Seeing Is Believing
April 3, 2005
Associate Pastor Doug Forsberg
Things are not always as they seem. For instance many in this room enjoy eating baby carrots, did you know that baby carrots are not really babies? Indeed, baby carrots are really adult carrots masquerading as infants so that we will buy them. They come from full-grown carrots whose rotten parts have been cut away. Baby carrots are cute and easy to eat, but they aren’t babies.
Things are not always as they seem at the Department of Motor Vehicles either for short lines and seemingly available workers do not always mean quick and easy visits.
Of course, we know that when we say that things are not as they seem there is much more at stake than an afternoon at the DMV or being fooled by baby carrots. When the people of God come together and speak of things not being what they seem, we are pointing to realities that are only understood through the lens of faith in Jesus Christ. Without that lens, all I am doing today is babbling and this meal before us is just a tiny piece of bread and a bit of juice. Thanks be to God that things are not always as they seem, for God’s kingdom is advancing on so many fronts and God is using people like you and I to proclaim his kingdom.
When we ponder Jesus’ death and resurrection, we must understand that things are not always as they seem. In our culture human reason reigns as king, and our reason cannot grasp a man rising from the dead. It’s not possible; our minds cannot get around it. Oh, many gather together on Easter and proclaim that Christ is risen, but I believe that the truth of the matter is that many of those who gather for Easter are not unlike Jesus’ disciples so long ago, who were crushed by the weight of having no hope at all. Christ’s first disciples did not proclaim the resurrection on that first Easter morning. They hid from those they thought might hurt them and they mourned for the one they loved.
What does it mean to be a disciple of Christ in light of his resurrection? Today’s passage answers this question and it teaches us that those who know Christ and are convinced of his resurrection must proclaim him to those they know.
Verses 13-24 of today’s passage deal with the truth that Jesus’ disciples did not understand the promise of the resurrection. They thought that Jesus was dead and that his story was over and done with. In verse 13, we find two of these disciples, Cleopas and an unnamed man, walking to Emmaus, the village where they probably lived. They were talking about all that had happened in Jerusalem, trying to understand Jesus’ death and the report from some of the women that the tomb was empty. Jesus starts walking with them and asks what they are talking about. They stop walking in mid stride as though the question is a shot to the heart. What else could they be talking about, they ask the stranger who obviously had not been checking his voice mail or the Internet for recent news. They do their best to tell Jesus what they know, but in the end it seems as though they’re a bit confused.
I found the same confusion while working as a hospital chaplain one summer. Many that I talked with expressed fear, disappointment, and anger as they faced unknown futures and the pain of disease and death. Some of these had no faith at all, and there was little I could share with them other than a smile and some jokes. Others had a generic faith that did not go very deep. They’d say things like, “I’m not too worried, the big guy upstairs is watching out for me.” When patients said this, I couldn’t help but think that we were talking about George Burns, who played God in a number of movies.
Please don’t hear me as one criticizing the faith of these individuals. Perhaps they just didn’t have words to express their faith in Christ or maybe they could not help but keep God at arms length. Whatever the case, there were few patients that summer whose faith was deeply rooted in the resurrected Christ. So many that summer needed to hear that Jesus knew suffering, that he knew trials, that he knew death. They also needed to hear that he overcame death and rose from the grave. Friends, we don’t believe in a God who is kept at arms length. We believe in one who walked among us. One who still lives. This changes the way we look at the world. This changes everything.
In the first section of today’s passage, the two disciples don’t understand the promise of the resurrection, but in the second section, verses 25-31, Jesus brings understanding to his disciples. Jesus does three things to demonstrate to his disciples that his resurrection changes everything. As we walk with Christ, we should pay attention to these three actions too, for if we pay attention our faith in the promise of the resurrection will deepen.
