6 April 2008 St. Athanasius Lutheran Church
Easter 3
Vienna, VA
“On the Road to Life”
Text: Luke 24:13-35
(Acts 2:14a, 36-41; 1 Peter 1:17-25)
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God
our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Christ is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!]
You’ve all been on the road to Emmaus,
like those two disciples on that first Easter night. Maybe you are on that road now. It is the road of disappointment and dashed
hopes; the road of fear and uncertainty; when your mind is filled with more
questions than there are answers. It is
a hard place to be.
We get on that road with our everyday
lives. For since we are little we
have plans and hopes and dreams, don’t we?
We are excited about life. What
I’m going to be when I grow up. A house,
a spouse, and children, and happily ever after.
The car I’m going to drive, the career I’m going to have, the difference
I’m going to make in the world. . .
. And then we find ourselves on the
road to Emmaus. Things didn’t work
out as planned. It wasn’t as easy as we
thought. People we thought would help us
instead worked against us. There is
death and sadness. And so instead of
skipping along, we are shuffling down the road, heavy laden, and wondering
about life.
We get on that road also with our spiritual
lives. As new Christians we are
excited about the faith. We want to tell
others about our Saviour. We look
forward to learning about the Word and growing and making a difference. A congregation is started with great hopes
and dreams. . . . And then we find ourselves on the road to
Emmaus. Things didn’t work out as we
thought they would. We find out that
faith is hard and that the Church is not full of wonderful people, but sinners
like us! One day our faith seems to be
growing and the next we are filled with doubts and fears. There is the death and sadness of folks who
leave the Church. And so instead of
skipping along, we are shuffling down the road, heavy laden, and wondering
about our faith.
Yes, we’ve all been on the road to
Emmaus. You may be on that road now, or
maybe you were in the past, or maybe you will be in the future. But that other disciple, walking to Emmaus
with Cleopas, is you.
For those two disciples, walking to
Emmaus that night, had one thing on their minds: the cross. They looked at what had happened, and
compared that to what they had been hoping for, and they came to this
conclusion: the cross ruined everything!
If it hadn’t been for the cross, things would have been great.
We think that too, when the cross comes
into our lives. When our hopes and
dreams meet the detours of trials and failure and suffering. When sin comes crashing down on us, we make
wrong choices, or we become unwilling pawns in someone else’s game. When it seems as if things are out of
control. We wonder if God sees, or
knows, or cares. And we look at what has
happened, and compare that to what we had been hoping for, and we too can come
to the conclusion: God ruined everything! These crosses are not what I wanted. If only He would take them away, or mind His
own business, or do what I want, things would be great.
But God won’t do that. He simply loves you too much to indulge your
sin, your idolatry, and raise spoiled children.
And so Jesus came to those two doubting and disappointed disciples, and
showed them how the cross was not a surprise and was not life
spinning out of control – but that the cross was necessary. His death was necessary. Not for ruin, but for good. Not to shatter hope, but to give hope. That the cross was not the defeat that it
appeared, but was part of God’s plan of victory over sin, death, and the devil. The plan revealed from the very
beginning. The plan that He had been
speaking of and accomplishing all through the Old Testament. The plan and victory sealed and accomplished
in His resurrection that morning.
They listened. Their hearts were burning within them. But they didn’t quite get it. They were thick-headed and slow-hearted, just
like we often are. Because when you’re
on that road, when you’re in the thick of the struggle, its easy to hear the
words, but hard to believe. Because
things look and feel and seem so bad. So
contrary to what we’re hearing and what we expect.
But is the problem what we’re hearing,
or what we expect?
And so on the road to Emmaus, Jesus
teaches those disciples and unpacks the Word of God. In the reading from Acts, Peter does the same
to those listening to him preach – so that instead of condemning God and
turning to ourselves, we would condemn ourselves and turn to God. That is repentance. And that instead of relying on our own wisdom
and expectations, we would rely on Him and His Word. And that is faith. And only in repentance and faith do we have
life. True life. Eternal life.
You see, satan does not want you to
have that life, and so he makes life look like death and death look like
life! To lead us away from our
Saviour. And he’s pretty good at
it. He’s had lots of practice. And so he tries to convince us that we don’t
really want to live as Christians – you’re just going to get walked on. The Church robs you of life, it doesn’t give
you life. You have enough to do without
the Church, or the Pastor, or anyone else adding to your burden. He makes the road of life look like
death. . . . So no, go out and live! Don’t let anyone constrain you. Be all that you can be and get what you can –
because if you don’t, someone else will.
