Journey. Story. Bread.
(Free Version) Eastertide (Year A)- Acts 2:14a,36-41; 1 Peter 1:17-23; Luke 24:13-35
Henry Ossawa Tanner, And He Disappeared out of Their Sight, ca. 1898, oil on plywood, Smithsonian American Art Museum
This week’s readings can be found here.
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One of the key threads which runs through each of our readings this week is the revelation of Jesus. In Christ, God has come to us, taken the initiative, and given his life to bring about our liberation from the counterfeit ways of being in the world. Each of our readings provide the context of such revelation—this has been God’s plan all along—a consistent fulfillment of the ongoing narrative of God’s faithfulness to his people; as well as a call to “repent,” to change course, turning from false narratives, and trusting in Jesus.
Our Acts reading (Acts 2:14a, 36-41) records the crowd’s response to Peter’s explanation about the meaning of God’s raising Jesus from the dead and the Spirit poured out at Pentecost. Christ himself is the revelation of God; Peter has borne witness to the revelation by preaching the good news; this is the fulfillment of God’s plan for his people, Israel. The calling is simple: “repent and be baptized…save yourselves from your corrupt generation.” About 3,000 people responded to this calling.
In our epistle reading (1 Peter 1:17-23), Peter calls the church to live in light of the future day when the true judge will make all things right. Christians are not to ultimately fear the narratives of the world: fear that we aren’t “keeping up with the Joneses,” fear that our political group does not have the power, fear that others do not approve of us. None of these things have the final say. Instead, we are to live in reverent fear of the Lord. After all, Christians are exiles. Our hope is not in the world as it is; our citizenship is in heaven.
This hope is rooted in the fact that we have been set free. A costly sacrifice has purchased our liberation. This didn’t come about randomly, a whim that God had one day. This has been destined from the foundation of the world, though we are just seeing it now. The passage begins by telling us to “live in fear.” But then Peter gets specific. The way of God is love. If our souls are purified by obedience to the truth, that will result in love. Those who have been born anew will manifest a deep love that will last.
Our gospel reading (Luke 24:13-35) recounts the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. We are told that Jesus meets the disciples as they are disillusioned, questioning, doubting, confused. He meets them on the road away from Jerusalem: the place of the temple and of his death and resurrection.
“Leaving” is not always bad. Our old patterns and habits and ways of viewing the world may have been unhealthy or they may have just not been fully right. It may be true that Christianity itself is a form of leaving. We are leaving behind the old narratives, the old stories that we used to pursue: stories about performance and approval, and shame, and blame. It is no coincidence that the Christian community is birthed with stories of resurrection. The old is gone. The new has come.
As he meets them (they are kept from recognizing him), He wants to hear about their pain. He wants to hear what they have trusted in and how they have understood God’s story and their story. And they share it with him (vs. 19-24). They tell him about Jesus of Nazareth, explaining to him their hopes: we put our hope in Jesus, and He let us down. We thought he would be the one who would redeem Israel. We gave up our lives for Him. We gave up everything for him. And, he tried really hard. He was a prophet in word and in deed, but at the end of the day, he died.
In response, retells the story of Israel in a way that was both familiar and different. He reminds them that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer before entering into glory. Suffering has always been central to the story of God and his people.
Ultimately, Jesus hosts a banquet for the disciples at their own table. He is finally recognized by them (revelation) in the breaking of bread. In light of this revelation, the story (and Jesus’ telling of it) come alive to them. They quickly find the other disciples as they join a community of witnesses to the resurrection.
That’s what the good news of resurrection does. It calls together a community, with our vast experiences, some of us with hope, some of us confused. That’s the church! It’s not the people who have it figured out. We are a people seeking to be formed by the resurrection!
This week, my prayer is that each of our eyes may be opened as we hear the Story and receive of the Table of the Lord. None of this can be manufactured. We are called simply to trust in God’s revelation to us. The call is always to “repentance,” perhaps not in a sidewalk preacher kind of way, but in a way consistent with the love of God who has brought about our redemption. We are liberated from the “futile ways” passed down to us by the perishable narratives of the world. We are free to live in light of the good news of resurrection.