Psalm 111
Song: I know that my redeemer lives
I know we usually sing this to the tune Torquay, but I couldn’t find a suitable version on line. Truro is fairly near to Torquay! (85 miles according to Google.)
Reading: Isaiah 42: 10-16
Walk in the light
Reading: Luke 24: 13-35
Listen: Emmaus
“Didn’t we feel on fire as he conversed with us on the road, as he opened up the Scriptures for us?”
There is a story told of a minister visiting his flock who was certain that someone was in because he could hear movement in the house; a feeling shared by anyone who has ever collected charity envelopes. In spite of all his ringing and knocking he could not get a response, so he put one of his visiting cards through the letter box. On the back of the card he wrote “Revelation, chapter 3, verse 20”. When the householder looked this passage up in their bible, she found it to read “Behold, I stand at the door and knowk, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to them and eat with them, and they with me.”
The following Sunday, the lady of the house was in church, and as she left, she presented the minister with one of her cards. On the back she had written “ Genesis chapter 3 verse 10.” When the minister looked this up later he found it to read “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself.”
Notice that the minister, even though he knew that someone was inside the house did not force his attentions on them, he let them have the decision as to whether he came in or not. Jesus was like that on the road to Emmaus. He knew who he was. He knew who the people with whom he walked were, but he did not force himself on them, he allowed them to make their own decisions.
It is very easy at this distance in space and time to be critical of the disciples who walked with Jesus. “Fancy not recognising him!” we say, “Perhaps they were not very close disciples.”
Have you ever been given a bolling you could not live up to? I have, by the local newspaper in the town where I grew up. Sometime in 1969 the “Craven Herald and Pioneer” carried an article with the headline “Jonathan Ben Youdan, a name for British Rail to watch”. Our local railway was proposed for closure and I had composed an objection, and collected signatures for a petition. Well, if there is anyone in British Rail, or its successors still watching, I advise them to stop watching. I don’t think I hold any terrors for them now.
(As an aside, I travelled on the last train to run from skipton to Colne. There is currently a group campaigning for the re-opening of that railway, so one of my current ambitions is to travel on the first train to run from Skipton to Colne when it re-opens.)
Many of Jesus’ disciples had given him a billing that he hadn’t lived up to. They had mentally installed him as the Messiah who would come as a king in all his glory and rid them of the hated Romans. But he was not that sort of King.
Have you ever lost anything? If your lifestyle is anything like mine, you will spend a great deal of time looking for your wallet, keys, cheque book or some papers. We all know what it is like; first of all we look where it should be, then we start to look in other places, we rush around, moving things, looking under and inside things. We look everywhere that the object could possibly be. As time gets shorter, we get more and more frantic. How often does the object turn up somewhere we haven’t looked because it couldn’t possibly be there.
Why then should we be surprised that the disciples did not recognise Jesus? In addition to their disappointment that he had failed to live up their billing for him, he was the very last person they expected to see. He was dead. Hadn’t they seen him killed? Jesus did not stand up in front of them and say “Hey, its me! What are you doing? Don’t you know me?” No, he talked about the scriptures to them, he showed them where it was shown that the Messiah would come, not as a glorious rebellion leader, but as a suffering servant, that he came not to change systems or nations, but to change people
On arrival at the house, Jesus made to go further, he didn’t want to push himself on them. They invited him in, and he accepted the invitation. Then over a meal, they recognised him, and he disappeared.
Have you ever been talking to someone, a stranger who obviously know you, but you can’t immediately recognise. As you talk, it become obvious that you have spent a considerable time in their company, but it is not clear who they are. Eventually you part, and after they have gone you say “Of course, it was so and so.”
“ Didn’t (I) feel on fire as he conversed with (me) on the road”
With hindsight, they realised what they had done. Hindsight is always clearer than foresight. Everyone is an expert at “We should have done this.” “Couldn’t we tell?” “Wasn’t it obvious?”. But they needed to have things explained to them, that they had held a limited view of scripture. They had taken from the scriptures the ideas which suited the, and when Jesus had not lived up to their ideas, when in their eyes he had failed, they were depressed and downhearted.
This is not a phenomenon confined to the first century A.D. Nowadays we have people who would attempt to resdtrict the reading of the scriptures.
There are those who try to restrict the Christian faith to the ministry of healing. There are those who ally the Christian faith to a particular political belief, or to the combatting of a political belief. Some would only use the scriptures to predict the future, other simply want to prop up their own likes, dislikes and prejudices.
