Here all along

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, 1606-1669. Supper at Emmaus, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.

Sermon for the Third Sunday of Easter (April 23, 2023)

View the scripture readings and the Collect of the Day: The Third Sunday of Easter (Year A)

Preached at St. James’ Episcopal Church in Hyde Park, NY. A video of our whole 10 am service for the day is available here.

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Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." John 20:26-27

Edited Transcript

May only truth be spoken here and only truth be heard. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Please be seated.

On this third Sunday in the season of Easter, we have yet another story of people recognizing the risen Jesus after not initially recognizing him.

You'll remember Mary Magdalene in the garden on Easter Sunday. She sees a gardener. It's not until that man calls her name that her ears and her eyes and her heart are opened, and she can see that this is not just anyone in the garden, but Jesus!

And last Sunday, we heard about the disciples being in the locked room. Jesus appears among them, and Thomas recognizes him by the wounds he has on his body; by the marks where the nails were, by the wound in his side.

So these are stories about people who knew Jesus, recognizing him when then didn't at first. They need some mark—the saying of their name, or a physical mark on a body, to open their eyes so that they can see what's in front of them. And today's story, about the disciples on the road to Emmaus, has this same pattern of recognizing Jesus.

These guys—or maybe this guy and this gal, because we only know one of their names. One is named Cleopas, and the other, who is his companion, could potentially have been a spouse. But anyway, these two are on their way to Emmaus. It's a long trip—seven miles. They spend the whole day talking with this stranger on the road, and they invite him into their house at the end. And it's not until he blesses the bread and breaks it that their eyes are opened and they know it's been Jesus all along.

We have that experience too. In this Easter season, I want you to think about all the times that you show up to do the things God calls you to do as a Christian. You do these things day in, day out; week in, week out. And then suddenly, by the grace of God, you can see that God is really here. Those glimpses can be rare. We can spend the whole long day with Jesus, but there's only one moment where we realize: it's been You all along.

So I want to unpack what it is that these disciples were doing the whole day long! They're doing the things that God has called them to do. And even though they don't know that they're doing them alongside Jesus, I believe that they're doing and modeling for us how we are to spend our day, our lifetime, with Jesus.

So here we go from the beginning. Two disciples are starting off on a long journey out of Jerusalem. A stranger comes up to them. They start talking, and it turns out that he's the only guy who's not read the paper, he's not on Facebook. He doesn't know what everyone else in the city knows: the news about Jesus, about how Jesus was crucified, and how his followers who had hoped in him have been brutally disappointed. And then! This very day that they're on this walk to Emmaus, some women had gone to the tomb and they see that it's empty! And they see angels, who say, "he's not here; he has risen!" And wild rumors have started to spread. But the stranger has to be filled in on all of this news.

And by the way, we don't know exactly what had Cleopas and his partner on the road to go seven miles out of town. But it's possible that they're getting out of there because things were getting dangerous. They were followers of a person who'd just been crucified. So it's possible that they're fleeing to safety.

So, they tell the stranger all of this, and the stranger says well, let's talk about what this really means. And he starts to teach them. He takes them through familiar scriptures: he connects the story they're telling him about Jesus with the big story of God's relationship to the people of Israel, all the way from the time of Abraham until now. They're listening, he's teaching them.

Do you remember, since we had a baptism last Sunday, the first vow that we make in our baptismal covenant? It's from Acts 2:24. "Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?" These are the things that Cleopas and his partner and Jesus are doing together. They're walking along the road, in fellowship with a stranger. They're talking about scripture; they're praying; they're listening to these teachings. They're continuing—in spite of what's happened with the death of Jesus—in the teaching, the fellowship...

And now, as this seven-mile walk comes to an end, they get into town, to the place they plan to spend the night. The man who's been with them in teaching and fellowship all day, he looks like he's planning to keep going, like he's got somewhere else better to be. And they say to him, wait! Don't leave yet. Come on in with us, because it's getting dark.

Don't you wonder what would've happened if they hadn't invited him in?

They extend that fellowship, which they've shared all day, to an even greater hospitality. Come and eat with us. Spend the night with us. Let's keep doing this—let's continue in the teaching, the fellowship.

If they hadn't, maybe they would have just gone on to do whatever they'd planned to do in Emmaus. And perhaps they would have talked about that interesting man they met on the road. But would they ever have known it was Jesus?

But because they've continued the hospitality, they all sit down together. Jesus takes bread. He blesses it—the prayers—and he breaks it—the breaking of the bread. And their eyes are opened.

Now, I don't know if Cleopas and his partner, would've known about the breaking of the bread at the table on the night before Jesus was crucified. But maybe they were there at the feeding of the 5,000 when Jesus broke the bread and distributed it to the great crowds. It's a pattern they recognize: Jesus blessing bread and breaking it. Jesus teaching and sharing in the community of fellowship. It's that pattern of hospitality: Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers? And it's in that moment that their eyes are opened and they recognize him.

He was there all along.

And of course, as soon as they recognize him, they immediately start recasting the story of the day, right? They say, weren't our hearts burning within us the whole time? Didn't we know? Didn't we have a feeling?

If you've ever had a moment where you can say, "God is here," well, you know that as soon as you glimpse God you start tracing the story back. And you can see how God's here not just in this moment, but God has been there all along in the story of your life.

God is here all along: In our practice of coming together, listening to scripture. In what you do daily: your daily prayer, your reading of the Bible. In our hearing of Scripture here in church. In our study together, in our companionship, which is not just coffee hour or the conversations before and after church, but your calling one another to check up on one another. In inviting one another togo out for a cup of coffee, or to come by my house had have dinner. In our breaking of the bread, which is not just our communion at this table, but also our breaking of the bread at coffee hour, our sharing in one another's homes, our work with our community garden and our food pantry, to make sure that what is blessed and broken is given to everybody who is hungry. In our prayers for one another and for the world here in church, in our worship, in the prayers of our hearts.

We promise when we're baptized to stick to these patterns. Now, we're never promised that these patterns are guaranteed to produce a glimpse of God. We can't control it, right? We do what God calls us to do day in and day out, all the long day. And then like these disciples in Emmaus: one day, an act that we've done hundreds or thousands of times before opens our eyes. Our eyes are opened. And we recognize: here too is our God.

And God has been here all along.

In this Easter season, I invite you to remember, what are those things that you do? How do you practice the teaching, the listening? How do you practice the fellowship, spending time caring for one another, listening and being in conversation with one another? How do you practice that fellowship that looks like the hospitality that those disciples extended to the person they didn't know was Jesus? How do you practice the breaking of the bread? And how do you pray?

This is a season of our church life and of our life as a community where we can take stock of how we're doing what those disciples on the road to Emmaus were doing. That's our part. And then, perhaps when we least expect it, our eyes too will be opened. Amen.