[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: Welcome to the Collective table where we celebrate the intersections of Jesus, justice and joy.
This podcast is brought to you by Oceanside Sanctuary Church. Each week we bring our listeners a recording of our weekly Sunday teaching at Oceanside Sanctuary, which ties Scripture into the larger conversations happening in our community, congregation and even the podcast. So we're glad your here and thanks for listening.
[00:00:38] Speaker A: My name is Janelle, I am one of the co lead ministers here and I'm excited to be with you. We have been since Ash Wednesday really taking a journey through the stories of Christ, his encounters with his disciples, with the crowd and it's going to be no different today. We haven't hit Pentecost yet, so this is what we're doing. This is our series and we are going to be talking about the road to Emmaus. But before we get into our passage, I want to remind you a little bit about some of the things that we've been talking about through this time and specifically when we have talked about Jesus meeting his disciples, his friends after the resurrection.
So early on in our study, Jason spoke about Mary in the garden. Mary and her group of women that came to attend to Jesus after the cross three days later and finding an empty tomb, her not recognizing Christ, believing he was a gardener and then hearing her name called out and realizing, oh, it's Jesus.
Secondly, we talked about Thomas and how Thomas heard from the other disciples that Jesus had risen, that he was showing up all over the place after the crucifixion and him saying, I am not going to believe this until I actually touch the wounds in his hands and in his side.
And then last week we talked about Peter and some of the disciples going fishing after the crucifixion. Peter kind of throwing up his hands and saying, I am going fishing. I don't know what else to do.
Peter, remember, was the one who denied Christ three times.
And we see that Peter sees a stranger on the shore and that stranger that he does not recognize. This incognito, Christ tells them to go back out and fish and they grab a huge net of fish, which is what had happened early on in Christ's ministry.
And we see Peter redeemed from his denial in reminding Peter of this mission of Christ, of being a fisher of men.
And they the disciples along with Peter, recognize Christ for who he is and not the stranger that showed up.
So that's where we are. And today we are going to read a passage from Luke 24, starting in verse 13 and this is the road to Emmaus. It's maybe the Most famous, I think, of all, of the encounters with the risen Christ.
So we are going to read it together. If you've been in church church long, I imagine that this will not be new to you.
But let's see if we can find something new today, or at least relevant for us today in these passages. So let's read together, starting in verse 13.
Now, that same day, two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.
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, 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 these days?
What things?
He asks 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.
And we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.
And what's more, it is the third day since all of this took place.
In addition, some of the women amazed us.
They went to the tomb early this morning, but did not find his body. They came and told us what 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, meaning Jesus, said to them, how foolish you are and how slow to believe what all the prophets had 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 watch where they were going, Jesus continued on as if he was going further.
But they urged him strongly, stay with us, for it is nearly evening, the day is almost over.
So he went in and stayed 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 11 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 their way and how Jesus was recognized by them and when they broke bread.
Let's pray there's a few verses there.
God, open these passages to us. We confess that we too don't always recognize what your spirit is doing.
Help us to see this morning.
Help us to know you and ourselves maybe a little bit better this morning.
In your name we pray. Amen.
So, as you know, often when I read these passages, because I'm just always thinking it's all about me. I'm always wondering to myself, like, well, how would I do? Would I recognize Jesus? Would I be better at this than they were?
These are always things rolling around in my head because, you know, I think I'm a perfectionist maybe. And I just, I want to know that I could have been a little bit better. Like I. Jesus is there saying like, hello, and still they're not recognizing. And as I was getting ready for today, I.
My eye hit on a painting that's in my home. And I'm actually going to share it with you today, this painting in my home. So I have a little story for you to tell you how I know that I too would not have recognized Jesus. And here it is.
This painting is a painting that I bought for my mom when I was about, I want to say, 18 or 19 years old.
I'm a Gen Xer. I started working when I was 12.
I was about 17 when I got a job at the mall working at the Wet Seal.
Okay, I'm glad that hit for a few of you working at the Wet Seal.
And the mall had a little like gallery in it of fine art that was of local artists, kind of in the look of the time, very 1980s, 1990s.
And I saw this picture in the window and it reminded me a little bit of my mom and I walking with our dog on the beach in Oregon for a vacation.
But I just, I thought it was so beautiful and I just thought my mom had to have it. And so it was, I think like $400, which at the time I had moved out of the house at 17.
