"On the Way" sermon 7-12-15

On the Way

July 12, 2015

BMC- Luke 24:36-53

MC USA KC 2015 Adult Convention Reporting

Introduction: Freebees

            As you know, several of us spent a week in Kansas City, Missouri for the Mennonite Church USA convention June 30-July 5.  Now there are many things that I love about going to convention; and these were all true even this year.

            I really enjoy the times of worship with the larger church.  I enjoy hearing what the speakers have to say and attending seminars.  I enjoy seeing people that I haven’t seen since the last convention like John Dey, my lead pastor while I was at Grace Mennonite.  And I enjoy making new friends around our delegate tables and hearing their stories.

            But I have to confess, that I am also a sucker for all of the free stuff we get.  Like this bag that I got from Max.  I went up to their booth and she offered me the bag as well as a discount on my home and car insurance.  I asked if that was true even though I am already one of their customers.  She was surprised by the question and said, “No, I’m sorry. I hadn’t thought about that.”

            I also got a number of sticky note pads, pens and highlighters.  I got this shirt and CD from Eastern Mennonite Seminary, chap stick from Goshen College, spinach seeds from Mennonite Mission Network, and this beaver from Bluffton University. Oh and I got this nose flute from Mennonite Camping Association.  Listen to this… {Play flute}

            And then there’s this bandana that I got from Mennonite Disaster Service, but I had to earn this one.  They gave us a packet of supplies with paper and cardboard and we had to design a three dimensional house that wouldn’t blow away when they put the fan on it.  Mine actually faired pretty well, until the wind got under the foundation causing a little lift and it began to slide.

            But I think that my favorite freebee this week was this scarf from Mennonite Central Committee.  As I sat in worship with the scarf around my neck in worship, it occurred to me that this scarf is symbolic of what Jesus was doing in various ways in the midst of the Luke 24 passage which was the chapter that we focused on during the week at convention.

Luke 24: The Backdrop

            As we begin reading in Luke 24, it is the first day of the week.  Jesus had been crucified, dead and buried.  Now some of the women took prepared spices and went to the tomb.  When they arrived to their surprise, they found the stone rolled way and the tomb empty.  The body of their Lord and Master was missing.

            As they stood there, two men who were gleaming white appeared and asked them, “Why [are you] looking for the living among the dead?  He has risen and is not here.”  And the men reminded the women of the words that Jesus had spoken about this.

            From there, the women went back to the Eleven and reported all these things, but they did not believe the women.  Yet Peter ran to the tomb where he found only linens lying there.  Perplexed, he went away wondering.

Luke 24: Emmaus

That same day, two of them were traveling from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus.  “They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.

“He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”  They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”  “What things?” he asked.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

“He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

“As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

“When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

“They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”  Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

Luke 24: Got Any Fish?

“While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”  They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.  He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

“When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.   And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”  They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.

“He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”  Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

“When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.  Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.”

Observations: The Were Opened to Scripture

Reflecting on this chapter over the last week has brought a number of observations to mind for me.  Admittedly, some of them come from the speakers who reflected on this chapter while we were at convention.

First, the disciples were opened.  They were opened to scripture from what is our Old Testament.  Remember that at the time of Jesus, the only scripture that existed were the law, the prophets, and the writings what we think of as the Old Testament.  When Luke says that the scripture was opened to them, that Jesus revealed what the scriptures said about Him; he was referring to the Old Testament.

This is no small matter.  Many of us have a distinct preference for reading and dwelling with the New Testament.  Some of us, truth be told, even to the exclusion of the Old Testament.  Yet, the Old Testament was all that Jesus had.  And it was through the Old Testament that Jesus revealed himself to his followers.  We are New Testament people, but our roots remain and come out of the Old Testament.

Some of you wonder about the amount of time that we spend in the Old Testament.  Yet it is my belief that all of scripture matters, that the Old Testament gives us an important foundation to our understanding of the New Testament; and that for many of us including me, our understanding and knowledge of the Old Testament is lacking.

As we see in Luke 24, it is the scripture that reveals Jesus and likewise it is Jesus that reveals the scriptures. We see that scripture is important for understanding who Jesus is.  It is through scripture that Jesus revealed himself to his companions.  We also see that Christ is the key to understanding scripture.  It is only through the lens of Jesus that we are able to more fully understand what it is that scripture is saying to us.

