Today is Bright Sunday. Easter is a Holy Day, a day when everyone comes to church. Today is the day when the Christian believers come back to celebrate, because we are now in Easter Tide – the time between the Resurrection and when Jesus Ascended into heaven. After the Ascension, we have Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit began the work that Jesus was no longer there in person to do.
So we begin today with rejoicing, and it was common in older times to dress in our brightest colors, and actually play tricks on one another within the church – think of it like a Christian April Fools Day.
Because during this time, it was as if Jesus were playing fun tricks on everyone who thought he was dead.
I have a bit of a warped sense of humor. In fact, as a young teen, I fell in love with a song that my Mom thought was totally tasteless. Well, not in love, exactly, but I found the song hilarious, because of the irony in it. Your kids might drive you crazy with the song, or you might actually hate the song. It is called “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer.”
You all know the song, it is Christmas Eve and the proof they have that Santa is real is that his reindeer ran over Grandma that night.
Warped yes. Especially if you think about it as a real event. What strikes me as funny is the irony in it.
There is a lot of this type of humor in the events following the resurrection.
Now, a lot of Christians want you to see this as a Jesus who was beaten up and tortured to death trying to get the disciples to understand. But this isn’t the dying Jesus, this is the Jesus who has just conquered death. He is alive and filled with joy at being alive.
In The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis tells how Aslan acts after being raised from the dead: He doesn’t not stand there quietly talking, he is filled with excitement, playing a game of tag with the girls, jumping over them, whisking his tail. And then his is so excited he just has to roar!
When I think of the appearances of Jesus in these days I always have this image in the back of my mind, Jesus, happy to be alive, coming in and surprising the disciples.
So, let’s get down to today’s story.
The holidays were over, and these two were headed home from Jerusalem. They were, of course, talking about everything that had happened. Now, even if they walked slowly, it is only about two and a half hours to get from Jerusalem, so they didn’t have to leave early to get there, and they had time to hear the stories of the women and the disciples.
As happens in a culture where people walk places, others might naturally join them on the walk, and so Jesus himself showed up.
Now, there are a lot of theories as to why people didn’t recognize Jesus, everything from being beaten beyond recognition to his resurrected body being different. There are no real answers given in the Bible as to why, so I won’t give you any.
Now, these aren’t the 11 closest disciples, because we know they remained in Jerusalem at least at the moment. So these are two people who might have heard and seen Jesus, but they weren’t a part of his core group.
So, when Jesus walked up and spoke with them, unlike Mary, they weren’t used to hearing his voice every day, they may not have ever actually even spoken to him in person. We don’t know.
The words they spoke are what I would call third person words – words that implied a second hand knowledge of Jesus more than an intimate one. When Jesus asked “What things” they answered:
“The things about Jesus of Nazareth,[h] who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.[i]
If they were intimate friends, they would have referred to Jesus, not as a prophet mighty in deed, nor would the fact that they had hoped he would be the one who redeemed Israel. Instead they would speak of the one that they loved. They spoke of the women as “from our group” so they were part of a group who followed Jesus, but they weren’t friends. They were still one step away.
And yet, on that day, while they were headed home, Jesus showed up and walked with them. And he explained the prophesies to them – even before the closest of the group that was his friends.
My theme during Eastertide is this. We sometimes see the Church as an exclusive place for believers. But the disciples didn’t get it, and the church isn’t about believing as much as it is about asking questions and finding answers. If you doubt, if you haven’t got it together, this is the place for you.
Which is why this passage is important. These people weren’t hanging out in Jerusalem. They weren’t even looking for him. But he showed up anyway. And because they didn’t understand, Jesus took time to answer their questions on why this happened.
Jesus shows up for us when we have questions. Jesus shows up for us when we aren’t even headed in the right direction. Jesus shows up for us when we aren’t even looking for him. Because Jesus always shows up. So if you wonder if church is the right place for you? You are in the right place.
None of us know or understand everything, but we keep coming back because this is where we meet Jesus and find some of our questions answered. This is where we look for Jesus.
Since they were headed home, it was natural for them to invite the stranger who was with them to share a meal before he continued his journey. Hospitality would have required it.
Talking to him didn’t bring recognition. Hearing his answers brought insight, but didn’t bring recognition. But Just as Mary recognized him when he spoke her name, they recognized him when he broke the bread.
I can’t help but wonder how many times Jesus broke the bread for the disciples. I think of the times when people were gathered and there was only and handful of loaves and a few fish and he fed all of them. Perhaps they saw him doing that.
But it was such a normal act, that they recognized him when it happened.
The first Sunday of every month we gather around a table and we serve communion. Like the disciples who went home to Emmaus, we eat together. And, perhaps, like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, we also recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread.
For the next few weeks the disciples got used to Jesus showing up unexpectedly. They could be walking along, or in a locked room, or fishing on the lake, and suddenly he would be there. It is my hope that over the next few weeks of Easter that each of us watch and wait, and live our lives knowing that still, today, Jesus could be standing around the corner, waiting for us.
