Luke 24: 13
\nLiving God, you speak to us in sacred story, through friendship and
\nconversation, in bread broken and wine poured out. Send us your Holy
\nSpirit as the Scriptures are read. May our hearts burn within us as we
\nencounter your truth, through Christ, our Risen Lord. Amen<\/p>\n
At the start of today\u2019s gospel lesson Cleopas and another believer were walking on
\nthe Emmaus Road
\nThey were talking about \u201call these things that had happened\u201d
\nIn the context of this passage, the things they are talking about are the arrest of
\nJesus, his trial and crucifixion
\nWe don\u2019t know why they were going to Emmaus
\nWe do know that they weren\u2019t wandering aimlessly
\nThey had a destination because they come to a house and go in for the evening
\nmeal
\nWhile they are walking along, they are joined by another person
\nThe readers know that it is Jesus who has joined them
\nWe read, \u201cWhile they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and
\nwent with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.\u201d
\nWe aren\u2019t told why the two followers of Jesus didn\u2019t recognize him, only that
\n\u201ctheir eyes were kept from recognizing him\u201d
\nSometimes we go on at length about this failure to recognize Jesus
\nSome sermonizers have faulted the two in the story
\nSome have gone on at great length to draw parallels between the lack of
\nrecognition in the gospel story and the ways that we fail to recognize Jesus today<\/p>\n
The writer of Luke doesn\u2019t do that<\/p>\n
2<\/p>\n
He tells us that Jesus asks about what they are discussing
\nAnd the two stop in their tracks
\nThey say
\n\u201cAre you the only one in Jerusalem who doesn\u2019t know these things?\u201d
\nThen they go on to tell about Jesus
\n\u201cBut we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel\u201d they say
\nBut we had hoped
\nWhat despairing words
\nThese words are filled with anguish as the disciples talk about what had happened
\nto Jesus
\nThey go one to say that some of the women had seen a vision of angels who said
\nhe was alive
\nThey even say that some who were with them went to the tomb to check, but all
\nthey saw was the empty tomb
\nJesus then calls them foolish and goes on to explain all that must happen to the
\nMessiah using the teachings of the scriptures
\nStill the two on the Emmaus Road do not understand who Jesus is
\nThey reach their destination
\nAnd Jesus is invited to join them
\nIn fact they urge him strongly to stay with them as the hour is late
\nJesus, who is still a stranger to the disciples, enters the house with them
\nJesus, who has spent time interpreting the scriptures to them still is not recognized
\nThen they sit at table
\nJesus takes bread, blesses it and breaks it
\nHe blesses and breaks the bread in an act reminiscent of the Last Supper
\nIn that sacramental act the disciples recognize Jesus<\/p>\n
3<\/p>\n
At this point Jesus disappears
\nThey agree that when Jesus was opening the scriptures to them, that their hearts
\nwere burning within them
\nKnowing now that the testimony of the women was true
\nKnowing that they had seen Jesus
\nThey rushed back to Jerusalem, in spite of the lateness of the hour and the distance
\nto be covered
\nThey rush back to tell the elven apostles and their companions
\n\u201cThe Lord has risen indeed!\u201d<\/p>\n
They met Jesus who took time to be with them
\nThey recognized Jesus in an act of fellowship and worship
\nThey ran off to tell
\nThey were proving that \u201cThe resurrection is not a fact to be believed, but an
\nexperience to be shared.\u201d[2] (Alan Brehm)
\nIt takes a village, a community to sustain faith
\nWhen the disciples knew their faith had been affirmed
\nThey rushed off to share that information with the rest of the believers
\nResurrection in theological terms is as much an attitude as it is a happening
\nAre we resurrection people?
\nDo we really believe that Jesus has conquered sin and death?
