Would you recognize Jesus? Reinbeck UMC chapter 27 THE STORY 2/1/15 (worship cancelled, preached 2/8)

Would you recognize Jesus?

Reinbeck UMC chapter 27 the story

2/1/15

Play introductory video (Jesus in disguise spoof) Leave video playing on still shot

Did you think about that? In how many of the post resurrection is Jesus seemingly incognito? Part of the time, even his closest friends didn’t recognize him. As you read chapter 27, did you wonder if Jesus was in some sort of disguise?

Let me be clear that I don’t really think Jesus ran around in a fake nose and Glasses, but let’s explore this story and the interesting theme of the disciples failure to recognize Jesus.

(ppt Slide 1)

Before you read this chapter of THE STORY, did you realize that there were so many post resurrection appearances of Jesus? I knew there were several, but I can’t say that I had ever made a study of them as a collection as I did this week.

I count 12 stories in the Gospels, understanding that some of them overlap or tell duplicate stories.

Acts of the Apostles and Paul record another eight stories, including one where Jesus appeared to over 500 at one time (1 Cor. 15.6).

As best I can figure, those 20 stories seem to represent 12 different events over the course of the 40 days after Easter. That is twelve separate appearances to, by my count, somewhere between 500 and 550 people. I read one pastor who counted over 1,000 people, but I think he must have counted some people twice.

For me, one of the most memorable stories is Jesus’ appearance to the disciples on the road to Emmaus.

It was late in the day; on Easter day. The two disciples were not from the original 12 “called” disciples or apostles. They were close enough to them, however, to be huddled together with the remaining 11 disciples on that first Easter morning. They were there when the women came back from the tomb. They were there when Peter came back too.

We don’t know for sure;

·       they may have been part of one of the crowds watching Jesus teach and heal, and from that experience, came to faith in Jesus.

·       They were probably among those who waved palm branches on Palm Sunday,

·       and may even have been among the disciples at the last supper. I had never really thought about it before, but the Bible says Jesus ate the last supper with the disciples. It does not say that it was only the 13 of them. That would explain why the breaking of the bread had so much meaning to them. I don’t know, just a thought.

From this story, we know that the term disciple was not limited to the original twelve. The two people we have in this story are two of what we might call the “second tier” of disciples.

The two disciples were going from Jerusalem to Emmaus, which may have been home for one of them. Emmaus was between 7 and 18 miles from Jerusalem. If your Bible is like mine, it says 7 miles, because Luke reads that it was 60 “stadia” from Jerusalem. Some early manuscripts of Luke, however, say that it was 160 stadia. This wouldn’t be a big problem if we knew where Emmaus was. Frankly, though, we have lost track of exactly where Emmaus was located. Archeologists have narrowed it down to about four possible locations, but the truth is that we are in the dark.

The walk to Emmaus then, would have taken between 2 and 6 hours walking at a normal pace. They didn’t leave until after the Mary’s and Peter had returned and from the empty tomb, which may still have been pretty early in the day. They would have to leave Jerusalem fairly early to make the walk to Emmaus between 2 and 6 hours, have supper, and walk back to Jerusalem before it got dark out and too dangerous to travel.

I have always thought of this as a supper meal, but we have to remember that the Jewish reckoning of time is a little different. The day starts and ends with Sunset, not midnight, or sunrise as we might think. After noon, in the Jewish view, the day is already drawing to a close. At least one commentator makes the argument that it had to be noon meal. I don’t suppose it really matters, but this possibly that it was a lunch meal, helps me to understand how the disciples made it to Emmaus and returned to Jerusalem the same day. On the other hand, they may have so excited that they took the risk of traveling at night.

As they were walking along, Jesus came up beside them. They were talking about everything that had happened over the Passover weekend. They were not excited or joyful, like we might expect. They really, had not put two and two together to figure out that Jesus had risen just as he said he would. The Bible says that they were

·       “looking sad” and then goes on to tell the most pathetic story about how

·       Jesus “WAS” a prophet who had been crucified. They

·       HAD HOPED that he would be the messiah. PAST TENSE “HAD HOPED.” They had been beaten down and had no hope left in them. You can just feel it in their words. “We HAD HOPED that he would be the one to redeem Israel.”

Strangely, they didn’t recognize Jesus. He stayed in his disguise the whole time. The story does not actually say that Jesus was in a disguise. It says that their eyes were kept from recognizing him. By whom, we might ask?

