Setting Our Course on a New Hope – Dr. Thomas Boone
John 10:22-30; Luke 24:13-33
Central Presbyterian Church
April 29, 2007

Like Jesus’ disciples on the road to Emmaus, there are times in our faith journey when our hope needs renewing, or when we need to remind ourselves that the business of the church is to give hope by offering an encounter with the risen Lord. Let’s listen to the Emmaus story again, this time told through the perspective of Cleopas’ friend, and see if the Spirit shows us a new thing from it.

* * * * *

“The sky was blue, our hearts were gray, but not for long. I remember our walk as if it happened yesterday. My friend, Cleopas, and I were walking from Jerusalem to my house a few hours away in Emmaus, a small out-of-the-way town.

“Cleopas and I weren’t as close to Jesus as the apostles had been. I had too many obligations that kept me home so I couldn’t go around with them. Well, that’s not really the way it was. I remember feeling that something must’ve been wrong with me to keep him from asking me to be a disciple. I wanted to, and would’ve if he but asked. He never did though. So, I tended to my business with my mother and father. But, I made sure that whenever I was in Capernaum, or he was traveling close to my house I’d go hear him speak. Oh, and the things he’d say, and do! They were as if God Himself had come to put His arm around me to encourage me or help me get things straight.

“From the day Cleopas and I had that walk to Emmaus, it was amazing to know that’s exactly what was happening. If only we’d have really believed it while it was happening.

“Nothing made sense to us when Jesus was crucified, but on the day when everything fell into place…wow. You were wondering how it felt to have Jesus walk with Cleopas and me, and reveal to us that he was alive after being crucified. Honestly, words evade me. I can tell you this though. Have you ever struggled to find an answer to a problem for a long time, but the answer just never comes. Maybe like a health problem that your doctors can’t figure out, but then years later someone hears of another doctor who may have the answer. So you go visit that doctor and after some more testing he tells you that there is a cure to what you have and he wants to begin immediately. Have you ever felt the relief and joy of that moment when someone is finally able to connect all of the dots?

“That’s what it felt like to have Jesus in my house that night. We had no idea it was him at first, though. We’d heard his promises that he’d be raised from the dead, but we thought he was talking in metaphors. He often did that, you know. Sure, we thought, to God who is timeless the resurrection of the dead will happen as if three days had gone by, but three days for God could be like three thousand years for us. Who’d have thought that Jesus was being literal? None of us did.

“But, I remember Cleopas being surprised that this stranger who came up to us during our walk from Jerusalem. We looked at each other dumfounded that he was apparently the only man who didn’t know about what had happened. Everyone, and I mean everyone, who had made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover thought that the Messiah had shown up to overthrow Rome just like Judas Maccabeus did over a hundred years before. The buzz about Jesus was incredible, so the powers-that-be killed him. Rome was going to make sure that no Messiah would overthrow her, and the leaders in Jerusalem either had to convince Rome to kill Jesus or they would be killed instead. Everyone knew about Jesus’ death.

“Everyone, that is, except this stranger, so Cleopas told him all about it. I added a few words here and there. We told him that Jesus had been killed, and how early that morning the women had gone to the tomb to finish the proper burial customs. But, when they got to the tomb they didn’t find his body, but instead they had seen a vision of angels announcing that Jesus was alive. We told this stranger that some of us went to the tomb to verify what the women had said, and we couldn’t find the body.

“We couldn’t stay to figure it out, because Monday was going to be a busy day at home. So we left without knowing for sure if Jesus had risen from the dead, or if someone was playing a final cruel trick on those of us who followed Jesus more than others did.

“I remember after we told this stranger our story, thinking he was rather foolish, that he said we were the foolish ones. To him Jesus made perfect sense, so he told us the stories we’ve known since synagogue. He told us the story of God with His people since the Abraham. He connected all the dots for us, and the more we asked the more he told. He knew so much about Scripture, and he showed how all of it pointed to Jesus. It was amazing. But, what was more amazing was that that old feeling came back that we had had when Jesus used to teach. It was as if God Himself was walking with us, putting His arm around us, and assuring us that it was all going to be OK, because God was with us even in a dark hour on a sunny day.

“So, when it was night time with thoughts buzzing in our minds and emotions cris-crossing in our hearts, we asked this stranger to stay with us in Cleopas’ house. He seemed to be going further, but we insisted and he acquiesced. We put down our luggage, but I didn’t take any time to unpack and Cleopas didn’t go straight home. Instead we all sat down and wanted to hear more from this stranger.

“Finally it was time to eat, we were famished. And that’s when it happened. As soon as we started to eat, this stranger who had fascinated us and made us feel that God Himself was next to us, took the bread and broke it just like...like Jesus used to do.

