Rev. Will Rice
Grace United Methodist Church
Corpus Christi, TX
pastorwillrice@gmail.com
“How to Meet the Risen Christ Today”
What you are hearing is O Mio Babbino Caro as performed by one time child prodigy and internationally acclaimed violin virtuoso Joshua Bell[1] If you got a chance to hear him play this live, if you could get tickets, they would run you about $100 a piece.
But if this masterful musician was playing right in front of you, would you notice? Maybe not. He did a little experiment one day earlier this year. He put on plain clothes. He took his violin, not just any violin, but the Gibson ex Huberman, handcrafted in 1713 by Antonio Stradivari, a violin that reportedly cost Bell $3.5 million. He got in a cab then got on the subway and got off in L'Enfant Plaza Station, the sort of nucleus of transportation of Washington D.C.. If you have ever been there it is a place that sort of hums with activity, busyness and power.
Joshua Bell, found a spot amongst the hustle and bustle, opened his case, through some singles in the case to give people the right idea and starting playing. Bell is not a guy he stands still when he plays. He plays with his whole body, leaning into the notes, and standing on his tiptoes when he hits the high ones. He played a total of six classical pieces over the span of 43 minutes. 1,097 people passed by. Someone actually videotaped the whole thing and you can watch it online. Here is an excerpt of what happened from the account in the Washington Post:
Three minutes went by before something happened. Sixty-three people had already passed when, finally, there was a breakthrough of sorts. A middle-age man altered his gait for a split second, turning his head to notice that there seemed to be some guy playing music. Yes, the man kept walking, but it was something. A half-minute later, Bell got his first donation. A woman threw in a buck and scooted off. It was not until six minutes into the performance that someone actually stood against a wall, and listened. Things never got much better. In the three-quarters of an hour that Joshua Bell played, seven people stopped what they were doing to hang around and take in the performance, at least for a minute. Twenty-seven gave money, most of them on the run -- for a total of $32 and change. That leaves the 1,070 people who hurried by, oblivious, many only three feet away, few even turning to look.[2]
We are in the second week of our series, “What Happened After Easter?” Sometimes we forget that the risen Christ hung around for over a month after Easter and there is a lot we can learn from the events surrounding that. This week’s focus is “How To Meet the Risen Christ Today?”
13Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
Yeah, I have been there. I realize now that for most of my life Jesus was walking with me but I didn’t recognize him. But I had an excuse, I didn’t know him yet. The two people in today’s story seem to already know him. There may have been some good reasons for these two followers of Jesus to not recognize him. First of all, they thought he was dead. No matter how much Jesus talked about being raised from the dead, no one seemed to ever get what he was talking about. Earlier in this same chapter, after the women had visited the tomb, found it empty, and encountered the men with dazzling clothes who told them that Jesus was risen, the women had reported back to the disciples.
10Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.
And Cleopas wasn’t buying it either.
22Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.”
So they are not really expecting Jesus, maybe that is why they didn’t recognize him. Or maybe he looked a little different. Sometimes people don’t recognize me after I shave or get new glasses or when they see me in WalMart in shorts and a baseball cap. I imagine if I had died and been risen, there might be the same effect.
Scripture sort of hints that there were other forces at work here:
16but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
The author of Luke’s gospel has alluded to this concept before. In chapter 9:
44"Let these words sink into your ears: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands." 45But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was concealed from them, so that they could not perceive it.
Actually, maybe it was there own despair that kept them from seeing. Jesus engages them in conversation, and look at their response.
17And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad.
Whatever the reason, they just like the thousand people who walked past Joshua Bell that morning in L’Enfant Station, had no idea what they were experiencing. I also wonder how many of those people in the subway were walking down their own Emmaus Road. Walking along, through the subway station, caught up in their own despair, loneliness, hurt, desperation. I wonder even, if one of those people was praying, “Dear God, life is just so hard. If you could just give me a sign.” I wonder if anyone was praying that as they walked past this man that is so gifted by God that when he was four, his parents started him in music lessons “after they saw that their son had strung rubber bands across his dresser drawers and was replicating classical tunes by ear, moving drawers in and out to vary the pitch.”[3]
“God, if you could just give me some sort of sign! Give me some sort of proof of goodness and beauty”
So, what if Jesus is around us, Jesus is walking with us, Jesus is trying to have an encounter with us but our eyes are kept from recognizing him?
But our story doesn’t end there.
After this man, Cleopas, tells Jesus all about Jesus and about how their hopes have been dashed by his crucifixion. Jesus jumps in and he clues us in on one of the ways we can open ourselves to the possibility of an encounter with the risen Christ:
25Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” 27Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.
If we want to have an encounter with the risen Christ. If we want to be open to the possibility of experiencing the very real presence of God in our lives, we need to start with scripture. One of the ways I stay healthy as a pastor is by having other pastors as friends who keep me in line. I remember calling one once and saying,” I just don’t really feel God’s presence in my life right now.” She asked, “Are you reading scripture every day?” To which I answered, “No.” Of course. We believe that God is revealed to us in scripture. If we are not reading scripture, it is going to be very difficult to meet the risen Christ.
