Gracious God, these days of Eastertide when the Spirit of the Risen Christ fills the world, we turn to you.  We thank you for the Easter sign that life is victorious over death, that love at last overcomes hatred, and that the light finally is more powerful than darkness. Now open your Word to our hearts and our hearts to your Word.  In the Spirit of our Risen and Reigning Lord.  Amen.

This season of the Church year – these days between Easter and Pentecost – were known until very recently as Eastertide.  Now on my United Church of Christ calendar the traditional liturgical designation of Eastertide is simply called “The Season of Easter.”  I miss “Eastertide!”  It has a nice ring to it and it seems more festive and it also makes Easter seem less like a day on the calendar and more like the start of a movement by which we are swept into the future.

Eastertide is the season when the spirit of the Risen Christ fills the world and seeks to enter our heart and our home if only we will bid him enter.  It is as if the gospel writers want to stress that the life ahead is not about Easter baskets and lilies, but about the reality of death and ambiguity and tragedy in history.  And it is about a greater reality – the power of God’s love that brings life out of death.  It is about the future and it is finally about hope.  As Walter Brueggemann has said, “Because of Easter I can come out from behind my desk, my stethoscope, my uniform, my competence, my credentials, my fears – to meet life a little more boldly.”

The gospels have beautiful and breath-taking accounts of the appearances of the Risen Christ to his disciples.  The encounter with Thomas.  The account of Jesus having breakfast on the beach with the disciples.  The forgiveness of Peter for his denial and his three-fold charge to faithfulness.  Unfortunately, in our haste to move on after Easter – with what and to what, I am not sure – we quickly leave Easter behind and ignore these lovely and powerful post-Resurrection appearances.

One of the most compelling is the story of the walk to Emmaus, which was our gospel reading of the morning, with those memorable words: “Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him. . .”  It is the afternoon of Easter and two followers of Jesus (scholars think a man and a woman) were walking the seven miles from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus.  They were discussing all the events of Easter when the Risen Christ draws near, but they do not recognize him.  It might be well to pause for a moment and ask:  Why did these two disciples fail to recognize Jesus?  Perhaps the appearance of the Risen Christ was different from the Jesus they had known before his death and resurrection.  I suspect these two disciples on the road to Emmaus did not recognize Jesus for they were not looking for him.
Isn’t this often our experience?  We see what we are looking for.  If you look for beauty you are usually able to find beauty.  If you look for love and kindness, friendship and generosity, usually you find them.  If you look for rejection and anger, hostility and greed, usually you find that.

Well, when they get near the village the two disciples invite this unrecognized stranger to spend the night, for “it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.”  At the evening meal, Jesus takes bread, and blesses it.  “Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him.”  They walk the seven miles back to Jerusalem to tell the disciples of their encounter with the Risen, living Christ.

Again, is this not your experience and mine?  Time and again God in Christ draws near and we do not recognize him.  We fail to be alert to the presence of God in our life:  the blessings and protections we daily receive, the beauty of creation, the love of family and friends, the kindness of strangers, the joy which flies past every day and which we so often fail to see and catch.

This is also our challenge and our opportunity these days after Easter – to see Jesus, to listen to the voice of Jesus in the national debate now taking place in Washington as to whether America will lead by fear, aggression and force of arms, or by diplomacy, moderation and example.  To see Jesus and listen for the voice of Jesus in the funding priorities in our national and state budgets, whether the cuts will fall disproportionately upon the poor, the homeless, the elderly, children and the disadvantaged – those who often have little voice save our own.

Jesus himself came near, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.  Yes, sad to say, this is so often your story and mine.  We fail to see him standing in our midst or hear his voice.  As Jesus said so often: “let those with eyes to see, see, and those with ears to hear, hear.”

There was a monastery somewhere in Europe that was slowly dying.  There was a time when people from all over the world would visit this monastery for spiritual renewal.  But the monastery had fallen on hard times and the monks had become bitter, angry and quarrelsome.  It appeared the monastery would close.    Then, they heard about a wise man who lived as a hermit in the woods. They sent one of their number to get his advice. The wise man said: “I cannot tell you what to do, but I can tell you a mystery.  One of you is the Christ.”  When the monk returned to the monastery and told the others, the place became transformed. The monks always wondered which of them might be the Christ.  They saw each other with new eyes and cherished each other.  The monastery once again became a place of renewal, filled with the spirit and love of God.  Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.  I hear the rush of angel wings and see glory in each face.  Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.

Lo, I tell you a mystery:  The spirit of the Risen Christ is in your midst these days of Eastertide.  May you catch at least a glimpse of this spirit in the faces around you this morning, and about your supper table this evening, and wherever you are at this time tomorrow.

“And their eyes were opened and they recognized him.”

Scripture Reading
Luke 24: 13-35

Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened.  While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.  And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?”  They stood still, looking sad.  Then one of them, whose name was Cleopus, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?”  He asked them, “What things?”  They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him.  But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place.  Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see him.” Then he said 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?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on.  But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them.  When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.