First Presbyterian Church                                            Rev. James K. Teall

Salt Lake City, Utah                                                                                                      April 10, 2005

                                                 

“Out to Lunch”

Luke 24:13-35

On the 31st of March of this year, a Mr. Frank Simmons of Santa Clara, California was driving around all day drinking beer with one of his buddies.  At one point during their joy ride the two friends found themselves in need of a restroom, as is the case when one consumes large quantities of beer.  Mr. Simmons and his friend were getting antsy while they traveled down a long stretch of highway in which no convenience stores or service stations were in sight.  Suddenly, they found good fortune.  They spotted a large bus and believing it to be a Greyhound passenger bus, Mr. Simmons began to follow it, hoping the driver would lead them to the bus depot where they could use the facilities. It looked like they were in luck as the bus slowed down and pulled into a large compound.  But this place didn't look much like a bus station. It had a tall fence around it and a security gate in front. It turns out that Mr. Simmons had followed a department of corrections bus transporting prisoners into the Elmwood Prison.  Mr. Simmons was then arrested for DWI.

Now we might say that on this occasion Mr. Simmons and his friend were completely out to lunch.  I must say that when I truly examine my own life, not as bad as these two, but none the less, I sense that I too am out to lunch much of the time.  I am a follower of Jesus Christ.  I know what Christ asks of me.  He asks that I love God and that I love others as I love myself.  I know this and yet I seem ineffective at it.  I act ‘clueless’ to what I know to be true and right.  It is as if I am living my life on a perpetual lunch break.  So I find myself asking the question: why am I so out to lunch when it comes to following Christ?

Walking in their Sandals

As I read Luke 24:13-35 I was able to identify with our two ‘clueless’ travelers on the road to Emmaus.  I found myself wondering what would it have been like to be in their sandals that day walking along that dusty road?  Would I have recognized Jesus?  I would like to think so, but I am not so sure.  It is far too easy to read this story and think that Cleopas and his friend were two fools simply out to lunch.  However, if we are honest with ourselves I think Cleopas and his friend actually represent you and me on our own journey of faith.   I believe that through this story God wants to show you and me how we can recognize the risen Christ each day of our lives in order that we might become fully alive.  If you’re feeling a bit out to lunch, then come and journey down the road with Cleopas and his friend, for I believe God has something for us to discover that will transform our lives.  

Jesus is always present

One of the first things I find astonishing in this story is that the two disciples walking together on the road didn’t recognize Jesus.  The text says they were ‘kept’ from recognizing Him.  Why were these disciples kept from recognizing Jesus? 

Was God keeping them from seeing Jesus?  Or were the disciples keeping themselves from seeing Jesus because of their own blindness?  What do you think?

I can tell you this: most of us live with the perception that the world is divided into two realms; the sacred and the secular. This is a very modern and western philosophy of life.  With this view we are not accustomed of seeing the ‘sacred’ in mundane of life.  In Jesus’ philosophy of life there is no division between the sacred and the secular.  The two coexist at the same time and in the same place.  Jesus lays out His philosophy in His first sermon when He said, “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”  The Kingdom of God, Jesus was saying, is right here, turn around and see it!  It is right before your very eyes.  In fact the Scriptures tell us that Jesus was the full embodiment of God’s Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is Jesus.  So if you can see Jesus then you can see God’s Kingdom.  God’s Kingdom is not off in “never never land.”  God’s Kingdom is right here.  It is right now!  The two disciples in our story are walking next to Jesus and yet they were kept from seeing him.  Why?  They couldn’t see Jesus because they had the wrong perception of the world.

The Correct Perception    

One of the things I love about living in Utah is being able to marvel at the full moon as it hovers over the Wasatch Mountains.  However I don’t see the full moon every night.  Why?  Is it because the moon is not there?  Has the moon evaporated into thin air?  No because my ability to see the radiance of a full moon depends totally upon the position of the sun.  The moon is always there.  However my ability to see it depends upon the sun.  The sun changes my perception of the moon.   

The Kingdom of Heaven has always been with us.  It has never evaporated.  But the only way we can see it is if the Son, God’ Son, illuminates it for us.  Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.”  If we want to see God’s Kingdom then we must have the light of Jesus in us.  The light of the world shines through our eyes enabling us to see the Kingdom by our faith in Son. It might seem paradoxical but one of the great mysteries of God is this:  By having faith in the Christ we are then able to see the Christ.  Having the Son of God in my heart changes my perception of how I see world and consequently how I live out my life in this world.