\nWe expect to hear that at a funeral service
\nWe all say that we believe this
\nBut when it comes to day to day living
\nWhen it comes to meeting the challenges of life
\nHow much hope do we bring to face the day?<\/p>\n
4
\nVictor Frankl, a psychologist who was imprisoned during the Second World War
\nmade reflections on what he observed in a concentration camp
\nThose who survived were those who had hope
\nThose who survived were those who believed in something beyond themselves
\nThose who had faith
\nIf faith could be what got men and women through the tortuous experience of a
\nconcentration camp
\nThen faith will surely be enough to equip us with the challenges of living faithful
\nlives in the 21 st century
\nNote that faith equips us to not be overcome by challenges
\nFaith does not always bring about the results for which we hope
\nAs believers we may feel somewhat like the travelers on the Emmaus Road
\nWe have followed Jesus, but we are not seeing our hopes realized
\nThey said \u201cWe had hoped that he would be the one to restore Israel\u201d
\nAnd Jesus instead walked with them, taught them, helped them to see the risen
\nLord and called them into service
\nOur hopes are often for people to come and worship with us and help us build a
\nbigger congregation
\nJesus doesn\u2019t seem to be helping us with that hope in the way we would choose
\nInstead, we are given the opportunity to share God\u2019s love with the people who are
\nfrail and afraid
\nDouglas John Hall who is a professor emeritus at McGill University has this to say
\nabout the place that the church of Jesus Christ finds itself in our day
\nHe reminds us that the desire to be big and strong comes from our own ambitions
\nnot from God
\nHe reminds us that Jesus used metaphors like salt, light and yeast
\nSmall items that have an impact on the surroundings<\/p>\n
5<\/p>\n
A pinch of salt flavours the food
\nA candle can light the way
\nA small amount of yeast is used for a batch of bread
\nJesus never said build a mega church
\nAt a meeting with Douglas John Hall, there was an insightful comment made about
\nthe way churches seemed to keep building huge buildings over and over
\nWe have left ourselves with huge buildings to be maintained, as if we didn\u2019t learn
\nthe first time that this would be a tough thing to do
\nIt was almost as if we thought that we only needed to raise money to build the
\nthing and that maintenance would be a breeze
\nChurches with the best of intentions thought that building bigger somehow was a
\nway of showing that we had hope for the future
\nToday, as we find ourselves trying to discern what path God is calling us to follow
\nwe need to think carefully about how to best use the assets we have so that we can
\ncontinue to be salt and light
\nWe may be small, but we are still true
\nTo quote Douglas John Hall again, small can be beautiful
\nAnd as we look to see what God is asking of us in our smallness
\nWe are sharers of the resurrection hope that came to Cleopas and friend
\nResurrection hope will keep us going forward
\nResurrection hope will enable us to keep from getting bogged down in despair
\nDespair is the place our resources will take us
\nHope is the place of resurrection truth<\/p>\n
As people we worry about power and we worry about numbers
\nOne of the great servants of the church, Mother Theresa said
\nNever worry about numbers<\/p>\n
6<\/p>\n
Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you
\nThat\u2019s what Jesus did that day on the Emmaus Road
\nHe could have made an appearance in the courtyard of the temple and addressed a
\nhuge crowd
\nInstead, he walked on the road with two confused disciples who needed hours of
\ndiscussion and a sacramental action to understand who Jesus was
\nIf Jesus could walk and teach in this intimate setting how much more can we<\/p>\n
What might it have been like for Cleopas and friend to be walking on the Emmaus
\nRoad?
\nIn some ways we can understand that feeling
\nWe have been mostly taught to be fair, to work hard, to value education and then
\nwe would see the positive results of our work
\nSo we did
\nWe went to school
\nWe worked at occupations whether paid, home-making or volunteer jobs
\nWe tried to be fair and to help with projects that would make the world a better
\nplace
\nBut somehow we are not seeing the results we had hoped to see
\nLike Job we can say
\nWhy do the wicked prosper?
\nWe were raised to believe that hard work would pay off
\nThat the church was an institution that would receive respect and protection from
\nthe community
\nAnd the story has been changing on us
\nWe know that we who are believers are those with good intentions
\nWe love God and serve God<\/p>\n
7<\/p>\n
We are respectable and helpful
\nWe have been led to believe that there would be thanks and respect shown to the
\nchurch and her members for simply being who and what they were
\nWe came to expect that we would be respected and admired
\nAnd we started to forget that our job is to help those who are on the edges of
\nrespectability<\/p>\n
Jesus called people to follow him
\nTo take up their cross
\nTo drink the same cup that Jesus drank and to be baptized with the same baptism as
\nhe was
\nIn other words, to share in his challenges and suffering
\nTo follow the road less travelled.\/
\nThis is one part of the equation.
