Larry Lenow
4-08
FUMC
Easter 3A
“Table Talk”
Text: Luke 24:13-35
This morning we focus our attention of the disciples meeting Jesus on the Road to Emmaus. There are three things that I hope you will take from today’s worship.
Jesus was with these disciples even though they did not know it. It’s Easter Sunday, the mysterious, dramatic episode involving the empty tomb has just taken place. Two peripheral followers – I don’t mean to say that they are not important, it’s just that they are not among the twelve disciples who have lived with Jesus – two peripheral followers have left Jerusalem and are heading back to their village of Emmaus. They encounter a stranger, strike up a conversation along the road. The stranger is the Risen Christ, but they do not recognize him. I can’t explain to you how that is, but what I can say is this. Their experience is just like our own experience. Is there anyone here who at one point of another in life has not had a moment when you wondered if God was really with you? Or have you ever had the experience or having God work on you or through you and guide your path, but you could not see it, you could understand it, you could not even recognize it until later? It only becomes clear in hindsight? Christ walks with us just as Christ walked with them, though they did not recognize it.
While on the road, Jesus teaches them, interpreting for them from Moses going on through all the prophets what the scriptures mean and how it relates to the coming and the sacrifice of the Messiah. Have you ever noticed how the first part of our liturgy speaks of the faithfulness of God through all generations? The preamble changes with the season, but even in the changes it is always similar, it speaks of the ways from Creation, through the calling and covenant with the people, through deliverance and teaching through the prophets, it speaks of the ways God has come to us, leading always leading to the Christ. That’s no accident. And Nancy and Patti Munnikeysen so beautifully showed us on Maundy Thursday the last supper was a celebration of the Passover Seder, the Passover meal. Jesus reinterprets it and in so doing connects us, grafts us onto the faith of Israel. On the Road to Emmaus he teaches, they learn, they come to understand. But even as they understand they are still not aware of the overriding and overwhelming truth is right there with them.
[First part of the liturgy of the Great Thanksgiving, p. 13 Book of Hymns]
Jesus is with these disciples even though they do not know it. It is not until the end of the day, when they invite Jesus into their homes – that by the way, is a wholly different sermon – when they invite him in that things change. He sits down at the table with them, and listen to verse 30, “When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.” (Luke 24:30) Luke is telling a story, describing an event, yes. But my friends, the gospel-writer uses words and describes it in such a way that we cannot miss the point or fail to make the connection. He is talking about communion. When he blesses and breaks the bread giving it to them, their eyes are opened and they recognize that Jesus is present in the breaking of the bread. Luke wants us to know how terribly important this holy meal is.
Now, not everyone get it. Occasionally parents will come to me concerned that their children should not commune because they do not understand. Relax. The disciples going to Emmaus didn’t understand either. But the Holy Spirit will work in them. Sometimes too in the in the eyes of people I get the impression that this just, you know, something we do, a ritual, a routine. It amazes me really, the lengths people will go to in search of God, in search of the transcendent, in search of meaning. From the Himalayas to the rain forests, from crystals to Kabala, or the occult, it’s as if we think that to be holy or miraculous or to have meaning it has to be difference, distant and exotic. We fail to appreciate the holy mystery right here. We fail to recognize the God who has come to us. Christ has given us this gift. Christ is right here, right now present with us but too often we do not receive him, recognize or know him. Christ was made known to them in the breaking of the bread. Christ is made known to us in the breaking of the bread.
[Second part of the Great Thanksgiving, p. 13 Book of hymns]
My friends the word sacrament literally means holy moment. Have you ever wondered why we celebrate the Lord’s Supper every Christmas Eve and Easter Sunday and Pentecost? Or why every Disciple Bible Study course ends with communion; or why on Walk to Emmaus retreats it is celebrated every day? Why bother taking the sacraments to the homebound? It is because it is a holy moment. It is no small thing to hold in your hands the body and blood of your savior, there is no holier thing on this side of death.
Sometimes I am asked what does it mean to be a United Methodist, what is distinctive about our tradition? There are a number of ways to answer that, Wesley’s combination of personal holiness and social justice for instance, but one of the most important answers is this: We are a sacramental church with an evangelical spirit. What I think that means is this, we appreciate the mysteries of the gifts God has given us without getting hung up in all the details. You see, it doesn’t matter whether you call it the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion or the Eucharist, meaning thanksgiving. It really doesn’t matter which liturgy we use. It doesn’t matter whether you use a chalice or little cups, a common loaf or wafers. It matters not whether you stand or kneel or whether the server has used anti-bacterial soap. What matters, what matters is the real presence of the Risen Christ in the Body of Christ gathered together, in the offering of the gifts of bread and wine, in the retelling of the story of his sacrifice for us and allowing us to be formed and molded by that story.
My brothers and sisters hear the good news. This story, this account, this encounter with the Risen Christ is not just about the first century. It’s about this service, this table, this holy meal. You and I are right in the middle of this story. He was made known to them in the breaking of the bread. Christ is here, right here, right now. Offered for you, I invite to offer yourself to Christ.
[Part 3 of the Great Thanksgiving, p. 13 Book of hymns]