FIRST READING Acts 2:14a, 36-41
14aBut Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed {the crowd}:
36“Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” 37Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
PSALM Psalm 116:1-14
1I love the Lord, because he has heard the voice of my supplication, because he has inclined his ear to me whenever I called upon him. 2The cords of death entangled me; the grip of the grave took hold of me; I came to grief and sorrow. 3Then I called upon the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I pray you, save my life.” 4Gracious is the Lord and righteous; our God is full of compassion. 5The Lord watches over the innocent; I was brought very low, and he helped me. 6Turn again to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has treated you well. 7For you have rescued my life from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling. 8I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living. 9I believed, even when I said, “I have been brought very low.” In my distress I said, “No one can be trusted.” 10How shall I repay the Lord for all the good things he has done for me? 11I will lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. 12I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. 13Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his servants. 14O Lord, I am your servant; I am your servant and the child of your handmaid; you have freed me from my bonds.
SECOND READING 1 Peter 1:17-25
17If you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you 21who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. 22Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.
GOSPEL Luke 24:13-35
13That very day two of {Jesus’ followers} were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. 16But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. 18Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” 19And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. 21But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. 22Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, 23and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. 24Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” 25And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. 28So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, 29but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. 30When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. 32They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” 33And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.
HOPE TO CARRY ON
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the disciples, those who went to the tomb, those hiding for fear of the Jews and the two traveling to Emmaus, struggled to believe in the Resurrection. After all, someone coming back to life once dead isn’t something you see every day. I’m sure that on some level they wanted to believe, they had seen Jesus raise others from the dead, but for the most part, we live somewhere in between belief and non-belief. In fact, we may feel more like the family of actress Helen Hayes. Her husband and son wanted to encourage her to try her hand at cooking her first Thanksgiving Dinner. So, in the days leading up to Thanksgiving Day, the husband and son encouraged her by telling her that they were looking forward to the big event.
Helen had never cooked a turkey before, and before serving it, she announced to her husband and son that if the turkey wasn’t any good she didn’t want anyone to say a word. She said, “We’ll all just get up from the table, without comment, and go to a restaurant to eat.” Helen then returned to the kitchen, and when she entered the dining room with the turkey on a platter, she found her husband and her son seated at the table with their hats and coats already on.
Today’s gospel lesson has perhaps one of the more compelling narratives in all the scriptures. It’s so fascinating in fact, that our evangelists Luke, includes it in detail near the end of his gospel writing. It’s a story that’s well known and beloved in the church — it’s the story of two of Jesus’ followers walking down a dusty road to the village of Emmaus, the evening of that first Easter day. And as they walked, their talk naturally centers around the crucified, and presumed dead Jesus.
Their words come out slowly, painfully, as they trudge their way along, their feet heavy and their hearts broken. “I can hardly believe it,” one of them says. “In fact, I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. He’s dead. He’s really gone. “What should we to do now?” the other asks. “Life seems so hopeless.” Maybe they pause for a moment, gathering the strength to go on. Just then a stranger joins them — perhaps He has come up from behind, unknown to them. Perhaps He’s been walked along with them for a while without their noticing. But suddenly He’s there. “I’m sorry,” He says, “but I couldn’t help but overhear you. What are you talking about?”
They pause once again and turn to look at Him. Other travelers step around them, anxious to reach their destination before night falls. The three of them stand there in the middle of the dusty road and talk. “Where have you been the last few days,” one of the disciples asks the stranger. “How is it you haven’t heard anything about Jesus of Nazareth?” And so, the two of them tell the stranger what they know. But it’s important that we listen to what they say to the person who has suddenly joined them.
The two disciples continue, He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed Him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified Him; but we had hoped that He would be the one who would redeem Israel. And what’s more, it’s the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find His body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said He was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they didn’t see Him. — Luke 24:19c-24
I don’t know about you, but this story has always fascinated me — this scene between two beloved disciples of our Lord, filled with sadness and despair, grieving at the death of a friend, telling that stranger how the last nail has been driven into their hope for the future. And our Savior Himself patiently listening, while the disciples’ “eyes kept from recognizing Him” (Luke 24:16b), perhaps keeping His nail-scarred hands buried deep within His robe, speak of the recent events. As Jesus hears their words of grief and sadness, His heart, no doubt, must have been touched by their pain. It’s an intriguing account, one filled with raw emotion and one that captivates our imagination. However, I do need to ask at this point, have you been listening closely to what the disciples have been saying?
Have we taken the time to carefully understand what’s happening here? If we haven’t, we need to, because it’s a message for us today. Listen again carefully to what they’re saying: “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; and we had hoped that he would be the one who would redeem Israel.” “We had hoped,” they said.
The disciples might as well have said, “We used to have hope, but we don’t anymore.” That’s the way they felt. As far as they were concerned, it had all been for naught. Their teacher, their leader, their hope for the future, was now dead and gone. Jesus had warned them repeatedly, at least three times, that all this was going to happen. And as He said, He would be handed over to die a cruel death on the cross and He did; now it was all over. What’s more, this was the third day; He had promised He would return to them alive. But it appears that He’s a no show. The part about Him being resurrected from the dead appeared to be untrue. Even with everything the women had seen and shared, all hope seemed lost. And that’s exactly how they felt, hopeless and lost.
