|
Bread Broken, Eyes Open The Sundays which follow Easter present us with the very human stories of people and their struggles with faith. On Easter Day we read about the women who came to the tomb, and then the disciples, and their struggle to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead ; on the week after ( that was last Sunday) our lectionary highlighted Thomas and his struggle with faith; , and today we read about a couple on the road to Emmaus. In each case – they are ordinary people who are challenged in this matter of their faith, and of seeing and trusting Jesus. Each of us has probably, at some time or other, faced a similar struggle and challenge of faith – or maybe we are caught up in it right at this moment. Well -- I will let you into a secret – there will always be times of struggle, this side of eternity, when, no matter how long you say you have been a believer, or a follow of Jesus Christ – there will come times of challenge to your faith, and your walking with Christ. **[[ Some of you may not even classify yourselves as a Christ followers yet, you are still checking it out; - Well I would encourage you to continue to check it out, and to take the step, or the leap of faith, when you can - – but just know that once you have checked it out, and you have decided to take the step of discipleship, it wont mean the end of all your doubts, or questions, or problems or pains. You will still have some of those, and you might even get some new ones ]] ** – but at least there will be Someone with you, in that Journey. So let’s now turn back to the gospel reading today - and see what it says to us about this struggle of faith. The story in the gospel is about two people on the road to Emmaus, this was in the evening of the first Easter Day. “Now on that same day two of them (disciples) were going to a village called Emmaus… and talking with each other about all these things ( the Crucifixion and Resurrection) that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.” (Lk24: 13-16) Emmaus , so the gospel tells us, is about eleven kilometres from Jerusalem. That’s no small distance when you are walking a dry dusty road, and it’s near the end of the day. Scholars disagree over the exact location of Emmaus. But maybe this uncertainty actually offers us a further insight into the story. If we don’t really know where Emmaus is – perhaps we can look at it in another way - perhaps Emmaus may be anywhere! Perhaps those two disciples aren’t the only ones on the Road to Emmaus? The road which you are on at the moment, spiritually speaking, may well be that road to Emmaus – a road on which your eyes are eventually opened to the Risen Christ – and you “see” Him for who he is – both Lord and Saviou! But here is a question for us to ponder today. “Why didn’t they know Jesus?” Luke says , “Their eyes were kept from recognising him.” But why? Why did they not recognise Him? Well, every now and then some well meaning person will say to me something like ;- “I just don’t get it. God has never spoken to me. When I tried prayer, I was just talking to myself. This whole religion thing seems to be a load of hooey! “And I don’t think those sort of comments are uncommon! We have a good congregation here this morning, as many churches go (how many?), but there are another 10,000 people out there, in Devonport, who are not here! How do you explain that we are all walking down the same road, metaphorically, yet you and I see something – the reality of God, the risen Christ, that nine out of ten don’t? Why don’t others recognise Jesus? Many years ago, Augustine, as a bright young man with a superior classical education, confessed to Bishop Ambrose that he had tried to read the Bible but frankly, he was unimpressed. To him the bible seemed woefully inferior, crudely write and poorly edited. “You young fool,” replied Ambrose. “You cant get it because when you read in the Bible about ‘fish’ you think ‘fish’. When you read ‘bread’ you think ‘bread’” Ambrose explained to him the spiritual depth of scripture and showed young Augustine levels of meaning beyond the surface appearance of things. Why didn’t they recognise Jesus? Because we don’t always see or discern or understand the spiritual dimension in the ordinary surface events of this life! -- for example - If you haven’t already noticed it, I would like to draw your attention to our newly installed Mariners window. The artist sees deeper spiritual meanings which take us beyond the literal meaning of what we see. At first sight you might see a compass, the southern cross, some small white triangles and lengths of lead joining different shaped pieces of coloured glass together. But if you look at it with different eyes, with spiritual eyes of faith, it might speak to you quite differently. The Southern Cross might speak to you of Divine guidance – perhaps the compass rose – which is also the world-wide symbol of the Anglican Communion – may speak also of direction and purpose; Are those little white triangles of glass just that, part of a nice design, or to the artistic eyes are they a flotilla of yachts in the harbour, or perhaps even the tents of a pilgrim people on a journey? . Are the curved vertical shapes of lead just there to join glass together, or do they represent a spinnaker, or perhaps the prow of a boat. There is more to be seen by the eye of faith, than meets the natural eye. Why didn’t the disciples on the road to Emmaus recognise Jesus? Perhaps they had not yet discovered the way of faith, just as Augustine hadn’t discovered the way of reading the bible through the eyes of faith. It was not until later, during the sharing of a meal that the disciples eyes are opened, and through the ordinary event of taking, blessing and breaking bread, they recognise the Risen Jesus there with them. Our Road to Emmaus this morning ,may well be the aisle of this church – and when we gather around the Lord’s Table and bread is broken – our eyes of faith will be opened a little further to recognise his presence. Or our Emmaus Road may be the very road outside our front door and we ought not to be surprised if, in our journey tomorrow, to wherever our Emmaus may be, we will be met on the way by the Risen Christ. |
