Rev. Marlene W. Pomeroy

May 8, 2011

Luke 24:13-35

First CongregationalChurch of Pasadena, UCC

The Christian Faith has oftentimes been described as a journey. This is an important metaphor to remember because like all journeys, there will be aspects that we love to lift up and remember, and there will also be very challenging portions of the journey that we will be relieved about when they are over.  There will be highlights and there will be lessons learned that we wish to never repeat. But unlike a vacation which does have a distinct beginning and end to it, a journey is a much longer process where we are challenged to stick with our path over the long haul.

Our own faith journeys intertwine, and are related to, the biblical story. We are informed by the teachings and stories of our Bible as we integrate their themes and messages into our own lives. Today our scripture gives us the story of the road to Emmaus.  It’s a long walk – up to 40 miles we hear, from Jerusalem to Emmaus, which meant that it took hours to travel. Two travelers were traveling home most likely after the events in Jerusalem that week.  They wanted to get away from all the sadness and despair that had marked that final week of Jesus’ life in Jerusalem. The disciples who stayed in the city were huddled together in homes, afraid and unsure of what to do next.

We know that one of the travelers was Cleopas. I think we tend to assume that the second person was another man. Walter Wangerin, in his book The Book of God, imagines that the companion is the 18 yr. old teenager daughter of Cleopas, which brings in a new perspective on what the conversation might have been like on the road.  The fact that we don’t know anything about the second person invites us to imagine ourselves as the second walker on that day. The banter on the road to Emmaus is pretty straightforward – the visitor who joins them doesn’t seem to know what has happened in Jerusalem this past week, so the other two tell him about Jesus of Nazareth and how he was handed over to death. They had hoped he was the one to redeem Israel through his mighty words and deeds. They also spoke of the women who had gone to the tomb early and found it empty except for the presence of some angels who told them that Jesus was alive. At this point the quiet stranger speaks up and interprets the scriptures to them. They are surprised and intrigued by his knowledge and his interpretation. So much so, that they when near the village, they invite him to be their guest at their house. He accepts their invitation to come and eat and stay with them.  Because of their welcome they in turn become Jesus’ guests as he blesses the bread and offers it to them, just as he had at the Last Supper.  Then we are told their eyes are opened as they recognize him and he vanishes from their sight; they begin to think back to the experience on the road and recall that their hearts had been burning within them during the walk.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that it is very hard to describe religious experience. When someone shares this kind of mystical experience of the Divine, it can sound strange and confusing. We tend to get bogged down in the details – Now wait a second, you said you did or did not recognize Jesus when he was walking with you? what was he wearing? Did he smile or was he serious? When exactly did you realize who you were in the presence of?  These two people – perhaps father and daughter - had an encounter with the Risen Christ. An encounter that shaped them and inspired them to get up and return immediately toJerusalem - again, up to a 40 mile walk!!! They needed to get back to tell others about their experience. They went straight to the disciples who were gathered to share their experience.

What they shared with their friends was their commissioning: they felt commissioned to not live in despair, but to continue in the ministry to which Jesus had called each of them – to heal the sick, forgive sins, offer hope to the hopeless, reconcile people to one another and to call people to their new lives that had been taught to them through the teachings of the Bible. Simple and yet profound.  In the face of the disciples who were feeling weak, frightened, bewildered, and helpless, they were reminded of their callings to build up the realm of God.