·       Maybe by Jesus,

·       maybe by a darkness in their hearts. I don’t know. For whatever reasons,

o  they didn’t recognize him as they walked with him.

o  They didn’t recognize him when he called them, “foolish” for being “slow of heart” and not believing “all that the prophets have declared!”

o  They didn’t recognize him when he taught from the Old Testament.

o  It is almost unbelievable, but they didn’t even recognize him when they sat down to eat together.

o  During that whole time they had with him, they never came a moment of recognition  until it was almost too late. I keep expecting Jesus to take off his disguise and say, “I’m baaack”; or lift the veil from their eyes or something. However, he stays incognito right up to the last minute.

Eventually he reveals himself in the “breaking of the bread.” Or eventually they see through his disguise. Either way they finally recognized Jesus for who he really was …and he disappeared from their sight.

That is the narrative form the LOWER STORY perspective. That is the historical account.

By now, 27 chapters into THE STORY, we know that we can’t just leave it at as lower story. We always want to back up for a wider perspective and ask, “What is God doing here? Where is God going?”

Let’s start with the lower story reality. In that reality, the disciples were “DISCOURAGED.” Have you ever noticed that some of the saddest words in our language start with “D?” They were reeling from Jesus’ death, but then add,

·       discouragement,

·       disappointment,

·       doubt,

·        disillusionment,

·       defeat, and

·       despair.

I think all of those words describe those two disciples on the road to Emmaus:

·       discouragement,

·       disappointment,

·       doubt,

·       disillusionment,

·       defeat, and

·       despair at the

·       death of the one they hoped would be the messiah, for whom they had been waiting for so long. Death was not in their understanding of the messiah’s job description, and that just drug them down into the pits of despair. Not even the women coming back with a wild Easter story could raise them back up. We hear the words “empty tomb,” and we are elated, shouting halleluiah. They hear the words “empty tomb,” and they ask, “What else could go wrong.” It is Easter day, but the disciples were still deflated, still discouraged, still disappointed, still doubting, still disillusioned, still defeated, and still despairing.

Huh!... That sounds a lot like us sometimes, doesn’t it? Not all the time, but you know what I’m saying:

·       deflated,

·       discouraged,

·       disappointed,

·       doubting,

·       disillusioned,

·       defeated, and

·       despairing.

Discipleship is not always about empty tombs and miraculous healings.

·       Discipleship is about facing tombs that hold the bodies of loved ones;

·       praying even when the answer seems to be “no” or “not now;

·       weeping over injustice even when we are not the direct victim;

·       hoping even when healing doesn’t seem to come;

·       walking on even when the road is the darkest; and

·       having faith enough to recognize Jesus in all of it.

·       Discipleship is doing all of that and still hanging on to our faith.

That’s the reality of discipleship sometimes isn’t it?

·       The church has been on the decline for 40 years.

·       We can’t seem to keep kids in church after confirmation.

·       Our old faithful are dying off

·       and the church has been locked in an embarrassing civil war over homosexuality for 40 years. You know the song and dance:

·       deflated,

·       discouraged,

·       disappointed,

·       doubting,

·       disillusioned,

·       defeated, and

·       despairing.

Our lives are far from perfect.

·       There never seems to be enough money to go around,

·       the house really needs to be vacuumed,

·       the boss is a jerk,

·       the neighbors won’t keep their nose out of our business,

·       the kids are driving you nuts,

·       the dog threw up on the carpet and

·       you still haven’t started saving for retirement.

o  We know discouragement.

o  We know disappointment.

o  We know doubt.

o  We know disillusionment.

o  We know defeat.

o  We know despair.

That’s exactly where these two disciples were on that first Easter day. That is exactly the road they were walking that day. The road may have lead to Emmaus, but it lead right through the valley of the shadow of

·       death, and

·       discouragement, and

·       disappointment, and

·       doubt, and

·       disillusionment, and

·       defeat, and

·       despair.

That road led right through the heart of the lower story perspective. And we have all been there. Looking at Jesus through the colored glasses of discouragement… it is no wonder they didn’t recognize him.

But the road to Emmaus doesn’t dead-end there. The road of discipleship does not dead end in discouragement.  Jesus ministry did not dead-end with his death.

No. From an upper story perspective,

·       the road to faith begins when we get to the end of our road.

