April 14, 2002

Luke.24.13-35

Pastor Jens Arne Dale

The recent weeks have been really special to me. Most things have been related to farewell. On April the 5^th I left Gjøvik, Norway, where I have been living for 18 years and I came here to Minneapolis. Many of you who are here in Mindekirken know how it feels to take farewell in such a way. When you leave someone, it becomes clearer what he or she means to you, and what kind of confidence you have. To separate may be a grief. We had a wonderful farewell party for Jorid and Ole Amund last Sunday, but beneath the high spirit was an undertone of sorrow.

In today’s text we meet two friends of Jesus. They have lost Jesus through his death. And now they went there filled with sorrow. In this wonderful story that Luke has given us, we follow them a part of their way. They talk with each other, and put words to their feelings.

Do you have someone with whom you may share your sorrow and frustration? Is there anyone who knows your most vulnerable points?

The last time back home in Gjøvik was a good time for friendship and conversation also about the grief by moving long away from the friends who I admire much. For me there is no one with whom I can speak so frankly with as my wife. She will come here in July together with the children. Breaking up with a whole family and moving to a new country raises so many questions. More than one time the worries have followed us into the land of our dreams. Often worries can increase in the dark hours of the night. We don’t always have the same worries. Maybe it was my wife who said late in the night:

Maybe I answered half sleeping:

A marriage therapist would have called it minimizing and an excellent example of bad communication. Sometimes Trude has said:

-I don’t want you to fix my problems. Just listen to my feelings.

Does anyone of you recognize this? It may account for a typical difference of communication between women and men. A man solves the problems. Women talk about feelings.

I think the unknown traveler to Emmaus knew well both ways of communication. We know that this person was Jesus. They didn’t know. Even though they got a special confidence in this unknown wanderer. He was especially good at listening. He was interested in their feelings. He took them earnestly when they put words to their deep grief and told about the things that had happened at Easter time. For them what had happened in Jerusalem was a disaster. They had hoped that the prophet Jesus was the promised Messiah. Therefore the disappointment was unbearable when Jesus died. The story about the empty tomb had not decreased their frustration. They lived in darkness and confusion. And in that situation it was great to share everything with a person who took it seriously that man has two ears and one mouth. Jesus knew the noble art of listening and understanding.

That’s how Jesus is even today. He goes together with people on the way of their lives. He comes to where we are not where we want to be. I think most of us sometimes would have liked to live in a different way than we actually do. We may be dissatisfied with people around us. – If only I had another job…. Better health or more money… Or maybe we feel the pain by not being reconciled with ourselves. We should want to live a better life…. Jesus goes with us where we are; also when we feel things are broken for us. – I’m with you all days until the end of the world, is not a guarantee of God’s company in successful times. But it is a Jesus friendship that holds even in the deepest darkness, the shadows of death, as David speaks of. So is Jesus. He has come to heal ill people, not healthy ones.

Jesus is a good counselor. He keeps quiet so we may pour out our hearts for him. He takes our worries and sorrows seriously. Sometimes we may experience this through prayer; sometimes God uses people around us to represent this closeness of the Lord.

But Jesus doesn’t only want to listen. He has also something to say. He has an answer to questions, solutions to problems. That’s what the Emmaus travelers experienced. Jesus leads them through the Old Testament. He points out text after text that prophesies about Messiah. He explains about the suffering and the glory.

I have been jealous of the Emmaus wanderers because they got this unique biblestudy from Jesus. We never get an answer to why Luke doesn’t let us know what Jesus actually said. But we have the same texts in our Bible that Jesus used. We can also read. Through the New Testament we get the explanation of the prophecies of the Old Testament. We can see God’s promises and his faithfulness. And before everything. We may know the same Jesus that went together with the two guys to Emmaus. How does it happen? On this point we may use the disciples words as ours:

Stay by us, they said. It is almost evening and the day is now nearly over. The church is a place where we may go for peace. Find rest from our busy everyday wandering. The church is a place where we may sit down for a meal that gives new strength. It’s a place for fellowship and confidence. The three men who sat around the table may be a good image of the Holy Communion. And it was there, in the fellowship by the table the wonderful thing happened. The unknown man took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. As in a lightening flash they recognized him. It was Jesus. Was it the nail marks in his hands, or was it the way he broke the bread that made them recognize him? We don’t know. But at the very moment they understood who he was, he vanished from their sight.

I think it must have been an explosion of happiness, an overwhelming experience that Jesus was living. They had met him. And even though it was late in the evening, they hurried back to Jerusalem and told it to the other disciples. The Lord has really risen. This happy announcement is of no less worth today. Jesus lives. And more than that, we celebrate his presence. "Where two or three of you are gathered in my name, I’m together with you." The presence of Jesus is not limited to Sunday. He goes with us even in our busy everyday life. He is there when life is difficult to live, also when we can’t feel his presence. And he is there when we sometimes, like the disciples, feel the burning hearts, the joy of faith. He is the risen Lord and Messiah. He is our best friend.

Glory be to God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen.

The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church ·  924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 ·  (612)874-0716