Have you ever been so focused on something, so distracted, perhaps in worry about a problem, that you missed what other people were saying to you, even if they were telling you the solution? Have you ever been looking for something that you thought you had lost, but you were so panicked that you didn’t even see it, even though it was in the open? Then, someone else points it out to you and finds it for you? What a joy, what a relief, but then you may also think, how did I not see it when it was just there and why couldn’t I listen and hear the solution in the midst of my worry?

This morning’s Gospel lesson also speaks of some travelers who were so focused on their worries and problems that they too could not see or hear the solution to their trouble even though He was right there with them before their very eyes and ears.

The Gospel account for this morning took place on the 1st day of the week after the death of Jesus: IOW: Resurrection Day. Two of Jesus’ disciples were on their way to Emmaus. Now these disciples were not among the 12 closest disciples but were likely part of the 72 who had been temporarily sent out to the lost sheep of Israel by Jesus in Luke 10. During that time, they witnessed the power of God’s Christ as God worked through them His power to preach, perform miracles, and cast out demons. But now… to them, that experience was a forgotten and old history as they left Jerusalem downcast and defeated thinking their teacher was dead. As they were speaking to each other about the recent events, suddenly another traveler joined them. We are told by St. Luke who this was, but we are told that the disciples’ eyes were kept from recognizing Him. The reason they could not see Jesus is because they were too overwhelmed by their own feelings, their own doubts, their own despair to see straight, but they also were kept from seeing Him until the perfect and most meaningful time.

In verse 17, when Jesus asked them about their conversation, our translation says that they stood still looking sad… The Greek uses a word that is more meaningful than “sad”. The word is skuthropos which means to be gloomy, sullen, beat back, overtaken, wretched, destroyed, having lost all. This is how they felt, as gloomy wretched beaten ones who had lost it all. Amazed that this stranger hadn’t heard of the events in Jerusalem, they recounted it briefly. Referring to Jesus, they described Him as a “prophet mighty in word and deed”. “We had hoped that He was the One to redeem Israel.” they say in past tense.

Notice they do not say He is the Son of God, nor that He was the Savior, but that they had hoped at one time that He would have been. They reveal that there were women who had seen a vision, who had said that this Jesus was alive, but when other disciples went to the tomb, they saw the tomb but did not see Him. So they did not believe. Like Thomas from last week’s Gospel, They thought it would be wonderful if Jesus were alive, but it sounded too good to be true. Jesus let them talk, Jesus was using this moment to show them what they didn’t know so that they might learn what they must know.

Then Jesus says “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer and enter His glory?” Jesus did not say this to insult them, but rather he said it with pity, to get their attention as He then expounded to them the scriptures, proving that all of Scripture, Old and New Testaments are to be interpreted through Christ who has fulfilled them all.

There was something about these words that held the disciples attention, yet they still did not perceive. So, as they reached Emmaus, they were going to stop, but Jesus appeared to be ready to continue on. The disciples said what turns out to be a beautiful prayer, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is far spent.” He stayed and as they were about to eat, when He was at “table with them” He took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. Immediately their eyes were opened; opened by Jesus who chose this moment to open their eyes and reveal Himself in this breaking of the bread. Therefore there is something special, some significance in this act of blessing and breaking bread. Jesus did for these disciples the same thing He had done with them on the night when He was betrayed as in Luke 19, taking the bread, blessing it, breaking it and telling them, “This is my body given for you.” Jesus revealed His body and person in this Sacrament of His Holy Eucharist.

As they recognized Him, Jesus vanished from their sight, to meet them again later. In the same way that He can appear and vanish in these resurrection accounts, Christ is not limited to time and space. As the Son of God according to His glory His body can be present when and where He wills and promises even in His Holy Supper. In the text, the revelation of the resurrected Christ brought them to faith and in their joy and excitement they ran 7 miles back to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples the good news. How is this message described? “Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them (specifically)in the breaking of the bread.”

Dear friends in Christ, this is not a story, this is not a fairy tale, but has really happened, and may our own eyes be opened to His appearance in His Word and in the bread and wine. The whole thrust of this passage and all the accounts of Jesus appearing after He rose is to open our hearts and minds to the fact that Jesus was and is the Christ, the Messiah, the perfect paschal/passover lamb of God who through His death on the cross has paid the price of sin. He has in fact redeemed all believing Israel made up of all peoples, Jews and Gentiles who perceive that Jesus is their Savior from their sins.

He is the solution to the problems of death, of sin, sickness, sorrow, anxiety, hatred, greed, and falsehood. Yet so often the world cannot and will not see or hear the voice of Jesus. They will search anywhere else closing themselves off from the Gospel of Jesus Christ because the cross of Jesus Christ and the love of God doesn’t make sense to sinful nature. We want to see proof, we would like to get some kind of credit for our actions, or we want something that will excuse us in our sin. People reject the word of God and the voice of our Savior because they get caught up in themselves, their perceived needs, wants, and desires and the distractions of this world. In so doing they become slaves to sin and death even though the solution is preached and taught in God’s Word, in His Church: offered freely by grace for the sake of Jesus who has died for all sin, and reveals Himself in His Word and sacrament. All too often we take the Gospel of Christ for granted in the midst of our earthly woes and worries and become enslaved again to our sin and selfishness. Repent, and have hope. Jesus reveals His love and forgiveness for you as He comes to you and speaks through the Absolution, you are forgiven in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Even as He first came and redeemed you in Christ’s blood through baptism, He takes away your sin again. He then comes to you to confirm His love and forgiveness won for you at the cross in His Word preached and in His Word made flesh offered here in the blessing and breaking of bread. Here in the bread and wine which is His body and blood, He continues to open your ears and eyes to witness His salvation as it is prepared and given to you. As we sing in the nunc dimitis, “My eyes have now seen the salvation…” Yes He reveals His salvation solution to you in the breaking of bread. He reveals the mystery and wonder of His resurrection through His resurrected body given for you, which prepares your body for its perfect resurrection at the last. He prepares you for His final and triumphant return. He is risen and the problems that harass you during this coming week and the weeks to come are already defeated in Christ’s victory. He will give you the strength for each day and each obstacle, remember Jesus Christ is the solution for all those problems and He will lead and guide you through them. He has already lead us from death to life in baptism. He has already defeated sin, death, and the power of the devil through His death and resurrection. How much more will also help you through any other trouble? For this, let us pray, praise, and give thanks.

That is why He continues to gather us and His Church around His Word and Sacraments, because this is where He is and where He reveals Himself. Only in Him and His revealing can we grow in faith and knowledge of the Jesus who is the Way, the truth, and the Life. Only by His power can our fears, doubts, sins, and self-focused-ness be overcome. He continues to manifest and reveal Himself, each and every time He gathers us together. He has given us the solution of salvation through faith in Him. Through His Word and in His Holy Supper Jesus Christ strengthens us as He prepares us until He calls us home. There He shall stay with us and we with Him where there is no evening or darkness, only joy and life in His light forevermore. Amen

Pr. Aaron Kangas