Just as the disciples were in error in this, so would we be if wefollow this road. We needto take the whole message, not just the bits which back up our own likes and dislikes, not just the parts which make us feel comfortable. They had wanted freedomfromthe Romans, and had looked for a great leader to achieve this. Their eagerness had blinded them to the rest of the message, just as our love of the status quo can blind us to the need for change.
In many ways we are all like those early disciples on the road to Emmaus. We are all pre-occupied with our own ideas. We all have our preconceptions about Jesus. We have all, at times, been oblivious of his presence, blinded by our misunderstandings, and our own ideaas of what we want from life. Disappointed at what we see as the failure or ourselves , others and even on occasion, God himself.
Just as all those years ago, Jesus walked to Emmaus with the disciples, the risen Lord is walking with us, waiting to be asked in. He will behave in the same patient way as he did all those years ago, he will wait to be asked in.
There is a famous painting called “The light of the world” by Holman Hunt. It portrays a man holding a lantern, standing outside a closed door in a ivy covered wall. When it was first displayed, one of the painter’s contemporaries said “But it isn’t finished.” “In what way?” asked the artist. “There is no handle on the door” replied the critic. “Oh it’s finished” said the artist, That door is the way into a person’s life, it can only be opened from the inside.”
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to them and eat with them, and they with me.” says the risen Lord Jesus.
All too often we want to reply “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself.”
All too often, we are keen to keep the door shut. We make excuses, rather like the person in the song.
All our excuses count for nothing in the presence of the risen Lord Jesus.
All too often, we only open the door when we want something, when there is a crisis. Once the crisis is past, we try to close the door again, in case we are asked to do something which runs counter to our natural inclinations.
In order to live life to the full, we need to recognise the signs; the knocking on the door, the warming of the heart. Make no mistake, there is a price to pay for opening the door; that price is change.
See how Cleopas and his fellow changed. From a fearful and disillusioned pair, afraid to be out at night, they became energetic and enthusiastic to travel back to Jerusalem to tell their story.
At times like these, it is easy to become disillusioned and depressed. It is difficult to be optimistic and enthusiastic when we are confined to our own homes for long periods. Remember our encounters with the risen Lord Jesus, and how he can transform lives. Whatever we have opportunities to do, do them with the enthusiasm which will enable other to see the risen Lord Jesus in us.
Song: Now the green blade rises
Prayer:
We who have given thanks for Christ’s victories now pray for his victory in the life of the world today.
We pray that the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ may be known and believed by increasing numbers of men and women. May young and old, rich and poor, of every race, nation and language, realise what Christ hasdone for them and join their praise with that of the whole church.
We pray that we who follow Christ may manifest his victory in our way of life. May we be strong where we have been weak,compassionate where we have been hard, generous where we have been selfish, wholehearted where we have been lukewarm.
We pray that the influence of christ may reach beyond professed Christians to affect the whole life of society. May the ideals of peace and justice and care for others be written on all our hearts, and may not rest until these become the normal standards of the world.
We pray that Christ may strengthen men and women in their trials; in sickness, in bereavement, in hardship, in loneliness, in persecution, in disappointment.
May the victorious Christ strengthen us all to endure and conquer in his name.
Amen.
Taken from “More Contemporary Prayers.”
Some of you will know that this passage from Luke’s gospel is one of my favourite passages of scripture. This last song is an encapsulation of the chapter, and I cannot imagine Easter without it. Unfortunately I have not been able to find an online version which sets the words to the tune I associate with it. If you follow the instructions below, you whould be able to hear the music and read or sing along.
Tune: Companion
Right click on the link and then left click on “open link in new tab”. This should enable you top hear the music and read or sing the words simultaneously
1 Lord Jesus, in the days of old,
Two walked with Thee in waning light,
And love's blind instinct made them bold
To crave Thy presence through the night;
As night descends, we too would pray
O leave us not at close of day.
2 Did not their hearts within them burn?
And, though their Lord they failed to know,
Did not their spirits inly yearn?
They could not let the stranger go.
Much more, must we who know Thee pray:
O leave us not at close of day.
3 Perchance we have not always wist
Who has been with us by the way;
Amid day’s uproar we have missed
Some word that Thou hast had to say.
In silent night, O Saviour dear,
We would not fail Thy voice to hear.
4 Day is far spent and night is nigh;
Stay with us, Saviour, through the night;
Talk with us, teach us tenderly,
Lead us to peace, to rest, to light;
Dispel our darkness with Thy face,
Radiant with resurrection grace.
5 Nor this night only, blessed Lord,
We, every day and every hour,
Would walk with Thee Emmaus-ward
To hear Thy voice of love and power;
And every night would by Thy side
Look, listen, and be satisfied.
James Ashcroft Noble (1844-96)
Taken from hymns and Psalms.