The Wrong Knowledge

Our friends on the road to Emmaus had a hard time seeing Jesus because they lacked faith.  We too have a hard time seeing Jesus when we lack faith.  Not only did our journeymen lack faith they also lacked true ‘knowledge.’  I find quite humorous the ‘knowledge’ of Cleopas and his friend. It makes me laugh when I see them trying to educate Jesus on current events.  I wish I could have seen their faces when Jesus turns to them and says, “What events?”  The text tells us that the two stopped in their tracks and buried their faces.  I can just imagine the look of contempt on their faces as they thought to themselves, “Who is this idiot?  Man is he ever out to lunch!”

 

Isn’t it ironic?  The disciples think Jesus is the one out to lunch when indeed it is they who are clueless.  They are clueless because of their apparent knowledge.  They are explaining the facts of what happened in Jerusalem to this stranger on the road (in this case the stranger is God).  Basically they let him know that the leaders of the nation killed their political and religious prophet and now because of that the party is over. 

The Blind See

Jesus made a remarkable statement once during his ministry on earth.  He basically said, ‘those who think they see it all are actually the ones who can’t see a thing.’  Now we know from Scriptures that Jesus was fond of giving sight to those who could not see.  Jesus would give sight to blind eyes and to blind souls.  We see a great example of this in the ninth chapter of John’s gospel.  Jesus heals a man blind from birth.  Jesus heals this man on the Sabbath day and the Pharisees are rather upset.  From their ‘perception’ Jesus was breaking God’s law by doing ‘work’ on the Sabbath.  A man blind all his life is touched by Jesus and now he sees.  Can you imagine?  Can you imagine the joy and the excitement of this miracle?  Can you imagine Jesus touching the man’s eyes who had never seen green, never seen blue, nor had ever seen red open his eyes and see for the first time green grass, the blue sky, and the red faces of the Pharisees who knew what Jesus had just done was despicable.  Jesus turns to the red-faced Pharisees and says something very interesting.  He says, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”  To which the Pharisees said, “What, are you saying we are blind?”  Jesus responded to them by saying, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin, but because you claim to see, your guilt remains.”  The Pharisees thought they knew it all.  The disciples on the road to Emmaus thought they had it all figured out.  By trusting in their own understanding of the situation the disciples lost their ability to understand the situation from God’s perspective. 

We are kept from faith by our own arrogance which leads to our ignorance.  We are kept from seeing Jesus by claiming that we know what we really do not know.  We too fall into despair when we take our eyes off the risen Lord and His teachings and begin to believe in our own conclusions about the world.  Can you believe it was only 50 years ago that the church in the West said people with dark skin were destined to be second class citizens because God created them that way?  The church in its arrogance became ignorant and lost sight of Jesus.  I wonder what the church is getting wrong today.  I wonder what I am getting wrong today.  I do know that I will always get things wrong as long I trust in my own logic instead of trusting in what God has already told me to be true. 

Here in the Real World

Frankly I find it distressing when a caring soul prays for and works for world peace and some Christians respond, “Oh isn’t that nice…world peace, but those are just pretty words, come now, get your feet back on the ground and start dealing with reality.”  War is a part of life, war is inevitable right?  Or is it? 

When the Bible says that weapons of war will be turned into tools for a harvest, are these simply sweet poetic words destined for a Hallmark Card or are they very will of God?  Does not Jesus teach that only by loving ones enemies will there ever be an end to violence?

We come to church and hear about how others are working hard to end poverty and hunger, to create racial equality among all people, to ensure economic development in the world’s poorest countries, to stop the epidemic spread of AIDS, to prevent wars and we think to ourselves, “Oh that’s nice but it will never happen.  Those folks need to get their head out of the clouds and begin to live in the real world.”  Well perhaps, just perhaps the real world, God’s world, God’s Kingdom is the real world.   Maybe the moon is right in front of us and we can’t see it because we lack the light of the Son to see it?  Are we being fooled into accepting that humanity is destined for injustice, bigotry and violence?  Have we simply rolled over and said, “Racism, starvation, wars and injustice are the cold hard facts of the real world”?

