A Hope that does not Disappoint [Easter 3A - Luke 24:13-35]

 The Rt. Rev. Jeremiah Williamson

Luke 24:13-35

 

A Hope that does not Disappoint

St. Paul’s, Sidney

 

They had hoped.  But the long walk of retreat was evidence that hope was no longer on the agenda.  They had hoped.  But now, standing before an inquisitive stranger, they just look sad.  The bright glow of hope went out when the sharp nails went into Jesus’ precious body.

 

Where hope once reigned, there was now nothing but disappointment.  It was a very human experience that they were experiencing on the road back to Emmaus.  This is what people do: they get their hopes up only to be let down.  And those two disciples were let down…because they had hoped.

 

People place their hope in a lot of things – and always have.  The Hebrew Scriptures are filled with stories of misplaced hope: golden calves melted down, stone idols turned to dust, mighty kings disgraced.  As the psalmist reminds us, “Some do put their trust in horses, and some in chariots.”  It always leads to disappointment. 

 

But they, the disciples on the road to Emmaus, were convinced that Jesus was different.  And he was – but in a way that did not meet their initial expectations.  We don’t know what they expected.  We don’t know if they expected Jesus to overthrow the brutal dominance of the Roman Empire, or to have a longer, more prolific healing ministry, or to become an old sage, bestowing wisdom on the masses, sowing peace into the human generations.  It is impossible to know what they expected, what they were hoping for.  We do know that they did not expect what actually happened.  They had hoped – but not for Easter.  And that is why they were so sad when the mysterious Risen Christ met them on the road.

 

Those two did not truly understand the nature of Christ until Jesus broke the bread, after the walk.  But still I give them a lot of credit, they knew there was something special about him even before Easter – they just could not pin-point what exactly that was. 

 

The Easter event expanded the world’s spiritual imagination.  Jesus told his disciples what was going to happen, multiple times, but it must have felt like a metaphor to a pre-Easter people.  Resurrection wasn’t happening, until it did.  It was impossible, until God did the impossible.  On the first Easter, the followers of Jesus suspected body snatchers.  As you can tell from today’s story, in which they are walking and talking with the Risen Christ, they did not expect to see the dead living.

 

And so, I cut these disciples a lot of slack.  It makes sense that it felt like they were hopeless wanderers.  They had hoped and that hope appeared to be dashed.  Good Friday tends to do that.  And they saw Good Friday up close.  And it was not a pretty sight.

 

The two disciples on the road came to age in a pre-Easter world.  And in that world hope was harder to come by.  But Easter is all we know.  And yet, we, the humans inhabiting this planet, often place our hope in the wrong things.  We fail to recognize Jesus even though we live and move and have our very being in the Risen Christ.

 

I am amazed by what people choose to place their trust in.  Judging from the noise I witness daily on social media, many people these days, or maybe always, are placing their hope in bombs and guns and military might.  People are placing their hope in elected officials and political statements.  People are placing their hope in media outlets and even in the efficacy of a well-timed meme.  The world is ill and so many people seem to believe that our salvation is going to emerge from a political ideology, or be conceived by partisan thinktanks, or be discovered at the ballot box.  The Risen Christ is walking with us and I fear we have decided to place our hope instead in a political process, as if politics are more real, more effective, or more important than faith in an unseen God.

 

And we should know better.  The mightiest empires have come and gone.  The fiercest political leaders are now nothing more than historical footnotes.  Ideologies and philosophies pass like fads.  Everything that feels so crucial now, every manufactured crisis that dominates the headlines, every social media argument that is raging, is also passing away, becoming a part of the past. 

 

As the world rages, and false hopes fail, Jesus stays with us on the road.  Christ remains the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.  And his love endures forever.

The world is a mess.  And even though some of our current messes are new and novel, it has always been messy.  We live on the same planet that put God Incarnate to death, so we’ve long been a work in progress.

 

And though the world is hurting and violent, scarred by war and riddled with dishonesty, we are not without hope.  We just often place it in the wrong people and in the wrong things.  Jesus is our only hope.  In this painful time, the One who is making all things new, who wipes away every tear, is the only One we can trust with our precious future.  Because our hope made the worst Friday Good.  Our hope rolled away the stone of despair.  Our hope stays with us when we are feeling a world of sadness.  Our hope is Christ, risen and alive, made known to us in the breaking of bread, inhabiting our souls and empowering our bodies for the work of ministry, vital ministry, ministry that changes the world by the power of love.  There are a lot of things in which to place our hope, a lot of causes that want our souls.  But unless we place our hope in Christ, and Christ alone, we will eventually, but inevitably, be disappointed.