Luke 24:33-35

Posted by DJL on Apr 15, 2013 in Daily Bread | 0 comments

That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Again we are confronted with Luke’s vision for Sunday worship. For not only should worship meet us where we are, open up the Scriptures in reading and sermon, and encounter us with the living presence of Christ in Communion, it also sends us back into the world to share what we have seen and experienced with others.

Here is where Luke draws this scene to a close and brings us back to the main story line, as it were, of the disciples gathered in Jerusalem. For once Cleopas and his companion perceive that it was Jesus accompanying them on the road to Emmaus, they get up and immediately hike the seven miles back to Jerusalem. They go even though it is now surely evening. They go even though evening is not a safe time to travel. Why? Because burning hearts demand to be shared. Might this, in fact, be the best understanding of evangelism? It is not trying to convince someone of the faith. It is not saving their soul. It is not threatening someone with damnation. Rather, it is simply sharing news that has set your own heart on fire with love.

Luke, as I said, didn’t have to tell this story. Each of the four authors of the Gospels makes choices and decisions (as John admits near the close of his story – see John 20:30-31). And so when we come across a distinct detail, discrepant description, or novel scene, it always behooves us to ask what element of the truth of the Gospel is the Evangelist trying to convey.

Here, I think, the matter is clear. Writing to Christians who likely never met Jesus in the flesh, Luke invites them – and all of us since – to gather with other Christians around Word and Sacrament that we might be met on the way, hear God’s word opened, perceive Christ in our midst, and be sent to share the good news of the resurrection.

Christians have been repeating this pattern for two thousand years, and each time we gather for worship on Sunday we are joining them. May it always be so.

Prayer: Dear God, thank you for Sunday worship and the invitation to meet you again in word and meal and so be encouraged to share our faith in word and deed. In Jesus’ name, Amen.