Our gospel lesson today is the much beloved story often called the Road to Emmaus. The setting is the afternoon of that first Easter. Two disciples, neither one of whom is numbered in the inner circle, are walking on the way to Emmaus. We are reading/hearing this story out of sequence. There are so many resurrection stories, that we cannot possibly crowd them all in to Easter morning, so, we parcel them out throughout the fifty days of Easter. But, doing that warps the time frame. This morning's Gospel lesson comes before last week's gospel lesson about Jesus' appearance to Thomas. In fact, at this point in time, Jesus has not even appeared to the eleven, as we have lost Judas Iscariot. At this point in time, Mary Magdalene has been to the empty tomb, Peter and the disciple who outran him have been to the empty tomb, Mary has seen the risen Lord, but no one else has.

These two disciples are not known to us as members of the twelve which made up the inner circle. They are Just two disciples, two followers. We know the name of one, it is Cleopas, but the other remains a mystery to us. We don't know this persons name, nor do we know if the person is male of female. It has been theorized that Luke crafted the story in this manner to draw us in, to provide an opportunity for each of us to place ourselves on that road.

Understandably, the two who are walking to Emmaus Are confused, saddened, puzzled and perplexed. And as they walk along, they talk about what has occurred. Jesus of Nazareth, the one they believed in, The one they thought was the anointed one of God, The one who would overthrow the Roman oppressors And restore Israel to its former glory, ended up like so many before him who had tried to lead insurrections; hanging on a tree outside the capital city. Every one of Jesus followers must have been disappointed, disillusioned, distraught.

So Cleopas and his companion are walking to Emmaus, when they are overtaken by another traveler. Emmaus was about seven miles from Jerusalem, and the walk probably took around three hours to make. There was plenty of time to discuss the events of the past week. When this other traveler, a stranger joined them, and inquires of them, "What's up?"

The two disciples give him the "Where have you been man? I mean, all of Jerusalem was talking about the recent happenings. And the latest is that some women claimed that an angel spoke with them and told them that Jesus, the dead guy, was alive!" Stranger and stranger.

Only to have the stranger "dis" them! "How can you be so slow to believe!?! This is what the prophets have been talking about for hundreds of years. How come you didn't understand that the Messiah, God's anointed was to suffer?" And then this stranger went on and told them all the places where this was revealed in the scriptures, starting with Moses and speaking of all the other prophets. By this time, the traveling group had reached the village of Emmaus. And the stranger looked as if he was going to continue on, but the two disciples invited him to come and stay with them, as night was approaching. Even though Palestine enjoyed the peace of Rome, the roads were not safe to travel on at night, especially if one was alone.

And, hospitality is one of the fixtures of Middle eastern life That we hear of over and over again. It is a mandate dating from when Abraham entertained Three strangers under a tree in the Palestinian wilderness As these strangers were on their way to Sodom and Gomorrah, which they destroyed, in part because they were not offered hospitality. This stranger accepts their offer of hospitality. and joins them at table.

Perhaps the two disciples were Cleopas and his wife. We hear in the Gospel of John that the wife of Clopas was among the women who stood at the foot of the cross as Jesus died. No inn is mentioned, so one can surmise that the hospitality of supper and a place to sleep was offered within their own home. Imagine, inviting Jesus to dine with you, at your table.

Notice that Jesus takes over the duties of the host. He takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it to them. It is in the blessing, breaking and giving that their eyes are opened, and they recognize Jesus. And just as suddenly, he vanishes from their sight.

In their struggles to understand, in their disappointment and disillusionment, in their distress and their grief, they were not alone, Jesus was beside them. They did not see, recognize, understand that he was there, but he was. In their confusion, and befuddlement, when they couldn't understand what had happened, Jesus was there, patiently explaining. And still they didn't get it. Now, once again, he is gone, but they have the memory of how they felt, how his words warmed their hearts.

There are so many layers here, so many things we can explore in this story, so many parallels we can draw. This is like the center of a spider web, this story connects with, brings to mind so many other stories.

