4.14.24 "Anything to Eat?" Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 Psalm 4; Luke 24.36-49

When it was all over, it was all over!

It was done, finished … they were on their way home … 

There was nothing more to be done … hopes and dreams, gone … just another disappointment … another failed venture … so much for that … “I guess we were mistaken!”

On the Road to Emmaus … two disciples - they talk about it … they wonder what happened … a stranger joins them on the road … he asks them, What are you talking about?”

They stop dead in their tracks, dumbfounded - Are you the only one around here who doesn’t know what happened?

What happened? asks the stranger.

Cleopas pours it out like an avalanche …

The things about Jesus of Nazareth … a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people … our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 

We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. 

And besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. 

Some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they didn’t find his body there, they came back and told us that they had seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 

Several went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they didn’t see him.

The stranger on the road brashly says to them:

“Oh, how foolish you are … how slow of heart … to believe all that the prophets have declared! 

Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” 

Luke then adds the following comment:

Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, Jesus interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

As they near home in Emmaus, the stranger on the road continues ahead, as if to leave them … but they invite him to their home … It’s late! they say … have something to eat with us.

The story goes strange at this point … the guest at their table takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it to them …

The guest becomes the host … the stranger is no more the stranger … 

It is said of those two disciples at the Table … their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.

Their table became his Table, with a capital T.

The living bread of faith, hope, and love; grace, mercy, and peace … the dream put back together again … hope restored … life given … in the blink of an eye, in the breaking of the bread, a broken world repaired.

Stranger still - goes the story: he vanished from their sight.

Talk about Stranger Things …

The two disciples look at one another. “Are we nuts? Have we lost our minds? Did we actually see him?”

Were not our hearts burning within us, while he talked to us on the road, while he opened the scriptures to us?

The two disciples return to Jerusalem, to be with the others … can you imagine what the room was like? … 

Everyone chattering away, everyone saying what they knew or what they didn’t know … questions and rumors; rumors and questions … this and that and everything else.

Suddenly, the stranger on the road appears, and says, Peace be with you.

But no peace, that’s for sure!

They’re scared outta their wits … startled, terrified, it’s a ghost, they think.

Jesus asks, so matter of factly, 

Why are you frightened, 

and why do doubts arise in your hearts. 

Look at my hands … look at my feet; 

see, it is I myself. 

Touch me and see; 

a ghost does not have flesh and bones 

as you see that I have.

Pandemonium, panic, disbelief, wonderment, hope, doubt … what are we seeing? … can this be true? … no, it isn’t …yes it is … in the midst of the hubbub, Jesus asks:

Have you anything here to eat?

The most sublime moment in the story, the mystery, the glory, the wonder of the resurrection from the dead … the stranger on the road … he breaks the bread … their eyes open … he vanishes … now in Jerusalem, the city where it all fell apart, is now the city where it all comes together … 

Have you anything to eat? … from the sublime to the mundane, from the mysterious to a piece of broiled fish.

The equivalent of a burger, a peanut butter sandwich, a slice of cold pizza … leftovers from yesterday’s dinner … 

He’s hungry, and who can blame him? … three days in death, three days in hell, as the creed puts it - three days to undo the damages of sin and repair the breech … to touch the spiritual DNA of humanity and do some gene therapy. … and he’s hungry.

Jesus eats in their presence … to make it clear, once and for all, that it’s the resurrection of the Body … his body, his flesh, bone and blood … and one day, our body … 

Anything here to eat?

Yes, we have something for you, dear LORD.

We have loving hearts and noble souls.

We have our minds, our strength, our passions, to serve you … 

we have hands to build the kingdom of God … feet to walk to the ends of the earth …

And stuff we no longer want … hurt, fear, bitterness, jealousy, regrets, sadness … but of all that we don’t want in our lives, let us never lose sight of all the good in our lives, all the greatness, all the wonder, all the glory each of us possesses.

Dear Friends in Christ, what have we to give to the LORD?

Our lives and our love.

Our time, treasure, and talent.

Who we are, what we are, what we hope to be.

We have so much to give.

We have an abundance.

We have leftovers, and then some.

[pause: close your eyes, take a deep breath … what have you to give to the LORD of heaven and earth? … put it in your hand, envision what what you’re holding, in your mind’s eye, can you see the hand of Christ before you? Place what’s in your hand into the hand of Christ …]

Take my life, and let it be, consecrated LORD, to thee.

Take my moments and my days;

let them flow in endless praise,

Take my hands and let them move

at the impulse of thy love.

Take my feet and let them be

swift and beautiful for thee,

 

Take my voice and let me sing

always, only, for my King.

Take my lips and let them be

filled with messages from thee,

 

Glory be to God.

Hallelujah and Amen!