If we accept the ‘facts’ of the world to be true and give up on trusting what God has said to be true then we will be just like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, unable to see Jesus.  It is almost humorous when we read about Cleopas and his friend lecturing Jesus about the cold hard facts of the real world, but when we lecture Jesus about the way it is we look much more foolish.  The boys in the car were sure it was a Greyhound bus.  They learned the hard way.  The church was sure it had no room for people of color.  Wow, what a mistake that was.  The disciples on the road to Emmaus were sure the jig was up when their leaders executed Jesus.  Golly, were they ever wrong!   Perhaps it is time for the church in the west to repent.  Maybe the church in the west once again needs to turn around to see that the real world is in fact God’s Kingdom and it is right before our very eyes.  If you and I are to see Jesus then we must put our faith in Christ and Christ alone.  We must be able to sincerely repent of our arrogance.  Finally we must invite Jesus into our lives to be our Lord.  In other words, the cure from being out to lunch is inviting Jesus out to dinner. 

Getting Clued In

The disciples on the road to Emmaus eventually clue in.  They were able to see the risen Christ by humbling themselves.  They accepted the ‘stranger’s’ assessment of their narrow-minded thinking and allowed him to teach them about God’s Kingdom from God’s Word.  The disciples had no problem making quick decisions with their minds; but their problem was with their hearts.  I guess you could say they had low blood pressure.  Jesus said their heats were too slow.  Their hearts were slow in believing that indeed Christ had to suffer before He entered His glory.  They were slow to believe what they already known to be true. So Jesus patiently teaches them once again what the Scriptures had to say concerning the Christ.  He might have spent hours with them on that road showing them over 100 passages of Scripture in the Hebrew Bible that spoke of the life, death and resurrection of the Messiah. 

We do not know exactly what Jesus taught them that day but we do know that by reading the Scriptures they were moved closer to being able to see Jesus.  We, too, need to spend times with our heads buried in the Bible if we are ever going to see Jesus but there is more.

Out to Dinner 

The revelation of Jesus did not come until the disciples invited Jesus into their home to share a meal.  From this we see that even though we might know about Christ it is not until we invite Him in to be in an intimate relationship with us will we truly be able to see the risen Christ.  In Biblical times sharing a meal was a sign of friendship.  It was an intimate act to break bread together.  They saw the risen Jesus only after they experienced the intimacy of Christ breaking the bread.  Being a disciple of Christ is all about being more and more intimate we are with Christ.  The more we are around Jesus makes it easier for us to recognize Jesus.  It wasn’t until the disciples longed to be with Christ that they were actually able to see Christ.   Not until the disciples were ready to invite Jesus to dinner did they realize that they had been out to lunch!

Something happened to the disciples on the road to Emmaus that day.  They saw the risen Christ and it changed their lives forever.  They were so excited that they jumped up on their feet and raced back seven miles to Jerusalem to tell the others what they saw.  I have friends in Africa who will walk 20 miles to be in fellowship with other believers because their hearts have been set on fire with the love of God.  However, I must confess that I know very few Christians in this country who will drive more than 10 miles to attend a church service.  I find it that less and less Christians will take time out of their busy schedule to be with Christ and His people.  What is wrong with us?  The disciples on the road to Emmaus hearts burned with a passion for God.  What does your heart burn for?  Is your appetite for a light lunch discussing your views on current affairs or is it for an authentic and intimate dinner with Jesus Christ?

A Heart on Fire 

This past week saw the passing of Pope John Paul II.  The media was stunned at the outpouring of love and respect for this man.  Millions of people from all different cultures, backgrounds and faiths wanted to catch a glimpse of this Pope.  This tells me something.  It tells me that people are hungry to a person live out an authentic faith in Christ.  People are hungry to see a disciple of Christ whose heart is on fire by their faith in the risen Christ.  Pope John Paul II was a man whose heart burned with God’s love because each day he made time to share a meal with Christ.  Everyone who ever met the Pope commented on his graciousness, his holiness, his love.  Pope John Paul II could see the Kingdom of God in the risen Christ and it transformed his life.  The Kingdom of Heaven is still right before us.  God is calling you and me today to turn around and see indeed that Jesus Christ is risen today.  Jesus Christ is here today and He stands at the door of our hearts knocking hoping that we will invite him to dinner.  Can you hear him?  Will you see Him?