Square Halo People
Luke 24:13-39 - Recognizing the Divine Presence all around us
A woman named Lidia DeGormez and her husband were in the hospital waiting
room shortly before the birth of their second child. They met a young couple also
waiting for the wife to deliver. Lidia’s husband commented that the two mothersto-be looked so much alike they could be twins. Before long, both soon-to-beMoms went into the delivery room. Lidia’s baby, a girl, was born first. Lidia was
covered up almost completely as they took her down the hall to await a room. Still
a bit groggy, she barely noticed when the husband of the other lady greeted her and
said, “Congratulations, dear, for having a daughter!” A friend with him also
congratulated her.
After a minute he came over to her bed again. “That labor took it out of you; you
look different.”
“Must have been the air conditioning in the delivery room,” Lidia mumbled
sleepily.
“Oh, I am just so happy you had a baby girl!” he happily repeated as he bent down
to kiss Lidia on the lips. All at once, in her foggy state, it dawned on Lidia. “Sir, I
believe you have me confused with your wife. She is still in the delivery room!”
He, of course, was horribly embarrassed, especially when the attending nurses told
his wife about it! (1)
PROBLEM
The husband did not recognize his wife.
HALOS SIGNIFIES A DIVINE PRESENCE
In the fourth century “Halos” first made their appearance on frescoes, mosaics, and
paintings. Halos are shining ovals shimmering over the heads of celebrated
religious figures. Often Halos were back-lit, giving those wearing them a special
spiritual sheen. But however presented, Halos were incorporated into the relatively
new branch of artistic creation we now call “Christian art.”
Round Halos signified the presence of God’s glory. They depicted the anointing of
the Triune God and testified to the saintliness of the Haloed individual. Artists
found that a Halo was an easy way to point out who was important in a large crowd
scene. Viewers of these paintings and mosaics could quickly figure out who to
focus on, and who were background figures. Not surprisingly, emperors, kings, and
people perched at the top of the economic and religious food chain began to
demand that they too be given Halo-power.
But the “Halo effect” reached forward. Instead of commemorating gods or
goddesses, great rulers or the holiest figures in Christian history, artists found a
way to honor and glorify those who were still living at the time their artwork was
produced.
Somewhere in the time period between 500-1100 in Italy, being “square” became a
sign of greatness.
Instead of a round Halo, living men and women of great holiness and honor were
depicted with a square Halo behind their head. For example, in 820 Pope Paschal I
(pope from 817 to 824) was painted with a strange-looking frame behind his head.
He received the honor of a square Halo. In early medieval art the square Halo is
found behind the head of popes and soon-to-be saints, people who were still living
and whose lives radiated holiness and faithfulness with such power that it was
evident to all those who met them and witnessed their work.
Today, the Cleopas and his friend did not recognize Christ.
They missed the divine presence of God in Jesus.
We miss God’s divine presence.
VS. 16- THEIR EYES WERE KEPT FROM RECOGNIZING
What keeps us from seeing God
Cleopas and his friend were walking and talking about the events that
happened that morning. I think one of the reasons why they did not recognize
Jesus is because they were grieving, they were bewildered. All of their
expectations of who Jesus might be to them were dashed.
I think we have all kind of reasons for missing the divine presence of God in
our lives.
ALL KINDS OF REASONS
A man's story –
A man tells a story about a time he missed seeing the divine presence of
God. He was visiting a relative in a rural part of the country and he decided to go
into town to get a few things at the store and saw a man sitting on a bench outside
the entrance. He was smoking a cigarette and was unshaven and dirty, wearing
ratty clothes. People had to walk through his big cloud of cigarette smoke to enter
the store.
When he saw him, he immediately judged him, thinking he embodied
everything that was wrong with our world. He began to think, “That man right
there is the problem.” He blamed everything on him ─ climate change, the
national debt, escalating tensions with North Korea, the rising cost of healthcare,
and Kim Kardashian’s marital problems. Everything was his fault.
He went in the store, bought a few things, came back out, and there he was,
still sitting on the bench, still the source of all that was wrong in the world. But a
little girl had walked out of the store right after him, and as he turned back to look
at man, he noticed she was headed toward him. She said, “Grandpa” and ran and
jumped in his arms. And he smiled, the poor guy didn’t have a tooth in his head,
but his smile transformed him. He thought, “Well, maybe’s he not responsible for
all our problems.”
Our limited understanding blocks our vision ~ our view of the world and our
place in it blocks our seeing God.
There are so many reasons why we have missed opportunities.
