In Luke’s gospel, he dares his readers to
see the fullness of God in the person, work, and witness of Jesus Christ
who came to deliver not only Israel, but also the entire Gentile world. These very
Gentiles would become some of his primary readers who were encountering the
story for the first time. So Luke begins his gospel in the same way he
ends it, with this call to recognition. "I too
decided," Luke writes, "after investigating everything carefully from
the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent
Theophillus, so that you may know (Greek: recognize) the truth
concerning the things about which you have been instructed" (Luke 1:4).
So that you may recognize.
This is the same word used multiple times in
chapter 24. But today’s story, the book end of Luke’s call to recognition,
which has taken us from shepherd fields to the feeding of massive crowds, from
controversial encounters with Syrophoenician women to the raising from the dead
one of his closest friends named Lazarus, from garden to table
to betrayal to cross to tomb then left empty, hinges on those who still
found themselves unable to recognize the resurrected Christ as they walk their
pilgrim road. Luke says they were kept from recognizing him-
literally, their eyes were seized and arrested so
they could not recognize Jesus when he came near. Like a crafty filmmaker
or storyteller, Luke leaves the reader wondering not only why these
sojourners cannot, but also when will their eyes be loosed so they can
recognize him. When will the reveal come?
So first, what keeps them from recognizing
Jesus? There are a few reasons- in many ways they are intertwined
with what keeps us from seeing Jesus today.
First, there is despair. When the
clouds are thick and gray, when our newsfeeds and radio waves are saturated
with tragic and concerning events and fear and hostile rhetoric have become the
new normal, when we experience personal loss and yet another reminder that
those personal aspirations or visions for ______ may be unattainable, even
the most optimistic among us may find it hard to recognize the hope we once
held dear. Despair can be an arresting force that shackles our dreams,
seizes our creativity, and fetters our vision away from any possibility of
things being other than what they are.
Theologian Andrew Root writes in his book, The
Promise of Despair:
“If death had a Facebook profile its interests
would not only be putting people in the grave but also killing their dreams,
their loves, their peace, their dignity.”
The two companions who traveled that road from
Jerusalem to Emmaus knew this well. The resurrected Christ had come near,
right in front of them, and Luke writes, “They stood still, looking
sad.” Said differently, they stopped on that road arrested by
their despairing hearts in light of the death of their Teacher and
Friend.
What's important in today's story is how Christ
draws near in this moment of despair. Jesus does not rush to revelation or
pat answers to reduce their lament; he walks alongside. This is
some of the best news in today's story- awareness that no matter how thick your
clouds of despair, Christ draws near you not with dismissive answers but
real presence, even when he may be difficult if not impossible to
recognize. This is the call of the church, too, as we enter into the despairs
of our communities, cities, and larger world not first to offer answers but
solidarity and love so our neighbors may recognize the very compassion of
Christ.
Still, Jesus is not content to remain despairing.
Neither should we.
This is true for individuals, communities, nations,
congregations, and denominations, too. We must be careful not
to become so trapped by our sufferings or narratives of decline that our
eyes are arrested and unable to see resurrection possibilities in the very
places we were called to serve.
It is fascinating to me that these two travelers
are talking along the road and they lead with haven’t you heard about “these
things” about the death and crucifixion of the Messiah? Resurrection was
dismissed as idle tale and their ministry with Jesus believed to be over. Despair
had a vice grip on their hopes and dreams and forward thinking. Despair
can have a vice grip on the church, too. Those who like to elevate their
voices of reason and corporate memory come armed with proof that there is
no hope for an alternative to what currently is and what will likely always be
for a particular congregation. So many O church stand still looking sad, unable
to recognize resurrection possibilities right before them, content to talk
about closure or prolonged maintenance at best. Their ministry with Jesus is
believed to be over.
Here Jesus flips the foolishness and calls out
their misunderstanding, which is another of this mornings roadblock to
recognition. Misunderstanding.
What did they misunderstand? I suggest it
is what they said about “we had hoped he was the One to redeem Israel.” It
is not that this was wrong- Jesus was all about delivering the covenant people.
But if they had paid any attention at all, and if we have been in reading Luke,
the thrust of the stories were about including the other- the Gentile- those
labeled as beyond the scope of God’s promise. Their hope, on the contrary,
was still insular. They were not able to recognize the resurrected Christ
because they had misunderstood the goal of the biblical story- redemption of
all the world.
