The Adventurous Lectionary – Third Sunday of Easter – April 26,2020
Acts 2, 14a, 23-41; Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19; I Peter 1:17-23; Luke 24:13-35
For people most likely sheltering in place, today’s scriptures are about movement, reminding us that movement can be spiritual and ethical as well as physical. We are challenged to take journeys without distance and to use our sheltering in place as an opportunity for spiritual adventure.
Today’s reading highlights the Emmaus Walk. It could be titled, “Let’s Go For a Walk.” Or, “Walking with Jesus.” Jesus doesn’t come to us solely “in the garden” but on the highway, the seven mile stretch from Jerusalem to Emmaus, and in our own daily journeys. Jesus also comes to us at the dinner table in our house, when our eyes are open and we discover God is in this place – our homes – and now we know it.
The Emmaus story is about embodied movement. Resurrection moved the cells as well as the soul of Jesus, and the cells and souls of his followers. They went from the tomb and upper room out into the world, not always knowing where they were going, but trusting God’s Spirit to guide the way. Resurrection still gets us out of our comfort zones and calls us to the open road, spiritually, ethically, and sometimes physically. Movement is essential, spiritually, even if our movements are a bit more circumscribed and careful these days.
I love to walk. Each morning, and virtually every day of the year at sunrise, I walk a few miles on Cape Cod beach and the picturesque Craigville neighborhood near my home. These days, I wear my mask, even though I am often the only one out at sunrise. I spend the walk observing the world around me and my own inner thoughts. I often use the time for intercessory prayer and personal centering, taking in God’s energy of love and sharing it with others. Sometimes, in the afternoon, when the weather is “bad” and there are few walkers and I can keep a good physical distance, I take a second walk with my wife and my Golden Doodle. In recognition of my love for walking, one of my friends sent me a paperweight that proclaims, solvitur ambulando, “it will be solved in the walking.”
Moving and eating is at the heart of the Emmaus reading and our lives. A walk and a meal can transform your life, and that’s what happened in the encounter of Jesus with two of his earliest followers. Trudging down the road, two utterly confused followers are joined by a third man. Their world has been turned upside down by the events of the past week: celebration, conflict, violence, and death, and now the possibility that their martyred spiritual leader has come back to life. Resurrection is just as unsettling as crucifixion. It doesn’t fit into any rational world view, including the theology of resurrection of the first century Jewish people. They could imagine a resurrection of all humanity at the end of history, but not the resurrection of a solitary individual.
But, they walk the seven miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus, first sharing their common grief, and then entering into a strange conversation with their unexpected companion, who unfolds the story of salvation through resurrection to them. Somehow, they cannot recognize their companion as the teacher and healer Jesus. Perhaps, it is a bit of divine magic allowing them to gently adapt to a new way of seeing; perhaps, it is the highly energetic body of their companion that both reveals and conceals Jesus’ identity.
Confused and grief stricken, the two men nevertheless reach out to the stranger. They invite him to supper. While we don’t know the menu, we do know that as the meal ended, they come to know his identity as the Risen Jesus in the breaking of the bread. Their hospitality leads to a theophany, an encounter with the Risen Jesus, who is known in the simple Eucharistic acts of praying and eating.
Movement and meal lead to revelation, and then Jesus is gone, vanishing from their sight, but leaving them with warmed hearts, lively spirits, and energetic bodies. They are so energized that they walk seven miles back to Jerusalem to share their good news that Jesus is risen and on the road.
After breaking the bread, Jesus vanished from their sight. He may have needed to be on the move as well. God is not static, imprisoned by yesterday’s revelations and the church’s creeds and scriptures. God is alive and on the move, doing new things and sharing new insights with other pilgrims on the journey. Can we experience Christ Alive and on the move in the privacy of our homes? Can we encounter Jesus in the breaking of the bread whether we are home, sheltering by ourselves or with family? Can we experience our daily meals as an invitation to share in divinity?
The reading from Acts connects repentance with salvation. We have certainly turned our lives around these days. We are looking inward rather than outward, our encounters are limited, and church is online. Yet, repentance involves a spiritual movement – turning from what was to a new beginning. Changing our minds and our lives even if our bodies stay in place. Many want to get back to “normal” but we need to remember the dangers of normalcy. The normal may have been good for the privileged but for many in our world and nation, the normal involved poverty, lack of health care, unhealthy diets, and daily insults. They need – and so do we – a new normal. Days of prayer, called by the White House, don’t mean anything unless we become agents of transformation. From the vantage point of our homes, we need to be big spirited and global minded. Our spirits can expand despite contractions in physical mobility.
The Epistle of Peter tells us that in light of the resurrection, we need to trust and love. We need to become aware of the imperishable in the context of the perishable world. Our world is perishable. Mortality is real, perhaps more real as a result of the Coronavirus. But, we can trust God’s resurrection love that liberates us from fear even when we are afraid, and calls us to love despite our caution. How can we love boldly in a time of pandemic? How can we reach out in love despite our limitations in physical movement? Perhaps from a quiet center we will experience our connection with all reality.
Though sheltering in place and broadcasting online, we are on the road as well. Many of our churches are uncertain about their destinations and worried about the future, especially in light of the pandemic and potential losses in revenue at a time when budgets are strapped. So dependent on physical presence in worship, can we survive distant worship. We can relate to the Emmaus story. We have heard the good news but wonder how it will be embodied in our congregations at this point in their histories.
We really don’t know exactly where Emmaus is located, as Marcus Borg suggested. Several possibilities have been surfaced, but perhaps vagueness is a virtue. In not localizing Emmaus, we can open to the possibility that Emmaus is everywhere. Wherever we are on the road and at every mealtime, Jesus comes to us, filled with energy and possibility, and the joy of resurrection. We can have new life, and we can be born again, right now at any venue. Let’s keep moving, and chart new adventures, because Jesus walks beside us on the road, in our living rooms, backyards, or wherever we are.
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Bruce Epperly is a Cape Cod pastor, professor, and author of over 50 books including FAITH IN A TIME OF PANDEMIC, GOD ONLINE: A MYSTIC’S GUIDE TO THE INTERNET, and PROCESS THEOLOGY: EMBRACING ADVENTURE WITH GO
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