SERMON 3 rd Sunday of Easter May 8, 2011 Acts 2:14a, 36-41 Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19 1 Peter 1:17-23 Luke 24:13-35 Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus, who is the Christ. Amen. Recently, there was a story in the Christian Science Monitor. It was about a young woman in New York who had been dating a young man for some time. Their relationship was getting to be pretty serious. One day, the man called the woman to see if she could take the day off of work. He told her that he had something very special in mind. He would pick her up in his classic car a beautiful antique coupe that had been impeccably restored. Then they would drive out into the country for a quiet picnic. It was a perfect day, and they had an amazing time together. It was totally romantic. As they were returning from their day in the country, the man seemed preoccupied. As they headed back to the city, the car was filled with silence. Finally the young man broke his silence. He spoke nervously about the great and significant event that was about to occur. Central Park he said, would be the appropriate place for it to happen. They drove through the park on that beautiful spring day. The young woman s expectations soared. Finally the young man announced that the great moment was at hand. He slowed the car down, and headed for a cluster of shade trees.
This is it, he said, the time has arrived. He was sure that she would feel the same excitement as he did. As the car coasted to a stop he told her to lean forward and look through the steering wheel. At that moment the car s odometer made the slow turn to 100,000 miles. Caught up in the rapture of the moment he said; Look dear, everything is back to zero That was probably NOT what the young woman was expecting. However, some things in life do not happen the way we expect them to. I can say that during my life, I have come to expect the unexpected. How about you? Is your life s journey going as expected? Is the job you have now, the work that you expected to be doing at this stage in your life? If you are married, has your marriage turned out to be all that you had expected? If you have children, have they turned out the way you thought they would? Have you experienced any unexpected health concerns, or lost someone close to you unexpectedly? Expectations have an awesome influence on us. They can keep us going when times are tough. But they can also bring disappointment when those expectations don t come to pass. The first Easter was a clash of expectations. What had happened on that dreadful Friday before was beyond expectations. The disciples had expected Jesus to be their King. They had expected him to gather his followers, march into Jerusalem, and defeat the Romans once and for all. They had expected him to deliver them from their oppression and reclaim what they believed was given to them by God. But instead, Jesus is crucified. This is not what they expected to happen. Perhaps if they would have known, they would have done something different.
Perhaps if they would have known that there would be no tomorrow, they would have stayed closer to Jesus and not abandoned him when he needed them the most. So here it is, three days later, and two men are walking along the road from Jerusalem to a village called Emmaus. They were talking about the things that had happened when all of a sudden a man joined them. He said, What are you discussing with each other while you walk along? Well, this was a silly question. Had this guy been living under a rock or something? It s like it was three days after September 11 th, 2001, and you were talking with a friend in lower Manhattan, and someone comes up to you and says, What s all the talk about? This is how dumb the question must have seemed to these two men. Of course they were talking about Jesus who was crucified. That was the talk of the town. And because these two men were followers of Jesus, they were feeling particularly devastated. They had left the confused band of disciples with the events of the gruesome crucifixion of Jesus fresh in their memories. Perhaps we can sympathize with their bewilderment. Again, we all know what it feels like when our expectations are dashed. For those who had been following Jesus, they now had no leader. They were falling apart. Two of them were already on their way back home to Emmaus. The reports that Christ s tomb was empty did nothing to alter their thinking; it only confused them. Their entire world had come crashing down on them. Their words summed it up; we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. We had hoped. A few weeks ago, we remembered the 43 rd anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
I was only 9 years old when he died, so I don t remember a whole lot about him. However, since that time, I have read from his speeches and studied his ministry. King spoke words of hope, especially to the African American community. He spoke of bringing about change through non-violent means. He spoke of equal justice for all people no matter what the color of their skin. And when he was killed, a lot of hope died with him. You see, human hope is a fragile thing. Perhaps hope could be best represented by a light bulb. Hope is bright and promising full of potential. But it is also fragile. When something unexpected happens, hopes can be shattered. And once they are lost, they are difficult to revive. For hopelessness zaps our strength. It drains the very life that runs through our veins. Think about it, these two men on their way to Emmaus had erected a wall of hopelessness around them. They were trapped in their misery. We had hoped they said. In other words; We don t expect it now but once we did. We had it, this thing called hope, but now it s gone. I wonder if this is something that we can identify with? Has there ever been a time when your hope has been eliminated? Has there been a time when you have entered the dark night of the soul? You see, it is at these times when our Lord steps in because our Lord specializes in hopeless situations. For that s what the resurrection is all about! However, many people believe that God is most present in our lives when things are going good. We hear it all the time. If you re prospering financially, or experiencing good health, it is God who is blessing you due to your strong faith. In other words, God is coming alongside of you in your health and wealth. If you are healthy, wealthy, intelligent, and good-looking to boot, then God has smiled upon you.
