Elusive God

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Marshall, Texas on May 8, 2011, the 3rd Sunday in Easter. Happy Mother's Day.

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Acts 2:14a, 36-41

Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19

1Peter 1:17-23

Luke 24:13-35

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.  Amen.

Our prayer for illumination begins with the phrase “Elusive God.”[1] The prayer comes from a book of prayers written by the people who assembled the readings we use every Sunday in worship. So it’s theologically sound. Still, when I read this prayer for the first time the words stuck with me. Let me tell you why.

Our reading begins “Now earlier that same day.” According to Luke’s gospel, this “same day” is Easter Sunday. John’s version of this story, the one we read on Easter Sunday,[2] has Mary Magdalene staying at the tomb after Peter and the beloved disciple leave. Waiting, she meets a man who asks “Why are you crying?” Thinking him a gardener she asks if he moved the body. If he had and if he would just say where Jesus was, she would retrieve him.

Then the man, the resurrected Jesus calls her by name and then she recognizes him. She rejoices crying out “Rabbouni!”

The Lukan version of the tomb story which precedes our gospel reading is different. It has Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Joanna and several other women at the tomb. They find the tomb empty until they were met by two men dressed in dazzling white. These men ask “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” The women were understandably terrified, but they fell in worship, not fright.

Afterwards, the women went to the place where the disciples were staying and told them what they had seen at the tomb. The men chose not to go. Only Peter went to the tomb; and after seeing the scattered cloths and the tomb empty. Then he went home evidently without sharing his discovery. This is “that same day” and where we enter the gospel.

Our reading begins as the travelers meet the elusive God; our companion on the way who walks behind, bedside and beyond us catching us unawares. Emmanuel, the Lord God who walks with us is still elusive. Perfectly disguised, Jesus walks along side these disciples as he joins them on the road to Emmaus. The two disciples don’t recognize him at all.

Now, let’s give these two a little credit. First, I believe the reason they did not recognize Jesus is that he did not want to be recognized. Jesus appeared to these two travelers in his post-Resurrection form. Jesus appeared to Mary in his post-Resurrection form and according to John’s gospel she didn’t recognize him either. It seems that in his resurrected form nobody could recognize Jesus; that is until he revealed himself.

Mary only recognized Jesus when he called her by name. The two disciples didn’t recognize him until he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and began to give it to them. The disciples don’t recognize Jesus until he wants them to recognize them. So I’ll give the disciples a little credit, they weren’t blind or stupid. I believe they didn’t recognize Jesus because he wasn’t ready to be recognized. Jesus revealed himself when the time was right, not a moment sooner.

Second, let’s face it; the disciples have had a tough week. With the events of Palm Sunday through the Passion and the Crucifixion until the Easter Resurrection ending finally at our reading, the people of Christ have had quite a week. Just how tough a week is recapped in today’s gospel reading by the pilgrims on the Emmaus road. Wonderfully Jesus himself initiates this conversation with his disciples.

The disciples were walking along the seven mile road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. In the day, seven miles would not have been much of a journey, not even three hours at a strolling pace. The travelers were talking among themselves. They were discussing everything that had happened. It’s not unlike how we talked with one another remembering the storms a couple of weeks ago, checking in with each other and making sure we are all fine.

Imagine coming to church last weekend and talking about the storms with someone, anyone. Now imagine someone else who had been in the midst of the storms, seen the damage, and heard the tempest walking up to you asking “What are you discussing?” That shocked feeling you have is just a bit of how these two disciples felt. This version of “What’s up, Doc” stunned the pilgrims.

Cleopas wants to know what rock this man had been under for the past week. “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened in these days?” Remember, the city swelled with religious pilgrims, but c’mon, even the pilgrims would have known the stories about what happened this week. Unless that is this man’s pilgrimage led him directly under a rock.

“What things?” the elusive God asks. “About Jesus of Nazareth!” Cleopas cries. What else is there to talk about? Taking the lead, Cleopas describes the Lord as “a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.” Then together they recapped the events of the week to the one who initiated them.

They told Jesus of the chief priests and rulers who handed him over to the Romans to be crucified. They told him that they had hoped Jesus would be the one, the Christ, who would redeem Israel from the hands of oppression. They had hoped he would be the one who would lead the nation to freedom. Alas, Jesus was dead the Roman puppets were still in control. They mourned the anointed one was not the anointed one after all.

This is when Jesus began interpreting the events of the Passion and Easter for them with the words of the prophets. He explained what the scriptures had said about the Messiah, about himself. He explained to them that what happened had to happen. He showed them they were foolish believing that history had been written. He explained to them that the glory had just begun. The Christ had to suffer before he could enter his glory.

The words Jesus spoke played their heartstrings. His words burned their way into their hearts. Jesus interpreting the works of the last week in the words of the prophets made their way into the very souls of the pilgrims. They didn’t know what it meant, not yet. They didn’t even really realize that it was happening, not yet.

