Let us pray:
Christ is Risen: The world below lies desolate
Christ is Risen: The spirits of evil are fallen
Christ is Risen: The angels of God are rejoicing
Christ is Risen: The tombs of the dead are empty
Christ is Risen indeed from the dead,
the first of the sleepers,
Glory and power are his forever and ever. Amen.*
Our Gospel lesson today reminds us that the Apostles were able to spend some quality time with Jesus, after his resurrection and before his ascension. I always find this part of the story to be at least a little bittersweet what with the disciples’ becoming more confident that salvation has come, but the still having to say good-bye to their rabbi. But Jesus was careful not to leave them to their own devices and that is where I’d really like to begin today.
Jesus was sitting down for a meal with his disciples after his traveling with the two guys on the Emmaeus Road. During this meeting, St. Luke reports to us that:
“…he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures…”
Now that’s pretty neat. I think that’s kind of like sitting down with your favorite author and asking all the questions you had about the book. Except, in this case, the book is the Bible and they were sitting with the Author of Salvation. Anyway, imagine being an apostle: someone who knew the story of Israel, took the law seriously, prayed the psalms, heeded the prophets…
…and then this Jesus character comes along and in many ways breaks their paradigm. They needed help reading the Scriptures again. Can you track along with that at all? Do you ever feel like you could use some help reading the Scriptures?
I know I can. In fact, one of the most personally encouraging things I have read in studying theology was written by the legendary 20th century theologian Karl Barth, when he simply described the Bible as a “Strange New World.” This was encouraging because if you were to come to the Bible pretty much cold, as I did back in college, it is a very strange and new place. The first time I took the Bible seriously at the tender age of 22, I found a world where an itinerant preacher who may have been a carpenter for 30 years went around facing down Romans, demons, and priests. There were visions of temples, and giant birds over rivers, and voices from the sky. I was reading the Gospel according to St. Mark at the time I remember thinking that it reminded me of a really quickly paced, if particularly preachy, science-fiction novella. Needless to day, this was not the book I had expected to see; not the world I had expected to enter! But little by little, I had started to get to know this Jesus fellow and by the end of my semester, I was ready to commit my life to Him. How could that possibly be?
I think it’s because the same thing he did for his apostles back then, is the same thing He does for us know, if our hearts are open to Him. The risen Jesus wants to sit with us and open our minds to understand the Scriptures. He wants our witness to again be the same as the most ancient Church’s: that He suffered and on the third day rose from the dead and that we should preach repentance and forgiveness of sins to all nations.
I wonder if that program of proclamation seemed simple to the gathered disciples as they sat with Jesus! It always seems so easy with the boss right in front of you, doesn’t it? In light of that, you might even be entertaining the same thoughts I have on a weekly basis as I vow to myself to read the entire Bible again. But then, when we sit down with those wonderful words in Genesis, we find something that confounds us, upsets us, or dare I say… bores us (Numbers, I’m looking at you), and our vow is left in the dust as other more apparent, clear, and pressing stimuli catch our attention.
So I’m proposing that we re-engage with Scripture with perhaps a new goal in mind: not to merely finish it, not to prove it, not find a proof, not to use it to argue, not to argue with, not to feel accomplished in our knowledge, but to actually get to know a person: Our Lord.
Here’s what I’m thinking. While it is very important to know the Old Testament so that we can fully understand Jesus’ story, let’s get to know Jesus a little. Let’s get to know the New Testament. What I’m saying is that it is OK to start there. Read the Gospel accounts again with eyes towards getting to know the savior and his activities, with a heart open to Him that he would deepen your friendship and kinship with him. Ask for God to rain grace upon you as you read, having your heart filled with the Holy Spirit who will be your guide through the pages as they draw you closer to the Father. Look at the work of God in the earliest Church and be encouraged that their ministry is as much a part of yours as your pew partner’s is. Pray that you would be able to read the letters to get to know what it means to live as if everything has changed, because, well, after the resurrection, everything has changed. Seek to hear Christ’s voice in Revelation not to predict what’s coming in the particulars but to what’s coming in the master plan which is God’s perfect and glorious reign over the New Heavens and the New Earth.
When it’s time to get back into the Strange New World of the Old Testament, you’ll be ready to see the glimpses of Christ, the sacraments, and God’s plan for salvation around every corner from Adam to Malachi. Just remember to ask for God’s help.
In fact always remember to ask for God’s help, especially as we live out the implications of the Resurrection, of our salvation in Christ. This Sunday morning as we disciples band together ready to make Eucharist, pray that the Christ who is among us will lift up our hearts again and further reveal himself in the Scriptures and in the Breaking of the Bread.
Amen.
* A Paschal prayer attributed to St. Hippolytus of Rome (170-236 AD)
Sermon preached by Rev. David S. Bumsted
The Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota, Florida
3rd Sunday after Easter
19 April 2015