Christ Pursues Us
Easter 3
Fr. Tim Nunez
May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
This past week Meg shared a story with me about a special pair of glasses that can help some colorblind people see the colors they’ve been missing. Those colors are usually red and green, which wind up being brownish and grayish. The glasses eliminate some portions of the light spectrum that muddy the red and the green. They get clarified and much more visible. There are various causes of colorblindness, this works for some but not all of them.
Imagine a fire truck looking brown to you. You can’t see what you can’t see. Then with the glasses you see it in fire engine red. Suddenly those words take on new meaning. Once you’ve seen it, you cannot unsee it. And even if those glasses are taken away from you, the memory of that sight remains recorded in your memory.
We tend to refer to this passage from Luke’s Gospel as “the walk to Emmaus,” which makes sense because they are, in fact, walking to Emmaus. But Emmaus isn’t the point. No one goes to Emmaus, no one makes pilgrimages to Emmaus. We don’t even know exactly where it was, although a best guess is about 7-7½ northwest of Jerusalem, on the road to Joppa, or modern Tel Aviv.
The point is not Emmaus. This is a case of misdirection.
Luke structures his Gospel geographically. In chapter 9 verse 51, he writes that “Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem.” From there, the story continues until Jesus comes into Jerusalem for the Passover and final conflict that will climax with his death and Resurrection. It all comes to that point physically and spiritually.
In the Book of Acts, Luke will document how the Gospel and the Church spread out from Jerusalem into the synagogues then among the Gentiles, across the Greco-Roman world.
But at this point, Cleopas and the other disciple are walking away from Jerusalem at the wrong time and for all the wrong reasons. They are walking away from the fear, from the grief, from the confusion and all that’s swirling among the disciples that day because they do not yet know the amazing news on that first Easter.
And so, they are walking, hashing things out as they go, as people do. (How much of our lives do we spend processing our experiences with others? This is so real!) But they are so lost in their conversation that they cannot recognize Jesus. Or maybe the afternoon sun is in their eyes. Or maybe it’s something more than physical sight. Luke says they were kept from recognizing him.
Jesus meets them on that road, where they are. He takes in what they are able to articulate about their experience and the rumors they have heard. He then connects their dots with dots of understanding in the scriptures for them. Even then, they cannot recognize him, not until he blesses, breaks and gives the bread to them.
Recall what Jesus did the night before he died. He blessed the bread, broke it and said, “This is my body. Whenever you eat it, do this in remembrance of me.” Now they see he is risen! They cannot ever unsee that. That doesn’t mean their lives will be easy or all set. Far from it. What it does mean is that his promises are true and secure.
So much of our lives is attending to the work we do, our responsibilities. Our walk of faith is also often focused on what we do. Get to church. Read my Bible. Say my prayers. Behave. What should we stop doing? What should we start doing? Are we learning enough – and especially in the areas we want and need to learn? Are we serving our Lord as he desires?
And life is just hard. Life throws things at us – or we throw ourselves into circumstances – that truly try men’s and women’s souls. We go through times of growth and purpose, times of wilderness and struggle – and most often we regard our faith in terms of our obedience and heart.
But remember that we are only half of the equation – actually less than half, actually much less than half.
On the other side of this relationship is a God who has proven again and again that he will not abandon his children. No matter how we test and try his patience, he will pursue us. We may need to learn some hard lessons along the way. We may be headed in exactly the wrong direction at the wrong time for the wrong reasons. We will certainly need to go through times of repentance and penitence.
But his hand is on you. And he will not let you go. Though you may be as distracted and distraught and misdirected as the disciples on the road to Emmaus, he will come. He will walk with you. He will in time open your eyes. And seeing him, you will sprint to share the Good News.
We are very blessed this morning to baptize Genevieve Blumrich, or Vivie as they call her. Vivie is blessed to have very bright and capable parents who love her, who would do anything and everything to keep her safe, to nurture and provide for her, and to help her grow year by year into the capable and delightful woman they hope and envision she will be.
Vivie has changed their world and they will never, ever see it the same again. New life does that. Life is much more vivid seeing with her. She’s got so much to learn, to experience, to understand. And today Jesus meets her on the road to establish and affirm the bond of his love and grace that will never break. And she will see the world through the most beautiful lens – love, God’s love.
AMEN