Post Resurrection

The Scripture readings appointed for Easter season all describe a post-resurrection world. That’s what Easter is all about, of course, the gift we have been given of living in a post-resurrection world. But it often seems we are so excited about celebrating THE resurrection, we don’t really think about what it is like to live day to day in a post-resurrection world. The world changed on that "real" Easter day, the day of the resurrection. As the hymn says: "Welcome, happy morning, age to age shall say: hell today is vanquished, heaven is won today! Lo! The dead is living, God for evermore! Him their true Creator, all his works adore! "Welcome, happy morning," age to age shall say.

There are four exclamation points in just the first verse of that hymn. The resurrection was a momentous event. It offers us freedom from sin and death; it gives us a passport, citizenship with God in heaven. But the resurrection also marked another profound change in peoples’ lives: the resurrection changed the way people encountered and came to know Jesus and share life with him. I can’t imagine what it was like for the disciples to be with Jesus before his death and resurrection. To actually feel the touch, hear the voice, know the daily habits of the Son of God. I can’t imagine what it was like in that pre-resurrection world. And I can’t ever know that life… that world. We don’t live in that world. That world ended with Jesus’ death and resurrection.

The familiar Gospel story we heard today – Jesus’ encounter with Cleopas and his companion on the road to Emmaus — this story takes place after Jesus death. After the resurrection. At the time of the story it is still before the ascension, so the risen Christ is appearing from time to time to the people. And during this time, most of what Jesus himself teaches people is how to live in a post-resurrection world. After the ascension, they won’t see him bodily at all. But for now, he continues to be present, and to teach the people what it is like to be a follower of Jesus after the resurrection. That’s a lesson we should be very attentive to.

Cleopas and his companion meet Jesus after the resurrection.

So if we look at this story as a template, what does it tell us about meeting Jesus? What does Jesus teach us through this story about how we may meet Jesus in the post-resurrection world in which we live?

First, the only exclamation point in this story is when Jesus tells Cleopas and his companion how foolish they are. This is not a momentous event. There is no earthquake in this story. No booming voice from heaven or great clap of thunder. No choir of angels or heralding trumpets. No burning bush. No rocks rent asunder. Just two people quietly walking along a dusty road. We need not expect or demand to meet Jesus only in life shattering or earth shattering events. In fact, all of his post-resurrection appearances are in the midst of quiet, everyday activities.

This road to Emmaus story also tells us two activities that are pretty much guaranteed to work if you want to meet Jesus. Reading Scripture and breaking bread. I’m reminded of one of the canticles used in Morning Prayer, usually called the Second Song of Isaiah (the text comes from Isaiah). It begins, "Seek the Lord while he wills to be found; call upon him when he draws near." There are times and places where the Lord wills to be found. If you want to meet Jesus there are activities you can participate in, places you can go, that will basically ensure your success. Read Scripture. Share in the breaking of bread at the Lord’s table. He wills to be found. Jesus wants us to find him. And he promises to meet us in the pages of Holy Scripture and around his holy table.

He can be met in other places too, of course, but if you want to be with him, to know him, to learn from him, to share life with him… These two things are surely things to do. Read Scripture and break bread.

When we gather for worship on Sunday the Holy Eucharist includes two parts: The Liturgy of the Word and Holy Communion. The breaking open of the Scriptures and the Breaking of Bread. Jesus meets us here.

Sometimes people will say that they feel funny or hypocritical coming to church without first having a sure faith in Jesus. However well intentioned that sentiment may be, it doesn’t make sense. This is where you find him; this is where you get to know him. Or parents will say that children should not receive communion until they understand what it means. (It doesn’t help that the church more or less taught that in the past.) It in receiving communion that we meet Jesus and come to know what that means.

Seek the Lord where and when he wills to be found. He wills to be found Holy Scripture and in the breaking of bread.

But, of course, we must be active seekers. Cleopas and his companion urged Jesus to stay and break bread with him. Before they knew fully who he was, they sought to know. They acted, they spoke, based upon some yearning, some hope that was within them. We must, in the end, ask Jesus to be a part of our lives. He tells us where we may find him, but we must ask him to stay.

And one final point from this Gospel story. Who in the world was Cleopas?! We don’t have a clue. Luke calls him a disciple so presumably he had heard Jesus or been some sort of a follower during Jesus’ life. But he was not one of the chosen twelve. We have no indication that he did anything remarkable or noteworthy as a disciple. He was nobody special.

During Jesus’ pre-resurrection life only a relative few knew him well. Only a handful of people felt his touch, learned at his feet. Yes, crowds gathered when he preached, but only a few really met him, knew him, had him in their lives.

In a post-resurrection world, anyone can meet Jesus; anyone can have Jesus in their lives. You don’t have to be one of the twelve. You don’t have to be named Peter or James or John or Matthew. You might be named Cleopas! Or Cleopas’ companion doesn’t have a name at all, and he (or she) broke bread with Jesus. So can we.