On the Road Again

Dr. D. William McIvor

April 8, 2007 — Easter

Presbyterian Church in Sudbury

Luke 24.13-35 (NRSV)

Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and 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. Some 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.” Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But 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. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Introduction

Jesus is on the road again. Of the many lessons from the text in Luke’s Gospel, maybe the most important is that Jesus is on the road again. The grave could not hold him. Death was not a dead-end for him. The light of eternity beamed forth from the tomb early that first Easter morning and already by Sunday afternoon, by the time the sun was setting and some of his dejected followers who had not yet understood the good news were going home, Jesus stepped into place alongside them on the road of life. He’s been doing that ever since.

I’ve been thinking about this idea now for several weeks and all the while I’ve had a tune playing in my head. I can almost hear it now. In fact, I think I can hear it now …

On the road again, just can’t wait to get on the road again.

The life I love is makin’ music with my friends,

And I can’t wait to get on the road again.

[Note to readers: a few bars were played from Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again.”[1]]

Well, Willie Nelson’s hit song from a few years ago isn’t exactly an Easter anthem, I suppose. But then again, in a certain sense, it captures in country-western terms some of what Luke’s text is trying to teach us.

For Jesus could be singing “On the Road Again” because that’s where he is. Ever since he leapt up from the tomb on Easter morn, Jesus meets his disciples — his friends — on the road. That’s where he is. Jesus is not trapped in the dead-end of death. He’s not even stuck here in the church. Jesus is on the road of life. Willie sang, “The life I love is makin’ music with my friends.” In point of truth, that’s Jesus’ song. For he wants to create a harmony in our lives and meets us on the road to do it.

Let’s reflect on this for a few moments this morning and here are two thoughts to organize our reflections. First, we celebrate today because Jesus overcomes death.

ONE: Jesus overcomes death

“Dead End” some road signs say. “No Outlet.” We all know what that means. It means the road ends there, that you can’t go any farther, that wherever it is you wanted to go, this way will not get you there. Dead End. No Outlet.

Ominous sounding words really. They mean there is no way out, almost implying that if you try to go this way, you’re doomed. “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here” was the sign that Dante imagined over the gates to hell. “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.” Dead End. No Outlet. Death is the end.

“DEAD end” some road signs say. Do roads die? No, but people do. We do. And in our case, at least, the words follow one upon the other: “dead” always means “the end.” And the other part follows too: “no outlet.” “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.”[2] (Genesis 3.19) The Bible speaks a lot about this kind of thing. “The soul that sins shall surely die.”[3] (Ezekiel 18.20) “Their end,” another verse declares, “their end is destruction.”[4] (Philippians 3.19) Destruction. “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.” DEAD end.

If any road seemed like a certain dead end, it was the way of the Cross. After all, the cross was an instrument of death. Its whole purpose was a dead end. From the beginning Jesus said he would die on the cross. You could see it coming: betrayal, denial, capture and trial, bloody crown and bloodthirsty crowd, the nails, the darkness, the agony, the spear, the end. “It is finished.” DEAD end!

Dead end? Dead wrong! With Jesus there is no dead end. That’s why we’re here today. The church would never have gotten started if Jesus were still in the tomb. He’s not. The tomb is empty, the stone is rolled away, and what had once appeared to be a dead-end cave, turns out to be — miracle of miracles — a “tunnel through,” if you will. Jesus Christ is alive and he’s on the road again.

That is why it’s so significant that one of the first Easter scenes is on the road to Emmaus. Jesus went all that way with his disciples, even the way of death for them, and now he continues the journey. “He is going before you to Galilee,” the Easter angel proclaimed to those who first found the empty tomb. That was a road they knew, the road back home. Jesus meets them on the road of life.

So the Dead End signs do not apply. Not to your life nor to mine. Since Jesus Christ, who died to cancel out the sin that brings death, since Jesus Christ is no longer dead, then Dead End no longer applies to our lives. Death is not the end. Jesus is on the road again and meets us there. That’s why we celebrate today.

TWO: Jesus overcomes what divides and hurts

A second reason to celebrate is that Jesus not only overcomes death. He also overcomes all that divides and hurts.

