Easter in Us

April 23, 2023 3 Easter, Year A The Rev. Mark Pendleton Christ Church, Exeter Luke 24:13-35 Now on that same day two of Jesus' disciples were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, "What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?" They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?" He asked them, "What things?" They replied, "The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him." Then he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are, and 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?" Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, "Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over." So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?" That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, "The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!" Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. Preachers are keen to remind worshippers - even if there might be fewer us than two Sundays ago, that Easter is a season of 50 days. Lent is well marked off in our spiritual practices. It begins in much of the Christian world with a blow out party on Mardi Gras or Carnival, and then countdown begins. So, in a way, we can take that same energy and focus of the preparation and bring it into the days of what I like to call "basking in the light of Easter." I heard of a Lutheran pastor, Andy Willis, who preached this ... to his largely immigrant congregation in Geneva, Switzerland: "Sneaking life into a tomb - that's what is Easter is all about! Easter is God whispering to us: 'Nothing can keep my love in a grave." We move from Jesus of Nazareth to the Christ of faith. And we to hear the story of Road to Emmaus every year. For so many, the story is treasured because, to me, it seems so believable. Two people walking and talking. Processing what had happened. And then someone comes along and ask them what they are talking to. They don't recognize right away who is with them, it take some time, but when their eyes are opened, there is no way of going back. There is a lot of geography to navigate reading the gospels. The Sermon on the Mount. Harsh wilderness. Fishing on the Sea of Galilee. And a lot of roads. Luke takes 10 chapters for Jesus to travel to Jerusalem and along the way there is a lot of action around roads. A prodigal son finds his way home. A Samaritan comes to the rescue alongside a road. The Apostle Paul will have his own experience with the Risen Christ on a road to Damascus - turning the phrase 'road to Damascus experience' apply to anyone who has had a dramatic turn in their lives. Some of the best conversations I've ever had have been on walks. I pray most when I walk. My wife Leslie and I began walking our dog together when our children were young. I was early in my church career when night meetings were numerous and long and we agreed to steal some time away each morning to walk and talk. I can believe that the risen Jesus would have found a way to meet these two disciples in the light of that day. There are reportedly 3 different places in the Holy Land that claim to be the original Emmaus of this our story. The late Harvard Divinity School preacher Peter Gomes reminds us that for the disciples "their Easter Day was less impressive..." "much duller than ours." There were no trumpet on their Easter Day, there were no sermons trying to explain it. There was no cultural support, no sort of world prepared to accept for a day the truth of it." "All they had to show for their Easter were those strange conversations with the Risen Lord whom they never seemed to recognize." These two disciples may not have the quickest to understand who it was who joined them, but they did something important. As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, "Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over." They invited this stranger to stay with them -- to not continue walking. And Jesus then did what he had done just a few nights before with others in the Upper Room. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. Their story would be this: "The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!" Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. When I prepare parents to baptize their children and adults to be baptized, I like to point to the location of the font in our church. It is placed right at the center aisle as we enter. Our font actually has wheels on it, so it can be moved. And when I arrived here in Exeter it used to be wheeled up front and placed right in front of the altar for folks to get a better view. I used my rector powers and said: let's keep it right there. So people can pass it when they enter. Some may touch the water as a reminder their baptisms. The point we can make is that as Christians we are made through baptism, and then as we live our lives we are nourished and feel through the sacramental food of the Eucharist at the altar. We believe that Cleopas and his friend that day walking to Emmaus, that God becomes known to us through his Son in the breaking of the bread. It becomes our travel story. The late Jesuit poet Gerald Manley Hopkins wrote a poem to honor the memory of five nuns who drowned in a tragic accident at sea on the morning of December 7, 1875 as their ship went down off the coast of England on its way to America. His poem is called "The Wreck of the Deutschland" and it quite long, but I will quote the line it is most known for. When the poet uses the word EASTER as a verb. Speaking of the comfort and love that only God in Christ can bring to something in their moment of panic, fear and longing. He wrote: Let him easter in us, be a dayspring to the dimness of us, be a crimson-crested east. Easter becomes a verb - an action and a state of being. Easter can be "in us". So this is when we all get to write our own Easter sermons. Now what: the tomb is empty. The followers of Jesus are scattering and adjusting to the newness of the message. What did that Lutheran preach say again to his congregation? "Easter is God whispering to us: Nothing can keep my love in a grave." For 50 days that our call and our hopes. As the joyous Easter crowds fade, as Spring comes and the summer months will call us. There is always much in our world and daily lives that will test our belief that God can truly make new out of something old and can raise up lives that were cast down. The drumbeat of news of violence and heartache will probably not cease on this side of Heaven. And the worries that we have for our own loved one and friends - those prayers and thoughts we have just as head hits the pillow and night and as we wake up in the morning - will not go away. So we return to what we know. The stories handed down to us. The Spirit that lives inside of us. Our prayer today: God, Easter in us. 2