A brief sermon/reflection for 3rd Sunday of Easter – Year A – 2020
The readings for today are the following:
- Acts 2. 14a, 36-41
- Psalm 116. 1-7
- 1 Peter 1. 17-23
- Luke 24. 13-45
You might like to visit https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/ and enter any of the above readings and selecting the NRSV anglicized version or any other version.
Prayer
Loving Heavenly Father, we thank you for the words you have given us today. We know that your words are words of life and salvation. Open our hearts Father, touch our souls, forgive us our sins, our lack of faith, help us to respond to your word. Help us to encounter you walking with us in our journey of life and may we experience in our hearts how we are loved and saved by you.
Amen.
Introduction
This event of the Emmaus Experience is one of the prominent resurrection appearances of Jesus, but it also highlights several important teachings for us for our own journey of faith as well. Let us look at the key verses of this incredible story of the resurrection appearance of Jesus. You might like to take your bibles.
1. Jesus walks alongside you!
The first key verse we look at is verse 15 of Luke 24: “While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them.” Here are two disciples of Jesus, one of whom was called Cleopas, on their way to a village called Emmaus. And as they walk, they are discussing about the recent events about Jesus who they thought was the messiah, the Saviour. As disciples of Jesus, they had known and believed in Jesus. But now they are sad and depressed because all their hopes seemed to have been dashed to pieces at his ignominious death on the cross.
Jesus joins them along the way and enters into conversation with them. But the two disciples do not recognise him. Jesus is present to them, but they don’t know. Jesus is walking with them, but they don’t see because they are too sad, too disappointed, too disenchanted. It is a terrible thing when you hope and believe in someone or something and then you are disillusioned and dismayed when your hopes are not materialised. It is the same with us. Things happen in our lives. We sometimes get despondent. Our sadness and despair overwhelm us, and we don’t realise that Jesus is present with us, that he is walking along with us. This event is a perfect example of how the Risen Lord is with us in our journey of life.
In fact, the tragedy for most of us in our spiritual life is found in verse 16: “But their eyes were kept from recognising him.” This is the tragedy of most of us – God IS with us, but we don’t recognise him; we don’t meet him, and we continue to live unhappy, unredeemed lives. Our physical eyes are open, but our inner eyes are tight shut.
This tragedy of human beings is also graphically described in the gospel of John, that which we read during Christmastime. “The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.” (John 1. 9-12)
2. Recognising Jesus in the Word of God (Bible) and in the Sacrament of the Eucharist
The second key verses are 30, 31 and 32: “When he was at table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.” (30) Note “at table with them”- After the Last supper, this is the first time Jesus repeats this highly powerful, meaningful, symbolic and sacramental act. He does it in the context of a meal. It is an informal Eucharist like the one Jesus did at the Last Supper. The following verse 31 is very important to understand the symbolic and sacramental aspect of this act of Jesus. “Then their eyes were opened, and they recognised Jesus and he vanished from their sight.”
And in verse 32: “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?’”
I would like to take these two verses together to show you that what we have before us is a truly remarkable and incredible celebration of the Word and Sacrament by the Risen Jesus which we call the Holy Eucharist also called Holy Communion, The Lord’s Supper or the Mass, performed again by none other than Jesus himself after the resurrection.
The Liturgy of the Word happens on the way to Emmaus when Jesus joins the disciples, listens to their rather sad story and teaches and explains to them the incredible story of salvation and how Jesus was to suffer and then enter into his glory. In short, Jesus preached an unforgettable sermon while walking with them and interpreted to them all that were said about him in the Scriptures.
3. The result of meeting (recognising) the Lord is conversion of heart and testifying to the Risen Lord in your life.
Let us look at the next key verses 33 to 35: “That same hour they got up and returned (metanoia, conversion, repentance) to Jerusalem and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together.” (33) When you meet Jesus, you can’t stay still and do nothing; you have to tell about him, testify to him to others. Your heart is full of the Lord. You do all you can to witness to Jesus as we read in verse 34: “they were saying, ‘They Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’” Verse 35 continues: “They told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.”
