’d like to take you on a little trip this morning. We are going to drop in on Times Square in New York City. All around us are bright neon signs, huge screens showing advertisements and all sorts of news 24/7. It never really gets dark. It’s the heart of the “City that Never Sleeps.” There are stores and hotels and Broadway theaters all around us, hot dog stands, too much to take in all at once. It’s the most bustling slice of New York City.

And there are people, so many people, bustling all around you from every walk of life. Wall Street executives, students, aspiring actors, tourists, cab drivers, and they come from all across the country and all around the world.

You are there for a very important purpose. You’ve got a microphone and giant speaker so that you can tell whoever will listen about Jesus. Are you ready?

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As we get into today’s Gospel, we need to know where and when we are.

When Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled,” there is a lot of tension and confusion in the room. This is at the last supper. Jesus has washed the disciples’ feet. Judas has left and Jesus has begun to tell them that he is going away. He is speaking about his death then ascension, but they are confused and don’t understand. Peter protests, says he will lay down his life for Jesus, and Jesus predicts Peter will deny him three times before the cock crows. Peter is crestfallen.  Such anguish to hear that from his Lord!

What do you mean you’re leaving? Of course we are coming with you! They don’t know where he is going but they are committed to following him. They’ve been following him and while it has been astounding, it has been a hard road. Now they can’t?

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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.

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