Recognizing the Jesus Who Walks with Us

Alleluia, Christ is Risen.  The Lord is Risen Indeed, Alleluia!
Alleluia, Christ is Risen.  The Lord is Risen Indeed, Alleluia!
Alleluia, Christ is Risen.  The Lord is Risen Indeed, Alleluia!
In this morning’s gospel reading from Luke it is still Easter Sunday.  Cleopas and his companion are walking from Jerusalem to a village some seven miles away and are discussing the events of the past week.  They have been in Jerusalem for Passover.  They are also disciples of Jesus and are greatly distressed following Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion.  They had hoped Jesus would have been the one to lead them in revolt and successfully liberate Israel from the Romans.  Luke uses the word “Redeem” which is a strange word to use.  Were the disciples really willing to pay the price of death for the liberation of Israel from Rome?  The irony is that that is exactly what Jesus did; Jesus paid the ultimate price of his own life to redeem Israel from sin rather than the Roman foreign power.
As Cleopas and his companion walked along deep in conversation a stranger joined them and inquired as to the subject of their conversation.  They were stunned, what could they possibly be talking about other than the crucifixion of Jesus.  The stranger eagerly joined in the conversation arguing why the Messiah’s death was necessary and even prophesied in the Old Testament.  How I wish Luke had included more details of their conversation.  I wonder which passages the stranger referred to, Isaiah, The Psalms, Malachi?  The irony is that WE know that the stranger is Jesus and that he is referring to himself.  I wonder what it was that kept them from recognizing Jesus.  Of course they believed Jesus was dead even though they had heard of the women discovering the tomb empty that morning.  Was Jesus’ physical appearance different or did Cleopas and his companion just never really see Jesus?  Had they never taken the time to actually be fully present to Jesus without other distractions?  We can understand this, when a beloved parent dies or when President Kennedy was killed or when the planes hit the twin towers, our focus was on the tragedy not on the present conversation with a stranger.  I am sure that most of you have had the situation where someone you know from work or church appears in a different environment, a baseball game or the produce section of the grocery store and you struggle to place who they are, even worse when they call you by name and you are still struggling to recognize them. 
And so we have the situation where Cleopas and his companion are talking about Jesus with Jesus, but don’t recognize Jesus.  Cleopas arrives at his destination and Jesus moves to walk on, but Cleopas invites the stranger to spend the night with them and he agrees.  The stranger is their guest but during a meal Jesus becomes their host, takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it and hands it to Cleopas and his companion.  In so doing they really see Jesus and finally recognize him and Jesus disappears from their sight.  That very night, despite the dangers of the night, they hurry back to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples about their experience.
So what does this passage mean for us?  As we journey through this life God walks with us whether we recognize him or not.  When tragedies occur, and they will, we can trust that God is with us.  We may not understand why this is happening, but we can believe that God can make good come out of this situation, that even though we cannot see the bigger picture, God can. 
We can see that in reading and studying scripture together we can achieve a greater understanding of what the author intended for his original audience, for the first century audience and for the 21st century audience.  My Old Testament professor, Dr. Gordon Hamilton, took his subject very seriously.  He thought we should all know at least some basics from the Hebrew language and scripture.  Some traditions feel that there is not any reason to study the Old Testament, but Dr. Hamilton believed that the Old Testament is still relevant for us to study today.  Although we read the Old Testament through Christian eyes looking for signs and prophesies of Jesus Christ, Dr. Hamilton taught that we should also try to read it for what the author was telling the original audience.  It is interesting that in today’s gospel, Jesus, “beginning with Moses and all the prophets, [] interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.” 
It is likely that Cleopas and his companion knew the Hebrew Scriptures, but in discussion with a learned teacher they were able to achieve a deeper understanding of the scripture and the intended message from God and yet they still did not recognize Jesus Christ as he walked along with them.  It was in sharing a meal that the disciples finally recognized Jesus for who he was.  In taking bread, blessing it, breaking it and giving the bread to Cleopas and his companion we are reminded of the Eucharist.  In the Eucharist we encounter Jesus Christ.  Jesus is not physically with us this morning, but we believe that somehow he is with us spiritually in the symbols of bread and wine. 
Following Jesus’ death on the cross and his burial, God resurrected Jesus to new life on the third day.  Luke wants us to know that while Jesus truly suffered and died on the cross, Jesus also was truly resurrected to new life according to God’s plan.
Like Mary Magdalene and the women at the tomb and Cleopas and his companion, we may not recognize Jesus when he walks through life with us, but God wants us to know and truly believe that he is truly with us in our daily lives, in tragedy and in the simple things of life such as sharing a meal.  O God we pray that you may open our eyes to see Jesus in our companions that walk through life with us and may our companions see Jesus as they share a simple meal with us.  Amen.
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