The Emmaus event is an extraordinary testimony for the truth of the resurrection. The two disciples are witnesses. The Risen Jesus is “real”, not a figment of the imagination of the gospel writer. A Christian, a true disciple of Jesus is passionate about Jesus. A true Christian uses every opportunity to speak about Jesus and how he gives sense and meaning to his life. That is why I always ask you to share with each other your own walk of faith in your life or in the previous week.
The narrating of what has happened strengthens the faith of other disciples. When you tell others what God has done for you, what Jesus means to you, you strengthen your own faith and that of others. That is why testimony or telling your stories of faith is absolutely important. It is more important than a sermon or a mere teaching address.
A Prayer you can say now:
Lord Jesus, I believe you are the Son of God. Thank you for coming to us at Christmas. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. Thank you for rising from the dead to give me hope. Please forgive my sins and give me the gift of eternal life. I ask you into heart and my life to be my Lord and Saviour. I want to serve you always.
Amen.
[ST Mattapally]
Some Prayers/ Intercessions for the Third Sunday after Easter
“Prayer is a plant, the seed of which is sown in the heart of every Christian.
If it is well cultivated and nourished it will produce fruit, but if it is neglected,
it will wither and die.”
Jesus is alive; Love has won the victory over sin and death.
And He is with you in your journey of life.
In these dramatic and tragic times, we pray for all those who are affected by the coronavirus pandemic and also all the hundreds and thousands of volunteers and carers who sacrifice their time and money to bring help and comfort to the lonely, the self-isolating and the sick.
We bring all our concerns, worries and burdens us to the Lord especially the fear for a loved one or for friends as we turn our hearts to the Risen Jesus “the way, and the truth, and the life” and the one who give us true and deep peace while he walks with us as he did with the two disciples of Emmaus.
Silence …
Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer
Let us pray for all nations and peoples of the earth, and for those in authority among them;
For the Church of God, for all who serve God’s people as Bishops, ministers and volunteers; for Her Majesty the Queen, the Government, the Houses of Parliament and the Supreme Court, for the Members and Representatives of the United Nations and for all who serve the common good, that by God’s help they may seek justice and truth, and live in peace and concord.
Father God, kindle, we pray, in every heart the true love of peace, and guide with your wisdom those who take counsel for the nations of the earth; that in tranquillity your dominion may increase, until the earth is filled with the knowledge of your love.
Silence…
Lord in your mercy.
Hear our prayer.
Let us pray for all who suffer at this time of coronavirus pandemic and resulting lockdown and are afflicted in body or in mind; at this time we especially pray for the hungry and the homeless, the destitute and the oppressed; for the sick, the wounded, and the crippled; for those in loneliness, fear, and anguish; for those who face temptation, doubt, and despair; for the sorrowful and bereaved; for prisoners and captives, and those in mortal danger; that they find comfort in the merciful and risen Lord who can relieve them, and grant them the knowledge of his love, and also stir up in our hearts the will and patience to minister to their needs.
Let us pray for our Parish community that in this time of social distancing, self-isolation and closed churches, through personal prayer and using the On Line Church resources we may grow to know, love and follow the Risen Jesus who walks with us as he did with the two distressed disciples of Emmaus.
Silence …
Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer
Jesus walked with the two disciples of Emmaus and they did not recognise him until he broke bread with them.The Risen Jesus is walking with us. Our lives are transformed when we believe in him and recognise him walking alongside us.
Silence …
Father,
we feel loved,
we feel forgiven,
we feel saved.
Thank you for Jesus Christ your Son
who died for us on the cross
and rose again from the dead
and who offers us
true peace and true hope.
Help us to hold on to him
and to follow him
the way, the truth and the life.
Amen.
[ST Mattapally]