April 30, 2017 – Luke 24:13-35
Luke 24:13-35
From No Hope to New Hope
Third Sunday of Easter – April 30, 2017
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
They are on their way to the place of no hope.
Emmaus was the place of no hope.
It has been decimated by the Romans because of a revolt.
And – after what they think of as the defeat of the crucifixion – they are on their way to
The place of no hope.
Their hopes have been dashed.
They have no hope – and they are on their way to the place of no hope.
“We had hoped,” they say, in maybe the saddest words in all scripture.
And maybe in our lives.
We had hoped he was the one to redeem Israel.
We had hoped the diagnosis was not so serious.
We had hoped the marriage would not come to an end.
We had hoped to stay in this job.
We had hoped it would not come to this.
I am in the Toronto airport as I write this.
And there are millions of people going somewhere.
Where are they going?
As I write and look around I cannot help but wonder which ones are returning to
A place they think of as a place of no hope.
What relationship, what job, what situation, what place.
And I am suddenly filled with compassion.
The two are on the way to the place of no hope – Cleopas and his companion.
We don’t know the companion’s name – maybe Luke is inviting you to imagine it is you.
Where is your place of no hope?
Before he died, Jesus had told the disciples to stay in Jerusalem.
Well, they don’t.
They are going in the wrong direction.
But here’s the thing: Jesus comes right up alongside them anyway.
And starts talking to them.
He invites them to tell them what’s been going on.
He invites them to pour out their pain to them – Jesus is a good pastor.
Jesus listens. He doesn’t judge. He listens. He provides pastoral care.
He listens to the talk about their devastation.
He listens to them talk about how they had left everything to follow Jesus.
He listens to them talk about their deep disappointment.
And then – in what could probably be better translated with a smile,
Jesus good-naturedly chides them for being foolish.
And then he does something so important.
He puts this awful thing they have experienced in the context of a much larger story of hope.
He takes them through the whole biblical story, the sweep of God’s story.
He tells them of the beauty of creation.
And he tells them how that beauty had been unravelled by poor human choices.
He tells them of God’s call to Sarah and Abraham and their family,
Of how God promised to give them blessing so that they could give that blessing away
And bring blessing to the earth and its peoples again.
He tells them of how when the people left this way and started walking the wrong direction,
God graciously sent the prophets to call the people back to the way.
And then he tells them of how when God shows up in person,
The people really leave the way and crucify him.
He tells them that this is not the end of the story.
He tells them that before he dies, Jesus forgives the people who put him to death.
And he tells them that God’s loving will not let this be the end.
He tells them that this had to happen – it is part of a much larger story.
A story in which life conquers death, a story in which hope vanquishes despair,
A story in which love is always always always the end.
Well, they eat this up!
This man has made sense of their defeat.
This stranger has put their awful experience into a much larger frame of reference.
The end of the story is not death – the end of the story is life!
And healing! And feeding! And forgiving! And sharing!
And there is a lot of all that going on this story.
They get to the place of no hope.
It’s getting dark. They want this stranger to stay with them.
And he does.
And in that place of defeat – in that hospital room, in that board room,
In that bedroom, in that classroom – in that place of no hope,
something beautiful happens.
Bread is broken. Bread is shared.
And they realized that what the women had said was true: Jesus was with them.
Even though they didn’t believe, Jesus was with them.
Even though they were going the wrong way, Jesus was with them.
Even though they were in the place of no hope, Jesus was with them.
And that changed everything.
The place of no hope suddenly becomes the place of new hope.
Because Jesus is there. Because Jesus is risen.
Jesus comes to the place of no hope.
Jesus abides with us in the place of no hope.
Jesus breaks bread with us and feeds us in the place of no hope.
And so transforms it into the place of new hope.
Sargent and Victor was a place of no hope
But you transformed it into a place of new hope.
Because you discerned that the risen Jesus was right here.
Luke’s goal at the very beginning of his Gospel is to help us to recognize Jesus.
At first, Cleopas and his companion do not recognize Jesus.
But by the end of the story what does it say? They recognized him!
He was there all along.
He was there on the way, he was there in the place of no hope,
he was there in the breaking of the bread.
He was there.
And he is here.
You discerned that Jesus was here right at Sargent and Victor every Sunday when you
Broke bread together.
You discerned that Jesus was right here welcoming strangers.
You discerned that Jesus was right here at Food Bank and Community Meals and Kids Clubs.
You discerned that Jesus was right here fully present in those you served and welcomed.
You discerned that Jesus was right here at work in you.
The place of no hope has become the place of new hope right here at Sargent and Victor.
You have taken your role as God’s ministers seriously.
You have done something very few congregations have done and
Everywhere I go in this church people are filled with hope when they hear your story.
Of a diverse, welcoming, ministering, missional congregation.
In the place many had said was a place of no hope.
Sargent and Victor is now the place of new hope.
You set the story of a church at Sargent and Victor inside a larger story, a story of hope.
A story in which death and defeat and despair are not the end.
You were generous, you worked hard, and you had hope because you recognized that
Jesus was all around you and was with you right in the place of no hope.
Today, you are the good news.
Today, you are the gospel!
So this is what I want you to do:
Sargent and Victor is not the only place you live – it is not the only place you inhabit.
You inhabit the school rooms and the boardrooms and the hospital rooms and the dining rooms
And the legislative rooms and the bedrooms.
And some of those places are places of no hope – some of those place are Emmaus.
But no hope is not the end of the story.
Take your experience here and hang on to the hope that when you are on the way back to
Those places this evening – Jesus is going right along with you.
Jesus will abide with you for as long as it takes.
Jesus will break bread with you and give you strength for the journey.
And will help you set the place of no hope within God’s larger story of great hope.
You will find Jesus alongside you in those who love you.
You will find Jesus in those you serve.
And you will find Jesus inside you as work for healing and hope.
May you find that every place of no hope becomes, somehow, a place of new hope.
So together, let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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