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"Getting to Emmaus"

4/29/2020

Luke 24: 23-35

Once upon a time a queen decided to set aside a special day to honor her greatest subject. When the big day arrived, there was a large gathering in the palace courtyard. Three finalists were brought forward, and from these three, the queen would select the winner.
     The first person presented was a wealthy philanthropist. The queen was told that this man was highly deserving of the honor because of his humanitarian efforts. He had given much of his wealth to the poor.
     The second person was a celebrated physician. The queen was told that this doctor was highly deserving of the honor because she had rendered faithful and dedicated service to the sick for many years.
     The third presented was an elderly woman. Everyone was quite surprised to see her there, because her manner was quite humble, as was her dress. She hardly looked the part of someone who would be honored as the greatest subject in the kingdom. What chance could she possibly have, when compared to the other three, who had accomplished so much?
     The queen was intrigued, to say the least, and somewhat puzzled by her presence. The queen asked who she was. The answer came: "You see the philanthropist and the doctor? Well, she was their teacher!"
What does it take to create a distinguished life – a life that stands out? A life that is filled to the fullest with grace, faith and beauty?   A good life, not necessarily a doctor, a philanthropist or a teacher. A life that is simply lived well and reaches out to others. We rarely reach these goals by ourselves. We need the guidance of others; those teachers in our lives who point us in the right direction and help bring out the best in us.
To reach the best we are called to live, we must embark on a journey of comprehensive moral or spiritual development -- to understand what is right and wrong, what God wants for us, how to serve others with gifts we have. It is not a journey we can make alone. Cleopas and his companion, in our reading today without realizing it, were being guided by Jesus on the most important journey of their life.
     The journey to Emmaus that we heard today a journey of seven miles – from Jerusalem to Emmaus, just northwest of the Jewish capital. A disciple named Cleopas – never heard from before—and an unnamed companion – some presume to be his wife, are making the trek to Emmaus. They are never mentioned again in the Bible – and neither is the village of Emmaus. However, the journey of getting to Emmaus is a high point in the Easter narrative.
       So, Cleopas and his wife begin their journey. It is the evening of the resurrection, and they are discussing the murder of Jesus, and the report from the women who went to the tomb and saw a vision of angels who proclaimed that Jesus was risen. As they are talking, Jesus comes alongside them, yet in their sorrow and confusion they do not recognize him. It is hard for us to see the Lord walking with us when we are filled with despair, agitation and anxiety. Still, Jesus is there, and he encourages the conversation. What are you discussing?
At this point Jesus begins to discuss the scriptures –the stories of Moses on down through the prophets to the present. What a conversation that must have been – Jesus interpreting the scriptures over a several hour walk! Think of it – a 2-3 hour bible study, led by Jesus! Jesus does what every good teacher does. He lays out the story. He helps his disciples connect the dots. He touches their sad and dejected hearts. Jesus reframes the scriptures so they can understand the ministry and mission of Jesus, his suffering, death and resurrection in light of the bigger picture of faith. Jesus inspires them so that even after this long walk and it is getting late, they strenuously implore Jesus to stay with them longer.
In their home, using language that is reminiscent of the last supper and the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus becomes host of the table, break and blesses bread – then and only then are their eyes opened to their guest’s true identity. In that discovery of Jesus’ identity, the Lord vanishes from their sight. Were not our hearts burning with us? They exclaimed in wonder. They could not contain with happened. They immediately got up, made that return two-hour journey to Jerusalem to proclaim the good news to the disciples.

