Luke 24 has always been my favorite Easter scripture. Luke preserves a unique resurrection account. Both in terms of the names of the women present and especially the Emmaus story. My one footnote today from biblical scholarship concerns the verse that says that Peter ran to the tomb and looked in, saw the linen clothes and went home amazed. This is a disputed verse because it doesn't appear in all the early manuscripts, and many scholars believe it was added later under the influence of other traditions which had Peter at the tomb.
But it is the Emmaus story that captures my imagination. Two followers of Jesus, not from the inner circle, are travelling along a road when they are joined by a stranger. They strike up a conversation and discover that the stranger has a gift to offer them. He is able to explain to them the meaning of the death of Jesus and of the women's vision at the empty tomb to them in light of Hebrew scriptures.
It wasn't until they invited the stranger to stay with them and share a meal that they saw him for who he was. Why? Because in welcoming the stranger and sharing a meal they did what Jesus did. When they did what Jesus did, he was there.
And this for me is the heart of resurrection faith. It isn't what a person believes about Jesus that matters. Do you believe in this doctrine, that literal understanding of a story? It is not what we believe about Jesus but what our faith compels us to do. That is what matters. This is how we know that Jesus is alive in us. How do we live? As an old camp song taught me as a child, "They will know we are Christians by our love." When we love as he loved, he lives in us.
It is the person who is walking along the road to Jericho and sees the man who was beaten and binds up his wounds, even though he is the enemy. It is the person who doesn't care whether someone is rich or poor, leper or clean, gay or straight, Muslim or Christian or Hindu or athiest, but treats that person with dignity and sees in them the divine spark, and knows that in the very way they treat that person, they can help grow that spark into a fire. It is the person who reclines at table and shares meals with friends and strangers and celebrates the presence of God's realm here and now. It is the person who simply trusts that God will provide, and who takes joy in the presence of birds and flowers and the joy of being alive.
That is what he did. And I am convinced that it was what he did that brought his friends and followers back. They remembered what it was like, how they were alive in his presence, and they came to realize that it was now their turn, and that they had the same capacity for giving life and sharing love as he did. And they did, and so do we. And this is the choice that we can make day after day in our lives. We can make him alive and present in our midst. And when we live as he lived and love as he loved, he is alive. Christ is Risen. He is risen indeed. When we live as he lived.
No comments:
Post a Comment