A Third Way from a Third Wheel
On the first Easter, Cleopas and his companion were discussing the extraordinary events of the previous days during a walk to a village called Emmaus. We’re not sure now where Emmaus was, but it was about seven miles from Jerusalem. That sounds like a long way, but I suspect folks at that time were accustomed to walking such distances, although it would still probably be annoying to get a stone in your sandal.
Such a long walk allowed a lot of time for conversation when they acquired a third wheel along the way. When we read the scripture passage, we know him to be Jesus, although the travelers do not. They are surprised he does not know about all that has taken place in Jerusalem. They seem to be well-informed, and thus must have been well acquainted with the disciples since they were already aware of the visits to the empty tomb by Mary, Peter, and the others earlier in the day. What they don’t yet realize, however, is the full significance of Easter. To them, Jesus was simply the latest of the prophets, “mighty in deed and word,” who was executed for speaking truth to power. To Jesus they appeared sad, and indeed they were since their hope had been that “he was the one to redeem Israel.”
They were aware that the tomb was found empty, but did not understand how and why it was vacated.
Jesus is bothered by this, and faults their slowness of heart in understanding “all that the prophets have declared.” Their long walk then permits him to recount the experiences of those prophets, dating back to Moses, and how there were signs throughout the Hebrew scriptures that the coming messiah might not arrive in the manner they expected.
Still, by the time they reached Emmaus, the travelers had not figured out the identity of their companion.
Like the travelers in today’s passage, I’ll admit to missing a lot. I like my routines, and I’m an organizer and a planner. This is a good thing for my otherwise distractible brain, but also causes me to be so focused sometimes that I’m not receptive to unexpected visitors or conversations. Thus, I sympathize with Cleopas and his companion, who were so wrapped up in telling their story that they missed the subject of that story when he appeared.
Biblical scholar Alan Culpepper says that “The risen Lord meets us on the road to our Emmauses, in the ordinary places and experiences of our lives, and in the places in which we retreat when life is too much for us.” Sometimes that takes a lot of effort on the part of the Lord, though! Think of the competition. When we’re not at work or school, we might still be on our computers doing work, or checking our email. We might be in the car with the radio or bluetooth on. We might be on our tablets or on our phones. We might have the TV on, either watching a program or for background noise.
And a lot of those activities are loud, if not literally then metaphorically so.
I learned just how loud when my family set about to reduce the noise in *our* lives. A few years ago, we got our first digital video recorder, and began watching TV without advertisements. We cut out cable TV, including all of the cable news channels. We stopped listening to radio stations that played commercials. With each step, our lives got a little quieter. Now when I hear a commercial on the TV or radio, or catch a segment of cable news, I almost wince. The constant barrage of messages to buy that product or to demonize those people is jarring when you’re not accustomed to it.
And seminary taught me to adopt some spiritual practices which in the past I was convinced I didn’t have time for. In fact, those practices are mandated in some courses (which I’m embarrassed to say is what it took for me to begin practicing them faithfully). Recognizing the sabbath, centering prayer, and just spending time outside have helped me be more receptive on those occasions when the Lord has shown up. It’s an ongoing challenge to keep them faithfully — that might be why they’re called practices — but doing so proves life-giving.
The concept of the power of withdrawing from the noise of popular culture struck me when I saw a video a few years ago about Bono, the lead singer of U2, meeting Presbyterian pastor and author Eugene Peterson, who wrote — among other things — The Message translation of the Bible. I was shocked to learn that prior to their meeting Peterson didn’t even know who Bono was! How could one be so removed from popular culture as to be unfamiliar with U2?
It turns out Peterson spent a lot of *intentional* time observing sabbath, praying, reading, and otherwise (as he says) giving “witness to the sheer livability of the Christian life.” That’s a good example to follow. So while I’m not going to give up my Joshua Tree CD anytime soon, I’ll abandon any obligation I might have felt to be able to identify which Kardashian is which.
Returning to the Bible text, when the travelers reach Emmaus and their destination, Jesus obeys Ancient Near East custom, continuing on ahead. Cleopas and his companion, also obeying custom by showing hospitality, have to beg him to stay with them. He does so, and they sit for a meal together. Jesus takes some bread, blesses it, breaks it, and offers it to them. *Finally* they recognize him . . . and he vanishes.
Cleopas and his companion say, “Were not our hearts *burning within us* while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?”
Fully grasping the meaning of Easter, they are filled with sufficient excitement to venture back to Jerusalem despite the late hour. There they find the disciples, who have also become aware of the resurrection and the fulfillment of scripture in their midst. Their hearts, though slow at times along the way, have finally caught up with what they’ve witnessed, and they are ready to take the next step in their journey as the earliest followers of Christ.
As he had on so many occasions during his time with them, Jesus has demonstrated a *third way*. He was not a conquering messiah sent to overthrow Rome by conventional means. But at the same time, his was not simply a martyr’s death at the hands of those in power. His victory defied expectations.
When I was in high school, one of the big debates was whether David Lee Roth or Sammy Hagar was the better frontman for the band Van Halen. That’s a trivial issue to begin with, and these days you’re unlikely to find a passionate argument on that subject taking place. People sometimes come to blows over inconsequential issues, though — take sports rivalries, for instance. So when there’s *more* at stake, things have the potential to become heated.
I sometimes wonder what life was like for the disciples during the three years of Jesus’ ministry. While the gospels are filled with many stories, they certainly don’t represent all that took place during that time. One of the things that I suspect must have occurred was a heated argument (or two, or many) between Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector. Simon was part of a group that wanted to overthrow the Roman government, and Matthew collected taxes to fund that government. This goes *way* beyond Yankees-Red Sox!
And yet Simon and Matthew were both disciples. Somehow they found a way to live and work together, and both are our spiritual ancestors. I suspect Jesus had a lot to do with that.
Simon’s view of the Romans was probably not compatible with Matthew’s, but Jesus offered them a third way, a path that transcended the debates and most pressing issues of their day.
The third way offered by Jesus is the kin-dom of God, in which headlines, political parties, and even nations are fleeting. That doesn’t mean we should ignore the burning in our hearts and abandon our efforts to pursue justice in this time and place; it does mean, however, that our work doesn’t need to occur within the boundaries of the false dichotomies offered by pundits, politicians, and pop culture.
Who is better-equipped to find a third way than the followers of Jesus, especially when we combine our efforts to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly?
Even during the challenges of the pandemic and periods of political turmoil, I’ve seen the third way at work among people of faith. Amidst so much bad, the pandemic has offered many an opportunity to reflect and realize some of their passions — those messages from God burning in their hearts.
I hope you give yourself time to see, hear, and feel those messages in the coming days. If you do, it might help you offer those around you a third way, a glimpse of the kin-dom of God.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Works Cited
Culpepper, R. Alan. “Luke,” in New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume VIII. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2015.
Peterson, Eugene. The Pastor: A Memoir. New York City: HarperCollins Publishers, 2011.
Tannehill, Robert C. Abingdon New Testament Commentaries: Luke. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996.
Adapted from a sermon preached at Christ Presbyterian Church in Camp Hill, PA, on April 11, 2021.