This is what we are called to, to enter the story of Jesus Christ. To have Jesus enter our hearts and weave our life story into his- so that our hearts burn within us and we got to stop what we are doing and go out of our way to share it? It is a journey that combines the knowledge of scripture with love, friendship and community building. Because inside of each of us, whether we know it or not, there is a hunger to know what the purpose is of our lives, to have our eyes opened to the divine within us and around us. Jesus is the divine teacher on this road.
      The Emmaus journey is a reminder to us of how God leads us throughout our lives, through unknown teachers and guides, so we can learn to see life and our challenges through a spiritual lens. There is a saying, “When we are ready, the teacher appears.” So this happens every day – in the manifold ways Jesus would touch us: through the scriptures, people around us, all the elements of creation, working in our hearts to bring about a shift, to help us realize the story is not done, a new chapter is starting, and God is still editing our lives – and our hearts warm over and over again, and our eyes are opened over and over again as Jesus leads us to grow in spiritual maturity.
        In the last two months the road we have traveled have taken us on an unexpected, dangerous, detour due to COVID-19. Our lives are in upheaval. Our safety is daily in question. Our collective life, our life as a church has been flipped upside down. Like Cleopas and his wife we lament what is gone. Let us pause and see the connection: The questions and conversation, the transformation of sadness to joy. Jesus is traveling these uncharted waters with us. He is helping us assess our lives, examine them through the scriptures, to see the hope of resurrection and the triumph of hope. Jesus is leading us into the 21st century, that by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can become a new church, a more connected church, a people that walks together, learns together, break bread together and as a result discover Jesus in their midst.
Wherever we are on the road, even in the midst of confusion and questions or doubt, know that the Teacher is there. Walk the journey and let the Teacher speak. Let your hearts burn within, for your story is being revised by the divine author and guide, and we will be sent forth to tell the story, to make a difference – to forge a journey so our life that will stand out – and we too will become mighty teachers, and our love and witness walk alongside the bereft, the searching, and together becomes transformed by the holy spirit as we study the ancient sacred stories and find Jesus in the breaking of the bread. Amen.

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Forgiven!

