The Third Sunday of Easter, A 2011

Luke 24:13-35

The Rev. Ronald N. Johnson

On the first Easter, one presumes in mid afternoon or perhaps even later, two of our Lord’s followers met him on the road.  For reasons that we do not understand, they did not recognize him until he made himself known.  This lack of recognition does not, I think, mean anything in and of itself.  There seems to be a common thread in the biblical accounts of our Lord’s post resurrection appearances. He is not recognized until he makes himself known.  Maybe this has something to do with the appearance of the Risen Lord in the days before Pentecost.  Maybe it has something to do with not expecting to see Jesus and therefore stumbling over recognition when we do.  I believe that the important thing, here, is that Jesus reached out to Cleopas and the unnamed person with him to make himself known.  Jesus is proactive in this world, today as always.  If we will just be open to him, be receptive and willing to meet him when and where he chooses, Jesus will make himself known.  Our relationships with the Lord are not static encounters with only the written or spoken word.  The incarnate Word of God, Jesus Christ is proactive and engaging.  We meet him in sundry places and through sundry people and / or events and experiences.  And, the Holy Spirit is active, even super active, in helping us to know Christ and to make him known.

Today’s Gospel reading makes a special point of telling us that Cleopas and his friend’s recognition of Jesus happened as Jesus took the bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to them.  This is, of course, the way that any meal in an observant Jewish home begins, with the head of the household, or the guest of honor, taking a loaf of bread, giving thanks to God for it, breaking it and giving a piece to each person gathered.  We don’t have to look far or stretch our imaginations to see overtones of Eucharist in this act.  As a matter of fact, the Early Church looked to this account of the manifestation of Jesus at this dinner table, in the very act of blessing and breaking the bread as a confirmation that Jesus is present to us in the Eucharist.  The Eucharist is the one sacrament that our Lord has given us in which we can be assured that he is present among us, regardless of our limited ability to discern him. Regardless of whether our spiritual eyes are open, Jesus is present with us in the Eucharist and if we have faith, Jesus will make himself known to us in the Breaking of the Bread.  Our Lord gave us the Eucharist for this purpose, that we may know him and be spiritually nourished by him in the sacrament of his Body and Blood.  We also know that, as we gather as a community to share together in this sacrament, the bond of Christian love develops and grows with us, uniting us in the family of Christ.  We recognize Jesus in one another, and the reality of his word strikes home.  “Whenever two or three are gathered together in my name, I will be in the midst of them.”

We think of the resurrection as something of the past, but we should understand it as a present and ongoing thing.  The Holy Spirit makes the Resurrection present to us and builds, in us, a resurrection faith.  In faith we know Christ, in faith we walk with Christ and talk with Him and invite him to so forge us that our wills conform to his own and we become his hands, his feet, his heart and his word in this world.  And we pray that we can sufficiently conform our wills to his, that our lives are instruments of his peace, agents of his grace. 

The Resurrected Christ is in this world in many ways.  One very important way is that he is present in you and me, when we are open to him and allow ourselves to be purveyors of his love.  Amen.