Kahu's Manao
Keawala‘i Congregational Church
United Church of Christ (USA)
Third Sunday of Easter
Sunday, April 6, 2008
The Rev. Kealahou C. Alika
“Risen Indeed”
Luke 24:13-35
It was about 10:00 a.m. when I sat down in the waiting room that day. I was surrounded by others who were also waiting – a mother with two children, an elderly woman who looked like a grandma, and a man pacing back and forth. One would have thought that at any moment a nurse or a physician would step into the doorway and announce, “It’s a girl!”
No such luck. Instead it was Ms. Kapono from the service department who turned the corner and called out, “Mr. Pacheco, your truck pau!” And with that Mr. Pacheco was on his way clearly delighted that the service department completed the oil and lube job for him with time to spare for lunch.
The waiting room was pleasant enough so I decided to do some work on my laptop computer. I found a wall socket, plugged in, and worked on my computer for about an hour.
All through the morning others would come and go. At one point someone called out, “Reverend Alika!” I looked up and did not recognize the young man who was walking towards me.
“It’s Adam!” he said. “You married Jessica and me three years ago.”
“Oh, yeah,” I said in an unconvincing voice.
“Yep!” he added. “Don’t you remember?”
I stood there wanting to remember but I couldn’t. I wanted to attribute my lack of recognition to
having too many things to remember or to insisting that I was suffering from a degree of memory loss.
Adam said a few more things and I tried hard to recall our time together. But the more I tried the harder it became to remember anything. I couldn’t even remember what his wife, Jessica, looked like.
“So you brought your truck in?” I asked.
“Oh, yeah! It’s the company truck. I work with plants that are identified as invasive species.”
“Ping!” The light bulb went on.
I blurted out - “Oh! Now I remember” - relieved that all was not lost.
Adam seemed amused by my recovery. But he also seemed relieved. We talked for a few more moments and then he was on his way. His truck was pau.
As for me it would be another two hours before I would hear Mr. Ching, the mechanic say to me, “Ah, you wait long time. We change the oil – that’s ‘nough. You like us check the transmission you come back another day. That gonna take more time. You wait too long already.”
Not being able to recognize someone happens in our lives more often than we may want to admit. The lack of recognition may occur for various reasons. Our reading from The Gospel According to Luke this morning is about such an occurrence.
It was at dawn the first day of the week that the tomb where Jesus was taken was found empty. Later that very day, Clē´opas and another disciple, find themselves going to a village called Emmaus. (“Emmaus: Where Christ Appeared,” Hershel Shanks,Biblical Archaeological Review, March/April 2008, page 41)
Along the way they talk with each other about what Mary Mag´dalēne, Jōan´na, Mary the mother of James, and the other women told them – of how they were perplexed not to find Jesus buried in the tomb prepared by Joseph from Arimathē´a and of how they were terrified when they were told by two men in dazzling clothes that Jesus was no longer in the tomb.
While the men were talking Jesus himself came near and began to walk with them. They did not recognize him. Jesus engages them in their conversation by asking, "What is it that you are discussing?"
Clē´opas does not recognize Jesus and asks him, "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?"
When Jesus asks, "What things?" Clē´opas begins to tell Jesus things about Jesus. How is it that the two disciples did not recognize him? Was it a lapse in memory? Or was it that so many things had happened?
After all, the women were perplexed and terrified (Luke 24:4). The men were sad (Luke 24:17) and filled with fear (John 20:19). Such powerful emotions overwhelmed and prevented many of them from recognizing Jesus.
It was not until Jesus sat down at a meal with them, took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to Clē´opas and the other disciples to eat that their eyes were opened and they recognized him (Luke 24:30). It was in one sense both a very ordinary and a very extraordinary moment. Even Clē´opas and the other disciple recalled how their hearts burned after Jesus had interpreted the scriptures to them as they walked along that day.
What a moment that must have been for them. But as luck would have it as soon as they recognized him Jesus disappeared from sight.
Mary Mag´dalēne, Jōan´na, Mary the mother of James, and the other women told their story of the Risen Christ. And soon Clē´opas and his companion would tell their story by declaring, “The Lord has risen indeed. He was made known to us in the breaking of the bread.” (Luke 24:34-35)
Today is the third Sunday of Easter. We celebrate this season of Easter by telling the story of how Jesus took, blessed, broke, and gave bread; of how the disciples recognized him; and of how they said, “The Lord is risen indeed!”
As we gather to share the bread and the cup on this day, may we lay all of our sadness and fears at this table and know the joy and comfort of God's presence. May our hearts and minds be open to know that God walks with us along every path of life. May we see the Risen Christ whenever and wherever we share the bread and the cup together. Amen.