SERMON AT ALL SAINTS’ CHURCH WINTERSLOW – SUNDAY 23rd APRIL 2023 –
THIRD SUNDAY IN EASTER
ACTS
2:14a, 36-41; 1 PETER 1:17-23; LUKE 24:13-35
May I speak in the name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and
Holy Spirit and may these words be yours and bless all who hear them. Amen.
What a rich tapestry is woven by these three readings this
morning and for the preacher it is difficult to know where to begin and where
to end for they all have very important messages for us as a church today when
we face so many challenges, spiritually and culturally in this modern day and
age.
Bishop Stephen, announced during his sermon at Maundy
Thursday’s Chrism Service in the cathedral, that the Diocese of Salisbury was
adopting a new strapline “Making Jesus Known” emphasising that it is the duty
of every Christian, whether in authorised ministry or not, to spread the Good
News or Gospel, of salvation through Jesus Christ and his death and
resurrection on the Cross. Alleluia, how wonderful is that!
In discussions I have with people about religion, Christians
as well as non-Christians, we seem to place an emphasis in those discussions on
the Church as an Institution with its customs and rituals and on God, as a
remote being looking down on us and judging us.
We often seem afraid of talking about Jesus or the Holy Spirit thinking,
often in the Church of England, that these are reserved for the more
Evangelical or Charismatic churches.
There is a real danger, I think, that it placing God remotely and
through our customs and rituals, we lose sight of the fact that our God is a
living entity, that he came down to Earth in the form of Jesus and that he left
the Holy Spirit for us, to guide us and keep us faithful to our beliefs. Each
of today’s readings is about learning and understanding who Jesus was and is
and gives us a great insight into how we, as today’s disciples can truly “make
Jesus known”.
The Book of Acts, our first reading, was written we believe
by the same author as the Gospel of Luke which is our Gospel reading
today. We learn from our first reading
how Peter, after Christ’s Ascension and on the day of Pentecost, addresses a
crowd of Jews and tells them that there can be know doubt that Jesus was the
long-awaited Lord and Messiah – God’s chosen one. They were “cut to the
heart” a lovely expression to convey the experience of hearing Peter’s
words as a true revelation of God’s will and calling to them all. “What
should we do”? they ask, to which Peter responds that they should repent, “metanoia”
in Greek, turn away from the corruptness of the then present generation. If you
do this, he continues, you will receive the free gift of the Holy Spirit.
I could help but see many parallels with our own modern world
which seems to be ever more corrupt and turning away from God and the teachings
of Jesus. Earlier this week in a meeting
which I had with my own spiritual director I bemoaned the fact that every day
the news seems to be full of stories of crimes, corruption, falseness; that
many of the institutions and professions which we have loved and cherished over
the decades and centuries now seem to be soiled with stories of corruption and
greed and self-interest. She asked me
whom I thought now carried our nation’s moral compass and I had to admit that I
thought “no one”. No one at all. What do
you think. The next question of course is who should be our moral compass? The answer is I believe the living God, Jesus
through the Holy Spirit and we can only make that happen by being good
disciples ourselves, just as Peter increased the number of followers by three
thousand on that single day.
In our second reading, in a letter which the same Peter wrote
to the Christian diaspora spread out over many countries, once again implores
those followers not to put their trust in silver and gold, in other words money
or material things were not the things which ransomed them from their past
ways, but in the blood of Jesus shed for them on the Cross. That as saved
individuals, those who have repented and received salvation, they have received
the love of God and likewise should show that same love to each other. By doing
this they too will “make Jesus known” to others as well as reinforcing that
knowledge for each other. They have been re-born in the Spirit.
Our third reading, our Gospel reading is one which is so well
known and has been the subject of a number of books including one written by a
former Bishop of Salisbury as well as the evangelical writer Pete Greig. It is a passage well worth reading over again
and again and one which is very good for Ignatian lectio divina contemplative study
exercises.