. . . But is that life? An endless chasing after pleasures? Every one for himself, or herself? Is that living? Think about it: whatever you may accomplish
in this life, whatever plans and glory you may achieve, whatever goals you
reach and pleasures you attain, it is all going to end in death. Sooner or later. It is as Peter told us in his Epistle: “all
flesh is like grass and its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls.” And then what? Then what?
But so that we may have life, Jesus
came. If His cross and the crosses in
our lives look backwards and upside down, it isn’t because God and His ways are
backwards, it is because we are. It is
because sin has so twisted us and satan has so mislead us and deceived us that
our thinking and expectations are wrong.
He’s not upside down, we are! We
think life is death and death is life.
We think we are good and God is bad.
We think we know about things and what we need, and God doesn’t.
And you know where that kind of
thinking puts us? On the road to
Emmaus. The road of disappointment and
despair, of fear and uncertainty. The
road of death.
But Easter and our Lord’s resurrection
shows us that God specializes in raising the dead! That He is not content to let us go and let
us die, but has come to do something about it!
And so He comes and takes our death-dealing sins, that their guilt be on
Him and not on us. He dies our death to
destroy the power of death.
He will not let satan have his way with
us, but has come to rescue us. And all this
He does through His cross, transforming its shame into glory, and its death
into life. That all who are joined to
Him be also transformed, be raised from death to life, and made partakers of
His glory and His life. True life. Eternal life.
And that resurrection and work of our
Saviour is what we witnessed here today at the font, as through water and the
Word of God, little Jocelyn was joined with her Saviour in His death and
resurrection and she was raised from the death of sin to life with Him.
And that is also why our loving and
gracious Father uses the cross in our lives.
He is not playing games with us and our lives; He is not capricious and
arbitrary; He does not gives us crosses just to make us suffer and pay for our
sins – Jesus paid for our sins!
No, He uses crosses to make us like little Jocelyn. He uses crosses to kill us. To kill the sinner in us who wants to go his
own way. To kill the sinful
wrong-thinking in us. To kill our
idolatry and pride, so that He can raise us again to a new life. That we rely on Him and not ourselves. That we have His mind and not our own. That we repent of our death-dealing sins and
receive His life-giving forgiveness. And
so be raised, as children of God. And
not just on the day of our baptism.
That is the start! But each and
every day of our lives. For each and
every day we need it. Each and every day
we need Him.
And then, like those disciples on the
road to Emmaus, we will see that the cross did not ruin everything, and
that the cross in our lives does not ruin everything – but that it is
necessary, and it is good. For it is the
death the leads to life. The only one
that does. So that though someday,
someway, we will die physically, yet we will live. For the life of Christ that we receive now is
just the beginning. For as Peter told
us, yes “the grass withers, and the flower falls, but the Word of the
Lord remains forever.” And “Word
of the Lord” there doesn’t just mean the Bible – but the Word made flesh. The One who lived and died and now lives
again, so that in Him, we who live and die may also live again. Forever.
But our story doesn’t end there –
there’s one more thing. One more thing
that (so to speak) sealed the deal for those two troubled disciples: Jesus fed
them. It wasn’t just that they
recognized Him because they recognized what He was doing – the words and
actions. It was that through this meal,
their eyes were opened. His Word and
teaching and life took concrete form in this eating and drinking, and completed
His work in them.
And so too in us. For the same risen Lord who baptizes us and
joins us to Himself and His death and resurrection, and who forgives our sins
and raises us to life, wants also to feed us – and not just with any
food, but with His own body and blood.
To give us the faith, forgiveness, and strength that we need for this
journey, for this life. And so He fills
not just our ears and eyes but also our mouths with Himself, that we do not
grow weary and lose heart, but receive from Him all that we need. Receiving Him and His life, until we join Him
at the feast where He will never leave, and we will never leave:
the feast of Heaven, which will have no end.
Until then, we go back, like those two
disciples – back out into the world, back to our lives – with good news. To love and serve and proclaim the life that
has been given to us. Because there are
so many looking for life. So many walking
that road to Emmaus, frightened and alone.
So many asking “What shall we do?” Perhaps it is through us that Jesus will go
to them and give them hope. Perhaps it
is through us that Jesus will raise them and give them life. Perhaps it is through us that they will hear
what they have never heard before. That
like those two disciples on the road, and like Peter, we may proclaim Christ
is risen! [He is risen indeed! Alleluia!]
And that He is here for us, and for
all.
In the name of the Father and of the +
Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now the peace of God which passes all
understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our
Lord. Amen.