5-4-2014 While in their Joy they were Disbelieving
Grace and peace be yours from God our Sovereign, and from our Lord and savior,
Jesus the Christ, and from the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The whole second half of the Gospel of Mark can be read through the lens of “the
difficulty of believing the way of the cross.” The first half of the Gospel draws to a
close with Jesus questioning his disciples:
Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? 18Do you
have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you not
remember?
The second half opens with Jesus and the disciples leaving Galilee and beginning the
journey to Jerusalem. They stop “along the way” at Bethsadia, to heal a blind man
where Jesus’ first effort results in only a partial healing and the man reports that he can
see men that look like trees walking around. Jesus responds with a second attempt
after which the man can see clearly. Read in context, this is clearly a metaphor on the
difficulty of believing (of seeing clearly).
As they continue “on the way” They stop next at Caesarea Philippi, where Jesus, asks
the disciples “Who do you say that I am?”; rejects the title of Messiah; identifies
himself as the “Son of man” or the human one, and issues a second call to
discipleship, only this time the call is not only to “follow me” but now it is “pick up your
cross and follow me.” Then they continue “on the way.”
This is followed by the episode of the Transfiguration, where Jesus is joined on the
Mountain top by Peter, James, and John and they witness Jesus transfigured, and
dressed in the clothes of a martyr. Moses and Elijah appear beside him. Two
individuals who in the midst of their ministries come to times of deep despair and who
on a mountain top are reenergized and recommitted to “following the way.”
Here, the trio of disciples, the inner circle, hear a heavenly voice directing them to
“Listen to Jesus!” Listen to what? To the condition for discipleship! “Pick up
your cross and follow.”
Leaving the mountain top, Jesus and the three disciples (who, in spite of the heavenly
voice, still don’t get the message of the reign of God coming through servanthood and
the way of the cross). As they are coming down from the mountain they encounter the
remaining disciples along with a man with a deaf-mute son. (ears that do not hear,
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and a tongue that does not speak). They have been trying to heal the boy but fail in
doing so.
As they approach the man appeals to Jesus saying:
“ … if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us." 23Jesus said to
him, "If you are able? — All things can be done for the one who believes."
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Immediately the father of the child cried out, "I believe; help my unbelief!"
I believe … help my unbelief! The rest of that section of Mark’s gospel deals with the
difficulty of believing the way of the cross, and of the disciples’ increasing discomfort
over the message of Jesus.
The Gospel will end with the male disciples abandoning Jesus at the cross, and the
women full of terror and amazement. Or as Matthew puts it: “Fear and Great Joy!”
These are the conflicting emotions that Luke addresses in his Easter Gospel message
with the Emmaus story. At its conclusion, as the two disciples from Emmaus are telling
the others of their experience, Jesus suddenly appears in their midst. Luke says that
Jesus said to them:
“Why are you frightened and terrified, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?”
Luke adds “While in their joy they were disbelieving….”
And of course we all know the story of Thomas. … from John’s Gospel.
No matter which Gospel you read, the message of the way of the cross is almost
impossible to grasp and believe. Will God really vindicate suffering servanthood?
We may never exactly know how Easter faith came to be. At best most scholars
suggest that it was several years in developing following the crucifixion. That the
Resurrection narratives grew in stages, from visions in Paul’s writings; to an empty
tomb in Mark’s Gospel, to Matthew’s appearance of Jesus to the women as they fled
from the tomb, and to the Disciples in Galilee some time later, to Luke’s empty tomb,
Emmaus story and appearance to the disciples in Jerusalem on Easter eve, to John’s
full blown empty tomb, Easter appearance to Mary and to the disciples minus Thomas,
to an appearance one week later to Thomas, and finally to an appearance to the
disciples as they were fishing in Galilee.
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All the Gospels agree on the difficulty of believing, and on the presence of doubt
among the followers of Jesus. And all of them affirm that eventually faith did come
about, that fear gave way to trust, and doubt yielded to faith. But no Gospel makes
light of the difficulty of grasping and acting upon “the way of the cross.”
But the truth of the Emmaus journey lies in the narrative, not in its factuality. It never
was intended as a historical reporting, but as metaphor. And therefore as metaphor,
an event that is as available to you and me as it was to the couple from Emmaus.
First the two disciples are dejected, their hopes dashed to pieces, the hope for even
the possibility of change was crushed and hung on the cross.
Rome’s taunt daring others to believe that there is an alternative to power.
And yet, just when there seemed to be no way forward, no alternative, a way appears.
That way is what is revealed in the Emmaus journey. The story is an affirmation of the
life and death of Jesus, an affirmation of what he taught and how he lived, an
affirmation of the “way of the cross.”
The Emmaus narrative tells us, Cleopas and his wife, full of despair, returning home
after Passover in Jerusalem, are joined along the way by a mysterious stranger who
seems to have appeared out of thin air. Walking along beside them he joins in on the
conversation.
When asked by Jesus what they were talking about they respond to him,
"The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and
word before God and all the people, …… we had hoped that he was the one to
redeem Israel.
Jesus replies:
"Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets
have declared! 26Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these
things and then enter into his glory?" 27Then beginning with Moses and all the
prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.
Next they invite Jesus to share a meal with them. There Jesus “took bread, blessed
and broke it, and gave it to them.”
Then their eyes were opened they recognized him and he disappears from their sight.
But their response is that their hearts were burning ….
Those actions of taking bread, blessing it, breaking it and sharing it were a ritual way of
feeding the hungry that occurs in every feeding story in the Gospels.
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These two symbols, opening the Word and breaking the Bread, along with the
inclusion of others in community become the foundation of Christian faith in Jesus.
In the Gospel of Thomas, Jesus says:
“There is light within a person of light, and it lights up the whole universe. If it
does not shine, there is darkness.”
But discovering the divine light within is more than a matter of being told that it is there,
for such a vision shatters one’s identity:
“when you see your likeness you are pleased; but when you see you images,
which have come into being before you, how much will you have to bear!
Instead of self-gratification, one finds the terror of annihilation. It breaks us open,
shatters the way in which we ordinarily identify ourselves, by gender, name, ethnic
origin, social status. So Thomas adds,
“Jesus said, ‘Let the one who seeks not stop seeking until he finds. When he
finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be
astonished.
From terror – to amazement …. From fear – to great joy!
So the message is, never stop seeking until you are seized by joy!
I believe the purpose of the Emmaus narrative, is to direct us back into the story to
continue our search by engaging the Word, and participating in breaking bread.
We are told in Acts that following the day of Pentecost, the many who were converted
devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of
bread and the prayers.
Through faith, we still see, through fellowship we still touch, through discipleship we
still encounter the risen Christ, and are empowered for picking up our cross and
following.
Amen.
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