Here we see an actual example of Jesus being made known. Without repeating the story in two much
detail we find two disciples of Jesus (Cleopas and we assume his wife) getting
out of Jerusalem on their way back home to Emmaus a village about seven miles
outside of the capital. They have just spent the last few days in Jerusalem,
presumably for the feast of Passover and there witnessed the events surrounding
the Passion. They are much confused with talks of Christ resurrected having
witnessed his trial and execution. They
also bemoan the fact that they, like others, hoped that he was the Messiah who
would free them from Roman occupation and tyranny but now all those hopes seem
dashed. They are discussing all this as they plod along the road to Emmaus when
suddenly a stranger catches up with them from the same direction as they are
travelling and joins them asking what they are talking about. They explain the
events of the last few days in Jerusalem expressing great surprise that the
stranger, although clearly coming from Jerusalem himself, doesn’t appear to
know what has been happening in that city and especially their disappointment
that Jesus didn’t free them from Roman rule.
The stranger rebukes them for this simplistic view of what
Jesus was all about and his purpose in Israel.
He appears to them to be a very learned theologian and spends the rest
of the trip back to Emmaus giving them bible lessons by going through all the
history and prophecies of the Old Testament and pointing out to them that all
these prophesises were pointing to the coming of Jesus and his purpose. It must have been an amazing sermon and I do
wonder what Cleopas and his wife must have thought about being preached to on
their journey home. Interestingly, the stranger never disclosed his identity
during this monologue as they walked along together; but clearly Cleopas and
companion were so enthralled that they invited the stranger in to their home
for supper after he appeared intent on continuing the journey on his own. “They
urged him strongly” we are told to stay with them for a meal.
Now we come to one of the most interesting aspects of this
whole account. As he sits down with them, the stranger has still not revealed
his identity to them in conversation and although Cleopas and companion must
have seen Jesus on several occasions – they indicated during their talk that
they had been with the other disciples when the women returned from the empty
tomb – they did not recognise him. He
must have looked so different and sounded so different despite them being in
close proximity to him before and also on this journey to Emmaus during which
he appears to have dominated the conversation.
How did they not know him?
Likewise, you will recall that Mary when talking to “the gardener” after
discovering the empty tomb did not recognise him either.
It was not until the stranger took the bread, broke it
and blessed it did the two hosts recognise the stranger to be Jesus! There was obviously something unique and
special in the manner in which he did this that made him immediately
recognisable – perhaps a certain bodily mannerism or inflection in his voice.
We are not told and can only imagine. Interestingly, the moment they recognised
him, he vanished. You will also recall how Jesus would suddenly appear and
disappear before the eleven remaining apostles. Such was their reaction that
they immediately returned the seven miles to Jerusalem where they were told
that Jesus had similarly appeared to Simon Peter and all the disciples were
then convinced of Jesus’s resurrection.
The questions which we need to ask ourselves today are “Does Jesus still reveal himself to his followers?” If so, how do we know when a stranger such as the one met on the road to Emmaus is indeed Jesus?
Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta (Kolkata) took the view that each and every one of us carries Jesus within us and Jesus himself said that whatever you do to anyone you do it for me, when questioned by his disciples. The exact quote from Matthew 25 is "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.”
The Reverend Steve Chalke, a Baptist minister in London was once asked how he dealt with difficult homeless people arriving at his church demanding food and shelter and appearing ungrateful and uncouth. His answer was that “I look them straight in the eyes and there I see the eyes of Jesus looking back at me however rude or abusive their behaviour”.
Like Cleopas and his probable wife, the two followers of Jesus on the road to Emmaus, who thought that they did know Jesus before, found that during the two hours or so of that journey they learned much of him and from him –but they still did not actually know him until after they asked him to enter their home and gave him hospitality, even though he still appeared to them to be a stranger.
Are we prepared to know Jesus, to let him come fully into
our lives? Are we prepared to treat him not as a remote individual who lives in
the pages of our bibles – but acknowledge him to be alive today and anxious to
have a fully relationship with him? And
finally, if yes to both of these questions, are we prepared to take time out to
make Jesus known to others?
Amen MFB/21042023/186