Observations: Their Eyes Were Opened

They were opened to the scripture and their eyes were opened to seeing Jesus in their midst.  As they walked along, Jesus came up to them, talked with them, and walked along with them; yet they did not recognize him.  Jesus even taught them about the scriptures that told of him and yet they did not recognize him until the bread was broken in their midst.  These were men that knew Jesus face to face before his death and they did not recognize him.

How often is this true of us as well?  How often are we walking through life so caught up in the things that we have to do and the events that are swirling around us that we don’t even recognize Jesus when he comes into our midst?  How often is Jesus standing right in front of us, speaking to us and we don’t even pause long enough to hear what He has to say, let alone recognize the source of the voice speaking to us?

I’m sure that there are a number of ways that we can raise our awareness of Jesus around us, but it seems to me that it all begins with expecting to encounter Jesus.  Jesus was standing right in their midst and yet they did not recognize him and I can’t help but think that part of that was because they weren’t looking for him.  In their minds, he was dead.  It never even occurred to them that he might be there.

And then when he did appear to them as they met together, they assumed that he must be a ghost.  Jesus went so far as to eat some fish to show them that he was not a ghost but rather alive in flesh and blood.

Observations: They Were Opened to the Call

Their eyes were opened to the scriptures.  Their eyes were opened to Jesus in their midst.  And their understanding of how all this connected to their lives were opened as well.  After Jesus died, we know that the disciples were at a loss for a time.  Things hadn’t turned out as they had expected.  Jesus had died and now they did not quite know what to do with themselves.

Yet as Jesus opened them to what the scripture had to say to them and opened their eyes to his presence in their midst, Jesus also opened them to the calling that he had placed upon them.  Jesus was sending them out with the message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  Now they were to go beginning in Jerusalem to all the nations to be God’s witnesses of these things.

While I was in Kansas City, I had the opportunity to hear Alan Hirsch speak a number of times.  Alan is one of the foremost authors on the Fivefold ministry of APEST from Ephesians 4.  And one of the things that he emphasized was that there is no such thing as an unsent Christian.  If we are a Christian, we are sent.

But what’s more is that we have what we need.  God has not sent us unequipped.  Jesus sent out the 70 with all that they needed.  God has provided us with what we need.  We as a body have what we need to carry out the mission of the kingdom in our midst.  But more than that, each one of us is a seed that carries the DNA of a church.

Just as every seed from a tree carries a tree in it and every tree carries a forest in it.  Each one of us has the DNA of the church in us.  And out of each church, there is the potential for a forest of churches to be planted.  It’s right there in scripture and yet how often do we miss the call and the potential that is within each one of us for the kingdom?

The Scarf

All of this brings me back to my MCC scarf that I got while I was at convention.  You probably can’t tell from where you are, but this scarf is made out of recycled T-shirts.  Old T-shirts were cut and sown back together to repurpose them as a scarf.

And it seems to me that this is akin to what Jesus did with the Old Testament for the disciples after he rose from the grave.  The passages that He shared with them were ones that they knew and were familiar with.  Jesus didn’t give them a new book, he worked out of the book that they already knew like this scarf was not made with new material but with material from T-shirts.

And yet, just as these T-shirts have been stitched together differently to make something else so Jesus has woven these passages together in a new way that revealed to the disciples the potential of their deeper meaning.  Jesus wove them together to reveal who Jesus really is.  And he wove them together revealing their calling and kingdom purpose in witnessing on Jesus’ behalf.

Conclusion: On the Way

In Luke chapter 24, we read of the followers of Jesus as they were on the way, as they were in the midst of their journey of faith.  They journeyed to the tomb where they discovered the resurrection.  They journeyed to Emmaus where their eyes were opened to the scripture and to Jesus.  And they journeyed with the resurrected Jesus who opened their eyes to the calling and the potential that He had for them.

May our eyes also be opened through the scriptures.  May our eyes also be opened to Jesus in our midst.  And may our eyes be opened more fully to the calling and the potential that Jesus has for us as we journey with Him along the way.

Amen.