Dear friends,
I pray this message finds you well. I am so grateful to be walking this journey alongside all of you.
Here is today’s worship service:
Today’s sermon is based on Luke 24: 13-35:
13Now on that same day [when Jesus had appeared to Mary Magdalene,] two [disciples] were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. 18Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” 19He 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, 20and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21But 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. 22Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23and 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. 24Some 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.” 25Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” 27Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.
28As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29But 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. 30When he 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.
One evening last week I was walking along the road beneath Palisades Park in Decorah. There were storm clouds overhead, and as I walked I found myself imagining what it would have been like for those disciples on the road to Emmaus, lost in the threatening clouds of their grief and hopelessness. I felt their sorrow as they explained to Jesus their sadness and confusion. We had hoped, they told him. Jesus was a mighty prophet. Our own chief priests and leaders crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.
We had hoped.
Is there anything more heartbreaking than past-tense hope? Past-perfect to be precise, a tense used to recognize unrealized hopes and wishes. We had hoped, but we hope no more. We had hoped, but something happened that put an end to our hope, stopped it in its tracks. We had hoped, but then the one in whom we had placed our hope died. We had hoped, but we hope no more.
Hope becomes past tense when death destroys our dreams, our intentions, our desires, our future.
For what had you hoped?
In these days of need and loss, can you imagine walking with Jesus and telling him all that for which you had hoped? All that you’ve now lost? All that you grieve?
It’s precisely in that moment when hope is past-tense, belonging to a different time in our lives, that Jesus draws near. The resurrected Jesus draws near. The one who raises us to new life draws near. He walks beside us. He questions. He listens. And then he reveals the truth our hearts long to hear.
Hope is present. Not relegated to the past. Not constrained by what has been. Hope is present. Death, the great destroyer of dreams and desires, has itself been defeated. Hope is present. Our future is secure. Jesus is alive.
We had hoped that he would be the one to redeem Israel.
We had hoped that he would be the one to redeem us.
We had hoped that he would be the one we could trust to shepherd us from death to life.
We had hoped that he would be the one to bring healing to a broken world.
And now, as the resurrected Jesus draws alongside us, opening God’s word to us so that our hearts burn within us, we see that our hope is alive.
Jesus is our hope. He hasn’t failed us. All that he began, he continues. All that he created, he shapes still. This world’s redeemer is redeeming us from sin and death, despair and hopelessness. The good shepherd is shepherding us from death to life, from heartache to joy. Immanuel, God-with-us, is healing this broken world, blessing the wounded and the weary with peace.
He walks beside us when we feel as though all hope is lost. He draws near. And in his presence, hope is present tense.
We see Jesus—broken for the world he came to save—in broken hearts and broken spirits everywhere. God dwells among people whose tears need to be wiped away, among God’s beloved who know the sting of death, in all those times and places where mourning and crying and pain hold sway. God comes and makes God’s home among us until death is no more, until mourning and crying and pain are no more.
Is your hope in the past tense? Jesus draws near, God’s Word in the flesh, a living Word of compassion and courage for the brokenhearted of every time and every place.
Jesus is alive. Christ is risen. Hope is here. Amen.
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This week as the words of our reading for this day took root in me and began to grow, a song emerged. It draws not only on Luke 24 and Psalm 116, but on the words of Job, who in grief and despair says, “God breaks me down on every side and I am gone, God has uprooted my hope like a tree;” the words of Zechariah who declares that “by the tender mercy of our God the dawn from on high will break upon us;” the words of the psalmist who calls the mountains to “break forth into singing.” I share this song with you now as a prayer for God to draw near to all the brokenhearted with the promise that Hope remains.
In the Breaking
1 The snares of death encompass, distress and anguish flood our minds. O God, we pray, come quickly. We look to you to save our lives. Incline your ear to us, O Savior. See us through this time of sorrow. In your mercy, hear our prayer. (Psalm 116 and Psalm 22)
2 The night is filled with wrestling. Our hope’s uprooted like a tree. Broken down and tired of waiting, help us trust what we can’t see. The blessing comes at break of day; a light to guide us on our way; the promise our redeemer lives. (Genesis 32 and Job 19)
3 You see us in the sorrow, when we can’t face another day. You walk along beside us. You say you are the way, the truth, the life of all creation, the one who seeks the lost and lonesome. Incarnate Love, our hope renew. (Luke 24 and John 14)
4 Our light breaks forth at sunrise, our healing springs up from the grave. Your tender mercy frees us. This is the world you came to save. Break forth, O mountains, into singing. O sing for joy, all earth and heaven. Your comforter draws near. (Isaiah 58, Psalm 98, and Luke 1)
5 Our hearts burn bright within us. Your word ignites the light that shines. With broken hearts we see you; your broken body clears our eyes. We know you in the hunger and the hurting, in the breaking and the blessing. Where hope is lost you meet us there. (Luke 24)
6 Broken heart, here is your healer, the one who knows the grief you bear. Broken spirit, here is Jesus, the one who hears your every prayer. Your Savior sees you through the suffering, when you cannot know the ending. When all else fails your Hope remains.
God’s peace be with you, friends.