I paid, I think around $150 month in rent in Riverside to share a two bedroom apartment with three friends.
My room was the dining room.
And so like this was two and a half, maybe times my rent.
And so I did something called layaway.
Okay, so I lay away, for those of you who don't know what it is, was before you could build your credit. They always say this was a way to Build credit. You could put money down on something at the store, the store would hold the item, and if you paid every week a certain amount that you had agreed upon, then at the end of that, I don't even think there was interest. At the end of that, you got to take the item home. If you missed a payment, the store got to keep the item and resell it. So, you know, you had to make those payments. So over time, I made those payments and I wrapped this up and I don't know if it was for my mom's birthday or what I did. I gave my mom this very expensive for me picture. And she was so sweet. She opened it, she said, thank you so much.
And I told her, you know, it kind of reminds me of this. And she always had it in her home.
Fast forward 20 years later, my mom passed away. I was 38.
And my dad said, come on up to our mountain home and take some items that would be meaningful to you of your mom's.
And so I did. I came up for the weekend and started to get a view again. I mean, it wasn't like I wasn't there often, but I saw something new, I guess, with her gone. And I started to look at a couple of items and I saw her Mexican and Native American pottery, her navy and maroon sofas, her antler chandeliers, her pictures of wildlife from Alaska, snow filled mountaintops.
And I grabbed this picture and a few bits of pottery and a few things, and I started to see that there was a sore thumb in my mom's decorating.
A sore thumb.
I had this realization that in this gift that I had given to my mom 20 years before, that I had not really seen her.
I had only seen a reflection of what I liked, what I thought.
And you know, being a mom of adult children myself, I have since realized that my mom, I'm sure, cherished this because it was a gift from me. Some of you moms are nodding, but it was a moment that weekend where I sobbed because I realized that there was so many facets of this human that I came from that I thought I should know so well, who knew me so well, who I realized in a lot of ways I had not seen her.
And it sent me on a journey still to this day where I try to really see my mom for who she is, not just what I expected or needed her to be as her only child.
And I share this story because I think that what happened for me is very much happening in these accounts of our disciples not really seeing Jesus after The resurrection.
So in today's story, we see these two characters, maybe a husband and a wife, maybe two disciples. We don't really know. There's thoughts on that, but the truth is we don't really know. Taking a seven mile walk, talking about what they just been through.
A seven mile walk. I don't know. I haven't done it with sandals on, but I would imagine the road to Emmaus may have taken three to five hours.
And here comes a stranger. What are you talking about?
And I notice a couple things. First, they talk first about the women finding the empty tomb. They're just bereft, these two.
They're so upset, they don't know what comes next for them. They have been following Christ these three years and they talk about Jesus of Nazareth and then the women finding the empty tomb and how the men didn't believe them. I'm sorry, you guys, I couldn't not highlight this just for a second.
In fact, in a couple verses before this, though, the Greek word that Luke uses is was. The men thought the women were telling a delusional tale that he uses the term, a medical term for delusions, craziness, those crazy women.
And so the men had to go investigate whether or not Jesus was really gone.
And I don't know about your household, but if there is a man and a woman in the household, I'm wondering who finds the ketchup behind the milk first.
Mm.
But yeah. So the men investigate and in fact the women are telling the truth. Shock of all shocks.
And then they begin to talk about their desires for Christ to have made Israel a different place, a new place, a redeemed place.
And we see the incognito Jesus, after hearing each blow by blow of what happened, say to them, oh, how foolish you are.
And how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared.
Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?
And then Jesus says, then it says, then beginning with Moses, Jesus talks about Moses and all the prophets.
He interprets to them to these people walking as incognito Jesus, he's like, talk about the scriptures. Let's start with Moses. Let's go on through.
It's me, you guys.
I can imagine hours.
Let's start with Moses. Let's start where the spirit of God is in a box called the Ark of the Covenant.
The wood box, it's about 4ft long, 2ft wide.
Couple of priests a couple of times a year got to go in and experience the spirit of God and Interpret that.
That is where the Spirit of God was held at the time of Moses.
And then, I'm sure Jesus talked with his disciples as they walked along the road and said, and then, do you remember Isaiah? Do you remember when Isaiah said that there would be a divine child born and his side would be pierced?
Do you remember that?
Or maybe Jesus even spoke of his own words and said, it was just such a short time ago when I said to you, very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain.
