This homily is for people who sometimes wonder, “Is Jesus really real?” It’s for you if you’ve ever doubted that God was there. I’m talking to you today if your religion has ever let you down, if you’ve ever run out of hope. Which means you don’t need this sermon if you are 100% sure of your faith all the time. If you never have any doubts about God or Jesus, then God bless you, I’m not talking to you today. Feel free to look at the bulletin. Make a grocery list. Because this sermon, and this Gospel story, are for people who sometimes wonder where God is and if Jesus is real.
For a lot of people, the Christian faith seems disconnected from the rest of how we think and feel and get on with life. Such people aren’t atheists for the most part. They may believe, kinda-sorta, in a God who is loving and good; they might accept that Jesus lived and died and rose again. But these are distant truths. The problem, for a lot of people, isn’t that the faith isn’t believable; the problem is that it isn’t relevant, it doesn’t seem to matter. They affirm the faith in the same way they are able to affirm that the Earth is 149.6 million kilometres from the sun. Trustworthy information, to be sure, but not much help in living every day.
If you are one of those people, or if you know someone like that, then this Gospel is for you – for we journey with Jesus today on the road to Emmaus. But here’s the thing: when we journey with Jesus on this road, we don’t always know he’s there.
The journey to Emmaus is for the disappointed, for those whose expectations have gone unmet. Surely everybody has walked that road some time. It’s the road you walk when you don’t make the team; when your candidate loses; your sweetheart won’t talk to you; your loved one has died. It’s the road you find yourself on when all the ways you used to feel close to God just don’t work: That’s the Emmaus Road. Surely everyone has been there at one time or another.
But here’s the amazing and wonderful promise of the gospel: on your road of loneliness and despair, you are not alone. Oh, you may think you’re alone, but you’re not. The one who joins you along the way, the one who hears your disappointment and your heartache, the one you complain to about Jesus letting you down – yep, that’s Jesus.
Here’s another thing about the Emmaus Road: a lot of times we don’t know it’s Jesus until later, after the fact. Cleopas and his wife walk with Jesus for 11 km. They talk about their faith and about their lack of faith. They share a meal, never knowing, never even suspecting who it is.
It isn’t until Jesus takes bread, blesses and breaks it, and gives it to them that they know who he is. These actions, this bread – they’ve seen this before. They remember. But no sooner do they recognize him, than he vanishes; he’s gone again. It’s only looking back that they know. Oh, the signs were there all along – Jesus explained the scriptures to them, their hearts burned within them, but only looking back do they put it all together.
So, if you’re on the Emmaus Road – the road of doubt and disappointment – take heart, be patient, and keep your eyes open. Jesus is there somewhere.
Jesus became known to them in the breaking of the bread. Often in our spiritual discouragement we abandon the old for something new or for nothing at all. But Jesus has not left the Communion Table. The Lord is everywhere, but he is always present in the breaking of the bread.
So if I’ve been talking to you today – if you sometimes wonder if Jesus is real, if you’ve doubted that God is there, if your faith has let you down or if you’ve ever run out of hope, here’s the promise of the gospel: When you think you’re all alone, you’re not. Jesus is the companion along the way. It may not seem like much: a piece of bread, an open Bible, a stranger on the way. It may not be much, but here’s what it is – it’s Jesus. He’s with you all the way.
Though they didn’t realise it; though they couldn’t see him; Jesus was alive – Jesus had been with them the whole time. The knowledge that Jesus is alive is enough to transform these sad, disappointed, weary disciples into joyful resurrection people. Despite the hour, despite having walked 11 km, they get their coats on and go back on the same road: back to Jerusalem, the eleven and the others. They have good news to share!
Perhaps today you’re weary, sad and disappointed. You’re wondering why things are the way they are. You just can’t see God’s purpose in the events of your life. Jesus invites us to meet with him at his table. As we break bread together, we’re reminded of God’s love for us; of how God could use the darkest of days to bring about the brightest of days; how violence and shame and hatred were transformed in the cross of Christ to offer hope and forgiveness, mercy and victory.
As we hear his word and share at his table, so he meets with us. He invites us to see him, to know his presence with us – not just here, but everywhere we go, in whatever situation we find ourselves. The good news of Easter isn’t just for one day in the year; we live each day in the light of the resurrection – the knowledge that Jesus is alive; that Jesus is with us; that God is fulfilling his promises and will continue to do so.
–Dcn. Terry Murphy