·       The road to faith begins at the point that we realize that we are not “all that with a cherry on top.”

·       The road to faith begins when we realize that we are not in control,

·       we do not have all understanding, and

·       hope is hard to find. That is exactly the point of these post-resurrection appearances.

o  The story does not end when the guards roll the stone in front of the grave. That’s when it begins.

o  The story does not end when they found the tomb empty. It sure looks like it does… but it doesn’t end there… not even close. That’s where faith begins.

In the lower story, Jesus keeps showing up. Sometimes in disguise, sometimes not. But he keeps showing up, over and over, and over and over to hundreds of people in just the first 40 days. 

In the upper story, I think God is saying over and over again,

·       “I’m here.” And

·       “I’m here.” And

·       “I’m here.”   And

·       “I’m here.”

·       I am wherever you are.

·       I am wherever you need me.

·       I am here, wherever there is discouragement.

·       I am here, whether you experience joy or despair.

·       Death did not defeat me.

·       The tomb cannot contain me.

·       Your discouragement does not stop me.

·       Your doubt does not scare me.

·       I am here, no matter how far away you feel.

·       I came to bring you life and you can’t stop me, even if you kill me. That is the upper story message of the resurrection appearances. It was the message that God was trying to communicate to the disciples. It is the message that collectively the stories communicate to us today.

Through the whole biblical story, God was always there.

·       He was always right beside them.

·       He was always with them in the Garden of Eden when they ate themselves out of house and home.

·       God was always there when Abraham thought that all hope had been exhausted.

·       God was always there when David messed up so bad with Bathsheba, and when David danced into Jerusalem with the Ark of the Covenant.

·       God was always with Israel through the destruction of the temple and the years of rebuilding.

·       God said, “I am always with you” in the birth and life of Jesus.

·       He was always with them in the upper room even when they had the door locked.

·       He was always with them, even when they headed back home to Emmaus discouraged.

·       He was always with them even when they headed back to work, as Peter and the others seemed to in another post resurrection appearance.

·       He was always with them. And what was the last thing Jesus said in Matthew before He ascended?… Lo… I am with you even unto the end of the age. Always!

And we are not at the end of the age yet. He is still with us today. Now, I know, we live after the ascension. We live long after the 40 days when most of the appearances happened. It has been a long time since Jesus appeared to a crowd of 500, but Jesus does still appear. I think that is the point of all the mystery of Jesus in disguise. That is the reason we read so often that the disciples didn’t recognize him… because so often we don’t recognize him.  We need to be reminded that when we don’t see Jesus, he is still with us, even to the end of the age.

·       These stories not only affirm for us that Jesus was raised from the dead,

o  they also affirm that Jesus is with us even when we don’t see him.

·       The stories are not just to affirm the reality of the resurrection.

o  They are to confirm for us that Jesus is still walking beside us no matter where our road goes, no matter how dark it gets, no matter how blind we become, no matter how immune we become to the work of the divine around us.

Unfortunately,

·       it is exactly at the times we need God most that we tend to look for help everywhere except here he is.

·       It is exactly when we need power most that we rely on our own weakness.

·       It is exactly when we need hope the most that we hide in the darkness.

·        It is exactly when we need Jesus the most that we replace him with every other thing you can think of.

·       It is exactly when we need a word of life the most, that we decide set up house in the graveyard.

Just like the disciples who were suffering grief after the death of Jesus, It is exactly when we need light the most that we clinch our eyes shut, refuse to see Jesus, and then curse the darkness.

Let me tell you, the moral of the story is that

·       Jesus is not in disguise. 

·       Jesus is right in front of us,

·       beside us,

·       above us and

·       below us.

·       He is right before us in the love of a neighbor,

·       the need of a stranger,

·       the laughter of a child,

·       and the tears of the widow.

·       Jesus is right before us in the struggle to believe

·       and in the hard choices that we call love.

Jesus is never in disguise if we just open our eyes and see him face to face.

(ppt Slide 1)

This life is your road to Emmaus. It can either be a dead end road that lands you in darkness, because you refuse to see the Jesus right beside you; or it can be the road of faith and life, if you choose to do life with Jesus.

·       Open your eyes.

·       Open them.

·       Open your eyes and your heart and see Jesus not only in the breaking of the bread, but in every breath you take and the very beating of your heart.

AMEN