Luke 24:13-35

You have just started on a life-long journey, little lady.  A journey of both life and faith.  I’ve been on that journey for a very long time, Bella and I want to tell you a story about it.  You like stories don’t you?  Now this is not a bedtime story; it is a faith story.
I want to tell you abut the most unforgettable day of my life.   You won’t understand it now, but perhaps later.
We’d been to the temple for a special celebration of how God is good and faithful.  We had quite a meal.  After that I was tired.  And we headed home.   We women had to do a lot of the preparation; women always seem to have the greatest work load in celebrations and parties.  Anyway, I was so tired the sand really cuts my toes in my sandals.  And the dust is in my nose and even my clothes scratched and felt rough.  Some days you just get that tired.
And we had to walk seven miles to get home.  The celebration was over and the roads were full of people thousands and thousands of people who were going home after this big celebration.  You’d think it would sound like a party but actually many people talking with sad voices and have sad faces.
Anyway we were ready to be home, that seven-mile walk which is even longer when you are tired and upset.  My husband Cleopas and I were talking about all the things that had happened in the last few days.  All of a sudden, this stranger came up to walk beside us.  He joined in.
“What’s this you are talking about, what is so terrible?
“Are you the only one who doesn’t know what has happened in Jerusalem these last few days? “
“What things?” he asked.   Surely he knew.  I thought everybody knew.  Well, we began to tell him.
We told him about a man called Jesus of Nazareth; he was a really good man, a godly man, I tell you, Bella.  You should have been around to hear him teach about God and about love.  A wonderful teacher.  Besides that, he could heal.  He could calm the storm, feed lots of people.  He could turn water into wine and walk on water and show everybody that God loved them.  Oh, he would have loved you, Bella; he would have held you in his arms and blessed you.   We had such hopes he would lead us out of our troubles.  But then, well it is too hard to explain even to grown-ups, they killed him.  Killed this gentle man.
We kept explaining this to the stranger.  “That was three days ago.  Some women took spices to the tomb,” we told the stranger.  They came back saying they didn’t find his body.  They came back saying that angels had told them he was alive.    Some of our group went to look.  I didn’t.  Don’t know why.  I guess it is just too hard to believe.  I felt like it was all over, the teacher, the celebration, the sad death so we just needed to go back home.”
Then the stranger began to talk to us.  He told us things from the Holy Scripture.  And, he knew them.  He told us the stories of God like the ones in your Beginners Bible.  He talked about Moses and other people of God.   He said, “Don’t you understand.  This is the way it had to be.”   The more he talked the more it all began to make sense.  And my body, remember how tired I told you I was, well now my feet were light and my heart – it was like a fire in it.
Before I knew it we were almost home, almost at Emmaus.  We had walked all that way, hardly noticing where we were.
It was almost suppertime when we got to the town where we live.  The stranger was going to keep walking but I thought we should invite him to come stay with us and have supper.  We actually had to beg him.  I wasn’t real sure that we had anything in the house to eat.  After all, we had been gone several days.  But we did a little wine and olive oil and bread we bought at the market, but I didn’t know if there’d be anything else to offer.  The house might not be “guest ready.”  I am the kind that wants my home to be “guest ready” but never mind.  All I wanted to do was to listen to him and be with him.  We begged him to stay and finally he agreed.
When we got home, Cleopas entertained him, while I hurried to put a simple supper on the table.  Then the strangest thing happened.  The stranger, our guest became the host.  He took the bread and said the blessing and broke it and gave it to us.  And we recognized him; we knew who the stranger was.  In the breaking of the bread, we recognized it was Jesus, the risen Lord.  He was alive and had come to us.  It was so exciting, but then, you know, he disappeared just as quickly as he had appeared. Suddenly he was no longer there.
I’m telling you, Bella, that day was one I’ll never forget.  It was life-changing.  Let me tell you some wonderful things I learned.
1. Jesus is walking along beside you.  He is there when you expect him the least.   At times when you are upset, sad scared you may not recognize him, but he is there encouraging and helping.
2.  God can bring good out of the worst situation.  In fact, God can bring resurrection.
3.  It is good to tell and retell stories of the faith.  They’ll help you make sense of life.
4. You may know the stories of the faith but unless you really talk with Jesus, let him travel with you through life, the stories won’t touch your heart.
5. You will recognize him in the breaking of the bread.  It will come to mean more than simply bread; bread will make you think of him.
6. The truth of Jesus Christ is too good to keep to yourself.
These are some things I learned on the Emmaus road, Bella, I just wanted to pass them on to you the way we passed good news to the disciples.  Jesus is alive and among us. I hope that your family and your church family will tell you the stories of Jesus over and over again until they become true for you and until you recognize Jesus walking beside you and in the breaking of the bread.  And then that you tell your children.

Amen
Sermon by Dr. Charlotte D. Nabors
Central Congregational Church
April 6, 2008