Study and Preach

EASTER MORNING ON THE EMMAUS ROAD

The gleaming cloud tops and fragrant spring air would have invigorated most travellers leaving Jerusalem. But these two began their afternoon trek to Emmaus staring grimly at the trail, forcing leaden feet up the steep path to the ridge, then down the Judean slopes.

They discussed the crescendo of weekend events that had left their leader hanging limp, pale, on a stained wooden cross. Hurriedly buried. Now reports that his body was stolen. The crunch of gravel behind them caused Cleopas to look back. A traveller who had been rapidly climbing the grade, now slowed to join them.

He had caught only fragments of their conversation. “What were you talking about just now?” he puffed, catching up to them.

“Where have you been?” Cleopas asked incredulously. “Everybody in the city has been talking about Jesus of Nazareth. We had hoped that he was the Messiah. But now . . .”

The traveller shot a strange challenge: “Don’t you know what the Scriptures say?”
Beginning at Genesis and on through the prophets, he explained just why the Messiah had to suffer before he came with glory. They didn’t realize their pace quickening and their hearts pounding as they put the miles behind them.

Now round the bend stood their village. They were home. The traveller thanked them for their company and turned again to the path. “Oh, won’t you stay overnight?” Cleopas called. “It’ll be dark soon. Please!” Dear Lord, don’t let this hope to fade so very soon.

He did stay. Sitting down for dinner, the traveller reached for the fresh round loaf, lifted it in blessing, and began to break off pieces for them to eat. It was then Cleopas saw those hands, mutilated by jagged holes as if a spike had been …. Shocked, Cleopas glanced up to the traveller’s face, but at the moment of recognition he disappeared. Jesus was gone.

“Alive!” Cleopas jumped up. “He’s alive! The women were right after all. Jesus is risen!” The shaken comrades nearly ran the seven miles back to the city, bursting into the upper room door with the wonderful news. “He’s alive!”

Like these two men on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35), many have come to the same startling conclusion. Barely recognized Jesus begins to walk the road with us. If we think to ask Him in, we come to realize who He really is.

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THE FIRST PENTECOST

The Greek traveller stood bewildered in the Jerusalem crowd. What was happening? All about him Jews from many nations milled excitedly and pointed to a group in the centre of the square.

The traveller had heard that the Jerusalem holidays were exciting, but he was not prepared for this. The crowd was electrified. What was that group up to? He tried to weave his way closer.
“You are drunk!” someone shouted at the group.

The traveller heard one of them, the big man with the grey-streaked hair, respond: “We are not drunk. We are stunned with joy because we have had an experience like Israel had at Sinai.”
The Greek traveller wondered what he meant by that.

“Why not own up?” heckled another. “You’ve been to the wine bottle once too often.”

Then the big man raised his hand for silence. The crowd fell quiet.
“Do not judge by appearances,” he began. “Listen to our words. At Sinai, God called Israel to be a community of faith. God called our ancestors there to be a holy nation. That meant they should form a community that would worship God and live a worthy life. God also summoned them to be the light of nations, that is, to be a missionary witness helping all people to know God.”
“I think I can agree with your first point,” ventured a Pharisee in the crowd, “but I don’t really believe God wanted us to be missionaries.”

“My friend, you have forgotten the meaning of the story of Jonah,” the big man remarked. “He was a preacher told by God to go on a missionary trip to Nineveh. Recall that Jonah resisted the call at first until God overcame him. Jonah was an example of how Israel, too, resisted the call.”
“Who is that man?” the traveller asked of no one in particular.

“His name is Peter,” a tradesman replied.
“He is their leader,” said a woman nearby.

A young woman in the crowd, moved by Peter’s sincerity, asked, “How is it you were speaking in a language we all could understand when you burst upon us here in the square?
How did you manage to unify all of us who speak so many different tongues?”

“Perhaps I can explain this best to you,” Peter answered, “by comparing this to the old story of the Tower of Babel. That was a tower of human pride that resulted in a breakdown in communications. The people at Babel could not understand each other.

“Our Master, Jesus, asked us to spend time in prayer to await his Holy Spirit. We followed his word and meditated for nine days in the Upper Room. Into that tower of prayer this day came the Holy Spirit, whose greatest work is to bring all people to unity in Christ.

