Luke 24:36-48 NRSVUE
While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see, for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. Yet for all their joy they were still disbelieving and wondering, and he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.
If there is one consistent theme that presents itself in the stories of Jesus' resurrection is that nobody seems to recognize him.
It starts, of course, at the tomb, and it doesn't matter which Gospel or resurrection story you choose.
My favorite resurrection day story is found in the Gospel of Mark, because it is so brief.
Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome come to the tomb early resurrection morning and find it empty and a young man there.
And that is it.
Was the young man Jesus?,
Is he risen?
We have no idea.
John’s gospel, which we heard from on Easter Sunday and last Sunday, tells us that Mary is convinced she is talking with a gardener, before she realizes it is Jesus. And the disciples were so moved by meeting Jesus in the locked room that JoAnne shared about last week, that in the next chapter they return back to their boats on the Sea of Galilee and have no idea that it is Jesus that they encounter.
Then of course there is Luke, where the two people are walking along with a stranger on their way to Emmaus and they have no idea that the stranger is actually Jesus.
It was that encounter that the disciples were talking about when our story begins.
Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost.
These stories always bothered me —
How could these disciples who had followed Jesus around during his ministry not have recognized him?
How could they think they were seeing a ghost?
How many of you got the opportunity to experience the eclipse this past Monday?
I remember as a kid building a box to experience an eclipse
And I was pastoring in Indianapolis in 2017 during the last major eclipse — the whole staff was out in the parking lot in awe of God’s creative beauty.
Nancy and I drove down to Indianapolis early Monday morning to spend the afternoon with the house group that we were a part of at Meridian Street UMC and experience the TOTAL eclipse together.
Watching in 2017 was amazing — but experiencing the total eclipse was out of this world.
Especially in the company of friends
Now the drive back was also out of this world — it took about twice as long as normal.
But what struck me were the comments of numerous religious leaders (some of them friends) who were convinced that the eclipse (that are naturally occurring events throughout history and can be precisely predicted in the future) were supernatural manifestations of God giving a warning specifically to the American people.
Too many pastors were calling the eclipse the beginning of the end — or even the rapture.
Well, we are all here, so we obviously were not taken up — I am not sure if that says something about us — but just to be certain I checked with the living saints that I know — and none of them were taken either.
But for the first time in my life — I understand why people trek around the world to experience a total eclipse.
What intrigues about our gospel story is —- what is it that we see?
I believe that it was the late Marcus Borg who said that the resurrection was not a Kodak moment. Meaning that you could not photograph or videotape it.
That seems somewhat clear enough in our story, when the disciples are convinced that what they are seeing is a ghost.
But also very obvious, when in the story of the walk to Emmaus, the stranger/Jesus simply disappears.
Why is it — that Jesus can be standing right in front of us — and we can’t see him?
It reminds me of one of my favorite phrases that my mother always used to say about losing things in plain sight
If it were a snake (she would say) --- it would have bit you
Too often our lives become:
Too busy
too complicated
so confusing
that it becomes easy to fail to notice all that is going on around you
A dear friend of mine, who is a pastor in Indiana tells a great story about a time when he was spending a semester of college in Germany. This story took place almost 45 years ago.
He had been having a great time --- but he says he remembers becoming very homesick
During the semester he had to have his appendix removed and he spent quite a bit of time in the hospital
He had the opportunity to visit East Germany (for those of you who don't remember --- this was before the wall separating the East and the West existed and Germany was reunified)
That visit made him long for the USA and home
During a break from school his parents decided to come and visit him
His parents flew into Brussels and Mark had to take the train to meet them
He recalls that he got there a couple of hours after their plane was set to land, so he went directly to the hotel they were staying at to meet them
When he arrived at the hotel he found that they had yet to check in, so he left a note with the front desk that he was going to go across the street to a little cafe and have some breakfast and that they should come and join him when they arrived.
As he turned to head to the cafe --- he saw his mother and father walking into the hotel
Mark says that he dropped what he was doing and ran over and embraced his dad
His dad, so startled by the experience called out:
"Please let go of me --- I am just a tourist --- I just arrived"
His dad failed to recognize who it was that was embracing him
I know --- you are all telling me that story is ridiculous --- that it would never happen --- BUT IT DID
If you remember our Easter Gospel story is virtually identical
Mary Magdalene has come to the tomb early on that first Easter
She finds that the stone which had blocked the tomb had been rolled away
While standing there perplexed she meets a man at the tomb who asks her
"Woman, why are you crying? Whom do you seek?"
