Easter 3 Year B

Easter 3 April 26, 2009 Luke 24:36-48 The Rev. Benton Quest

I think I can say with little argument that we humans don’t do faith very well. That may not be what you would expect to hear in a church, but I think it is the truth. We do not like to rely on faith; we want to rely on our senses. We want to touch, hear, taste, see something before we invest our faith in it.

I have an example. Imagine you are going to go out and buy a car. Now, are you going to buy this car on faith? No! you are going to go out and sit in the car. You are going to go out and kick the tires, try the air conditioning, and beep the horn. You didn’t just plunk down your money because the car salesman said, “Trust me!” No, you will want to make sure the car is the real deal before you invest your money.

You see, we want to be sure. We want to experience things with our own senses before we put our faith into them. We want proof before we invest our time, our talents — our faith in something.

This is not something new to our time and to our society. This need for proof has been around for eons. In scripture we see many examples of this need for proof. Last week we heard the story of Thomas. Thomas was not asking for much, he just wanted to touch Jesus. He wanted to see for himself that Jesus was alive. He was not going to trust the words of the other disciples. When the others said, “Trust me!” Thomas said, “I want to see with my own senses.”

In today’s gospel reading we have another example of the disciples wanting proof. They are skeptical of the reports from the road to Emmaus. The disciples didn’t want to believe when they were told, “Trust me!” They were not even going to believe what the prophecies of the past had said. They were not going to have faith in any of this until they could experience the risen Christ with their own senses.

I think Jesus could have been upset about this. These disciples were his trusted friends and companions. These were the ones that Jesus had spent the last years of his life preparing. And what happened when their faith was tested? What happened when things did not go as the disciples had planned? You know it! The disciples lost their faith and went into hiding. Not vary brae of them, huh?

If I were Jesus, I probably would have given up on them. I probably would have just given up and tried somewhere else with some better people. But Jesus doesn’t give up. Jesus gives his disciples another chance to see and believe. Jesus appears to his disciples as flesh and blood. Jesus appears with the wounds of the crucifixion still on his body. And to further reinforce that Jesus was truly alive, he asks for food and eats it! Now I know -- as anyone who reads the National Enquirer knows -- Ghosts don’t need to eat! So in eating, Jesus was giving his friends the proof they needed to believe that he was not a ghost. In eating, Jesus was giving the disciples the proof that he had, in fact, been raised from the dead.

So although Jesus would have liked his disciples to believe through faith alone, he didn’t abandon them. When the faith of the disciples wavered, Jesus provided them with the proof they needed.
Well gosh…that was nice of Jesus, wasn’t it? And isn’t this similar to what we talked about last week? When the disciples needed proof, Jesus was there giving them proof in flesh and blood. Jesus gave the disciples what they needed to believe. Jesus gave the disciples the proof that would strengthen their faith.

But that was way back then, what about now? What about us here today? Where is our proof? This is not fair! The disciples knew Jesus before his crucifixion and they still needed proof to believe. How can Jesus expect us to believe? We have not had the privilege of walking with Jesus and learning from Jesus. How can Jesus expect us to believe? Where is the proof that our senses need?

Well, Jesus appeared to his disciples as a body. Jesus appeared in their midst as flesh and blood. And to prove that this body was not a ghost or an apparition, Jesus ate at the table. This was the proof Jesus gave the disciples and this was the proof the disciples needed to solidify their faith.
That was in the past; so just what does Jesus give to us, his disciples, as proof now?

As in the past, Jesus shows us his body. Jesus shows us his body with all of its scars and injuries. Jesus comes among us and eats with us. This body, with all of its scars and injuries, is the church. This body is the people who greeted you on the way in. This body is the people sitting next to you. This body is you! And this body is me! We are the body of Christ alive and living in the world. We are the hands, the ears, the heart, and the words of Christ in the world. When we gather as a community, we strengthen and nourish each other. We eat at the table and are renewed! We are not left alone but are surrounded and supported by the community of the congregation.

So Christ uses us as his body in the world. We are his flesh and blood; we are his hands and heart. But Christ teaches us one more lesson. Christ didn’t wait on the road to Emmaus. He didn’t wait for the disciples to just wander by and find him sitting there. No, he went to them. The risen Christ went to his disciples. Christ presented himself as proof to strengthen their faith.

In the same way, we are called to bring the body of Christ to the world. We are strengthened here in the congregation but are called to go out and bring the love of Christ to those who surround us. We are called to show the living Christ to our friends and family. We are called to show the living Christ to our co-workers. We are called to show the living Christ to the lost and alone.

Moving beyond our walls is scary, but it is our highest call. We have seen the risen Lord in those around us and now we are called to bring the proof that Christ is alive to the world. We cannot just say, “Trust me!” and expect people to come flooding into our sanctuary. We need to be the proof that helps their faith to grow.

We are not alone in this process of going into the world. We have seen the risen Christ! We have the support of the gathered Church. We have the strength of the Spirit! Christ provides us with the proof and then sends us out to be proof to others. We can show the world that we are not a ghost but a vital and alive force in the world. There is a big world just primed to believe, but they need to see. Let’s go out there and show them!