Next week I will begin
Confirmation Classes and I intend, God willing, to make the subjects of the
classes the subjects of my sermons week by week. I am doing this because we all
need a refresher course in our faith from time to time.
Actually, that’s not really
accurate. I’ll say it again. We need to be reminded, every moment of every day,
what our Christian faith is, and what it means in our lives. This is what
church is about and why we come to church. When anyone asks you why you go to
church you can say, “I go to church to be reminded what it means to be a
Christian and to help me make my faith real in my life.”
And if they ask for
more, you could say, “The grace of God, given to me in word, sacrament and the
community of the church, gives me the strength and power to love God with all
my heart and soul and mind and strength and to love my neighbours as I love
myself.”
St Luke wrote his
gospel so that his friend Theophilus would understand the Christian faith. It
is a teaching gospel and today’s passage, the Road to Emmaus, was recorded to
show us how to learn to be Christians. This absolutely Biblical approach is the
foundation of our Anglican tradition.
First of all, faith is
a journey, just like salvation. In this life we will never know and understand
everything, but we are going from Jerusalem, the place of Jesus’ crucifixion
and resurrection, to Emmaus, an ordinary village like any other place in the
world, such as Enmore.
There were two of them
travelling, for from the beginning of time, God said, “It is not good for
humans to be alone.” There’s no such thing as a solitary Christian, you can’t
love your neighbours if you never speak to them. Jesus is always with us, of
course, but we must have companions like ourselves. The two on the road were
talking and discussing the things that had happened in Jerusalem. We must have
someone to talk to about our faith and to discuss with what our faith means.
Now those two needed a
teacher, someone to help them understand, someone to begin with Moses and all
the prophets, to interpret to them the things about Jesus in all the
scriptures.
The two disciples knew
their Scriptures, which would have meant Moses and the prophets. The gospels
had not yet been written and St Paul had not yet started on his journey of faith
to Damascus and beyond. The point is that those two knew the traditions of
their faith very well. They were expecting a Messiah, they had hoped that Jesus
was the one to redeem Israel. They knew the events of the crucifixion and
resurrection, but they needed someone to interpret those events. They needed
someone to open the scriptures.
One their journey they
came to the village to which they were going and they begged the mysterious
stranger to stay with them for the night. Why? Well, hospitality is a sacred
duty. Jesus himself taught that when we welcome strangers we welcome Christ
himself. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because the people wanted to abuse
and humiliate their guests. To accept and welcome strangers is a good way to
make new friends and to build community. Simple.
And they shared a meal.
Everyone needs to eat and drink, even if it’s a crust of bread and a cup of
water. Jesus said that a cup of water, given in love, will bring a blessing on
the giver. Indeed, it will bless the receiver as well.
Now we come to the
point of the story. “When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed
and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they
recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.”
They knew him in the
breaking of the bread. “To break bread together” is another way of saying,
“they shared a meal.” There are few things as comfortable or pleasant as
sharing a meal with guests. When we eating and drink together we are equal. We
are all simply human. Good or bad, rich or poor, Jew or Greek, male or female,
all are equal in their need to eat and drink. Whatever our sexuality or marital
status, our beliefs or the colour of our skin or the language we speak, sharing
food and drink brings us together. Abuse of hospitality, by the guest or by the
host is the most fearsome of sins.
When we are sharing a
meal, we are at our most human, we are vulnerable, we are relaxed and open to
each other.
And this is the point
of the story when the two disciples recognised Jesus. He vanished from their
sight. This was not to abandon them, but to say, yes, you’ve got it right, my
work here is done.
And that same hour, in
the dark, they got up and returned to Jerusalem to share the good news. The
others knew about Christ’s resurrection and his appearance to Simon, but the
disciples from Emmaus told them how to live as companions of the living Christ.
And this is what the
church teaches us. We are companions on our journey. We break bread together.
In the bread of communion we know the risen Lord, we are given a foretaste of
the joys of heaven and we are taught to share all our food with glad and
generous hearts, here and at home and in the homes of friends and strangers.
This is how we make Christ known.
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