4/23/2020

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John 20:19-31

Easter Sunday began with an open tomb, but our text tells us that Easter night found Jesus’ disciples huddled together behind locked doors. They had self-quarantined from the trauma of Jesus death, and for fear of being caught by the religious authorities. The eyewitness accounts to the resurrection that morning led not to celebration but to doubt and dread. For these self-isolating disciples, their enclosure has created an atmosphere of paranoia, helplessness, depression and sorrow. Jesus’ horrific death had left them numb, withdrawn, and suspicious. We can relate to these feelings, can’t we?
It is into this environment of fear and guardedness that Jesus first appears to his gathered community. Jesus greets the terrified disciples, “peace be with you,” not once but three times, and shows them his wounds. Jesus breathes on them, and commands, “receive holy spirit.”
Next to these defeated people, Jesus gives a scandalous gift:   “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” What do we make of this? Jesus certainly isn’t putting his disciples in the role of God. Some have argued Jesus was transferring rabbinic authority of binding/and loosening of Jewish ritual life to them. Perhaps.Why, of all the spiritual gifts to give, does the Risen Christ focus on the gift of forgiveness and the power to retain sins? Why place that kind of power in the hands of fearful, doubting disciples? Why not, instead, the gift of faith? Why not the gift of Healing? Or teaching? Or the gift of prophecy?
Forgiveness is at the core of the faith Jesus wants to shape in us.   “Lord, how many times am I to forgive? Seven?” Peter asks. No, Jesus responds, “seventy times seven.”   “Pray for your enemies, bless those who curse you,” Jesus teaches. What do we pray when we recite the Lord’s Prayer? “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.”
Jesus chose to focus on forgiveness as a core principle of Christian life. In doing so, Jesus demonstrates that the practice of forgiving and retaining sins leads to healing, it is the key to restoring wholeness to people who are marginalized, transform the sinner or oppressor, the key to witness, the key to prophetic living and the key to unleashing a generous spirit.
Forgiving and retaining of sins is one of the hardest aspects of our faith that we are called to live out. There are hurts, and then there are hurts. How to we ask abused or oppressed people to forgive? In this climate, forgiveness can even appear naïve, even hurtful. We may even despair of forgiveness, of being forgiven even as we despair of peace. But that is our challenge from our text today. How do we embrace forgiveness when we don’t want to forgive? What is the process of forgiveness? Is it a one time gift, or can it be a process that may take place over years, even a lifetime, maybe better left in the hands of Jesus?
The core meaning of the words used in the gospels for forgiveness is a release from an obligation such as a debt, a leaving, a letting go. Letting go of a claim as a result of an offense. It is a leaving behind, just as the disciples left behind their nets to follow Jesus (Matt. 4:20-22).. It is a willingness to look at oneself in the process of judgment: “take the log out of your own eye first, before you would take it out of your brother or sister” (Lk 6:42).. It is a process to forging a Christ-like existence in our own souls. We forgive more to free ourselves as much as to free whom we forgive. “We don't forgive for others. We forgive for ourselves.” Declares Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace Prize winner from in 1984.
We often assume that when Jesus speaks of retaining sins, is that we are given permission to not forgive. Yet this goes contrary to the spirit of the gospel. The language in the passage is more nuanced. The Greek word for “retain” used here means to seize with strength; take into one’s custody, arrest, hold back. This verb is only used with the word, sin. We are free to not forgive, but we are not free of the results of not forgiving. We don’t forgive, we are bound to hurt, bitterness, I
t is helpful for us to understand how Jesus uses the concept of “seizing” and “binding” in his own ministry. Jesus seizes the hand of the dead girl and brings her back to life. (Matt. 12:29). Jesus speaks of binding a strong man before he can enter the house and rob its goods ( Matt. 12:29). When Jesus comes upon a man called Legion because he is possessed by many demons, he frees the man by binding the demons and casting them into a herd of pigs (Mk 5:3).  When Jesus retains, seizes it’s about restoring life and protecting.   So our Christian life is to keep sin from spreading, to bind it, to actively seek to reign it in when it has been allowed to run amok.
It is striking that Jesus does not give us any examples of withholding forgiveness in his ministry. The closest he comes is when he pronounces that the Pharisees’ sins remain, because of their blindness of faith (Jn 9:41). Jesus challenges and rebukes, but never does he withhold forgiveness to those who are open to receive. If we forgive someone who doesn’t want to accept our forgiveness perhaps we can bring some peace to our hearts, but it probably won’t to the person who refuses forgiveness. The potential of forgiveness to change our lives is the Easter work we are called to.
        Throughout his life, and on the cross, Jesus modeled forgiveness. He forgave the soldiers who spat upon him. The soldiers who whipped him repeatedly and mocked him. Jesus forgave the religious hierarchy, in their hypocrisy, their lies how they orchestrated his kangaroo trial that resulted in his death. He forgave Pilate, forgave King Herod. He forgave Judas for betraying him. Forgave Peter for denying him. Forgave all the disciples who fell asleep on him, ran away and hid. He forgave the crowd for shouting out to crucify him. He forgave the thief who taunted him. He forgave the whole darn lot – because that’s what love does. Thus, the act of forgiveness can be the hardest thing we ever learn to do, but as Mahatma Ghandi observes, Forgiveness is not for the weak. It is the strong who forgive.
        In our time of quarantine, let us dwell on the gift the spiritual discipline of forgiveness. Who do we need to fogive? Of whom do we need to ask forgiveness? Where do we need to promote forgiveness so peace can flourish? Let us turn to Jesus to help our hearts become forgiving. This is the work of the Easter season. To know the peace of forgiveness.
Let it prepare us for the day when our quarantine is over. May we find ourselves a healed people, set free from fear, sent forth to work gospel deeds to create a renewed world. A World where forgiveness breathes on our brokenness. Where oppression is seized, hurt is bound, and we are sent forth to live our amazing Easter faith. amen

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Go To Galilee

4/14/2020

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Matthew 28:1-10

Alleluia! Christ Is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed!

Easter Sunday, the day we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, happens to also be one of those big family holidays. I remember this typical scenario: After worship, we get together, brothers and sisters, in-laws, grandparents and cousins, friends or neighbors for a delicious Easter dinner, lamb or ham in my home. Then of course there are the Easter egg hunts and Easter baskets distributed. Some of us are accustomed to reservations at a favorite restaurant for a sumptuous seven-course meal. The extra effort, the traffic jams are worth the effort in order to be with loved ones over these traditional meals. For the past 17 years We have celebrated Easter dinner with Forrest’s cousins in Huntington. Not this year.

This Easter is different. We are in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantined in our homes. We have not seen loved one for weeks, except perhaps through facetime, skype, or zoom. We’re stuck at home. We may have some semblance of Easter dinner, but it will not be like years past. Those familiar faces won’t be there, the traditional dishes simplified. But Easter is here, nonetheless.

