all.
The way the world is at the moment, it feels more like Good Friday, the death of Jesus, rather than Easter morning, Jesus come back to us.
It was that way for the apostles. They did not believe the news of the women. Mary Magdalene, Joanne, Mary the mother of James (apparently not to be confused with Mary the mother of Jesus) and the rest went to the tomb with ointment and spices to embalm the body of Jesus. They did not find Jesus in the tomb, but they did meet two men in dazzling clothes-angels. They reminded the women of Jesus’ own words, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again. Then, verse eight, “they remembered his words”. And they believed that Jesus was risen from the dead.
When they returned to the apostles to tell them this, those condescending QUOTE leaders of the church UNQUOTE decided their story was an idle tale and they did not believe them. At least Peter was curious enough to go check it out. He went, saw the empty tomb and the linen clothes inside, but, instead of coming back to speak of what he saw, just went home amazed.
Then Luke follows two of them were headed for Emmaus. They were having an animated discussion about everything that had happened. Jesus was dead, but the women were saying he was alive. How do you get your mind around that? When Jesus joins them and pretends ignorance, they give him a recap of the events of the last few days. And at the very least they confirm the “idle tale” of the women. They saw the empty tomb, not the angels, but the empty tomb. Something was happening, but they had no idea what. And unlike the women, they could not believe it was Jesus resurrected.
And Jesus clobbers them with it. The sanitized version appears in Luke, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared!” A more contemporary rendering might be “Hey, stupid! You’re thicker than a brick! Remember what the prophets said?”
Now the angels at the tomb only had to remind the women of what Jesus had said. They thought back to Jesus’ words in Galilee and bingo, the light went on. Jesus was alive! Jesus was resurrected from the dead! That was God’s promise fulfilled! They remembered and believed. That was why the tomb was empty.
But now we have these two jug heads. Jesus starts with the same reminder. Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and then enter into his glory? For the women, that was the trigger point. In that instant, they got it. But not these gentlemen. Jesus has to go back to Moses, he has to go back to the book of Genesis, and then through all the prophets, all the way through the Old Testament, interpreting to them the things about himself in all the Scriptures.
What a glorious time that was for them. Their hearts burned within themselves while Jesus spoke.
The only problem is they still weren’t getting it. They are hearing all this incredible stuff and they are deeply moved, but Jesus is standing right next to them and they don’t see him. They are hearing all the promises of the bible but without believing Jesus was alive. This was seven miles of walking stupid.
So they get to the village. Jesus was going on, but they urged him to stay. It was almost evening, the day was nearly over, the evening rush hour was beginning, they wanted him to stay, and he agreed.
These two disciples were obviously not auditory learners. Telling them stuff was all well and good, but they did not break out to reach the conclusion that Jesus was aiming for. They did not get it that Jesus was alive and standing right there with them. Rather, these two guys were obviously visual. Jesus repeated the Last Supper. He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.
Baddabing! Their eyes were opened and they recognized him! And he vanished from their sight. So back they go to Jerusalem, tell the apostles, and they all finally believe it after corroborating evidence that Jesus appeared to Simon as well. Our final verse says, “Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he, Jesus, had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.”
Now imagine the women listening to this. Early dawn, they’d gotten the good news and believed it. But the men didn’t believe, they dismissed their testimony as an “idle tale”. But now, these two spend hours with Jesus teaching them, hours having their hearts and minds all fired up, hours having the bible explained to them in detail, they still didn’t figure it out until Jesus broke some bread for them. Then, they walk seven miles back to Jerusalem to tell the apostles. It took a round trip from here to Menlo Park Mall and a visitation of Jesus to Simon and an entire day for the men to believe what the women knew first thing that morning.
This sounds like a marriage. The wife knows the truth, but the husband doesn’t believe her, not until he figures it out for himself, and not until he figures it out the hard way.
No matter how long it took them to believe it, the Good News is that Jesus rose from the dead.
When we walk out of here this morning, we will still be at war. Our economy will still be wildly unstable. Poverty, climate change, all those things will still be there. What will be different is us. The Promise of Easter will suffuse us to our very souls. Jesus conquered death. People will still die, in Iraq, elsewhere, but in Jesus is the hope of heaven. Jesus conquered sin. Our economy is sliding, a lot due to greed and sinful business practice. In Jesus, we know there are things bigger and more eternal then any market fluctuation.
When we walk out of there, may the joy of Christ Jesus, risen from the dead, savior of us all, surround you and kindle in you a love for God and neighbor that will sweep us into Christ’s vision for us this year and for all time to come. May the bad things melt in the light of our Lord Jesus. May his grace be sufficient and his love all encompassing for us.
Amen.
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