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I
read a beautiful poem the other day talking about the road to Emmaus gospel
passage we have this morning. It said
that a Christian person is one who walks not towards the sunset but towards the
sunrise. It went on to say that
basically it is only through Jesus that even in these bewildering times, we
learn what life truly means.
That
journey however, our walk of discipleship begins as a spiritual reality. Father Thomas Moore once said: “The spiritual
life is equivalent to living the poetry of the world, not facts...” What does make our discipleship formation
seem like a collection of moments randomly connected much like a poem? This is the challenge of balancing our faith
with or most often against the world and the Evil One’s stumbling blocks.
Let’s
consider Peter’s bravery throughout most of the book of Acts; here’s a common
fisherman turned disciple going from town to town, church to church and other
gatherings giving elaborate speeches about the Gospel and the imperative to
follow Christ with conviction and intentionality. The discerned heart can do amazing
things!
Speaking
of the “heart” of the matter is really the heart of the Gospel this week: “30When
Jesus was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave
it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him;
and he vanished from their sight. 32They said to each other, “Were
not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while
he was opening the scriptures to us?” 33That same hour they got up
and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions
gathered together. 34They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed,
and he has appeared to Simon!” 35Then they told what had happened on
the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.”
Head knowledge and knowing things
spiritually are two truly distinct things.
One could be a professional student nearly studying seven or more years
in a particular school of thought... but does the learning and growing with
Christ ever end? No, it does not... Today’s epistle “poetically” addresses
this: “. 21Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him
from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God. 22Now
that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you
have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. 23You
have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the
living and enduring word of God. 24For “All flesh is like grass and
all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower
falls, 25but the word of the Lord endures forever.”
Hearing that last verse in context
today, we know that we often “cut” the grass down as well as what some may
consider a flower, others would call a weed and pour poison upon it to kill it
from rising up again in the uniform, even-cut, blades of green grass... “our
lawn,” regulated, watered and cared for aesthetic beauty alone...
If we are like the blades of grass
rooted upon this earth for obedience to the TRUTH of the Gospel why are we not
allowing or denying our hearts to flower or realize the Glory of God all around
us? I don’t know how many of you watch series specials on the History channel
or not, but there was a really interesting one on last week called “life
without people.”
Basically these scientists,
biologists, philosophers and whatnot discussed at length, stage by stage what
the earth would slowly become after people were “extinct.” Outside of the trees growing out of control,
snakes would be devouring everything and anything remaining. Which one scene in particular was really
disturbing to see, but they fed a kitten to a snake! Essentially, the
conclusion of the show was a secular scientific version of the apocalypse...
So much death and truly horror, how
awful! Let’s bring this back to talking
about the spiritual again and our formational journey down the road to Emmaus.
For over 2,000 years we have either contributed to build upon the foundation of
the church that is Christ Jesus our Crucified and Risen Lord and savior... or
we have been a party to cutting him out of our lives, out of our hearts to be
wound up into ourselves and the bondage of the world: sin!
Speaking of being cut to the heart!
It is much like seeing the reality of when we are blinded, mute and unable to
be fed by Christ! There was a really horrific
picture on facebook of persecuted and tortured young Syrian Christian girls who
don’t make the news these days since Christianity is being indirectly
persecuted here in America... but she
had her mouth and eyes sewn up by Muslims who found out that she confessed
Jesus to be her Lord and savior!
The Battle field has changed where
Satan’s efforts are growing ever more and more diabolical... working through us
to be the ones to cut others down to bring in death, bondage and unimaginable
sin! These are two extreme examples—the
“life without people” grizzly scenes and the tortured child... existing in the
world with us right now but did they do their job? Are the eyes of your hearts opened, made more
aware of what needs to be done? No
matter where you are on the journey of being a disciple of Christ Jesus, we are
called to walk, talk and witness boldly for the Son who is the sun arising within
our hearts turning towards him as we realize the impact of His Love and GRACE
in our lives!
We are called through faith to never
let the sun go down upon us but let the Son arise within us working through us
to become a field that is much more than beautiful, but bountiful with our unique,
creative, spiritual fruits grown and developed for the greater good and for the
Glory of God! This is living in light of
realizing the power and empowerment/ impact of the resurrection within our
lives as disciples of Jesus.
There is so much around us both good
and evil. GRACE is constantly flowing
over us especially when we are disciplined to daily remember our Baptism as
reflection, confession, repentance and renewal.
We are walking down that road daily, every day persons who are uniquely
called by God to answer! The heart is
the tabernacle of the Holy Spirit to our internal and eternal spiritual
church... Christ works through us to
discern here first. Our hands and our
feet as the Body together, enact the reformation needed in our world today!
A world without God is a world of
death, sin and evil—we must continue to prepare for the battle daily as this is
the cost of discipleship. Peter was by
no means a perfect disciple. He was a
former rough and gruff fisherman now through faith transformed to be tirelessly
proclaiming Christ everywhere as we’ve seen in the reading from Acts.
Who’s to say where we are in our
everyday lives can’t realize what St. Paul said in Philippians: (Philippians
4:12-14) “12I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is
to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being
well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. 13I
can do all things through him who strengthens me.”
We need to hear and experience
deeply what the author of 1 Peter says beginning with that conditional “if...”
: “17If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people
impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of
your exile. 18You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways
inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, 19but
with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or
blemish. 20He was destined before the foundation of the world, but
was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake.”
We should hear this today as: Don’t
allow yourselves to become spiritual exiles where you faith is fading like a
setting sun but remember deeply and discern deeply in the heart first, who freed
you. Jesus the Christ freed you from
sin, death and the devil by the cross and his resurrection is lived every day
in how you live into the life and light of GRACE.
Let Us Pray:
Heavenly Father,
There is much we need to strive to
Do
We must persevere with Your Living
Word and arising Son in our lives
Help us be obedient in answering
your call and challenge to us
To be and become all things through
Christ Jesus who indeed strengthens us daily!
May our lives be built upon a solid
foundation one that is not shaken or cut down
May our lives bear beautiful fruit
for Your Name’s sake
AMEN
May 4th, 2014; 3rd
Sunday of Easter; Year A; SOLA Lectionary Nicole
Collins
Psalm 116:1-14; Acts 2:14, 36-41;
1 Peter 1:17-25 & Luke 24:13-35
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