Easter 3 (NL4)
April 15, 2018
Acts 9:1-19a
Luke 24:13-35
INTRODUCTION
For the past
four months, we have been reading John – today we jump over to the Gospel of Luke.
The writer known as Luke also wrote the book of Acts, so sometimes they are
together considered a two-volume book, with Luke focusing on the life of Jesus
and Acts focusing on the Early Church and the work of the Apostle Paul to
spread the Good News of Jesus to the world. Just as John’s Gospel has some
distinct themes, so does Luke’s. I won’t get into all of them now, but two that
we will see today are the power and importance of sharing a meal, and the
action of the Holy Spirit, which empowers people for ministries they never
thought possible.
We’re going
to hear two stories today, one from Luke and one from Acts, and we’ll hear them
in reverse chronological order, but I want to introduce them to you in the
order they happened. So first, Luke: we go back to the evening of Easter. The
women have announced what they learned at the tomb, but the disciples didn’t
believe them. So now these guys are on their way to a town called Emmaus, still
not really sure what just happened, and they are grieving and heartbroken. They
are so heartbroken, in fact, that they don’t even notice Jesus walking right
along with them! But notice what moment it is that they DO recognize him, and
what implications that has for our own worship and life of faith.
The other
story, the one we’ll hear first, happens a year or two later. Christianity is
spreading, and comes to be known as “The Way.” The early Christians were a
people who were filled with the Holy Spirit, cared for one another, were
peaceful and law-abiding people, and spoke boldly about their faith – but they
were harshly persecuted for their beliefs. A man named Saul, later known as
Paul, was among the most famous persecutors of Christians. Yet it is this harsh
critic of Christianity that Jesus calls to spread his name and gospel to all
the nations. A good portion of the New Testament was written by this man, Paul,
who once was the most unlikely to serve in Jesus’ name. Let’s hear the stories.
[READ]
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus
Christ. Amen.
I saw a cute
video a while back called “This is an Awareness Test.”
[Before you go on, watch it here - much better to experience this 1 min video than read about it!]
[If you'd rather not watch, read about it here.] It starts off with two
groups of four basketball players, one team in white, the other in black. The
narrator says, “How many passes does the team in white make?” The eight players
jump and swerve in and out amongst each other, passing the ball, and I carefully
counted, thinking, “I’ve totally got this.” It stopped, and the narrator said,
“The correct answer is 13.” Yes! Got it! I patted myself on the back. But he
goes on, “But did you see the moonwalking bear?” Huh? The video rewinds and
replays, and sure enough, now that I was watching for the bear, I saw him,
moonwalking right through the middle of this game! How had I missed it?? It was
so obvious now!
The answer
is: I missed it because I wasn’t looking for him. I was too focused on counting
passes. And why would I look for a moonwalking bear anyway? Who would expect
that?
Both stories
that we heard a moment ago are stories about blindness, about not seeing things
that you simply aren’t expecting to see. The disciples on their way to Emmaus,
and Saul of Tarsus, and even Ananias – none of them can see right away how God
is working right before their very eyes, because their vision is blocked by
their expectations, rather than being open to God’s surprising work.
First, let’s
look at Saul (later, Paul). It is easy to see him as a pretty bad guy at the
beginning of this text. Earlier in Acts, he was a part of the killing of Stephen,
the first Christian martyr. But even if you didn’t know that, the first line,
“Saul, still breathing threats and murder against disciples of the Lord,” makes
him sound so sinister, and gives you the sense that this is not a guy you want
to cross.
Yet I want to be clear that Saul was
actually a very devout Jew, from a fine family, with an excellent liberal arts
education. He really felt he was doing the right thing, putting a stop to this
Christian movement. He saw these Christians as going against the faith he knew
and loved. Was killing Christians the best way to respond to this? Well, no, I
don’t think so! But that’s what he thought was right.
And yet God uses this broken vessel
as one of the most important instruments to spread the good news. Saul had seen
his role as one thing, and God saw his role as something else entirely – in
fact, as the exact opposite of what he was doing! When Ananias comes and prays
over Saul, Luke tells us that “something like scales fell from his eyes.” He
says his sight is restored – but really, it is more than restored, isn’t it?
His sight is something new, for it is at this point that he is baptized and
commissioned for this new task that Christ has set before him. His expectations give way for God’s expectations.
