Always With Us: Keep Going

Luke 24:13-35

“Keep Going”

Jesus walks with his followers on the road to Emmaus as they lament his death, but they do not even recognize him. How often do we fail to see that Jesus is walking with us even now?

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Trinity.

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April nineteenth, twenty twenty six. Primary reading is Luke, chapter twenty-four, verses thirteen through thirty-five. Someone at the UMC conference office in West Sacramento recommended I talk to this well-connected muckety muck in CalPAC with experienced growing churches. A mutual contact introduced us, thinking this could be a long-term coaching experience. Great. Side note, the United Methodist Church is divided up into geographic regions called conferences to help with administrative overhead and joint ministries. We here at Trinity are in the California-Nevada conference, which covers Central and Northern California and Nevada. California Pacific, CalPAC, covers Southern California, Hawaii, and areas of the Pacific. Someone at the UMC conference office in West Sack recommended I talk with this guy with experience growing churches. We spoke over Zoom on Monday. Lovely guy, deep connections within the UMC, loves making disciples. I liked him. We could work together. But what this lovely guy talked about was his experience with growing large and mega churches in the Southeast and his experience with multi-campus churches. I realized we would not be a good fit. He had not bothered to look at our website before the call. This is a rural downtown church in a multicultural small town. He was trying to connect, but assumed we were put in touch because our needs at Trinity matched his expertise. And then I asked him about his background, and he realized we would not be a good fit. I could see it flash across his eyes. I had not bothered to look him up before the call. I was trying to connect, but assumed we were put in touch because our needs at Trinity matched his expertise. How would that conversation have rolled out if we both came into that call with some understanding of the person in front of us? How could we have spent those minutes? This scenario has happened to all of us. 50 days of confusion and not knowing. Today, by the way he breaks bread. And he will identify himself in many ways, a protector, one who prepares a place, and God indwelling in our hearts. In all these many ways, we will be reassured Christ is with us. This week's reading asks, How is it we can travel so far together and never really see each other? The risen Christ joins those who have known him in life on the road to Emmaus, but he is not recognized until they share a meal at the journey's end. Cleopus and his friend know intellectually that the post-resurrection Christ has been encountered, but their hearts cannot yet take in the news. Jesus himself calls them slow of heart. They need a story that can handle that information. So Jesus joins Cleopas and his friend, keeps going down the road with them with the words, what are you discussing with each other while you're walking along? He comes alongside them walking the road and asks, What story are you holding? And Jesus sees that not only do they need company as they walk, but they also need a storyteller. Jesus gives it to them. Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. Jesus helps the Emmaus-bound followers by telling them a story that allows them to see Christ in their midst. Because that is what Jesus does. He shows up for us as we need him to be, so we can understand that he is with us. Despite the storytelling and instruction, Cleopas and his friend did not identify Jesus until he broke the bread. That identification changes everything. Emmaus was about seven miles away, north-northwest. At least two and a half hours of walking. The revelation that Jesus Christ was walking the road with them was enough to launch them into a return trip. That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem, and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. Then they told what had happened on the road and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. So often we don't actually know who we are talking to. We don't see the person in front of us clearly enough to understand the gifts they are offering. Yet we get so confused by how the disciples of Jesus didn't recognize him despite talking together for about two and a half hours on that walk to Emmaus. How could they not have recognized him? How could they have? They were not looking for Jesus. Because he had died, how could they have recognized him? What finally gets their attention is the breaking of the bread. When we finally clearly recognize Christ in our midst and see others as his beloved children, everything shifts. Everything. He is always with us. In the glory, in the wounds, in the journey, in the story, in the meal. And once we see that clearly, our story changes. That new story that Christ is always with us gives us new strength for the next journey. So we keep going, even if it is back out into a dark night. Easter tide is a season of encountering God in our messy human lives. It's about joy and fear and confusion. It's all about the pain of beginning again, figuring out what to do next. You can't rush the season. In that messiness, Jesus shows up and makes himself known in ways we can understand. In all of this is the promise from the beginning of the Easter season till the end, Christ is with us as we need him to be. Christ is with us. This week, I invite you to drop your assumptions and try to be present with someone in your life, not as the person you have known them to be. But as the person in front of you. Right now. Quiet your ideas. How has this person been remade? Who are they now? And then if you're able, ask yourself, how is Christ showing up here? In this moment together. When you find him, you will find him as you need him to be. Amen.

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Trinity. This has been a production of Trinity United Methodist Church, located at 511 Oak Street in Calusa, California. Visit us online at CalusaUMC.org. Rights retained by original copyright holders, all other rights reserved.