For those without a resurrection faith, those who have yet to hear and believe the good news of Jesus’ resurrection, for those who refuse to believe the good news of Easter, death is a terrible thing. It puts to an end to any hope for the future and seems to erect an eternal barrier between their loved ones and themselves. Without a living hope, without a living faith in the resurrected Christ, like the disciples on the Road to Emmaus, people are left to trudge their way along the dusty, dark roads of life, dragging their feet, wondering what they could have done to avoid this. But it doesn’t need not be that way. As faithful followers of Jesus, as children of God, as those who know the rest of the story, as those who have been to the empty tomb and have met the risen Christ, we know that death is not the end. We know that there is an eternal hope that’s ours through faith in the living Christ.
There’s a certain city in Romania, which has a “burying ground” that’s called “The Merry Cemetery.” The crosses that serve as tombstones are decorated with carvings, paintings in bright colors, and even amusing epitaphs. They express, of course, the Christian belief in the resurrection. However, the former Communist government which wrote the travel folders describing this cemetery and its unique tombstones, until recently, described that Christian hope expressed on the tombstones as merely “the expression of a certain philosophy regarding a way of facing death.”
“A certain philosophy regarding a way of facing death.” As Christians, we know there’s more to our faith than that. Our faith in Christ is more than just a “philosophy about facing death.” As St. Peter wrote, it’s “a living hope,” a living trust in God and a certain faith in a risen Savior regarding the very nature of life and death itself. As people of God, our faith rests on our relationship with the crucified and living Lord Jesus Christ who says to us, “I am the resurrection and the life; if anyone believes in me, even though he dies yet shall he live.” (John 11:25)
That’s why the apostle Peter, in our epistle reading for last week, could say, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3) Our hope, as Christian people, comes from God and resides in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and won the victory over sin and death when God the Father raised Him from the dead. This risen Savior alone can say, “I died and behold I am forevermore” (Rev. 1:18); I am the resurrection and the life. If anyone believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whoever lives and believes in me, shall never die.”
The story of those two disciples, on the Road to Emmaus, is the story of faith reborn. It’s the record of hope restored and that’s what makes this story so important. That’s what makes it one of the greatest stories ever told. It reminds us that we have a pledge and promise from our God, a word of hope, a living trust in our risen Savior that we can hang on to. It’s a living hope that frees us from the prison of hopelessness.
Helen Keller was a prisoner of her own circumstances. She couldn’t see or hear. She could feel with her hands, but without sight or hearing, how could she know what she was feeling? One day her teacher, Anne Sullivan, took Helen down the familiar path in front of her house to an old hand-pump well. Someone was there drawing water. Anne took Helen’s hand and held it under the water and in sign language spelled on her other hand the letters — W – A – T – E – R. Suddenly, something happened. Immediately her life changed. In danger of making a bad pun, we could say, suddenly her eyes were opened! It was just a little five letter word. It was just the splashing of common water. But now Helen knew what it was. Now she had a name for it — water. And if that experience had a name, others must also. It was as if the world had suddenly been opened up for her. Now she could begin to reach out to the world and experience it, in spite of her handicaps.
In much the same way, a breakthrough of equally breathtaking importance happened to those two disciples of Jesus that first Easter night. Just as Helen Keller’s life was changed, just as her eyes were opened to a whole new world outside of herself, in the same manner, Jesus came to those two disciples and revealed Himself to them and their lives were never the same. Such is the nature of faith. Such is our resurrection hope. Because He lives, we shall live also — and He will walk and guide and comfort us through life.
In 1847, a young doctor in Edinburgh, Scotland, made an amazing discovery — one that changed the course of modern medicine forever. He discovered chloroform, and in doing so, he found a way to take the pain out of surgery. Now everyone, who has ever had surgery, should thank God for Dr. Simpson. For even though they don’t use chloroform for surgery any more, the concept of taking the pain out of surgery was born then. Give a person an anesthetic and they will avoid the dreadful pain of surgery.
One day, while lecturing at the university medical school, a young student raised his hand and asked, “Dr. Simpson, what in your opinion, is the greatest discovery ever made?” It was one of those questions that students sometimes ask to curry favor with their professors: the student was aware of Dr. Simpson’s discovery of chloroform and expected a certain answer. However, the answer given was far from the one expected. Dr. Simpson replied, “In my opinion, the greatest discovery a person can ever make is to find the grace of God.” And he meant it.
Dr. Simpson didn’t give that answer out of a sense of humility — he meant it from personal experience. We know this because Dr. Alexander Simpson and his wife had a little girl — a child they dearly loved and one day she was taken ill and all the medicines in her father’s black bag couldn’t help her. Later she died. They buried her in a cemetery in Edinburgh. A few months later, they placed a marker at her gravesite and on the stone, they had inscribed her name “Faith Simpson” and below the name the dates of her short life. But there was more they put on that stone. There, above the place for her name, they had inscribed these words, “Thank God for faith — Faith Simpson and faith in God.”
The poet writes: The stars shine down upon the earth; And the stars shine upon the sea. The stars look up to a mighty God; The stars look down on me. The stars will shine for a million years, A million years and a day. But because of Christ, I live and love
Even when the stars pass away. Such is the hope that’s ours in the resurrection of Christ; such is the trust we have in God; and such is the faith that we live with — a faith, hope, and trust that those two disciples discovered on the Road to Emmaus that day.
In a few minutes, Maggie will be brought into that same hope in the waters of Baptism. She too will die to sin and be raised anew with Christ. This is the Easter hope with which we baptize and the Easter hope that we proclaim. Luther admonished us to remember our baptisms daily, for each time we claim the promises given, our faith is strengthened and our hope is renewed.
Amen.