Isn’t that a wonderful image –
“something like scales fell from his eyes”? Like, all the hatred and murderous
threats that had blocked his vision and kept him from seeing the God of love manifest
in Jesus Christ – it all just fell away. Suddenly he could see the moonwalking
bear who was in front of him all along.
I’ve been thinking about that scales image
this week – about the various times in my life when whatever was blocking my
vision fell away, and I was able to see. Perhaps my assumptions fell away, or
my self-doubt, or my preconceived notions or previously held beliefs… and when
those scales fell away, I was able to see God’s love shining through, and
showing me the path God had set before me.
Not to say it was always a path I
wanted to walk down. In that way, I resonate with Ananias! Poor Ananias – what
a job to be given! “Hey, Ananias, I need you to go talk to this guy who is a
known murderer, this guy who is persecuting people like you. Oh, you’ve heard
of him? Great, yes, that’s the guy. I need you to go to him. Tell him I sent
you, and pray with him. Thanks!” Ananias is understandably hesitant! “Uh, you
sure, God? That guy?”
I’ve been there! “You sure this is
what you want me to do, God? Are you sure this is the right place? The right
time? The right people? Really?” Oh yes, I’m sometimes full of suspicion about
God’s plans for me, and I’ve got a host of excuses lined up! Especially when
I’m pretty sure I know more about the
situation and the people involved than God does.
A friend told me a story this week
about a mission trip her church went on to build a house in Appalachia. There
were some guys helping at the site who were volunteering in order to get out of
their prison sentence. One guy in particular was extremely disrespectful to my
friend. She had a horrible experience. The next year, she voted that they
should not return there – those guys were awful, she said. But everyone else
wanted to return, and so she went with them. When they arrived, that same,
disrespectful man came out to greet her… with tears in his eyes. He went right
up to her and said, “I didn’t think you’d ever come back.” People can surprise
us, you see! You never know when a moonwalking bear might make its way into
your assumptions! Even when we think we’ve got people all figured out, never
underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit to change someone and use them for
God’s work – or to change you! Never doubt that God might show up, even where
you didn’t expect it.
That’s what happened with those guys
on the road to Emmaus, too, right? They are heartbroken, grieving, confused –
they’re so wrapped up in their own stuff that they don’t even see that it is
Jesus walking right there along with them. It’s a recurring theme in these
texts – our expectations or preoccupations block us from seeing how God comes
to us, even when we least expect it. As the disciples walk with this “stranger”
to Emmaus, he interprets the scriptures to them, and yet they still don’t know
that it is their teacher and friend.
But one thing does finally opened
their eyes and help them see the moonwalking bear – what is it? What makes them
recognize Jesus? … It was in the breaking of bread. It was sharing the
fellowship of a meal together. It was seeing Jesus once again give himself for
them.
Yesterday I had the joy of spending
the afternoon with some of our young people, learning about communion. Today they
will receive communion for the first time, partake of this special meal that
recalls Christ’s sacrifice for us, be a part of this place where Christ is made
profoundly known to us. As a part of our class yesterday we looked at this
story, the story of two disciples who were joined by Jesus as they walked to
Emmaus, and how Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of bread. We
talked about how even though when we come up here to communion, we don’t
actually see the man Jesus, we still know that he is here, that he is with us.
He is in, with and under this bread
and cup. We know because he told us so! We know because we see his face in the
people of this congregation. We know because we have heard his promises in
scripture. Even when we are blinded by our expectations, our assumptions, and
our preconceived notions, we know that Jesus comes to us, walks with us, lives
with us, and moves in us, and that, when we open our hearts to receive him, we
will come to see him more clearly in the world.
At the end of our class yesterday, I
asked the parents to share with the kids if they pray during communion, and
what they pray for. Today, I will tell you my prayer, and I hope you will join
me in it: I will pray that, by this bread and cup, God would make the scales
fall from my eyes, and that Christ would be made known to me, both here at the
table, and as I leave this place and go out into the world. I will pray that my
eyes would be opened to see Christ even when I didn’t expect to. In fact, let’s
pray that prayer right now…
Ever-present God, open our eyes. Let the scales of our assumptions and
expectations fall from our eyes, so that we might see your marvelous work
before us. Help us to notice you at work, not only at your gracious meal, but
also where we least expect to find you. In the name of the Father and the Son
and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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