Pastor Detweiler’s sermon from April 6, 2008

Broken bread, burning hearts

Luke 24:13-35

A young man who only been a Christian a few years was speaking: “So many bad things have been happening lately.” He went on to talk about the disappointments and tragedies plaguing his life:

- Wondering, since he was in this country on a student visa, if he would be able to stay when he finished school or he would have to go back to his native Iran where he could be imprisoned for being a Christian.

- Frustration that his parents had not been able to emigrate from their homeland.

- And now, the event that brought it together: the death of his closest friend in a high-speed auto accident.

“It shouldn’t be this way once you are a Christian, should it?” he said. (pause)

But it is. Being joined to the death and resurrection of Jesus does not remove life’s problems, but helps us to face them with hope and God’s help.

Just look at the two disciples in today’s gospel: Here they are, on the day of resurrection, walking away from Jerusalem and hope, dejectedly.

“While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them,⁶but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.⁷And he said to them, ‘What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?’ They stood still, looking sad.¹Then 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?’”

They stood still, looking sad, it says. We would expect them to be happy, hopeful, joyful, but instead they are let down, pathetic almost, dejected.

When they describe their previous hope they even do that in terms of disappointment. It was about “Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰and 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.²Moreover, 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.’”

That should have been enough for them to believe, but it wasn’t. They needed to hear the words of Scripture interpreted and to encounter the risen Lord for themselves in order to believe.

So, we are told, Jesus explained to them that it was “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.”

Our worship follows the pattern of this gospel. We gather having been away from the word of God, looking to be restored and refreshed by the Risen One, but not always sure it will happen, and sometimes feeling lost and dejected.

Then we have our minds opened as the Scriptures are read and interpreted. We are to connect our lives to the stories and promise contained in the readings from the Bible, and find meaning in that connection between our lives now and Biblical events. Mostly that is not quite enough for us to recognize the Lord’s presence as it was not quite enough for these two disciples in today’s gospel.

When the disciples and Jesus got to Emmaus, they urged him to stay with them and share the evening meal. They uttered the words we use to begin the service of Evening Prayer: “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.”

So he went in with them and “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.”

Notice it is only when he leads them in doing what he told his disciples to do to remember him that they recognize him. Their minds were opened to understand, but it is only in the holy meal – the breaking of bread in the communion – that they recognized him. And once they recognized him, he was gone. All they got was a glimpse of him, but combined with Scripture, that was enough.

“Were not our hearts burning within us^* while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” It was not heartburn from the food that they were describing, but an emotional and spiritual response to the broken bread, to his promise to be with them whenever they gathered around the bread and cup.

Now they believed that he was risen, and they got up and raced back to Jerusalem to tell the others “how he had been made known to them in the breaking of bread.”

The sociologist of religion, Nancy Ammerman, published a study of congregations that had turned away from decline and death toward new life. There was only one thing that all of the congregations had in common: they ate together frequently, in communion and in fellowship meals. It is one of the strengths of this congregation that there are many opportunities throughout the year for us to eat and drink together, both at the Lord’s Table and in less formal settings. The most prominent example is our Wednesday evening meals in Lent, but there are also other opportunities throughout the year.

In table fellowship the Lord is revealed in the community of those who gather in his name in a way that is difficult to explain. He takes on flesh and blood, among individuals in the community of faith, and especially in the church’s gathering and acting in his name. When we eat and drink in his name we are not just eating together, but we are embodying the Lord’s presence among us.

He takes on flesh and blood in us, and in the bread and wine of communion. It was his flesh and blood presence that overcame the pathos, uncertainty and hopelessness of the two disciples who accompanied him to Emmaus. It is his flesh and blood in his word and in communion that overcomes our pathos and hopelessness.

We may not always feel or sense his presence, but we can trust his promise that he is with us when we do what he told us to do to remember him. Those whose minds have been opened by listening to his word, who are baptized into his death and resurrection can trust his word that as we do what he commands to remember him, he is present among us to strengthen and sustain us.

Life’s problems do not go away, but we know that we are not alone in facing them. The risen Lord is with us. We are part of a community of faith in Jesus, the one who died and is risen, and who walks along the road with us too. He is with us as we gather, grow and give in his name.