At Babel, people babbled. Here we speak a message that will unify people in mind and heart.”
“Is that why you said you’ve had an experience like that which Israel had at Sinai?” asked an elderly man.

“Exactly,” replied Peter. “The difference is that what happened at Sinai was but a shadow of the promise and reality that has happened here today. It is because of Jesus, who died and rose for us, that it has happened. Because of him and his Spirit, we really can be a community of faith and a light for the nations.”

“How can we have this experience?”
“Is there any hope for us?”
“Go on, tell us more.”

As I look out over the vast crowd in this square,” answered Peter, “I think of a world full of dead bones. I know that my comrades and I must go into this valley of the dead and bring life.

Don’t you remember the story of Ezekiel and the dry bones?”
[God] said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “Lord GOD, you know.”

Then he said to me: “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!…I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin,…and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD.”

The traveller listened to Peter’s voice as it carried over the square. It is like a wind, he thought, bearing good news to the world.

On that Pentecost day, Peter asked the people to repent, to change their way of life, to seek a new life in Christ. And they did respond. The Holy Spirit of Jesus moved into the valley of dry bones and brought three thousand to life.

A new Church began!

“Your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams,” Peter exclaimed.

That’s what happened. The young let loose a flood of heart-expanding ideals across the earth. The old suddenly realized that their dreams of a happier tomorrow were no longer foolish thoughts, but a reality come true.
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I WONDER WHAT WE WOULD SEE IN HIS EYES…….

How many people did Jesus talk to when he travelled with his disciples?

How many conversations? What were they about. Long conversations, short conversations.

Ones filled with fear, like the one he had with the woman caught in adultery.
Some filled with sadness and pain, like the conversation he had with Jarius, others filled with the raw emotion of rejection and ridicule, like the woman who had the issue of blood or one of the many lepers, while still others who carried the stigma of guilt for past sins, like Mary Magdalene.

I wonder what they saw in the eyes of Jesus, when he was speaking to them, rejection, – no it wasn’t that. Distaste – no it wasn’t that. Anger – no not that either. Blame and Mockery – no it wasn’t that.

Was it COMPASSION? Yes, it was!
Was it UNDERSTANDING? Yes, it was!
Was it WARMTH? Yes, it was!
Was it LOVE? Yes, it was!

I wonder further what we might see in the eyes of Jesus, if we were to look from our lives which are filled with guilt, regrets, pain, suffering, ridicule, rejection, and fear and more.

I wonder what we would see in his eyes.

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Prayer based on ‘when I survey’ and ‘meekness and majesty’

“WHO IS IT THAT WE SEE?”

Sorrow and Suffering
Indestructible Love
Grace beyond measure
Boundless mercy

“Who is It that we see?”

A King & a Crown of thorns.
The crucified one
The friend of sinners
A tragedy

“Who is it that we see?”

A pure radiance
A perfect innocence
Stoops
And humbles
Takes on humility
Majesty in meekness.

“Who is it that we see?”

God is here and so is Man
An offering
A sacrifice
A giving
A dying

“Who is it that we see?”

My response
My soul
My life

“Who is it that we see?”

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THERE’S A MAN ON A CROSS

There’s a man on a cross
He’s there by the roadside;
Is it nothing to you
As you pass by on your way?

He is despised and rejected of men;
A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief
And we hid as it were our faces from him.

There’s a man on a cross
He hangs by the roadside
Will you look in his eyes
As you pass on your way.

Surely he has borne our grief’s, and carried our sorrows,
yet we did esteem him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.

There’s a man on a cross
he is nailed by the roadside
can’t you spare him a tear
as you pass on your way.

He was wounded for our transgressions
He was bruised for our iniquities
The chastisement of our peace was upon him
And with his stripes we are healed.

There’s a man on a cross
He’s died by the roadside
Won’t you mourn for a while
Must you go on your way

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned
everyone to his own way.
And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

There’s a man on a cross
There’s a man on a cross
There’s a man on a cross

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“YES IT’S TRUE, I LOVE HIM!”
Adapted from John 12:15-18

So chock-full of shifting shadows is the human heart,
So jam-packed the moments of indecision, and prevarication.
Never barren of excuses and deceptions.
The self willed heart, the human indifference, the godless enthusiasm which drives away responsibility at every turn and seeks to justify the most grievous of things.