DAILYIMAGES
Who has an IPhone or a Smart Phone
A phone that keeps you connected to all things in the world.
Three hundred and fifty million images are shard daily on Facebook.
The information Facebook provided about the number of photos they house on the
company servers is only a small piece of an even more gigantic pie. Everyday,
according to the paper, there are over 4.75 billion items shared on Facebook all
over the world, including status updates, wall posts, photos, videos, and comments.
Additionally, over 4.5 billion Likes are unleashed into the Facebook ether on a
daily basis, along with more than 10 billion messages. No wonder it has to build
such massive data centers; we’re becoming virtual pack rats. Digital trends.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyBbi7tnL5w
My daughter gets ESPN updates on certain teams like WVU or the Steelers and
Pirates and Penguins and maybe a few others according to her children’s likes.
Ding - Tweet
Wouldn’t it be great if we had divine presence updates?
Let’s see there is a divine presence in your midst;
“Did our hearts not burn”
They still do not recognize him
We don’t hear Jesus saying ~
It’s me JESUS! Don’t you recognize me.
I am sure they would not have believed it.
GOOD NEWS
Jesus doesn’t tell them who he is
Instead he waits for it to be revealed to them through their experiences.
God wants us to recognize and experience the divine presence among us. We don’t
wear halos but the divine presence is there. It is important today that Jesus doesn’t
tell them. He wants them to get it.
We always make better witnesses to the Good News when we get it on our own.
Instead of telling them, Jesus who is the grace of God in the flesh, walks alongside
them. He wants them to experience the divine.
God walks alongside them/us
Tells them the whole story of God
They are probably saying yes - yes. That was divine presence.
Their hearts begin to burn. But they still weren’t there yet.
We have our own story –
Look God has been with you forever.
Spiritual autobiography
Our own personal God story
We look back and we recognize. - that was God’s divine presence.
That was God’s divine movement in my life.
At the time it isn’t always evident but as we begin to understand the divine
presence of God we find ourselves understanding.
When we experience in our own understanding, our hearts burn and we do
begin to recognize God’s divine presence in our
Grace teaches us how to recognize it
Jesus begins to teach them
vs. 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets he interpreted
to them the things about himself in all of the scriptures.
Jesus gives them a spiritual autobiography of the Israel, the
community of God and God’s presence in their lives.
That is why we are to understand our spiritual autobiography. When we
recognize the divine presence of God in our own lives, we are able to
recognize it more clearly in others.
When we learn what that might look like, we leave the things that get in the
way because it is who we are in God. We no longer want the things that
keep us from recognizing the presence of God.
We need it. We long for it in our very souls and nothing else can take its
place.
OUR RESPONSE
THEY INVITE HIM INTO THEIR MEAL
They urge him strongly to come in and dine with them. It is getting late.
Jesus offers the blessing even though it is not his home and it is customary for the
host of the house to bless the food and all of the people who are there will receive
the blessings of the house. It is opposite here.
Jesus breaks the bread.
God is always the host in our spiritual experiences
Table, Food and meals are so important in the ministry of Jesus.
God taekes the ordinary of our lives and makes them extraordinary.
God takes the ordinary and turns it into something precious and beautiful.
I am talking about a God who turns water into wine
I am talking about a God who turns two fish and five bread into an
abundance ~ where we always have enough
I am talking about a God who sat down with people no one else wanted to sit
with.
When we invite God into our day:
God takes our ordinary day and turns it into something rich and beautiful.
God is invited into our days and turns our circumstances around.
God changes the way we see life.
God invites us in to see the world through eyes of abundance grace and love.
God says, “Invite me in and I will show you who I am.”
And there Jesus was revealed.
The more we are aware, the easier it is to spot God in our midst.
God will continually pursue us until we die.
God pursues us so that we live in these authentic relationships with each other.
God pursues us so our hearts burn with love of God for ourselves and for one
another.
We are changed in the midst. The two friends in Emmaus are changed forever.
We are square halo people ~ we do not need halos – around ourselves and others to
remind us of God’s presence.
They can’t wait to tell. They can’t wait to proclaim their experience.
We don’t need halos and bells and whistles to spot God in our lives.
God wants us to be aware.
And in those rare moments when we authentically and honestly connect—whether
through a relationship, prayer, meditation, witnessing the natural beauty of nature,
or the unexpected touch of a loved one when we are in despair—we catch a
glimpse of the divine that was right there all along. And that still small voice grows
within us like a cry of joy that cannot be contained.
We don’t want to miss it