You must be doing something right. This is called Theology of Glory. It is rampant in our country. But tell that to the mother with her child living on a garbage dump in El Salvador. Has God abandoned her? Is her faith that weak? Tell that to the HIV/AIDS babies in Somalia. Tell that to the gay teenager who is bullied every day in school simply because of who he is. Where is God there? You see, I believe that God comes closest to us in the darkest times of our lives. It is then when God comes alongside us and walks with us, as he did with the two men on the road to Emmaus. For they were certainly experiencing the darkest time of their lives. Before I close today, I would like to talk briefly about the story that has dominated our news this past week. Almost 10 years ago, our country was experiencing one of the darkest times in our history. The day was September 11 th, 2001, and all of us here know what happened. Over 3000 people died that day, most of them American citizens. And for them and their loved ones, we continue to grieve. This past week, our president broke into local programming to announce that al-qaida leader, Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the attacks on September 11 th, had been shot dead in Pakistan. Immediately following the announcement, jubilant crowds gathered outside the White House, at Ground Zero, and other places around the country to cheer the demise of the world s most wanted terrorist. People were breaking out the cigars, popping bottles of champagne, and breaking into chest-thumping chants of USA! USA!
I couldn t help but think about what Jesus would be saying. Would he be saying; Way to go America, you showed him, I m glad you killed that you-know-what. To be sure, there is never, ever an example anywhere in Scripture where Jesus celebrated death. Let s reflect a bit. Ten years of wars have cost the lives of thousands of American and NATO troops not to mention the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi and Afghani citizens many, if not most of them civilians. On this Mother s Day, think of the mothers who have lost sons and daughters. Mothers who have held their dying children in their arms after a drone attack; and mother s awaiting a flag covered coffin to be unloaded off a military transport plane. Think of the thousands more who have been critically wounded and will live with both emotional and physical scars for the rest of their lives. Think of the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people who have been displaced forced to leave their homes. Think of the money spent to fund the wars over a trillion dollars and counting. For God s sake, when will people learn that there are no winners in war only those who lose less, if that is possible. When will people realize that violence only begets more violence. To be honest, when I heard the news, I did not feel a sense of joy. I did not feel more patriotic. I did not want to go and celebrate. I felt saddened that God s creation seems hell bent on destroying one another. And there is truly no hope that can be found in that. Think about the two disciples that were on their way to Emmaus that Sunday after Jesus had been crucified. What if instead of Jesus coming to them, they had heard the news that one of the other disciples had somehow gotten close to Pontius Pilate and killed him. Would that have given those disciples real hope? I think not.
For what gives us hope is life, not death. Deep inside my heart, I cannot believe that Jesus is celebrating with us today. Rather, Jesus is grieving that the killing continues, and probably will continue. For revenge may give satisfaction for a day, but mercy, love, and forgiveness will ultimately give us the peace that brings true life. But again, there is hope. For those who follow Jesus there is a different way to live in the world. It is not the easy path. The easy road tells us an eye for an eye. The difficult road tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. But to be part of God s Kingdom, this is the path we must take. This is the journey of Jesus which leads first to the cross, but ultimately to the resurrection. This is the path to life. But we had hoped the two men said on the way to Emmaus. Today, we too continue to hope. And our hope lies in the fact that God comes to us in unexpected ways. Ways not of this world. But rather in ways that will lead us to experience the true love and grace of the God who created EVERY ONE of us in God s own image. That means our friends and enemies alike. And because we were created in God s image, we have the power to love to reject violence and death. Therefore, let us together, be the people God has called us to be. Amen. May the peace that passes all understanding be with you now and for life everlasting. Amen.
How many of you know what a mystery is? Something we can t figure out Something that s confusing to us Something that needs to be explained to us When I came to church this morning, the door was locked and I needed something to unlock it so I could get in. What are these things called? The other day I was going to have a can of soup for lunch. I got the can off of the shelf, but I couldn t get at the soup. What did I need to get the can open? Or how about this Just about every day at my home and at my office I get letters in the mail. In order to see what s inside the envelopes I use something. What do you suppose it is? In our Bible story today, there were two men on the road walking. They had been followers of Jesus. It had only been 3 days since Jesus had died on the cross. They had heard reports that Jesus was alive again, but they didn t understand. As they were walking another man came and walked alongside them. They didn t know who he was. It was a mystery. Who do you think it was? Then Jesus began to talk to them about God s word, so they invited him over for dinner. And it says that he broke bread with them. Then he disappeared. Finally, they understood the mystery. Jesus was the key to unlocking the mystery. They were no longer afraid or confused. When they heard God s word and broke bread together, they knew that Jesus loves them and is always with them. Let us pray Lord God, we trust that you love us and are always with us. Help us to know that love and share that love with others. Amen.