"Interesting, our Easter story centers on travel, going home, reuniting with loved ones, as well. Jesus died, was buried, and was resurrected in Jerusalem, where the disciples are still staying, too, following the Passover holiday – away from home.   But on the first day of the week, the women of Jesus’ entourage, visited the tomb and found it empty, claim Jesus has been raised. They heard it from an angel’s lips first. Next, they encountered Jesus himself on the road. Jesus’s first words to them were to not fear, and then to instruct the disciples to go home; to head back to Galilee where they will see him.

Galilee is nearly 90-100 miles distance from Jerusalem. In those days you didn’t do a trip like that in a day, maybe not even two days. At a decent walking clip of about 4-5 miles per hour on foot it will be 20 hours or so to get there (and since few people can walk 20 hours non-stop, it would be a trip of 2-3 days if you allow for time to eat, rest, and sleep. What would we give to be able to get into our cars, get in an airplane, and go to our Galilees, our homes, our family, our friends. 90 miles would be nothing in our day and age.

It is ironic however, that the grandest event in history happened just down the road from where the disciples were, and yet they could not celebrate Easter until they completed that 90-mile walk. Reunion came only after a long trip. So close and yet so far. Why? Why not greet the disciples in Jerusalem?

After all, Jesus was already in a prime spot after he was raised from the dead. Jerusalem was the place to make a splash. Herod was there, Pontius Pilate was there, the Temple hierarchy was there— everybody who had convicted and killed Jesus was there. The crowds who clamored for his crucifixion were there.   Wouldn’t Jesus want to visit these people and prove he was right, he was the messiah, and his predictions of being raised on the third day were true? "

But true to form Jesus didn’t do it. He does not want to stay focused on the trauma and pain. Instead his attention is on Galilee, on home. The gospel ends the way it begins: in an out-of-the-way place and in a very quiet, unassuming fashion, ministering to the average, humble folk he had rubbed shoulders with for three years.

In the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic, we dare to proclaim the message of life.    On a day when we are told the virus is peaking, our message is one of joy and, even if it will take a long trip, a long time, to get there. So, we follow Jesus out of Jerusalem, the site of death and despair, to our spiritual homes, where our faith was born and grew.

Today our text asks us to recall the memories, the stories of what Galilee means to us. Where we first got to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. The spiritual rituals we have been blessed by. Those special friends and church families who have shared and deepened our faith. The programs, the fellowship, the acts of service in the Lord’s name we have carried out. All of this constitutes Galilee.   With Jesus we have come full circle.

Today on the day of Resurrection Jesus reassures us we will make it to Galilee. Even as we still must gather in our homes, still in the tombs of quarantine, still social isolating and distancing, still missing the presence of dear ones, facing the menace of COVID-19, we celebrate that our Lord broke free from his tomb. And so will we.

We may not be able to journey physically, but Easter 2020 takes us spiritually to our Galilees. Easter this year is not easy, nor is the Easter life we are called to live. But we are not alone! We do have the Risen Jesus with us, here in our hearts after all! And we do have the gospel to sustain us.

However you observed Easter today, a scaled back dinner with just a few people you are quarantined with, take time to remember Galilee, the miracles, the teachings, the seaside, the good times, all that we learned, all that made us into who we are today.

The resurrection has transformed it all so we can carry Galilee in our hearts as we await the day we have crossed over this pandemic and are with each other again. That is more than enough for us to go on for now. So, today, through the power of the Risen Lord, we find each other with Jesus, for our memories of him can never be erased. Until we can gather in person, we still proclaim our love for each other and declare: Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed. Amen.
- With thanks to Scott Hoezee
See more at: http://cep.calvinseminary.edu/sermon-starters/easter-day-a/?type=the_lectionary_gospel#sthash.cC93MJTj.dpuf

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The Lord Needs Them

4/11/2020

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Matt.21-1-11; Palm Sunday

        The first Palm Sunday procession began with Jesus making a peculiar request: he sends two disciples into a nearby village with these instructions: “ find a donkey and a colt that was tied there and take it. If anyone asked them what they were doing, they were to say, “The Lord needs them.”
        This question lays a foundation for our understanding of Holy Week and Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross: On the top of Jesus mind is the desire to fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9:
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
    Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
    righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
    on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