\nThe other part of the equation is the reality that when we walk with Jesus we are
\ngiven glimpses of God
\nThese glimpses remind us that our first calling is to be God\u2019s people, not to be
\nsuccessful<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s go back to the Emmaus Road
\nThe disciples were walking along and talking about what had happened
\nJesus had died, and it seems their hope had died with him
\nWe had touched last week on Thomas and the confusion and upset he must have
\nbeen feeling after Jesus died
\nIt would have been similar for these two on the Emmaus Rd
\nThey had hoped that Jesus would be the one to redeem Israel
\nAnd now Jesus was gone<\/p>\n
8<\/p>\n
Nothing was going the way they had hoped
\nAnd then Jesus was walking with them
\nAnd then they knew he was alive
\nThey were in the place where they were going to have to take the things that Jesus
\nhad taught, and learn how to apply those teachings to their life story<\/p>\n
This is as true for us as it was for Cleopas
\nWe need to accomplish what Jesus has told us
\nWe are living in the age of the church of Christ
\nWe are applying what has been given to us
\nWe are discovering what God wants us to do with what has been given
\nSince each situation has some things that are unique
\nDoing what God wants is more than just applying a direct example from a
\ngeneration before
\nThis is both hard and exciting
\nIt is hard because many of us were taught that faith is a series of definite truths
\nGod is good and all powerful
\nJesus is our saviour
\nThe Bible is the word of God
\nWe should love one another as Jesus loved us
\nClear and straight-forward<\/p>\n
It can seem that the application was more straight – forward for the early followers
\nof Jesus that it is for us
\nThey lived in a culture that did not support their faith
\nThey didn\u2019t expect that when they talked about Jesus that most in the town square
\nwould share their point of view<\/p>\n
9<\/p>\n
They knew they would stand out
\nBut they came to support one another
\nWe read this about the early believers in the book of Acts
\nThey devoted themselves to the apostles\u2019 teaching and fellowship, to the breaking
\nof bread and the prayers
\nAs we are working on how we can take the gospel to our world
\nWe will need the strength we gain from gathering together
\nWe need the prayers of other believers
\nWe need to gather together for support and friendship
\nWe need to discover the beauty in being a small congregation and take that beauty
\nto our world
\nWe need resurrection hope to be the people God has called us to be<\/p>\n
Prayers of the people
\nGod of all people, we thank you for the light of Christ\u2019s resurrection in which we
\nlive.
\nWe thank you for the times you have brought and bring us into new life.
\nWe pray for those suffering from any kind of illness, and for those paralyzed
\nby grief or sorrow. We hold them in the light of your love.
\nGod of peace, we pray for those living in places of conflict and in deprivation.
\nMay we discern and respond to your call on our time,
\nyour call on our resources, your call on our outlook.
\nGOD OF NEW BEGINNINGS, we give you thanks that you travel with us, that you meet us in
\npeople, in places, and in the scriptures.
\nYou surprise us by moments of unexpected revelation.
\nGrant us the courage and the humility to turn back or away from paths that we
\nknow deep down are not life-giving.
\nIncrease our trust in you, our faith in your word, and our faithfulness in
\nfollowing. We pray for the church and for communities of faith in this and in<\/p>\n
10<\/p>\n
all places, especially those facing a crisis of any kind.
\nWe pray for your wisdom as we work on how to best be a witness to you in the
\ncommunity where we live.
\nHelp us to see the strengths we have and how to use them to your glory
\nHelp us to want to work together and to do so in a way that brings credit to you O
\nGod
\nWe pray that our love for one another may be genuine and deep and extended to
\nall we meet, especially those who do not know of your life and your love. We
\nalso bring before you those we find difficult to love or like. We hold up to the
\nlight of your love all those who feel that their lives are without purpose and
\nmeaning.
\nWe give thanks for those who have helped us on our journeys, for those who have
\nwalked alongside us and shown us your love. We pray for those who have gone
\nbefore us and those with whom we share this part of our journey.
\nWe give thanks that we may pray to you in the confidence that you will receive our prayers, as we pray in Jesus\u2019 name. Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Luke 24: 13 Living God, you speak to us in sacred story, through friendship and conversation, in bread broken and wine poured out. Send us your Holy Spirit as the Scriptures are read. May our hearts burn within us as we encounter your truth, through Christ, our Risen Lord. Amen At the start of today\u2019s … Continue reading “Sermon for Sunday, April 19th 2026”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"sermons_blog_filters_topics":"\t\t\t\t