Mary was certain that it was the gardener and so she asks him what has happened to the body of Jesus --- for she wanted to go and prepare the body for burial
Mary FAILED TO RECOGNIZE that the person she was talking to was actually Jesus
But that NEVER happens — and yet the resurrection stories are filled with times where Jesus' disciples FAILED to recognize him.
And even with the life changing resurrection stories we have — we find the disciples in the Gospels all going back to what they used to do — fishing
Do you think you would recognize Jesus if he came alongside you today?
How would you know it was him?
One year when I was working with the confirmation class, I asked that question, and I loved their answers
They were of course all over the place
But my favorite of all time has to be when one of the students replied:
"That's easy, I would recognize him because his clothes would be old and he’d look funny."
But seriously --- how would you recognize Jesus today?
Frederick Buechner in his book The Magnificent Defeat writes about finding Jesus when we fail to recognize him:
. . . it is precisely at such times as this that Jesus is apt to come, into the very midst of life at its most real and inescapable. Not in a blaze of unearthly light, not in the midst of a sermon, not in the throes of some kind of religious daydream, but . . . at supper time, or walking along a road. This is the element that all the stories about Christ's return to life have in common: Mary waiting at the empty tomb and suddenly turning around to see somebody standing there—someone she thought at first was the gardener; all the disciples except Thomas hiding out in a locked house, and then his coming and standing in the midst; and later, when Thomas was there, his coming again and standing in the midst; Peter taking his boat back after a night at sea, and there on the shore, near a little fire of coals, a familiar figure asking, "Children, have you any fish?"; the two men at Emmaus who knew him in the breaking of the bread. He never approached from on high, but always in the midst, in the midst of people, in the midst of real life and the questions that real life asks. . . . The sacred moments of miracle, are often the everyday moments, the moments which, if we do not look with more than our eyes, or listen with more than our ears, reveal only . . . the gardener
Somehow we have to open our inner eyes
The eyes that touch our heart
so that we will not just see a stranger, not just see a simple gardener
But so that we might see Jesus
I asked this question — HOW DO WE SEE JESUS TODAY — on my facebook page and the answers that people gave were telling:
Nature — spring flowers — hiking in the mountains
People’s kindness — toward a sister being cared for in a healthcare center
In people who are living with courage to make the world a better place — to bring God’s justice and equality
In a child or grandchild’s budding faith
During World War II a Christian woman in Germany did all that she could do to help save the Jews from persecution (and often death)
Because of her efforts she was arrested by the Nazis and found herself sent off to a concentration camp.
While in the camp she begged the guards to let her hold an Easter service for the other Christians in the camp.
After a great deal of debate she was finally allowed to hold a service --- but was told that it could only last 5 minutes
They spent the five minutes singing hymns and reading the Easter story --- and when the five minutes were over --- the guard came and whisked the prisoners off to their cells
She too was thrown back into her cell --- and the door was slammed behind her
As she lay on her cot in the bare cell --- there was a noise at the window and a guard passed an Easter lily into her cell.
Jesus was real and present in that moment
HOW DO YOU SEE JESUS?
Where do you see Jesus?
Do you miss him, or do you find him in the little things?
One of the things that I am convinced of --- is that Easter was not a one and done experience.
Nor is it just a once a year celebration
Easter is WHENEVER we encounter Jesus.
at the tomb
walking along the road
at the grocery store
at work
in the midst of our family
One of the places that I see Jesus is in the rite of Baptism and the eucharist
I invite you to Open your eyes and see Jesus all around you
In the beauty of creation
And in each other
As many of you know — I have a profound love for “The Holy Lands”
My heart breaks for my Palestinian brothers and sisters who are living in an extreme crisis
My heart breaks for my Israeli brothers and sisters who are seeking peace while their government seeks war
My heart breaks for all people who think guns and bombs are the answers to our problems
Nancy and I were supposed to go back to Israel this past January — obviously we didn’t.
But one of the places I saw Jesus was in the Royal Plaza and Caesar hotels
It was easy to see Jesus in the eyes of the pilgrims we met
The place that startled me was seeing Jesus in the Palestinian and Israeli workers.
These Jewish and Muslim sisters and brothers showed me Jesus every day in the ways that they cared for those pilgrims, and in the ways that they helped me to be a better helper.
They took me under their wings and loved on me!
THAT WAS JESUS!
Where do you see Jesus?
If you are not sure — open your eyes --- for Jesus is all around you
And if you do see Jesus --- don't keep Jesus to yourself --- share Jesus with as many as you can
Not through words
Through love
The good news --- as we journey through life --- is that the story of Jesus is NEVER ENDING
Easter is everyday
Jesus is always with us --- if we will just open our eyes and embrace his love