April 22, 2012 - "Jesus and Scripture"

Luke 24.13-35

We often talk about growing.

Growing up into Christ.

Like a tree in the sunshine.

A little here.

A little there.

A bud, a leaf, a branch.

A branch reaching out … to catch ever more sunlight.

To grow a little bit more.

This year.

Next year.

Because if a tree isn’t growing, then what?

If a tree isn’t growing, it’s dying.

If a tree isn’t growing, maybe it’s dead already.

It is the nature of life to keep on growing.

Trees keep on growing.

And for us, as a species, we grow, too.

Wiser, we hope.

Older, for sure.

Maybe a little larger than what we want.

In some of the wrong places.

Ears keep growing … 

Maybe that’s an important lesson.

Listening becomes important as time moves on.

We all grow, in some way or another.

Until we take our last breath.

And, then, here, at least, we grow no more.

Dust to dust.

Earth to earth.

Ashes to ashes.

But until that moment, we grow!

Maybe we grow in the wrong direction.

Like an ingrown toenail.

Or an ingrown hair.

Maybe we grow more stubborn.

Bitter.

Angry.

Lonely.

Frustrated.

I guess we can grow in all the wrong ways.

But we can grow in the best ways, too.

We can grow in our capacities to love and forgive.

To put up with life as it comes our way.

To make the best of it.

To keep on loving.

To hold on to large ideas and generous thoughts.

Psalm 37 says it well:

The righteous are generous and giving.

Plants grow when they’re well-tended.

Good soil … adequate water … some weed-pulling.

It takes time to grow.

Weeds grow up quickly.

Beautiful trees take their time.

So does a tomato plant.

Or a child on her way to adulthood.

It takes time to become a Christian.

We are Christians, for sure, in the love of God.

But we’re always working it out, aren’t we?

Paul the Apostle tells us to work out our salvation, with fear and trembling …

Salvation is ours, because of Christ.

What he gives to us, he truly gives.

Yet we have to work some things out.

Lots of things actually.

It’s never a done deal for us.

There’s always another step to be taken.

A new thought to be pondered.

A new demand … a new moment … a new day.

What we knew yesterday doesn’t quite fit the bill today.

We may have forgiven yesterday, but we have to forgive again today.

What we trusted to be true last year may no longer hold up.

Life is always a challenge.

Life is always a gift.

Life requires that we keep on keepin’ on.

Like a tree in the sunshine.

Like that tomato plant in the backyard.

Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus.

They were disciples!

But now it seemed to them as if the road ahead came to an end the day Jesus died.

Rumors of his empty tomb, that’s one thing.

But who knows?

The road came to an end the day Jesus died.

So they take the road home.

And on the way, they’re met by a stranger who strolls along with them, listening to their conversation, and then asks them, What’s going on?

They’re surprised he doesn’t know.

So they tell him.

And what they tell him tells him they don’t have a clue.

They need to grow a little bit more.

Some weeds need to be pulled.

Some hard soil needs to be broken up.

Jesus says, You’re foolish … and you shouldn’t be … you should be smarter than this.

I guess that’s a compliment.

We can be smarter than this.

But who doesn’t need a good teacher?

To explains a few things, now and then.

Jesus does for them what he always does.

Jesus turns to Scripture.

The disciples know it well.

Jesus knows it well.

But knowing the words is one thing.

Knowing what they could mean is another.

Jesus reminds them that suffering is a part of God’s program.

God chooses the hard road, not the easy one.

God gives, and doesn’t take.

And through the hard road, and all the giving, there is glory.

That’s what catches their attention.

It’s not about power and conquest.

It’s not about sword and bow.

It’s not about might and dominance.

It’s not about self-defense or getting the best of others.

It’s a different way of looking at things.

Jesus reminds them: if you look carefully at Moses and go through all the Prophets, you’ll see it … not what you expected … but you will see it.

But enough of words.

Enough teaching.

Night is falling … they reach Emmaus.

Jesus moves away from them, to be on his way.

But they ask him to stay the night.

A little piece of Middle Eastern social behavior.

One never intrudes … or imposes … or expects hospitality.

And one never allows a stranger to go on at night alone.

Jesus does his part.

The disciples do theirs.

And then at the table, something odd.

Jesus becomes the host.

He takes the bread, blesses it, and gives it to them.

And suddenly, they can see.

Their eyes are opened.

They know him.

And then he’s gone.

That’s all they needed.

Just a little nudge.

Some teaching.

Some bread.

They look at one another.

Weren’t our hearts on fire when he talked with us along the road? … were not our hearts burning when he explained the scriptures for us?

They got up quickly.

They hit the road, again.

This time, back to Jerusalem.

Because the story didn’t end the day Jesus died.

The road ahead goes on.

For those disciples.

And for you and me, too.

To God be the glory.

Amen and Amen!