Any sermon on the Gospel of Luke has to take into account the portrait of Jesus Luke uniquely presents. For Luke Jesus was born in Bethlehem and then Mary and Joseph travel with him back to Bethlehem.
For Luke Jesus was one who related to common ordinary people and who was able to reach into the lives of the outcast and the unnoticed in society.
For Luke it was stories like the Road to Emmaus that symbolizes one of the central themes of the Gospel. You have the Risen Christ appearing to some of the disciples on the road and they are visiting with him and don't know who he is.
The Risen Christ explains to them the meaning of the scripture and then the stranger serves them bread. The disciples who don't know who he is until they think about how he showed up as a stranger on the road and how he broke the bread just as Jesus had done at the table when they met for the last Supper.
The story awakens us to the importance of three things:
1. Pay attention to the stranger; that's the form Christ will take in our day
2. Listen to people who have unique ways of helping us understand scripture because there is more to it than we know. There are levels of depth we often never reach. There are people who can help us see what we often miss.
3. They knew him in the breaking of the bread. We will always want to pay attention to the sacrament. As United Methodists we do not believe the bread is actually the body of Christ. We see the bread and the cup as symbolic of the New Covenant and the body of Christ. They remind us of him and call us to join him at the table.
If you have thoughts about this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with others click on the 'comments' box below. I look forward to hearing from you.
Charles Schuster
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