“I don’t know how, but suddenly we recognized him. Why we hadn’t recognized him during the day I don’t know. But, we recognized him, or should I say we recognized that it was HIM; it was Jesus. And, as soon as we recognized him, he was gone. That man we had thought was a stranger was Jesus. And Jesus, who never asked us to be one of his special disciples, had taken the length of a day to talk to us rather than anyone else. I can’t describe the hope we felt, all I know is that we had to get to the disciples and tell them about what had happened, so we did.”

* * * * *

You know that feeling you get when you absolutely must go and tell a friend something no matter what time of day it is? Or maybe it’s that feeling you get when you’re in love with someone and no matter what distance or how much money it takes you’re going to go be with that person. I imagine that’s how it was for Cleopas and his friend on their way to Emmaus. Whatever business they had on Monday wasn’t important once they experienced the reality of the risen Lord. With hearts burning from an encounter with Jesus nothing else mattered, which is why Luke tells us that they returned to Jerusalem that very night, risking bandit attacks and Roman patrols because they were renewed by their experience. Jesus met them in a relevant way and gave them hope because they heard his voice. Hope out of hopelessness; that’s the gift we give the world when we boil our faith down to the basics.

This morning we’ve heard about two of Jesus’ distant disciples who needed hope. Two disciples who weren’t on the inside track, but whom Jesus valued nonetheless, were treated to an afternoon of Jesus-immersion by none other than the Lord Himself. Jesus transformed their hopeless despair into a life-altering hope that Jesus was relevant. I’ve got news for you: things haven’t changed one bit. We’re surrounded by people who need to move from hopelessness to hope, and we’re the one’s God has called to do it. But how can we do it?

Ever since Jesus rose from the dead, things have been different for God’s people. For centuries there was a formula to being a child of God: you come from a circumcised family of origin and you married into another one, you obeyed the law as best you could, and when you didn’t live up to it you made a sacrifice. To be a child of God meant obeying Sabbath regulations, maintaining Jewish purity customs, paying Temple taxes, and making pilgrimages to Jerusalem for major feasts.

Even though our faith isn’t like this, I wonder what formulas we’ve decided should define the proper way to be a follower of Jesus? Sometimes we say we have to go to church or Sunday School. Sometimes we say a person must be involved in Bible study or pray in certain ways. Sometimes we define good discipleship as being active in stewardship or social justice. I know there’s been a discussion about which type of worship is “correct” in this congregation for a few years. We don’t have to ask deep questions before we begin to see that although we don’t define faith in terms of rituals, we most certainly have our formulas, don’t we?

Jesus gave a formula to the disciples. He said, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.” In Luke it wasn’t a style of worship, a miracle, act of social justice, Sunday School lesson, or anything else except the relevant revelation of Jesus through scripture in the context of fellowship. And once this happened their hope was restored. An ordinary walk to Emmaus became a model for us to follow as we try to be church today.

When we look at our worship, Bible studies, fellowship, mission, and anything else we’re doing together, our question shouldn’t be how do we make it bigger, but how it can be more relevant. Are people more hopeful because they’ve spent some time with us and experienced Jesus’ transformative word? Jesus appeared to Cleopas and his friend in a relevant way so that they could hear his voice in a life-changing way that excited them; He made their hearts burn! Do our hearts burn with hope from Jesus when we’re together worshipping, learning, in fellowship, and doing missions, or is it just more of the same?

Central can capture hearts for Jesus by helping people experience the hope that Jesus’ word brings. Do you believe it? Central can be a church that is known to give people a taste of heavenly hope through transformative worship whether it’s in a relevant contemporary setting or a relevant traditional setting. Do you believe it? Central can provide hope to ourselves and our neighborhood that there is such a thing as meaningful, life-affirming community whenever we gather in fellowship. Do you believe it?

“My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.” Today people need a relevant experience of Jesus in everything the church does. The good news is that we can provide this if we set ourselves wholeheartedly to the task. I believe that Central can do it. I believe that Central can build on the shadow of its past and provide a new shadow in Mobile for the 21^st century. I believe that Central can trust the Holy Spirit to let go of its pain and build on a new hope. I believe that Jesus wants others to hear his word and experience the hope only He can give through Central in particular. I believe there are thousands around you each wandering on the road to Emmaus, needing to hear hope, and I believe that you’re the people from whom they need to hear it. You’ve done a lot of visioning, you’ve taken loads of inventories. You know what you need to do. Now is the time to figure out how to do it, and get on with it. It’s time for mature Christians to stand up and lead in mature ways. I believe you can, and if you do, you won’t be able to stop people from coming because that’s what happens when people hear Jesus’ word in relevant ways and deep-down feel the hope that only Jesus gives. Hallelujah. Amen.