Third Sunday of
Easter (A)
April 30, 2017
Text: Luke 24:13-35
He is risen! He
is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
“Stay with us, for it
is toward evening and the day is far spent” (Luke 24:29; ESV). They
did not even know it was the Lord when they spoke this petition. As yet
their eyes were kept from recognizing Him (v. 16). But their hearts had
burned within them as this Stranger opened the Scriptures (v. 32) to Cleopas
and his traveling companion on the road to Emmaus, showing them from Moses and
the Prophets (what we have come to call the Old Testament) that the Christ must
suffer these things, be condemned to death by the religious and secular
authorities and be crucified, and in this way enter His glory (vv.
26-27). To be sure, their invitation was a customary act of
hospitality. It is dangerous to be out on the road at night. There
are robbers and wild animals and other hazards of the road better dealt with in
the light. But it is more than that. They do not want their time
with this wise Traveler to end. There is something about Him that
comforts them. He gives them peace when their life is anything but
peaceful, having just suffered the traumatic death of their Teacher and Lord,
their hopes profoundly disappointed, grief and fear their constant
companions. And now this confusion, the reports of the women about the
empty tomb and preaching angels declaring that He is risen from the dead.
In the midst of all of this there is this Man who, by the simple speaking of
His Word, gives them hope and faith that this is all according to God’s plan,
that somehow in all of this God has worked salvation, and in the end, the God
who brought about the defeat of death by dying, who raised Jesus from the dead,
will make all that is wrong in our world and in our lives right.
So
stay with us Lord. It’s getting dark. We don’t want to be
alone. It feels like You have forsaken us, like You have gone away.
After all, we can’t see You. Not with our fallen eyes. And there
are dangers here in the darkness: the sin that seeks to destroy us and those we
love; Satan and his minions who want to rob us of our faith and hope; sickness
and pain and death, which leave us in the meantime with our constant companions
of grief and fear. But here when You speak Your Word, our hearts burn
within us, for You give us faith and hope and peace in the midst of all these
perils. For You open the Scriptures to us. Beginning with Moses and
the Prophets (the Old Testament) and continuing with the writings of the
Apostles and Evangelists (the New Testament), You show us that in Your
suffering and death you enter into Your glory and You take us with You.
You do not leave us or forsake us. You do not leave us in sin, for You died
for our forgiveness and You daily forgive us in Holy Absolution. You do
not leave us a prey for Satan and the demons, for in Your crucifixion, You
crushed the serpent’s head. You do not leave us in death and the grave,
for You are the risen and ascended Lord. You have prepared a place for us
in heaven with You, and on the Last Day, You will raise us bodily from the
dead.
“Stay
with us, Lord, for it is evening, and the day is almost over” (LSB 243).[1]
The disciples’ petition has become the cry of the holy Christian Church.
It is a prominent petition in the Church’s Evening Prayer liturgy. We
sing it in hymns like “Abide with me, fast falls the eventide. The
darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide” (LSB 878:1). It’s not the strongest
Christmas carol we sing, but my mother often sang “Away in a Manger” with me
before bed when I was a child. The third verse is priceless in the
petition, “Be near me, Lord Jesus; I ask Thee to stay Close by me forever and
love me, I pray” (LSB 364:3). Around the dinner table we often pray,
“Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest.” We don’t just mean at our meal, but in
our homes and in our lives. These petitions echo Luther’s evening prayer
which we learn in the Small Catechism: “graciously keep me this
night. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all
things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no
power over me.” If you haven’t memorized that prayer, please do, and pray
it every night. Memorize some of these evening hymns. Memorize and
pray this verse from the Holy Gospel: “Stay with us, for it is toward
evening and the day is far spent.”
And
Jesus does. He stays with you. He does not make Himself visible to
your eyes, but He is with you as assuredly as we’re all together here this
morning, with you as your God certainly, but also as your fellow Human Being,
as a Man, a flesh and blood Presence. Your eyes are kept from recognizing
Him. That is until He is at the Table with you, the Altar, and He takes
bread, blesses it, and gives it to you. That is how the disciples at
Emmaus recognized Him, in the breaking of the bread. And so you.
Faith recognizes the Lord Jesus in the bread that is His Body, the wine that is
His Blood. We recognize Him in the Supper, really and substantially
present. And we realize that just because we cannot see Him, that doesn’t
mean He’s gone. After breaking the bread before the Emmaus disciples, He
vanished from their sight (v. 31), but He didn’t go away. They knew, as
we know, that He is always with us, hidden in the Sacrament. He is always
with us, hidden in His Word, for when He speaks, our hearts burn within
us. He is always with us wherever we go, because that is what He said: “I
am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).
And
so, the time is getting late. Do you recognize that it is toward
evening? Do you recognize that these are the gray and latter days of the
world? You may know it by whatever darkness is in your life. Sins
that plague you, guilt that won’t go away, deteriorating bodies, your own and
those of loved ones, and finally the grave that you know will one day be your
bed. Change and decay in all around you see, as the hymn puts it (LSB
878:4). There is certainly the darkness that surrounds the world: wars
and rumors of wars, earthquakes and famines, corrupt politicians, decaying
morals, abortion, homelessness, the hypersexualization of the culture, gay
marriage, the list goes on. What good news for you and for all people
that the risen Lord Jesus comes to you where you dwell and He stays. He
abides. He never goes away. He died for the darkness. He
covered it all in His blood, washed away all the bad, all the sin, all the
fallen-ness. And He blew a hole through death, opened up the grave,
exposed it to the light of His risen glory. “Jesus Christ is the Light of
the world, the light no darkness can overcome” (LSB 243; John 8:12; 1:5).
He stays. He lets His light scatter the darkness (1 Cor. 4:5) and
illumine His Church (2 Cor. 4:6). He casts the bright beams of His light
upon you, enlightens your mind, your heart, your soul, so that you see Him even
where He is hidden from your eyes, but really present for you. You
see Him by faith, and you know that He has answered your prayer. He stays
with you. And the evening has no power over you.
The
Emmaus disciples reported these things to the Eleven in Jerusalem that same
evening. And just as Jesus had vanished suddenly from their sight at
Emmaus, so also He appears suddenly in the midst of the disciples in Jerusalem.
And He speaks His peace. He shows them His hands and His side, His
crucifixion wounds. He eats some broiled fish (Luke 24:36-42). And
there is no doubt about it. This is no ghost. Jesus Christ is risen
from the dead. For 40 days He appears here and there among His people,
out of nowhere, and then vanishes again. But there is no doubt it is
Him. On day 40 He ascended into heaven and was hidden by a cloud.
But He is not gone. He is with us, just as He was with the Emmaus
disciples and the apostles. We do not see Him with our eyes, but one day
we will. In the meantime, come to the Table. You will recognize Him
in the breaking of the bread. Here He answers your prayer. He stays
with you. For He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
[1] Hymns and liturgical texts from Lutheran
Service Book (St. Louis: Concordia, 2006). Catechism texts from Luther’s
Small Catechism (St. Louis: Concordia, 1986).
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