"Easter's Breadbasket"

Luke 24:1-34

This version of the resurrection in Luke is fascinating.  First, the women come to the tomb to anoint the body of the crucified Jesus with spices.  And the body is GONE!   And the linens that wrapped the body are laid neatly to the side.

Next, two men "in dazzling clothes" stand beside the tomb and report that this was what Jesus said would happen all along. That on the third day he would rise. The men say, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen."

Next, the women go tell the disciples and "all the rest," and they are soundly dismissed as reporting an 'idle tale.'  Until, of course, Peter goes to check it out for himself and finds the tomb indeed empty.

Later that same day, two of them were walking back toward their village of Emmaus, talking about the dramatic events of the last few days, including this bizarre turn of events today.  A stranger joins them on the road and proceeds to tell them that this all makes sense. Just like the men in dazzling clothes, he says, "Oh how foolish you are and how slow to believe the words of the prophets! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?"

Next, when the two and the stranger arrive at the village, they invite the stranger in for the evening as it has gotten dark.  And, as they are sitting around the table, he breaks the bread, blesses it, and in that moment they see that he is the Risen Christ, come to them. All at once, though, he was gone...  The scripture says, "Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight."

What a crazy chain of events. Like the twists and turns of an unbelievable play that leaves the audience wondering what's next.   And indeed that is part of the mystery of being children of the Resurrection, those who believe in the living Christ.

Part of believing in what Jesus' message brings to us is recognizing that Jesus is with us in the everyday journey of life. That all those fascinating moments when we think Jesus is might be with us, but then we aren't so sure after all, are just the Divine's way of telling us that we must embody him in the ordinary events of life.  That Jesus is only with us from within... if we recognize it.

It has been suggested that crucifixion is the slow, excruciating, public separation of body and blood.  Perhaps then, the resurrection is a reuniting of those elements of life into the corporate body of Christ we call the church.  Brian McLaren says "could our remembering him actually re-member and resurrect him in our hearts, our bodies, our lives? ... Is that why we saw him and then didn't see him--because the place he wants to be seen is in our bodies, among us, in us?"

When the women come to the tomb, they see a vision... and are dismissed. It is 'just" a vision.  But maybe a vision is the intuit into the truth.  Have you ever had an intuition that something will come to pass and then it does? Or you just have a feeling about something?  That's what visions are too.  As McLaren states, "Maybe a vision means seeing into what's more real than anything else."

What did those first Resurrection visions really mean?  We don't know exactly what happened, but we do know what the gospels shared.  That women were told the news first as they came to complete the ordinary ritual of burial anointing with spices. That they were dismissed as wrong. That Jesus appears vividly again in the breaking of the bread and the giving thanks.  And then as soon as the bread is handed to those gathered, and he is recognized,  he disappears.

Is he giving them the reigns in this moment?  Remember the Last Supper. This is my body. Given for you.  Jesus is Master giving the Truth to the students.  We are now tasked with sharing the body.. giving the gift of bread... to those who come alongside and after us.

The bounty is ours to share.  In the midst of a chaotic story, we find the ordinary sharing of a meal is where the Risen Christ can fully appear.  Are we tasked, then, with creating Resurrection not in the high places of worship and knowledge, but around the pub tables and picnic tables and kitchen tables of our lives?  It sure sounds like it.

Please join us for Holy Thursday, 7 pm on April 2 and again on Sunday, April 5 for Easter; Sunday School at 9, Worship at 10:20, Easter Egg Hunt and Brunch following worship.

Thoughts? Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.