Sermon: Third Sunday of Easter, Luke 24:13-35, April 23, 2023 Faith-La Fe Lutheran Church, Pastor Linman

Sermon: Third Sunday of Easter, Luke 24:13-35, April 23, 2023

Faith-La Fe Lutheran Church, Pastor Jonathan Linman

Have you ever stopped to think about what makes for a great story? Most of the time great stories speak for themselves – we know them when we see them, read them, and hear them.

But if you reflect on it, compelling stories have certain features: interesting characters; surprising twists in the plot as the story unfolds; maybe there’s some humor, for example, of mistaken identities. Great stories also speak truth about the human condition.

Quite importantly, compelling stories have a certain trajectory and are heading somewhere. The energy and suspense build to a climax and then a resolution and clear ending – or dénouement (a word I learned in high school literature class). That’s when all the strands of the plot line come together and everything makes sense.

But perhaps a most basic feature of a great story is that it captures our hearts or tugs at our heart strings.

The stories of the gospel have all of this and touch our hearts. In today’s first reading from Acts, Peter had just finished his sermon – his first public proclamation of God’s mighty deeds of power in raising Jesus from the dead. Peter must have told a great story in that sermon because his listeners were “cut to the heart.” The compelling gospel story cut through all their skepticism and hardness of heart and touched them deeply – in their hearts.

And then there’s the story of the Road to Emmaus, today’s gospel reading, one of the most profound stories in all of the Christian scriptures. It’s a great story, with three principal characters: the two disciples, one named Cleopas and the other unnamed, and then Jesus. The two are walking along the road going back home, lamenting the horrible things that just happened in Jerusalem with the death of Jesus, their hoped-for redeemer.

And then in a great twist of plot, Jesus shows up on the road with them unannounced, and we have the humor of mistaken identity, for the disciples thought Jesus was simply a stranger. They didn’t recognize him.

When the two disciples told the story of Jesus’ death, we have a sense of human tragedy and dashed hopes that resulted from Jesus having been crucified. The disciples thought that was going to be the end of the story.

But then the energy builds as Jesus interprets for them all the things in the scriptures about himself. The disciples still don’t know it’s Jesus talking with them. They reach Emmaus at nightfall, and they invite Jesus in for supper to show this stranger good hospitality.

Then we reach the climax of the story with another dramatic twist. Jesus “took bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to them.” The disciples thought they were hosting a stranger, but Jesus suddenly becomes the host, and the two disciples’ eyes are opened, and they finally recognize Jesus in the breaking of bread. And just as suddenly he vanishes from their sight. It’s an exciting story, full of dramatic energy. It would make a great movie.

This is the point in the story at which everything begins to make sense. It’s the dénouement, when everything comes together in clarity, touching the hearts of all who hear it – “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?”

Indeed, the encounter with Jesus captured the disciples’ hearts, like all amazing experiences that become great stories. Which is to say, this story captures our hearts, too. For think about the point that the gospel story teller, Luke, is trying to make. Nobody at all in his gospel narrative about the resurrection had as yet recognized the risen Lord until he broke bread with them. Let this soak in.

Luke is telling his community of ancient times that they encounter the risen Christ whenever they share in the breaking of bread at the Lord’s Supper on the Lord’s Day.

And here’s the thing, Luke’s message is for us, too! The same means through which Christ was known and recognized on that first Easter Day is the same means through which we encounter the risen Lord now two thousand some years later. That’s amazing. It’s amazing grace. And a great, great story that tells the full truth about the human condition and the promise of our redemption because Christ has been raised from the dead, and is made known to us in the breaking of bread. Which means the risen Christ is with us here every Sunday hosting us here at this very table.

And here’s another thing: the plot line and narrative trajectory of the story of the Road to Emmaus is the same plot line as our order of worship on Sundays. We gather together like the two disciples did on the road, sometimes telling each other the sad details of our seemingly hopeless world, feeling the heavy weight of our dashed hopes.

And then Jesus meets us here in the reading and proclamation of the scriptural word, and thereby through his Spirit, Jesus interprets to us the things about himself in all the scriptures.

Then we set the table and we take bread, bless and break it and give it to each other – and we recognize the risen Christ in our midst. And he vanishes out of our sight.

And through the word and the Lord’s Supper, we recognize that our hearts burn within us as our faith is once again enkindled and renewed here, each and every Sunday.

And then we leave this place to go back to our versions of Jerusalem to find the others in our lives to share with them the good news that Christ has been raised from the dead and is known to us in the breaking of the bread.

Thus, each and every Sunday is a re-enactment here in this place of that great, ancient story of the Road to Emmaus. Week after week, year after year, decade after decade, century after century, Christians journey the Road to Emmaus and recognize the risen Christ again and again in the breaking of the bread. Thanks be to God!

And this encounter completely transforms the quality of our life together. For as the writer of today’s reading from 1 Peter puts it, we have been “born anew not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God,” and we therefore grow in “genuine mutual affection, loving one another deeply from the heart.” (cf. 1 Peter 1:22-23) Which is to say, the story that tugs at our heart strings, makes it possible for us to love each other, deeply from the heart as we serve each other and our neighbors in need in word and deed.

It's a great story, folks. Go and tell it and live it out in acts of heartfelt kindness and love of our neighbors, for Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed, alleluia! Amen.