April 9, 2005 At Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK
Acts 2:14,22-23 + 1 Peter 1:17-21 + Luke 24:13-35
When you tease out all the theological, sacramental, and paschal issues from this Gospel, it settles down to one simple issue,
something even a child can grasp: Recognition. The 31st verse puts it right out there: “Their eyes were opened…..” That by way of observation is the passive voice in grammar. In other words, it was not something they did. Something happened to them.
Then in terms of grammar, the verb changes from passive to active.
“They recognized Him.” Now that is a matter of something they did,
and this is the issue put before us today.
From our reading of the scriptures, we learn that some did not recognize immediately. It took the apostles from the Easter till Pentecost to get it right. They had several opportunities, and yet they did not always get it right. Even after Pentecost, not everyone recognize. Both the first reading and the Gospel show that people
do not always recognize what they see. This is not just because they forget. In the first reading people did not recognize Jesus
because he did not fit their expectations. Peter had to spell it out for them, make connections, and then finally some did get it.
On the road to Emmaus, those disciples did not get it even when Jesus himself spelled it out for them. It was not until the breaking of bread that they could recognize what they were seeing.
So, it is with us today. Something has happened to us: Baptism and Confirmation. It has opened our eyes, and as a result, we can do some recognition. For some of us it takes a while. It takes breaking open the word of God, and it might even take an experience of the Eucharist; but we must come to recognition. We must recognize what it is we see; recognize who it is we see; and where it is that we see. We must not rely on our expectations alone.
Those expectations can easily lead us astray. We must rely on the Word of God and upon the Eucharistic Breaking of Bread. We will never be able to recognize the presence of God unless we do so.
It is impossible to see and recognize God present in a tsunami disaster if our expectation is that God is only a big benevolent source of good feelings and pleasure. It is impossible to see and recognize God if our expectation is that God will do what we want when we want it. People who have opened eyes can see God in disappoint, disaster, and sadness. They can recognize God in sickness because they can see God in the sick. They can recognize God in a tragedy and a disappointment, because they know the story of Jesus and the fulfillment of the Prophets.
They can recognize God in the poor, the homeless, the mentally ill who wander our streets and sleep under our bridges because their eyes have been opened by the Word of God. They can recognize God in the people beside them in these pews, before and behind them in the procession to communion, because with eyes opened,
we can see with recognition the presence of God who answered the one long and great cry of human the human heart: “Stay with us.”
We are never alone when we see with recognition what God has done for us and with us in Jesus Christ. For this we have every reason to give thanks again today, to rejoice together in each other,
and to live in hope, in faith, and in confidence that if we continue to break open the Word of God and Break the Bread of this Eucharist, we shall see and we shall recognize Him who has come to stay with us through every trial, tragedy, and even death itself.