It’s Jesus saying “Fear not boys. You might have thought that these things were bound to happen, poking Rome with a sharp stick and all; but truly I tell you, these things had to happen.”

Together they made their way to the outskirts of Emmaus. Cleopas and his companion were heading into town and it looked like Jesus was going to take the loop and continue on his way. Traveling alone was never a good idea on these roads and it must have been time for a meal, so they asked Jesus to stay for a bite.

Jesus stays. He joins them at table and taking bread, he gave thanks he broke it and began to give it to them. This is when “not yet” becomes “now.” They recognized Jesus when he presented himself to them.

In a few minutes, we will hear the words that Jesus says again, “Take, eat, this is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me” and “This is the Bread of Heaven, the Body of Christ broken for you.” This is the moment, in this meal Jesus reveals himself to them. This is the moment, in this meal, in the Lord’s Supper, when Jesus reveals himself to us.

When we speak of the confessions of the Church, we often think of the Apostles’ Creed. It’s no wonder. Children are taught the creed before they become members of the church. We say this creed every Sunday when I invite us to state what we believe. But for Presbyterians, it is not the only creed that we believe.

All totaled, there are eleven creeds which we proclaim as a denomination. The oldest is “The Nicene Creed,” first drafted in 325 and set in its final form in 381. The most recent is “A Brief Statement of Faith” which was approved in 1983 at the reunion of the former Southern and Northern branches of the Presbyterian Church. The confessions have much to say about the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.

The Second Helvetic Confession, one of two Presbyterian confessions written by Swiss theologians, says this of the Supper:

For the author of the Supper of the Lord is not an angel or any man, but the Son of God himself, our Lord Jesus Christ, who first consecrated it to his Church. And the same consecration or blessing still remains along all those who celebrate no other but that very Supper which the Lord instituted, and at which they repeat the words of the Lord's Supper, and in all things look to the one Christ by a true faith, from whose hands they receive, as it were, what they receive through the ministry of the ministers of the Church.[3]

The author of the Supper, the originator of the Supper is the Lord Jesus Christ. He brought the supper to the church first as his Last Supper and again here breaking bread with the disciples from the road to Emmaus. It is by the one true faith, faith in Christ alone, that this meal continues to be consecrated by the Lord to the church even 2,000 years later.

One of the more recent additions to the Presbyterian Confessions is simply known as the Confession of 1967. It says:

The Lord's Supper is a celebration of the reconciliation of men with God and with one another, in which they joyfully eat and drink together at the table of their Savior. Jesus Christ gave his church this remembrance of his dying for sinful men so that by participation in it they have communion with him and with all who shall be gathered to him. Partaking in him as they eat the bread and drink the wine in accordance with Christ's appointment, they receive from the risen and living Lord the benefits of his death and resurrection. They rejoice in the foretaste of the kingdom which he will bring to consummation at his promised coming, and go out from the Lord's Table with courage and hope for the service to which he has called them.[4]

As we share this meal, we share God’s work; God’s work which reconciles us one to another. In this meal we eat and drink together with our Savior, we testify that only by this meal can we be gathered to him. We receive the benefits his death and resurrection, the benefits of our faith as we receive the plate and the cup. The supper gives us courage and hope for the work Christ has called us to do.

Our Prayer for Illumination ended as we pray that the elusive God break through the disillusionment and despair that clouds our vision so that with wide-eyed wonder we may find our way and journey on as messengers of God’s good news. In this prayer, we pray that sharing the meal of our faith we may do like the disciples from the road to Emmaus did. We pray that we may return to our friends and share what has been revealed. We are to share the good news of the Resurrected Christ today.

Jesus was elusive with his appearance; he reveals himself to the people he wants to recognize him when he wants them to recognize him. Jesus is also elusive with more than with his appearance; his work can be elusive too. The pilgrims were hoping for a military and political messiah, what they received was far greater. Freedom from Rome was small potatoes compared to the freedom Christ brings to all who believe and have faith in the resurrection.

They didn’t recognize Jesus because he wasn’t ready to be recognized. When the time was right, Jesus revealed himself, not a moment sooner. Jesus reveals himself to the men on the road to Emmaus in the breaking of bread. Jesus reveals himself to us in the breaking of bread too. In this meal Christ is revealed to us. In this meal may our faith be fed to do the work he calls us to do. In this meal let us taste and see the Lord is good.

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[1] Scriptural Prayer, Year A. “Revised Common Lectionary Prayers.” Minneapolis, MN: Agusburg Fortress Publishers, page 116.

[2] John 20:1-18

[3] “The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Part I, Book of Confessions.” Second Helvetic Confession; Chapter XXI, Of the Holy Supper of the Lord; Paragraph 2, The Author and Consecrator of the Supper. Louisville, KY, Geneva Press, 1966.

[4] Ibid, The Confession of 1967; Part II, Ministry of Reconciliation; Section 4, The Lord’s Supper.