First, Jesus explains the whole of the Old Testament scriptures to these two disciples. Starting with Moses and moving through the Old Testament to the prophets, Jesus demonstrates that the scriptures point to him. The overarching story told in the Old Testament is of God’s plan of redemption for his people through the Messiah who would suffer to gain that redemption. One of the reasons we still read and preach the Old Testament is that Jesus is found and proclaimed there. One of the ways in which your faith in the promise of the resurrection will deepen is if you pay close attention to the Word of God. This means reading the scriptures on your own and studying them. This means listening to sermons and going home and testing what you heard by reading the scripture passage again to see if the one preaching got it right. As you study the scripture and learn from those who also study it, you will see connections you’ve never noticed, and through the Holy Spirit, your faith in the promise of the resurrection will grow deeper.
Jesus’ second action is actually a response to the actions of the two disciples on the road. As these disciples near Emmaus they plead with Jesus to stay with them. There are a number of reasons the two disciples would have pleaded with Jesus to stay with them. Foremost among these reasons is that Jesus knew what he was talking about. When you find someone like that who can help you bring cohesion to pieces that you cannot put together, you want to stand with them and not let them get away from you. Secondly, it was dangerous to be out and about at night, so these disciples were being hospitable by inviting Jesus to stay with them. What seems of utmost importance to me is that, at their request, Jesus does indeed stay with them. Sisters and brothers, Jesus does not force himself on people, this is not to say that Jesus is not forceful, only that he will not go where he is not invited. Jesus said, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20).
When we look at the stained glass window on the right in the back of the sanctuary, we find a visual image of this fact. Notice that Jesus knocks on a door that has no handle; the handle is on the inside and it can only be opened by those inside of the door.
The lesson here is clear enough. As we ask Jesus to come and be among us, our faith in the promise of the resurrection will grow deeper. When we cut Jesus off from parts of our lives, keeping him out of our work, homes, relationships, recreation, and even dare I say, his church, we should not expect to understand his ways or his power. It is dangerous to invite Christ into every part of our lives because he will bring change, but it is even more dangerous when we exclude parts of our lives from him, for we risk being like the seed that fell among the thorns which was choked as it sought to grow. What a wonderful example we are given here as we see Jesus respond to this invitation of his disciples.
The third way in which Jesus demonstrates that his resurrection changes everything is to share supper with these two disciples. It is clear here that this supper is something like the Lord’s Supper. The language is so very similar. So too are the effects, for as the bread is broken the two disciples suddenly recognize that it is Jesus who has appeared to them walking along the road and coming into their home. So it is that their faith in the promise of the resurrection grows deeper as they know Christ in the breaking of the bread.
In a few minutes we will break bread together and lift up the cup of the new covenant. As we do this we will see Christ. You may wonder, “Where will we see Christ?” Well, the bread and the juice before us will not turn into Christ, nor will Christ be hiding under our communion table. Instead, by the power of the Holy Spirit, those who by faith partake in this meal will be brought into the spiritual presence of Christ and receive nourishment for their continuing life of faith. As Christ is revealed to his people in the breaking of the bread their faith in the promise of the resurrection will grow deeper, and their desire to serve him will become more intense.
So it is that things are not always as they seem; death is not the final word, for Christ has risen from the dead, just as he said. As those who have come to understand that Jesus’ resurrection changes everything, let us react as the two disciples reacted in the third part of this passage. Notice that immediately after recognizing Jesus, these two witnesses of the resurrection run out into the night seeking to bring the Good News to the other disciples. These two faithful witnesses don’t wait until it is convenient for them to go; they move. They react, and when they find the other disciples, they discover that they are not the only ones to witness the resurrected Christ, for Peter has seen him too. Then they have an opportunity to share how Christ made himself known to them in the breaking of the bread.
Brothers and sisters we will go out from this place into a world in need of the Good News. As we have been blessed this day to have our faith in the promise of the resurrection grow deeper through the preaching of the Word, Christ’s presence with us, and in the breaking of the bread, I pray we will have the same joy and zeal as those two disciples on the road to Emmaus who shared with those they knew that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead and that they had seen him.
Have you seen him too? If so, you can join with the prophet Isaiah and so many others who have said, “Here am I Lord; send me” (Is 6:8-9).
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.