This passage recalls the deliverance of the People of Israel, not by a messiah as a warrior king -- who was deeply longed for – by the people for centuries. The people expected to see this messiah warrior, this conqueror of Israel’s enemies, to enter Jerusalem in triumph on a war horse, a stallion. This kingly beast symbolized strength and triumph. Yet, faithful to God’s message, Jesus seeks out not a stallion but a donkey, a common animal, a beast of burden, which symbolized not a warrior but a peaceful, humble messiah. Jesus, knowing he was headed for the cross, entered Jerusalem in peace, and maintain his demeanor of conquering peace until the end.
        Now the question, “the Lord needs them,” highlights Jesus in need for the first time in his ministry, here at the end of his ministry. Has Jesus asked for anything until now in his ministry? Has Jesus ever said, “Can I have this” for his personal use? Has Jesus inquired, “Can I borrow this?” “Can you loan this to me?” Only in his last week of life, to fulfill the prophet’s words, Does Jesus need something. Jesus doesn’t even own his own beast of burden. So, imagine, perhaps, the text asks us to take the great leap: Does God really need us? Is it necessary for us to donate our things and our time for God’s work to be done?
        Hypothetically we can say God doesn’t really need that donkey. If Jesus had walked into Jerusalem instead of riding, the story may have unfolded in a slightly different way, but he still would probably have drawn a crowd and eventually he would have been crucified. If we don’t tell a friend the good news of God’s love and salvation, what will result? If I don’t speak up about some injustice or wrong done, won’t someone else will? Will the work get done?
However, Jesus chooses to do to it the way it is laid out in the scriptures.   The unfolding of Holy Week declares to us it is Jesus who is faithful to God’s will, no matter what we do. That makes the difference.
        Holy Week reminds us is that Jesus is faithful. Over and over again the disciples fail him and fall away. They betray Jesus, they deny Jesus, they flee when the going gets tough. Yet God doesn’t give up on us. The Scriptures point to examples where God chooses us, despite our fallen nature, our sins, our mistakes, God uses us, us broken and redeemed people, to make a difference in our communities and even change the course of history. There are many times a prophet was able to speak up and call the whole group back to God. Jonah was responsible for saving the city of Nineveh. Esther saved her exiled people from extinction. Noah built an ark for a remnant of humankind and animals. Mary said yes to the Angel Gabriel to be the mother of Jesus. One particular person or persons can change the course of history, can change the course of one life, reaching into the hearts of others to listen and repent. Each of us has touched lives and made a difference, even if we are not aware of what we are doing.
In Holy Week into Eater season, ironies of ironies, Jesus affirms that God has chosen to need us as individuals. We are invited in to b a part of the story. Even when we fail, Jesus raises us up to try again. No one else can do what you do in quite the same way as you do it.   If the body is going to be healthy, we must all do our parts, make our contribution to the whole.
In the Middle Ages people believed that the work of the church should be done by professional priests or monks, or sisters, who lived apart from the world.   During the Reformation ideas about this began to change. John Calvin, one of the founders of Presbyterianism believed and preached what he called the ministry or priesthood of all believers that is everyone has some kind of call or vocation from God to contribute to the world. God has chosen to need us to be conduits of grace and good news in the world.
What is that call? What is the donkey that the Lord needs? In this season of isolation, it can be calling someone else who is home bound. It can be not hoarding supplies others need. Continuing to share your financial resources, whatever you can give, especially in this time when churches and charities need the help. Pray and God will give you something to do, to bring God’s will on earth as it is in heaven.
        So today, Palm Sunday, we remember Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. A day when Jesus needed something. A day when Jesus was faithful to the message of the prophets.   A day when our humble savior riding a donkey sets into motion God’s decision to save us, to need us, to use us. As we face our own via delarosas, let us rejoice in that we, lowly and redeemed creatures that we are, so like that donkey, can carry Jesus in to the world, with whatever resources we have, shouting hosanna along the way. Amen

With Thanks to Rev. Debra Given, “The Lord Needs It,” 2017

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"Getting to Emmaus"

Forgiven!

Go To Galilee

The Lord Needs Them

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