But if it dies, it bears much fruit.
But still, after a seven mile journey, these two are still so fixated on their own circumstances, their own myopic view of the world, that they still fail to see Jesus even after all that teaching.
So they reach the end of their journey, they get to their destination and Jesus walks ahead like he's going to leave.
And they invite him to stay.
They say, no, no, stay with us. It's late, they're enjoying the conversation, they eat together, they break bread, Jesus gives thanks.
And then they notice their eyes are opened and he's gone.
Sometimes I think it's just how it works for me in my spiritual journey, that just when I feel like I think I get a little piece of Christ, just when I feel like I understand a little bit of God, it's fleeting, it goes.
But these apparitions of Christ, during this time, this 40 days before Pentecost, during this time before Christ ascends to the Father, we see these experiences where God, I think, is teaching Jesus, is teaching us that there's going to be a new way seeing God, a new way of understanding. He's teaching his disciples, hey, this is bigger than you.
One where the Spirit of God isn't just in a wood box with some gold on top for only a few priests to experience.
One that's not in the box of a man, only for those who are walking around him to experience.
But he's promising a comforter to come, the Holy Spirit, which is going to be available in every heart to those who invite the Spirit of God in.
Okay, so I just said for every heart who invites the spirit of God in.
How many of you have come from these evangelical, accept, believe, confess, ask Jesus into your heart and all will be right.
Are you, some of you a little triggered? Because then it makes you think about hell. Joey just said a little bit.
Let's not take the cross, Christ's work on the cross, and boil it down to just our own personal sin.
I think One of the greatest mistakes that modern Christianity has made and how they have messed up so many people is saying Jesus is your personal Jesus that you can put in your pocket and take out and say, hey, what would you do?
Jesus is so much bigger than your personal Jesus.
Jesus is so much bigger than your. Whether you went behind the bushes and smoked, Jesus is so much bigger than you, than Israel of that day, than the United States of today.
Jesus is trying over and over and over and over again from the start of Moses to today to say it's bigger.
And this is where I think the triune God starts to make sense to me.
The Trinity begins to like, oh maybe that is a thing.
Jesus or God in a box.
A box God and a man.
The spirit of God in every heart that choose to live in that reality.
To believe that God's love is expanding further and further to the furthest reaches, that the spirit of God, that the love of God is available to all mankind.
When we make it just about ourselves, when we navel gaze at only our own issues, we make Jesus so small.
Just like the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
There's a great quote that I'm going to ask that we put up by the theologian Marcus Borg that says this.
The meaning of the cross is not that Jesus had to die for our sins, but that his death reveals the depth of human injustice and the depth of God's love.
So okay, if it's not about me, if it's not about just you, why are we here?
What's the point?
And I think the point is, is because it's about all of us.
It's about all of humanity.
And that when we give up on making it just about us, when we lose ourselves, we gain.
We gain purpose, we gain Christ, we gain our own lives.
These encounters with the incognito Jesus are teaching us about how to see the bigger picture.
Mary and the women, they listen.
Thomas investigates.
Peter finds redemption and restoration for a greater purpose.
And our travelers enter into a communion that will be practiced throughout history.
So today as we maybe consider not looking at the personal Jesus in our pocket.
Not the Jesus that we think we want, but the Jesus that we can enter into. The bigger purpose, the greater purpose of God on the planet. The greater purpose of love.
I want that.
So I wonder, maybe you need to be listening.
Listening for your name.
Not just about you personally, but about you collectively.
Where do you belong?
Where are you hearing Jesus call your name?
Where might you be asking honest questions like Thomas?
Where might you be in need of redemption like Peter, maybe you've denied God and you need redemption.
What is the greater purpose of love for that redemption?
And then finally, where might you need communion with others, with Christ? In a moment?
I believe this is where we might find glimpses of God.
And why we come together here every Sunday is so that we can collectively try to grab a little bit of that hem of Christ's garment and understand a little bit more, see a bigger picture of who God is in the world. Amen.
Let's pray.
God, help us to see you, to see Christ, to see the Holy Spirit, to see your greater work in our hearts this morning.
Help us not to just reflect our own needs and wants.
We know that you are about love pulsating through the world.
Help us to find ourselves in losing ourselves in Christ's name.
[00:28:14] Speaker B: Thank you for joining us for this Sunday teaching, no matter when or where you're tuning in.
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