What else does this passage tell us about meeting the risen Christ? After Jesus reveals himself in scripture, he reveals himself in something else.
28As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.
If we want to have an encounter with the risen Christ, if we want to be open to the possibility of experiencing the very real presence of God in our lives, we need to attend to the sacraments. Sacraments are very special gifts that God has given us to help us to have an encounter with God
In our tradition of Christianity, we have two sacraments, one which we already talked about today, baptism and one which we will experience in a moment, Holy Communion. Because it is illustrated in today’s reading, I am going to focus on Holy Communion. I think that there is a lot of misunderstanding surrounding this sacrament.
There is a lot going on when we come to the table. We come to give thanks for all God has done for us and in us. We come in fellowship, as community, as the gathered body of Christ. We also come to remember and re-present, Christ’s sacrifice for us. We come to receive a foretaste of Christ’s final victory and catch a glimpse of the Kingdom of God. And, we come trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit to create for us and in us an encounter with the risen Christ.
A lot of pastors are really thrilled about weekly communion and I think it is ok. However, I have to tell you, if I take communion seriously, I really need three weeks off to get ready for the next one.
When we come to the table to experience this sacrament, this use of ordinary things to experience the extraordinary grace of God, we need to come expecting to meet the risen Christ.
As I get to the third way we can be attentive to meeting the risen Christ, I want to talk about one of the dangers of misunderstanding sacraments such as Holy Communion. Holy Communion is “the sacrament that sustains and nourishes us in our journey of salvation.”[4] However, there is a risk in thinking that this is the only way we can encounter the risen Christ. Sometimes when we don’t have communion at one our services that celebrates the sacrament weekly, someone will come up to me and say, “Will, I can’t believe we didn’t have communion this week. I need it every week or I become totally disconnected with God.” If we go too far down that road, we miss the power of the sacrament and we miss the possibilities of the other ways we can meet the risen Christ.
30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.
I want you to picture this scene. This is the Middle East two thousand years ago. These people are not sitting at a grand table with fine china and gold chalices eating big, fluffy loaves of bread. They are sitting on the floor around a low table in a dirty, dusty room with little light. There are no dishes, the cups may be wooden, the bread was baked over the fire and might not look like bread to you. Jesus is sitting in his robe dirty from the day’s journey. You can smell the dust and the sweat and the cooking fire as he lifts the bread and says.
Boruch atoh adonoy,
elohaynu melech ho-olom,
hamotzi lechem min ho-oretz.[5]
31Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.
Their eyes were open, at an ordinary table, with ordinary bread in an ordinary room. While communion is a sacrament, all of creation can be sacramental in its ability to help us have an encounter with the risen Christ, if we will be open to the possibility.
If we want to have an encounter with the risen Christ, if we want to be open to the possibility of experiencing the very real presence of God in our lives, we need to pay attention to the simple things in life. The risen Christ is not only present at the communion table, but at the supper table. The risen Christ is not only present in the things of the church but in the things of everyday life. The risen Christ is present in the simply beauty of every created thing.
Christ is revealed to us in scripture. We can meet the risen Christ in the sacraments. But if we limit ourselves to those things we miss all the ways that Christ is present in ordinary life, in the good and in the bad, the clean and the dirty. It is nearly cliché to say it but if you are paying any attention at all, how can you miss the presence of the risen Christ when you hold a newborn for the first time. For me, I cannot help but sense the presence of the risen Christ when I stand in the hospital as someone takes their last breath.
The risen Christ is present in the beauty of nature and in the chaos of the inner city when crime and violence and poverty run rampant. The risen Christ is present whenever human communities come together to find ways to create peace. And yes, the risen Christ is present, in ways we cannot understand when something goes horribly wrong and a young man succumbs to depression, anger, rage, mental illness or whatever separation from the love of God that causes someone to commit unspeakable acts of violence. And the risen Christ is their in the mourning and the loss and the healing.
But we miss the opportunities for all these chances to meet the risen Christ if we are not paying attention, if through our own preoccupation our eyes are “kept from recognizing him.”
Do you want to meet the risen Christ today? Make the decision right now that it is important to you. I invite you to keep your Bible handy and read scripture every day. I invite you to this table. Everyone is invited, but come expecting something very powerful. And I invite you to pay attention to the simple, ordinary parts of daily life. That might be a violin virtuoso playing right in front of you. Or, it may be the risen Christ walking right beside you.
[1] If you would like hear Joshua Bell’s music, you can hear samples at his website at http://www.joshuabell.com/.
[2] Gene Weingarten, “Pearls Before Breakfast”, The Washington Post, April 8, 2007, online at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html; internet
[3] ibid.
[4] This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion, (Nashville, The General Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church, 2003, 2004) 7
[5] Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.
