Sermon - Easter 3 - April 22, 2012

Luke 24:36b-48

  Moving Beyond Knowing the Story to Telling the Story

“While they were still talking about this….” That is how today’s Gospel lesson begins. “While they were still talking about this….” What were they talking about – do you know? Can anyone guess?

It is fair to take into consideration the information contained in the reading. Jesus shows them his wounds, they think he might be a ghost, so we know that all this is taking place after the Resurrection. Course, we could also infer that by simply noting the chapter - #25. We are getting close to the end of Luke’s account. But still there is this reference to the disciples talking about something – what is it? And does it matter, whatever it is they were talking about, to the story which is our Gospel lesson?

I have been stalling for time. Any of you with a bible had time to look up Luke 25 and find out what it was that “they were talking about”? and “Yes,” I do think it matters to the events which unfold in this encounter between the resurrected Jesus and the disciples. They were talking about the prior visits of the resurrected Jesus. Not merely accounts of Jesus having been seen, but about their having seen Jesus.

Two of the disciples had left Jerusalem on the day that Jesus had emerged from the tomb. As they were walking on the road to Emmaus, Jesus comes and joins them. Only, they don’t recognize him. They, once again, were talking about all that had happened that morning. Pretending not to know about the events of which they spoke, Jesus got them to tell him what had happened. As they came to the end of their story, it is obvious that they can retell the events, but that they are incapable of explaining what all this means. As they continue to walk, Jesus (still unrecognized by them) begins to explain everything to them.

In practically the same language used in today’s reading, Jesus opens their minds to understand the scriptures. He helps them understand, but they still don’t recognize him. It is only when they have convinced him to spend the night with them and they sit down to dinner, and Jesus assumes the role of host, and breaks the bread that the see him for who he is. These two disciples get up and return to Jerusalem. They find the other disciples. The other disciples are eagerly discussing a visit to Peter, from Jesus. These two Emmaus travelers share their story.

This is what they are talking about, when Jesus himself stood among them. And yet, still, they seem not to be prepared to see him for who he is. Luke reports, they were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. They were frightened and doubts arose in their hearts. The women had reported the empty grave. They told of having seen the two men in dazzling clothes, who told them that Jesus has risen. Jesus came and walked alongside the two disciples on the way to Emmaus. Jesus seems to have appeared to Simon Peter, though Luke has no written record of that encounter. Even still, these disciples, Jesus’ closest followers, are frightened and unsure. They are unprepared to see him for who he is.

At this point, the tone can shift in one of two very differing directions. We can either berate them for their unbelief, or we can acknowledge how difficult it is for any to believe. There is some advantage to taking a few steps down both paths.

It is difficult to believe. God is God, and God can do anything that God chooses to do. But raising someone from the dead? That is a bit much, isn’t it? Even without our modern knowledge of biology and cellular structure it is a lot to accept. How does tissue which has died and begun to decay become re-animated? And it is a resurrected Jesus who returns, not a “ghost.” This story in Luke is insistent that Jesus is not only able to allow persons to touch him and his wounds, he is capable of eating, perhaps still experiencing hunger.

Difficult to believe. Certainly tough to explain. No wonder the disciples (ancient and modern) are inclined to seclude themselves inside the walls of their meeting space rather than venture out into the world, to serve as witnesses of these things.

If we are going to berate those ancient disciples for their unbelief, we need to be prepared to accept the criticism ourselves. Do not we, like them, all too often find ourselves paralyzed by the doubts which arise from within us? It is tough, for any of us, to comprehend what has happened. It is no easy task to digest the information and easily report to others what it is that we have seen and experienced.

But this is precisely where the story ends. It concludes with Jesus reminding his disciples that it is their task (our task) to be the witnesses of these things. If the story is going to be told, it has to be told by us.

While they were still talking about (all that had taken place), Jesus himself came and stood among them.

Something more was needed for these disciples to move from talking among themselves and to begin to talk to others. They had learned the stories and they had repeated them among themselves, now it was time for them to begin to tell others.

You have been in worship enough - you know the story. There has been a sufficient amount of time for you to collect the data. With this great storehouse of knowledge it is now incumbent upon you to tell others. To share not only how magnificently we worshipped on Easter morning but to give witness to whom it was that we gathered to worship.

It is a frightening jump, to move from recipient of the news to one who proclaims the news. But until one tells the story for themselves, it isn’t really their story, it remains someone else’s. Once it has become our story, the fright and the doubts are driven out from within.

Amen.