https://youtu.be/Y1fMCkEIRWM
The story is told of Franklin Roosevelt, who often endured long receiving lines at the White House. He complained that no one really paid any attention to what was said. One day, during a reception, he decided to try an experiment. To each person who passed down the line and shook his hand, he murmured, "I murdered my grandmother this morning." The guests responded with phrases like, "Marvelous! Keep up the good work. We are proud of you. God bless you, sir." It was not till the end of the line, while greeting the ambassador from Bolivia, that his words were actually heard. Nonplussed, the ambassador leaned over and whispered, "I'm sure she had it coming.”
Its funny how we can be around someone of importance and hear their words, but not really listen to them. I think all of us can think of a time that our mother’s have told us things over and over again, yet until we touch the stove (so to speak) we don’t “get” what she was saying to us. Then there are times where we hear what she says, but we have already made up our minds about the matter and so we interpret what shesays though our ownunderstanding. “what she reallymeant was not to leanon the stove, surely its ok if I just touchit a little!"
Today’s gospel features a couple of Jesus’ disciples that, while not a part of his inner circle, knew enough about Jesus and who he was and why he was here to give their point of view of events, but either did not hear enough or did not listen enough.
So, these two guys are walking along the road, talking about the events of the last few days, and Jesus comes up upon them.
The first thing we notice here is that they do not recognize him
This seems to happen often in the Bible, through the Old and New Testament. some believe that it is a divine veiling, This lack of recognition allowed Jesus to teach the necessity of his death and resurrection and to show how this was the fulfillment of Scripture.
To go back to our mom example - sometimes someone else’s mom telling something sinks in more than your own. In this case, maybe a third party they didn’t know explaining how all this worked together would make more sense for them.
So Jesus goes deep into the scriptures and shows them why things happened the way they did and these two disciples seem to be getting it. Then they come to a stopping place on their journey and encourage this stranger to come in with them, so Jesus comes in with them.
⁃Their eyes are open in the breaking of the bread
⁃NOT by his exposition
When Jesus breaks bread with them the two disciples recognized him. When the text says their eyes “were opened” it is a kind of divine unveiling – kind of the opposite of when they “were kept from recognizing him”.
I have two theories about this recognition. One is kind of wacky, just saying that out front. The other is more probable.
I wonder sometimes how much there is around us we don’t see. You know, they say that there are animals that can see colors that we can't. Some can even see in infrared in a way. So we know there are things we can’t see…
Now, imagine this - we live in a 3 dimensional world. We have length, width and depth to everything we see. Some say the 4th dimension is time. We can't see time, per second, but we also can. Things are moving - moving through time. We can capture images and view the past. Every photograph of you is a version of you from the past.
I wonder sometimes if people who say they have seen a ghost are somehow seeing into the time dimension - seeing something or someone from the past or maybe even the future.
How many other dimensions are there? What's going on around us that we can't see?
Some would say there is a spiritual dimension. That there could be angels and/or demons all around us. We see something like this in 2 Kings, where we hear of Elisha and his servant who find themselves surrounded by an enemy army and the servant is scared. So Elisha tells him:
16 “Don’t be afraid, “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
I wonder if God sometimes gives us peeks into these dimensions sometimes. But that’s kind of an aside here that we may come back to another day.
More probably, this “divine veiling” just made him look a little different to them. Actually, saying that out loud sounds weird too. But, Jesus does mention that there will be times that we may be interacting with him when we don't know it. When we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, help the poor and the suffering. Many would argue he meant it figuratively, but what if he didn't?
Anyway, Luke seems to be telling his readers that as clarity came to the disciples in the sharing of Scripture and the “breaking of bread,” so too could we experience this clarity as we hear the Scriptures in the context of the church’s breaking of bread, which what we try to do here every week.
My prayer is that If you don’t recognize Jesus through my preaching, then I do hope that you recognize him through the breaking of the bread.
In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The story is told of Franklin Roosevelt, who often endured long receiving lines at the White House. He complained that no one really paid any attention to what was said. One day, during a reception, he decided to try an experiment. To each person who passed down the line and shook his hand, he murmured, "I murdered my grandmother this morning." The guests responded with phrases like, "Marvelous! Keep up the good work. We are proud of you. God bless you, sir." It was not till the end of the line, while greeting the ambassador from Bolivia, that his words were actually heard. Nonplussed, the ambassador leaned over and whispered, "I'm sure she had it coming.”Its funny how we can be around someone of importance and hear their words, but not really listen to them. I think all of us can think of a time that our mother’s have told us things over and over again, yet until we touch the stove (so to speak) we don’t “get” what she was saying to us. Then there are times where we hear what she says, but we have already made up our minds about the matter and so we interpret what shesays though our ownunderstanding. “what she reallymeant was not to leanon the stove, surely its ok if I just touchit a little!"
Today’s gospel features a couple of Jesus’ disciples that, while not a part of his inner circle, knew enough about Jesus and who he was and why he was here to give their point of view of events, but either did not hear enough or did not listen enough.
So, these two guys are walking along the road, talking about the events of the last few days, and Jesus comes up upon them.
The first thing we notice here is that they do not recognize him
This seems to happen often in the Bible, through the Old and New Testament. some believe that it is a divine veiling, This lack of recognition allowed Jesus to teach the necessity of his death and resurrection and to show how this was the fulfillment of Scripture.
To go back to our mom example - sometimes someone else’s mom telling something sinks in more than your own. In this case, maybe a third party they didn’t know explaining how all this worked together would make more sense for them.
So Jesus goes deep into the scriptures and shows them why things happened the way they did and these two disciples seem to be getting it. Then they come to a stopping place on their journey and encourage this stranger to come in with them, so Jesus comes in with them.
⁃Their eyes are open in the breaking of the bread
⁃NOT by his exposition
When Jesus breaks bread with them the two disciples recognized him. When the text says their eyes “were opened” it is a kind of divine unveiling – kind of the opposite of when they “were kept from recognizing him”.
I have two theories about this recognition. One is kind of wacky, just saying that out front. The other is more probable.
I wonder sometimes how much there is around us we don’t see. You know, they say that there are animals that can see colors that we can't. Some can even see in infrared in a way. So we know there are things we can’t see…
Now, imagine this - we live in a 3 dimensional world. We have length, width and depth to everything we see. Some say the 4th dimension is time. We can't see time, per second, but we also can. Things are moving - moving through time. We can capture images and view the past. Every photograph of you is a version of you from the past.
I wonder sometimes if people who say they have seen a ghost are somehow seeing into the time dimension - seeing something or someone from the past or maybe even the future.
How many other dimensions are there? What's going on around us that we can't see?
Some would say there is a spiritual dimension. That there could be angels and/or demons all around us. We see something like this in 2 Kings, where we hear of Elisha and his servant who find themselves surrounded by an enemy army and the servant is scared. So Elisha tells him:
16 “Don’t be afraid, “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
I wonder if God sometimes gives us peeks into these dimensions sometimes. But that’s kind of an aside here that we may come back to another day.
More probably, this “divine veiling” just made him look a little different to them. Actually, saying that out loud sounds weird too. But, Jesus does mention that there will be times that we may be interacting with him when we don't know it. When we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, help the poor and the suffering. Many would argue he meant it figuratively, but what if he didn't?
Anyway, Luke seems to be telling his readers that as clarity came to the disciples in the sharing of Scripture and the “breaking of bread,” so too could we experience this clarity as we hear the Scriptures in the context of the church’s breaking of bread, which what we try to do here every week.
My prayer is that If you don’t recognize Jesus through my preaching, then I do hope that you recognize him through the breaking of the bread.
In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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