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Sunday, February 9, 2014

Heart Burn

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, February 9, 2014.  The Bible verses used are Luke 24:13-35.

            One of the things about living in a small town is that wherever you go in town, you run into people you know.  When you go to the store, or go to the cafe, or go to the game, or wherever, you’ll see people you know and people who know you.  To Wanda and me, that’s one of the really cool things about living here.  One of the things we did not like about being in the Sioux City area was that we’d never see anyone we knew when we went to the grocery store.  Even the checkers seemed like they were different every time.  We like being in a place where we know people and where people know us.
            But you know, even when you like that, it’s kind of nice once in a while to go where you can be anonymous.  And as we finish our sermon series, “Road Trip!”, that’s one of the neat things about a road trip.  For a week or two, you can go someplace where nobody knows you.  We would not want to do that all the time, but just for a little while, for a break, it’s kind of a nice thing.
            Once Jesus’ ministry started, of course, he never had that.  Everywhere he went, people know who he was.  He was a celebrity.  We read last week about when he entered Jerusalem and all the people were cheering for him, but that was just one of the many examples of when Jesus attracted a crowd.  People followed him everywhere.
            The only way Jesus could talk to anyone anonymously was to die.  And that’s what happened in our reading for today.  This is pretty much the last road trip Jesus took on earth.  It was on the road to Emmaus.  It took place after Jesus had died and was raised from the dead.  
As our scene opens, two people are walking along the road.  We have no idea who they were.  We’re told one of them was named Cleopas, but we have no idea who Cleopas was.  There are theories, but that’s all they are.  We’re told nothing about him here, and he never shows up in the Bible again.  We’re not even told that he’s a he:  Cleopas appears to be a male name, but nothing in the Bible says Cleopas could not have been female.  But at least we get Cleopas’ name.  We don’t even get the name of the other person.
So they’re talking about the events of the day, about Jesus having been crucified.  And then, Jesus shows up and starts talking to them.  They don’t recognize him.  We’re told “they were kept from recognizing him”, which would indicate that maybe Jesus had done something to disguise himself or something, but in fact it probably would not have taken much to keep them from recognizing him.  I mean, if I knew that someone I cared about had died, and all at once they came up and started talking to me, I probably would not recognize them, either.  I might think that they looked kind of like my old friend, but I would not think it was my old friend, because, well, I knew my friend was dead, so it would not be possible.
Jesus asks them what they’re talking about, and they cannot believe it.  How can he not know?  I mean, this would be like if it was September 12, 2001 and we were talking about the Twin Towers collapsing and someone comes up and says, “Hey, what are you guys talking about?”  How could somebody not know this?  But still, they tell Jesus all about it.
At least, they tell Jesus about it to the best of their ability.  They tell Jesus what’s happened, but they don’t tell him what it means.  They cannot do that, because they don’t understand.  So then Jesus starts explaining it to them.  He tells them the meaning of everything that’s happened.  He goes back to Moses and all the prophets, explaining to them how through Jesus all those old prophecies have come true.
And they still don’t know who he is.  But, they invite him to spend the night with them.  They sit down to eat.  Jesus takes bread, gives thanks, and breaks the bread, just like what happened at the Last Supper.  And then, suddenly, they recognize Jesus.  And then, just as suddenly, Jesus disappears.
Why did he do that, do you suppose?  Why, when they recognize Jesus, does Jesus disappear?  We’re not told.  The thing is, though, it’s okay.  It’s okay because, as Cleopas and the other person say, their hearts were burning within them while Jesus talked with them and opened the Scriptures to them.  And they could not wait to go and tell others what had happened to them.
It was quite a journey of faith the followers of Jesus went on.  When Jesus was around, when he was preaching and teaching and everything, his followers were really excited.  Their faith was really strong.  But then, things went bad.  Jesus was arrested.  Jesus was killed.  And the faith of his followers became really weak, almost non-existent.  They pretty much gave up, thinking it was all over.  
Then, Jesus came to them.  And even though they did not know who he was, just the fact that he was there made their faith stronger.  Then, they started to understand some things, and their faith got even stronger.  And when they recognized him, their faith got stronger still.  It got so strong that, even though he left immediately, his leaving did not weaken their faith.  They now knew who Jesus was.  And they knew that, even though he was not physically present, he would be with them in their hearts through the Holy Spirit forever.
Does that sound a little bit like the journey of faith we go on in our lives?  I think it does, at least for some of us.  We start out, young in our faith, and we get really excited.  Our faith gets really strong.  But then, we start to have trouble.  We start to have problems.  Life beats us down.  We get discouraged.  And our faith gets pretty weak.  In fact, sometimes, it feels like our faith is pretty much non-existent.  We start to give up, thinking it’s all over.
And then, Jesus comes to us.  We may not know who he is at first, but just the fact that he’s there makes our faith stronger.  Then, we start to understand some things, and our faith gets even stronger.  And then, we recognize him, and our faith gets stronger still.  It gets so strong that, even though Jesus is not physically present, that does not weaken our faith.  Because now we know who Jesus is.  And we know that he will be with us in our hearts through the Holy Spirit forever.
You know, one of the things we talk about sometimes is how to tell the difference between God’s will and our will.  Because we can be really good at fooling ourselves sometimes.  We humans can rationalize almost anything if we want to badly enough.  We can be really good at convincing ourselves that what we want to do is what God wants us to do.  We may not be able to convince anyone else, but we can convince ourselves, and that’s all we need to do.
But I think what Cleopas and the other person experienced shows us how to tell the difference.  When we are in the presence of God and we feel that burning in our hearts, then we know.  We know that what we’re feeling actually is real.  We know we’re not just fooling ourselves.  We know it because we feel God in our hearts and in our lives.
You see, there’s a reason Jesus could not go anywhere and be anonymous while he was on earth.  God does not want to be anonymous.  We’re not supposed to go through our lives not knowing who God is and what God does.  God has no desire to be an unknown God or an anonymous God.  We’re supposed to come to know God and to love God.  We’re supposed to do that with our all of our hearts, all of our minds, all of our souls, and all of our strength.  Every bit of our selves, everything that makes us who we are, is supposed to know God and to love God.  That’s what God wants.
And maybe that’s why Jesus disappeared when Cleopas and the other person recognized him.  Because once we know who Jesus is, once we know him and love him with all of our hearts, all of our minds, all of our souls, and all of our strength, once our hearts burn within us, Jesus has nothing more he needs to do.  The Holy Spirit takes over and leads us the rest of the way.  Then, we do what Cleopas and the other person did.  We go and tell others what’s happened, and we encourage them know God and love God, too.
God does not want to be anonymous.  As Christians, we’re not supposed to be anonymous, either.  So let’s do what Cleopas and his friend did.  Let’s welcome Jesus into our hearts and into our lives.  And then, let’s go and tell others what’s happened, so they can welcome Jesus into their hearts and into their lives, too.

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