There is a beautiful article in the Op-ed section of the LA Times today. It is about the Mexican poet Javier Sicilia of Cuernavaca. His son was recently killed in a narcotics-related crime and Sicilia wrote an open Letter as a “cry in the desert” and ? as a “righteous denunciation” of all the blood that has been shed by the drug cartels (LA Times p. A26). He writes against all the drug violence and all the suffering and deaths it has caused and he simply says “we have had enough.”  ”Estamos hasta la madre,” are his words which mean we are up to our mother in this suffering; “it has violated the most profound and sacred spaces of our spirit.” His letter is to the politicians who have struggled “for power that has torn apart the fabric of the nation.”  And to the drug cartels, “with your violence, loss of honor, cruelty, your senselessness,” he says estamos hasta la madre!! Sicilia’s words have galvanized the public though and the phrase has show up on signs made by grandmothers and children in protest marches in parts of Mexico. It has appeared on Facebook pages and on the lips of folks across the economic spectrum. An aching poet who writes about the loss of his son responds to his personal pain through the “Poetry of protest.”  The writer of the op-ed piece asks us as Americans to acknowledge that most of the cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine that is consumed in the U.S. is produced or transported through Mexico. We may only experience its effect through the devastation in our families and communities by addicts, but we are connected to this war and bloodshed too and we must also say, “Estamos hasta la madre.”   We have had enough.

There is another story in the paper today of a family who has also had enough. It is the family of Bryan Stow, the Giants fan who was attacked at Dodger stadium a few weeks ago. The article focuses on the mother Ann Stow, a 63 yr. old church secretary whose life has been fractured by this senseless violence. She sits with her son daily in his hospital room, reading and talking to him, not yet ready to give up on him or his life.  Frank McCourt is paying her hotel bills since she lives in the Bay area. Other donations have come in to help with her medical costs – $60,000 came in from a Dodger fundraiser. Dodger employees have sent her cards and hotel employees where she is staying near the hospital have nurtured and supported her. For Mother’s Day Ann Stowhas written words to the unidentified woman who was driving the car that picked up the two men who attacked her son.  Police have said that this woman was with a 10 year old boy at the time – perhaps she is his mother. Ann Stow is appealing to this woman to turn in the thugs who beat her son.

Important aspects of our lives are not always formulated out of pain?but many times they are. Amidst pain and suffering we begin to see things in a clearer way. It motivates us to say “enough!!”  Many movements have been formulated out of painful incidents that invited us to act, get involved, and speak up. The pain of Jesus’ death by the hands of others was the spark that ignited his followers to continue and not give up. Through these post-resurrection appearances, Jesus comes to them and reminds them of their callings as disciples and says to them – my death has not negated the work that we began together. Now more than ever we are called to – heal the sick, forgive sins, offer hope to the hopeless, reconcile people to one another and call people to their new lives that had been taught to them through the teachings of the Bible.

Scholar and teacher Marcus Borg has helped us understand the distinction between the pre-Easter Jesus and the post-Easter Jesus. Thepre-Easter Jesus is the man from Nazareth who lived and taught in the first century. He was a Rabbi, a teacher, a Galilean man who was raised a Jew. A peasant who understood the ways of the common folks. Many people were healed by his touch and his teachings and many gathered to hear his wisdom with words which brought meaning to people’s lives. The post-Easter Jesus by contrast is spiritual, infinite, eternal. He is Christ, God’s anointed one and becomes the second person of the trinity – God with a human face. He is not just a Jewish peasant any longer; rather he is majestic, glorified and other-worldly. This post-Easter Christ invites us to live a life centered around the spirit rather than simply worldly pursuits. Fruits of this alternative wisdom are a life filled with compassion for others. This compassion pushes us out from our own lives to care for people to advocate for justice and to work for just social structures. In summary, the pre-Easter Jesus is the Jesus of Nazareth who lived and taught in the 1st century and the post-Easter Jesus is the bigger-than-life Christ that symbolizes everything Jesus has grown to become to the Christian community that continues to follow him.

As we travel on our own journeys as Christian people, we must include that transformative walk to Emmaus – whereby we make our own transition from Jesus to the Christ. What does that mean for us as post-Easter people? What claim does this Risen Christ have on our lives? That is the question that our Bible text asks us to consider today. Thanks be to God for the journey of faith which fosters a deeper understanding not only of Jesus, but of ourselves. Amen.