But even as I live with this burden of heart and soul and life, if you challenge me to tell the truth about Jesus and I, my reply would always be this……

“YES IT’S TRUE, I LOVE HIM!”

For he comes to me, with his humble manners, his perfect caring, his gentle, all embracing mercy, his grace filled eyes, his sensitive hands, and Oh, his words, as he calls and comforts me. Yes me!
Me who has disappointed God, let him down. Me who so often, for one solitary moment cannot find a place in my life for him.

But even as I dwell on this love, this welcome, this coming of Jesus, if you challenge me to tell the truth about Jesus and I, my reply would always be this……

“YES IT’S TRUE, I LOVE HIM!”
“YES IT’S TRUE, I LOVE HIM!”

In the moments of MY failures, MY neglected dreams, MY hopeless labour he comes.
In the moments of MY hardness of heart, MY confusions, MY fighting with doubts he comes.
In the moments of MY weaknesses, MY hesitations, MY disappointments he comes. he comes.

He comes with comfort in his voice, with welcome in his heart, with acceptance in his hands, with invitation, in his eyes.

And as he comes if He were to challenge me to tell the truth about my life, I have to say…..

“YES IT’S TRUE, LORD, I LOVE YOU!”
“YES IT’S TRUE, LORD, I LOVE YOU!”
“YES IT’S TRUE, LORD, I LOVE YOU!”

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: T R U S T :

FOCUS
There is no place where God is not.
Wherever I go, there God is.
Now and always he upholds me with his power, and keeps me safe in his love.

MEDITATION
Alone with none but thee, my God,
I journey on my way:
What need I fear when thou art near,
0 King of night and day?
More safe am I within thy hand
Than if a host should round me stand.

My destined time is known to thee,
And death will keep his hour;
Did warriors strong around me throng,
They could not stay his power:
No wall of stone can man defend
When thou thy messenger dost send.

My life I yield to thy decree,
And bow to thy control
In peaceful calm, for from thine arm
No power can wrest my soul:
Could earthly omens e’er appal
A man that heeds the heavenly call?

The child of God can fear no ill,
His chosen, dread no foe;
We leave our fate with thee, and wait
Thy bidding when to go:
‘Tis not from chance our comfort springs,
Thou art our trust, O King of kings.

St Columba

READING - Read Psalm 13

COLLECT
Holy and eternal God, give us such trust in your sure purpose, that we measure our lives not by what we have done or failed to do, but by our faithfulness to you.

CENTRING PRAYER
I trust in your merciful love, Let my heart rejoice in your saving help.
Psalm 13:5

Reflective Worship – “This is the air I breathe “ Hillsongs Australia

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SACRED SPACE………

The Presence of God
I reflect for a moment on God’s presence around me and in me.Creator of the universe, the sun and the moon, the earth,every molecule, every atom, everything that is:God is in every beat of my heart. God is with me, now.

Freedom
A thick and shapeless tree-trunk would never believethat it could become a statue, admired as a miracle of sculpture,and would never submit itself to the chisel of the sculptor,who sees by her genius what she can make of it. (St Ignatius)I ask for the grace to let myself be shaped by my loving Creator.

Consciousness
In the presence of my loving Creator,I look honestly at my feelings over the last day,the highs, the lows and the level ground.Can I see where the Lord has been present?

The Word
I read the Word of God slowly, a few times over,and I listen to what God is saying to me.

Luke 10, 38-42
Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

What are you saying to me, Lord?

Some thoughts on today’s scripture:
Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, facing the struggle with his own people ?
Would they accept or reject him?
He calls on his friends, who are excited to welcome him.
Martha rushes around fussily preparing a meal. Mary sits and listens to Jesus.
Lord teach me to read situations as Mary did, and to listen with love, giving more space to the feelings of others than to my own plans, however generous these may be.

Conversation
What feelings are rising in meas I pray and reflect on God’s Word?
I imagine Jesus himself sitting or standing near meand open my heart to him.

Conclusion
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be,world without end. Amen.