I gathered at the Medici Italian restaurant in Hyde Park on Friday for dinner with David, Jules and Gail. We were having a heart to heart talk that got right to the heart of things for us all and individually. We passed with revisions our oral exams for the doctorate in preaching program! One is from Minneapolis, one from Milwaukee and one from Cincinnati. We broke pizza bread and raised our glasses to toast the support of family, friends and churches that have helped us in this journey. Somewhere in the breaking of the bread and the drinking of the malt beverage, knowing that after graduation we will not see each other again, we saw Jesus appear… and then he was gone. Our hearts burned within us.
There were two men walking down the road with long faces. They had this long walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus that was about a seven mile walk or about a 2-3 hour journey. They were talking and walking when they met a stranger who asks what they were talking about. They stop. Are you the only one doesn’t know that the Cubs started out 1-3 this year? Well, they didn’t know why Jesus didn’t know what was going on in Jerusalem. They could not tell this stranger was Jesus either. Cleopas said that they were hoping that Jesus would liberate the people politically from the Romans and there is great disappointment. Some women say that he was raised but we don’t believe them. Jesus began to teach them in the journey that the messiah was suppose to be rejected in order to demonstrate the power of God in such a way that shows no one; no power could over throw God’s rule of love ever again. His death and resurrection would show a new powerful kingdom that breaks in now and is brought to completion then. Jesus taught them many things and then was about to walk on by when they invited him into their home for dinner. Stay with us! They gathered for a meal and then the bread is blessed and broken and Jesus appeared to them in communion and in this mystery of community. Their lives are full and they are inspired to run all the way back to Jerusalem to tell the others. The disciples in Jerusalem said that they too saw Jesus, he appeared to Peter. Were not our hearts burning inside!
This same Peter in Act 2:37 spoke to the crowd, “You knew him, you were there; you let him be killed.” Knowing Peter himself had also denied him. You and me; we did this and God wants us to turn back and receive grace. "Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” Believe and call out to God for help and God will save you.
Now when it said that they were “cut” to the heart, it means to prick or stab or get to the point. It’s not like Steven’s sermon to the religious leaders later in Acts, where they felt like they got their heads cut off. Preaching for Lutherans is about “law and gospel”. Some of you have grown up in a faith tradition where it’s 95% law and 5% gospel. The sermon felt like you just got your head cut off. The law should always point you to the gospel not cut your head off. The law should convict you and not leave you with out arms that can respond with love and praise toward God and the neighbor.
This word may cut to the heart but it’s only a small pricking. The good news is not meant cut your head off with the bad news about who you are but a message that will cut to your heart because it will reveal how great God is to us in Christ. It’s not meant to be a mere flesh wound like the Monte Python movie that lops the arms off. The good news cuts to the heart and reminds you of God’s grace and mercy. That grace just shows up somehow in the breaking of the bread and the washing of one another’s feet.[i]
It showed up last night over chicken nuggets. Earlier in the day, I drove out of Chicago on Interstate 290. Just before I reached York Road, I could see Elmlawn Cemetery where my mom is buried. She had died last October and I had ordered the date on headstone and wanted to see if it was installed. When I found the headstone and the date, it made me remember that when she died last fall, I wasn’t sure if I would finish the paper for my Doctorate in Ministry Preaching program that I had to finish, but I knew she’d want me to graduate. As I walked away from the headstone, I said a little prayer. “Lord, I just need a little sign before I graduate.” After I got home, I played with the kids all afternoon, getting their bikes out and then feeding them dinner. With Tammy out at the women’s retreat, I fed them whatever they wanted and watched Ratatoullie dinner the meal. As we watched the movie and ate chicken nuggets and corndogs, we saw Chef Gusto and little Chef the rat. Chef Gusto is a figment of the rat’s imagination or some type of angel encouraging him. Nathan said to me, without me ever saying anything about the cemetery, “Dad, when you die, you’ll get to see Granny again.”
The word of God appeared and then it was gone. Indeed, Christ shows up as we break bread together, eat chicken nuggets or corndogs and then he’s gone. The presence of Christ is all around us in these ordinary ways, Praise God!
Let us pray; Gracious God, Christ makes himself known to all his disciples in the breaking of bread. Open the eyes of our faith, that we may see Christ present in, with and under all these ordinary times and things, in Christ’s name we pray, Amen.
[i] Women’s Retreat took place Friday-Saturday prior to sermon and their topic was “The Footprints of Christ”
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