Easter 3                                          4/6/08                                                            Preached at ULC

Text:  Luke 24 (Road to Emmaus)          Title: In the Breaking of the Bread

One of the oldest devices in comedy is that of mistaken identity. Part of the reason it’s funny is because it happens in real life, and so we laugh because we know the awkwardness when you’re the one who’s made the mistake.

A woman named Lidia DeGormez and her husband were in the hospital waiting room shortly before the birth of their second child. They met another young couple also waiting for the wife to deliver, and Lidia’s husband commented how the two women looked almost like twins. And not just because they were both, you know, REALLY pregnant, but they really looked similar.

Well, the time came for the babies to be delivered, and since this story goes back a few years, the husbands stayed behind while the women went in. Lidia had her baby first, and after the delivery she was wheeled back into the hall while they prepared her room. Her own husband was still in the waiting room, but the other man was there in the hall and he came over to her gurney and started gushing about what a beautiful baby girl she’d had. He was looking at her a little strangely, but again and again he kept saying how beautiful her daughter was.

So she thanked him, and he said, “Your voice sounds a little different.”  Well, she was still groggy from pushing out this bowling ball with arms and legs, so she mumbled something about being dried out from the air conditioning in the delivery room.

And the man said, “You know what? It doesn’t matter. I’m just so happy about you having a little girl.” And it didn’t dawn on Lidia what was happening until he bent down to kiss her on the lips. Only then did she say, “Sir, I think you have me confused with your wife, but she is still in the delivery room!”

He, of course, wanted the ground to just swallow him up right there. But it was nothing compared to his embarrassment when the helpful nurses repeated the story to his wife. Wherever this guy is today, I’m pretty sure this guy is still thanking God that Lidia didn’t include his name in the story to Reader’s Digest.

You can understand that this new dad was a little stressed. And I know that when my wife Michelle had our babies, she looked different after she was done than when she started. Still, you’d like to think a man would recognize the woman he married and who was carrying his baby.

Well, maybe Jesus looked different after rising from the dead. And I’m sure his disciples were stressed from all the events of the last few days. But here’s this story where they are walking and talking with the resurrected Jesus for miles on the road to Emmaus, and they don’t recognize him.

Wouldn’t you think these students would have recognized their own master? It’s not like Jesus was just some dude they met at a party a couple years ago. They thought he was the Savior of Israel, for goodness’ sake. And there they are, going on and on as if they have no idea who they’re talking to, because they don’t.

It’s kind of funny to imagine two men talking about Jesus to Jesus. I had somebody come up to me one time and ask me if I could introduce them to Pastor Timm, because of course they knew me as Pastor Steve. But this story is more than comic relief. It’s a lesson for us because we are living after the resurrection, in the time after Easter, just like these two disciples.  And Jesus isn’t easy for us to recognize either.

I have chapter after chapter of words about Jesus I can read to you. There is no doubt historically that a man named Jesus made a big stir in Israel 2000 years ago. But we can’t see him like Peter and Andrew and John saw him because he’s not here like that anymore. His promise was that he would always be with us -- but look around. Where? How do we see him and recognize him?

This lesson from the Emmaus road gives us an answer. It was the first Easter Sunday. Christ had been raised, but he had not shown himself to all of his disciples. Two of them were walking on the road and he came to talk with them, but they didn’t know who he was. So they told the story about Jesus’ crucifixion as if he were a stranger, and they talked about the rumors of his resurrection, and he began teach them about the truth of these things from the Bible. Later on we find out their hearts were burning while he talked. Then they shared a meal together, and finally they recognized the man in front of them, as the Bible says, “In the breaking of the bread”.

This is a pretty important lesson for us.

These two disciples felt their hearts burning when Jesus read the Scriptures to them, and they recognized him in the breaking of the bread. You cannot ignore the link between what happened on the road to Emmaus and what the church does today in the preaching of the word, and the taking of the sacrament. Where do you most often find God and recognize him? Where else but where the Word is preached and the bread and wine are served?

I know it’s not very concrete to talk about Jesus being present in words and wafers. If you only believe in things you can see in front of you, this probably isn’t the sermon for you. Then again, if you only believe in things you can see in front of you, then faith in general is probably pretty hard for you. In order for this message to make any sense, you have to at least be open to the idea that some things are real even if they can’t be seen. Nobody but God Himself can show you Jesus in the flesh, and that’s not how God reveals Him. God chooses instead something more subtle, something that requires more faith. And so, just like the disciples, you have to recognize him in the word you hear preached and in the breaking of the bread.

Now there’s always somebody who responds, “Yeah, but can’t I find God even better out in the woods or out on the lake?” And you might. You might get struck by lightning and you’ll see God a lot more clearly than you wanted to. But the truth is that here in this room, in the presence of other believers, where the Scriptures are opened and the bread is broken, this is the place where you are most likely to recognize Jesus. So it’s all right if you’re here because you like the music, or you like the people, or because it’s good for the kids. But when we get together to read from the Bible and share the broken bread, you can hear the echoes of eternity, and we can recognize Jesus more clearly than any place else.

Almost any place else. There’s one other place that Jesus said he would be real, and it still has to do with the breaking of the bread but in a different way. Besides being in the bread of communion, Jesus also reveals himself in the sharing bread with the poor. My Bible scholars out there will remember how Jesus said in Matthew 25 that whenever a person is hungry and you give him something to eat, or a person is thirsty and you give her something to drink, you are in fact doing it for [point up] Him.

I think He was serious when He said if you do it for them, you do it for Me. Why is it so hard for us to take His words at face value? We say that our greatest desire is to see Jesus. If we really mean it, there is a simple response – look for Him in the faces of the poor by reaching out to help.

It’s World Hunger month during April. Our Hunger Task Force has put together a great program and I’m really excited about the goals we have set. $10,000 from our congregation. $1 million as a synod. Pretty ambitious goals in a year when everybody and their uncle is feeling pretty rotten about our economy.

But you are still generous people. You still give money to the church. You still gave money and food to the local food shelf. You are generous people.

I want you to keep being generous, and in your generosity, I want you to recognize the face of Jesus in the face of the people you help. Open up your bulletins for just a second. I know this is out there, but I want you to look at the woman’s face in that picture and I want you to recognize the face of Jesus. You say, “No, no, Jesus is a slightly tanned Norwegian hippie. I’ve seen the picture.” But do you recognize Jesus in the face of this woman?

You will if you get out your checkbooks and break your bread with her today.  Amen.