On June 17, 1992, the Reverend Don Stevenson boarded a British Airways plane bound for London along with his family. After getting the kids placed in their seats, he and his wife settled into theirs. Mr. Stevenson opted for the center seat with his wife at the window and a late-to-arrive passenger to his left.

That passenger soon came. She was a middle-aged woman of Middle Eastern origin. Calmly she stowed a bag under the seat in front of her and with a smile sat down. So there they were, packed in and compartmentalized for the seven-hour endurance trial across the Great Sea. When Mr. Stevenson greeted the stranger to his left, she smiled back warmly but said, “Iran, Iran” and pointed to her mouth, obviously indicating she could not speak English. So this was going to be an even longer flight than they thought.

They took off before long and at 35,000 feet they prepared their trays for dinner and hopefully a long nap that would pass away the time. Soon after a very nourishing meal, everyone began settling in for the remaining flight. Just then the Iranian woman reached down into her bag under the seat.

Here is how the Reverend Mr. Stevenson describes what happened next. “I thought about the contents of that bag,” he said, “and what harmful device might be therein. It was only a passing thought, but nevertheless a thought. My cultural bias stepped into my psyche. You see, I tend to associate bombs and terrorism with Middle Eastern cultures, often forgetting the terrorist forms that other cultures provoke.

“There was no bomb in the bag, to be sure, but my prejudice considered it. What she lifted up instead was a large container of individually-wrapped butterscotch candy pieces. And with a friendly smile and much warmth, she indicated I should have one. And we did.”

Luke’s Gospel told us that the risen Jesus, the stranger, met them on the Emmaus road, and later ate with them and was “… made known to them in the breaking of the bread.” Mr. Stevenson said that in the days following his flight, he came to regard that simple and ordinary experience on British Airways Flight #216 as sacrament. In that moment, the butterscotch candy became for him Holy Communion, a gift given by one child of God to another.[5]

Now this story is from 15 years ago — pre-9/11, pre-Iraq war, before the current tensions with Iran. I’ve shared this story in other settings and I share it again today because if anything we are more trapped today by our biases and fears than we were 15 years ago.

Mr. Stevenson said, “I have often thought of that woman’s cultural heritage and my own and surmised how different we were. Shall we forever be locked up in cultural and religious biases that keep us so distant from each other?” His answer was no. My answer is NO! Not if we look for Jesus on the road.

Some have said 9/11 changed everything. I don’t know about that. But I do know that Jesus Christ being raised from the dead two thousand years ago did change everything. Jesus is on the road, my friend, to knock down not just the walls of death. He also knocks down the walls of fear and prejudice and everything else that divides and hurts the human family.

And wherever that happens, wherever those dividing walls are knocked down — it doesn’t matter under what creed or by whose hand, even with butterscotch candies at 35,000 feet between a Christian man and a Muslim woman — there Jesus is present. Jesus is on the road to meet us and free us from all that frightens and divides and hurts. That’s why we celebrate today.

Conclusion

A good number of years ago, somewhere in a large Russian city, the communist Lecturer paused before summing up. He had droned on for hours and his large audience had listened with stone-cold silence. “Therefore,” he said, “there is no God, Jesus Christ never existed; there is no such thing as a Holy Spirit. The Church is an oppressive institution, and anyway it’s out of date. The future belongs to the State, and the State is in the hands of the Party.”

He was about to sit down when an old Russian Orthodox priest near the front stood up. “May I say just two words?” he asked. (It’s three in English, but he was speaking Russian, of course.) The Lecturer turned, looked out disdainfully over the crowd, and with a scorn said okay.

The old priest turned and also looked out over the crowd. Then he shouted, “Christ is risen!”

Like a giant wave pounding the beach, a deafening roar of sound came back from the people: “He is risen indeed!”[6]

And why not. They had been saying that for a thousand years in Russia. No old communist was going to stop them now.

Nothing … nothing stops the cry that Christ is risen. We celebrate today because Jesus is not in the dead-end tomb and not confined by all that divides and hurts us. Jesus is on the road again. He meets us there. He bids us sing again. And live again. And walk with him today, and tomorrow, and forever. That’s why we celebrate today and we will celebrate forever. Thanks be to God! Alleluia!

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