I was recently a part of a worship service with
seminarians serving in one of our churches, part of our Presbytery’s Ministry
and Leadership Incubator. One of the students, as part of the self-offering,
held up a stick with pieces of rope hanging down. She then began to talk about
how the disciples used nets to fish- not hooks. These nets were created as rope
from opposite ends were woven together into a tool to gather in the fish;
opposing ends used to draw in the masses.
We would rather put hooks on the end of each rope,
maybe content with luring one fish at a time in solitude. Or if you are like
me, no fish ever, unless they accidentally run into my line and are get
snagged. True story. But nets, while they take time in
their weaving, working likely with other people, they are able to
gather in the multitude. Especially when they are cast on the other side of the
boat.
How often we misunderstand the
gospel. Instead of finding more reasons to bind ourselves to one
another as we form an inclusive community of grace and love, we build walls of
exclusion or simply sit idle in despair grumbling as we fish alone and wonder
why they aren't biting at our old and trusted bait.
This makes it not only difficult for us to
recognize Christ, but also and more tragically difficult for the watching world
to recognize Christ within us.
Which leads to the final barrier to our
recognition- change. The last time they had seen the Messiah was in the
exhaustion of the events that led to his crucifixion. So when they see the One
who has been to the other side of death and made new and whole again, they
cannot recognize him.
This past September I grew a beard. It was a nice
beard. I loved my beard. When I walked into the office after an extended
weekend with the beard, I got many interesting looks from those who did not
recognize me and my new appearance. Then, on Easter weekend, I shaved it off as
a sign of new life. My four-month old daughter, who only new me with the beard,
did not recognize me. Until I spoke- and when I did, her face lit up and
her toothless smile became as wide as the ocean.
Change in appearance can make it difficult to
recognize even the most beloved of people. The same can be said of communities
and the church. Yet change is often necessary- especially for the
church- if we are to participate in the resurrection in such a way that speaks
into the neighborhoods we have been called to love and serve; these communities
are constantly changing.
But change can be fearful.
For some, change may be painful and make it somewhat difficult to recognize
what they have grown to love for so long. It may even make their ability to see
Jesus in a particular place a challenge. We would do well to walk alongside
them in the same way Jesus walked alongside Cleopas and the unnamed companion.
For others, changes are welcome and refreshing. They usher in a new era of
witness that just may make the mission of the church more recognizable to their
neighbors who may be searching for belonging and assurance that there is a God
who loves them. Be careful not to allow these changes to become the
new structures of idolatry unwilling to be adapted and reformed when that day
comes- and it will come. Today’s story dares us to embrace what it
means to be reformed not only in theology, but also in our church forms,
systems, structures, and methods for faithful witness. Eyes
opened to change can be the difference between cross and resurrection,
Jerusalem and Emmaus, death and newness of life.
Despair. Misunderstanding. Change. They can
be arresting agents that prevent us from recognizing Jesus.
But then we come to Luke’s reveal. The story has
built to this moment and, to our surprise, recognition comes in the familiar.
Luke says, “when he was at the table with them, he took the bread, blessed and
broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized
him.”
Much like my daughter, whose eyes widened when her
baby-faced father spoke to her, the eyes of these pilgrims were opened in the
familiarity of grace and gratitude found in the sacramental table. As they
broke bread with this stranger, they recognized why their hearts burned within
as Jesus opened the Scriptures to them.
This is a good word for the church today. In light of our past and
budding future, may we be a people committed to moving through despair and
towards possibilities; to having our understanding of our call and witness
renewed and reformed as we cast our nets wide into our communities and offer
places of belonging to those frequently dismissed or ignored; and to embracing
change as redemptive opportunity to encounter the person of Christ in one
another and strangers who just may gather around this table and break bread
with us.* As we do all this, may we recognize Christ as walking alongside us on
this pilgrim road called faith. This Christ is the One who dares us to
be, as the hymn goes,** drawn by the Spirit’s tether into resurrection
possibilities that just may make the gospel recognizable in even the
most despairing places.
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*I love what theologian Justo Gonzalez writes, “In [the church’s] worship, in this eating together that is communion, the church has the opportunity and the duty to give the world a glimpse of a life between the past of what God has done and the future of what God has promised to do” (The Story Luke Tells Us 109).
**Draw Us in the Spirit's Tether (Hymn 504, Union Seminary 1957)