Third Sunday of Easter

April 26, 2020

A Spoken Word, a Bit of Bread, a Sip of Wine

Saint Luke 24:13-35

Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.  St. Luke 24:30

“But we had hoped that he was the one…”

How often has your hope been dashed?  You go to the doctor for the resolution of a chronic pain hoping that this is the time – this is the resolution and things remain unresolved.

How often have mothers worried about their children out at night or in trouble…maybe, just maybe this time they will listen, or go to the counselor and then it does not happen.

How often have you looked for a turn in the road…a new light, a fresh dream after roads have been blocked and darkness has prevailed and dreams have turned into nightmares?

A mere spoken word, a wafer of bread, a sip of wine seems ever so inadequate to overcome our sadness and woes.  Our world is spinning out of control and out of whack.  Our economy is in the midst of great changes.  Congregations are dying, membership is down.  We live in a post-Christian culture.  The church is pretty much irrelevant -- a spiritual supermarket trying to keep the customer satisfied rather than of movement that follows the way of Christ.

Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus we find our hopes dashed: 

“But we had hoped that he was the one.”

We can begin to imagine those two disciples, Cleopas and his wife, as they walk away from Jerusalem in mourning.  They are attempting to get home to their small town Emmaus just 7 miles outside Jerusalem. 

They are in shock and grief stricken.  They had hoped that Jesus was the one to redeem Israel.

They had staked their lives on this Teacher.  They had put their dreams on this man and now he is taken by a cruel and obscene death.  He is executed as a criminal.  He who preached justice for the oppressed has been oppressed and condemned and put away – dead in a tomb.  They could not express their grief.

A stranger sidles up to them and sees their countenances.  Their faces are a dead giveaway.  They are in deep despair and sorrow.  Their gate and gage slowed by heavy hearts.  The stranger inquires about their deep sadness.  They wonder if this stranger has been living under a rock.  Did he not know the ‘things’ that had happened?  So they tell him about Jesus’ preaching and horrific death on the cross and how they were running on empty and running home.

Nothing could relieve their grief stricken hearts.

A spoken word….the stranger spoke – told of Messiah – traced the Savior’s life and spoke of it through the Jewish sacred stories.  The unrecognized Christ explains how God is active and alive even in the midst of weakness, loss, pain and death.

Intrigued by this stranger Cleopas and his wife invite him to supper.  Hospitality and their interest in the stranger’s message bring them together over a bit of bread and a sip of wine.

A bit of bread…It is only a bit of bread, or is it? 

Jesus outdid hospitality in his time.  He opened the table to those who had been categorically rejected by society:  women, the low class, the outcast, the sick, the cursed, the rejected, and the widow.  Jesus broke bread in the presence of all these:  the rich, the Pharisees, elders and religious leaders.  His hospitality extended to all and ended on a cross where his arms were open to all.

Luke in particular proclaims a Christ who got in big trouble for those he ate with:  “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”  [St. Luke 15:2]  The charge against Jesus included his table fellowship.  He broke the barriers of culture, prejudice, and hate.  His diner was not segregated with signs:  “Saints Only” or “Sinners not welcome.” 

Christ broke bread and in breaking bread with sinners –

in this intimate ongoing fellowship those at table were forgiven, made new, transformed.  A word spoken, a bit of bread shared and enemies become friends and sinners are reconciled.

A sip of wine…wine – is it only a sip?  Wine – the drink of the new age when God’s reign will fully come.  New wine for a new Passover – liberation from the chains of sin and death.  New wine in generous goblets toasts to the God of all creation.

Suddenly all those meals -- all the breaking of bread and the sipping of wine comes back to these two disciples mired in their grief.  They have a sudden epiphany and their hearts begin to burn.  Christ is present with them now.  Christ is alive.  They recognize him as he breaks bread and shares wine at table with them.  Immediately their grief turns to ecstatic joy and they run the 7 miles back to Jerusalem – hearts full and burning with compassion for the one who now lives.

A spoken word…a bit of bread, a sip of wine:  that pretty well describes our worship.  And what does this worship do to us – what does it mean for us?

During the Sundays of Easter we are hearing a special Prayer of Thanksgiving.  I hope you have noticed that we say special words around the words of our Lord on the night in which he was betrayed – look at your bulletin, page 7:

Holy God, we beg for your Spirit:

Enliven this bread,

Awaken this body,

Pour us out for each other.

Transfigure our minds,

Ignite your church,

Nourish the life of the earth.

Make us, while many, united,

Make us, though broken, whole,

Make us, despite death, alive.

A spoken word:  ‘We beg for your Spirit.’

A bit of bread:  ‘Enliven this bread, Awaken this body.’

A sip of wine: ‘Pour us out for each other.’

What does this mean for us? 

Our minds will be transformed:  Are you ready for a transformed mind?

The church will be ignited:  How dare we be blasé? 

Nourish the life of the earth:  God loves matter, the world…we are called as disciples of Christ to nourish mother earth as she has nourished and sustained us.

While many, we are united in Christ. 

Though broken, we are whole in Christ.

Despite death, we are alive in Christ.

Christ is the one to pin our hopes on.  We are the ones who are now the body and living presence of Christ here in this place.

God is about the business of new life.  God is about the business of transformation.  God continues to make all things new through a spoken word, a bit of bread and a sip of wine   Out of the ordinary, out of weakness, out of foolishness – God makes all things new.  Listen to the words of St. Paul:

…we proclaim Christ crucified a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.  [1 Corinthians 1:23-25]

Our current practice of Holy Communion is too tame.  It does not do justice to the feast we proclaim.  Instead of passing around wafers we need to pass out chunks of bread.  Instead of mini-shot glasses or a single chalice – a large goblet might begin to suggest the power of this gift. 

God gives us bread and wine and we live in Christ and Christ lives in us. 

God sets the table and there is a place for everyone.  Not just us human beings – but this is the table of all creation. 

‘Now the feast and celebration all of creation sings for joy to the God of life and love and freedom, praise and glory forevermore.  For God has come to dwell with us to make us people of God to make all things new!’

God sets the table and the invitation is as wide as the Christ who on the cross opened his arms to all!

When the Scripture says ‘God loves us’ it is not some warm fuzzy, overused cliché to patch over the troubles of life.  The proclamation of God’s love is a life-altering truth! 

God’s love is passionate. 

God’s love is personal. 

God’s love is radical.

In the word spoken God is there for us,

calling to us, wooing us. 

In the bread broken, God heals us. 

In the wine poured

God pours the very life of Christ into us.

There is enough grace in one Eucharist to transform the entire world.  The reason it doesn’t, is because we put up barriers that limit the grace we can receive from it. 

Ask God to knock those walls down and God will!

Amen