We are all on the road to Emmaus. None of us truly see, none of us truly understand. In our despair, in our doubt, in our disappointment, in our distrust, in our disillusionment, in the face of death, we think we walk alone, but we don't. Jesus is there, on the same road, walking right beside us.

Too often, our eyes do not see him. Too often, we miss him because we are focused on ourselves, too often, we are searching, and just can't understand, but then, Jesus will be revealed to us, in the breaking of the bread, in the exploration of the scriptures. and we will have either an Aha moment, Or a duh! Moment. Duh, as in how come it took us so long to understand?

While I was at Seminary, I met a woman named Leah. She was Jewish, and here she was, at Seminary. She had been born and raised Jewish, and when she went to college, she met and married a wonderful Christian man. They decided that they could each remain in their own faiths, that what they had in common out weighed what separated them. So, on Saturdays, they attended Synagogue, and on Sundays, they went to church. This worked fine, until they had a child. Then Tom said that he felt very strongly that their child needed to be baptized.

Leah went along with it because, after all, if one converts to Judaism, one is baptized. So, their child was baptized. One Sunday, at church, it was announced that A parishioner had died, and help was needed To work in the kitchen for the funeral, And Leah said, "I can do that," So she did. And one of the women asked her if she would be interested In coming to Bible study. And she said, "I'm Jewish!" And they said, "that's why we'd like you to come, Because we are studying the Psalms, and would like To have a Jewish perspective." So she went. and she liked it. Next, her husband, who was in the contemporary worship band asked if she could fill in one Sun day when the regular keyboardist was ill, and she said, "I'm Jewish, I can't play hymns to Jesus. But, for one morning," she said, "I guess I can do that." So she did.

Pretty soon, she was spending so much time at church, that she was asked to join. To which she said, "I can't do that, I'm Jewish." But, after speaking with the pastor, who said she didn't need to say the second article of the Apostle's Creed, after all, her back would be to the congregation, and no one would know that she didn't say those words, she joined the church. Not long after, she was invited to go with the WELCA ladies to a state wide gathering, so she did. And, while sitting in the lobby of the hotel, waiting for her friends one mornings She saw the risen Lord. He told her that he loved her, and that she had so many gifts that he could use, and he called her to follow him. So, when she got home, She called her pastor, and said, "I believe. I need to be baptized."

Dr. Jim Nestigen at Luther Seminary always reminded us that we can never see Jesus straight on. But that we can catch glimpses of him glimpses of heaven, in the most ordinary of times, in the most ordinary moments of life, like at the dinner table, or in the everyday kindnesses shown to us, in the faces of the people on the streets, in a kind word shared with someone who is lonely, in the forgiveness we offer one another for the sins of omission and commission that we fall prey to every day. Jesus is revealed to us everyday, if we have but eyes to see.

Faith is a journey. The road to Emmaus is the story of one such journey. Here were disciples who had known Jesus in his earthly life, yet they failed to recognize him in his glory. They were looking for something different. They had expected Jesus to be a king like Caesar, to be a man of military might, to provide protection and security through the use of force. Instead, he was a humble man, who rules the heart, who rules with and through love. He doesn't compel our allegiance out of fear, rather he bids us to come to him because we know him, his gentle ways, his kind word, his gracious acts draw us to him. He understands our hardships, our challenges, our failures. Whiles these vex and distress us, he does not chastise. Rather, he forgives.

Before his death, the disciples failed every test put before them. They couldn't feed the multitudes, they argued over who would be the greatest in his kingdom, they cowered every time the wind blew. They couldn't even catch a single fish unless he was present. In his hour of need, they denied even knowing him, ran away and hid. Yet, these were the people he entrusted to take the good news to the ends of the earth. With his resurrection, he opened their eyes. He made their hearts within them burn, and led them to journey to the ends of the earth, telling others about Jesus, a God of love, who cares for them, provides for the, who opens their eyes and makes them see, that the riches of this world are nothing compared to his love. Thanks be to God. Amen.