Sermon preached by Christy Brown on Sunday, April 19, 2026
Last week, Wesley preached a great message about doubting Thomas, about how our doubt doesn’t mean we don’t have faith, but our doubt is actually a sign of our faith. A sign that we are questioning how to have faith in this imperfect world that has not yet lived up to the world that God designed for us.
And this week we are met with other disciples who are also questioning. They are wondering about the meaning of Jesus in a world that doesn’t make sense to human eyes. Sound familiar?
Today’s scripture from the Gospel of Luke reminds us to be prepared to recognize Jesus in unexpected places. And I identify with this message because sometimes I can get so wrapped up in considering the gospels, and ethics, and analyzing Christianity today, that I lose sight of Jesus’s actual presence in our world. So, I hope that as we all study Luke’s message, it reaches each of us, and that we take it from this place and remember to keep our eyes open for Jesus’s presence throughout the week ahead.
Let us pray together:
Loving God, guide us today as we study your scripture. Shine your light within our hearts and open the eyes of our minds and our spirits that we may be ready to know your truth and understand your ways. Amen.
Have you ever been looking everywhere for your keys, or your phone, or your glasses, and you eventually realize that whatever it is you are looking for it’s actually right in front of you? I have been known to put on a pair of sunglasses while I still have another pair sitting on top of my head. And I only notice that I’m wearing two pairs because while I’m putting the second pair on, they bump the first pair of sunglasses.
Today’s scripture strikes me as being a little bit like that. It’s like being so close to something that even though you’re searching for it, you don’t see it. Jesus can be like that. Sometimes we are working so hard to find him that we miss seeing him when he appears in right in front of our noses.
In fact, so many people are searching to find Jesus in today’s world, that we have over 216 major Christian denominations in the just US and Canada, and over 35,000 independent or nondenominational congregations. That means there are around thirty-two different denominations for every page of the Bible. People are looking for Jesus, but how do we know what he looks like when we have 35,000 different versions?
Today’s gospel reading is the story of people who focused so hard on trying to figure out the meaning behind Jesus’s death that they miss his resurrection.
Luke chapter 24 tells us it is the third day after Jesus’s crucifixion. The day when Christ is risen. The day his body was not found at the tomb. And two of his followers are walking down the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. It’s not a short walk. Emmaus is about seven miles from Jerusalem. So, they have plenty of time to talk about what has happened in the past three days and what it all means.
They know that the tomb was found empty, because the women told them it was empty. In verse 10, Luke says the women who first heard the story of the risen Christ were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women. And these women were the first to see the empty tomb. And not only the tomb, but two men in dazzling clothing also appeared before them and asked, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen.”
Obviously, the women were amazed, and they returned to the eleven apostles and shared what they had seen, but the apostles didn’t believe them. The gospel says, “the words seemed to them an idle tale.” But I guess Peter at least questioned if the women might be telling the truth because he got up and ran to the tomb himself and confirmed it. He saw the empty tomb and the linen cloths lying there with no body inside. But the apostles still didn’t understand what it all meant.
So later that day, these two men, these two followers of Jesus are walking along the road to Emmaus, talking about these recent events, as a stranger approaches them. And even though they are consumed by their conversations about Jesus – it’s all they can think about – scripture tells us that their eyes were kept from recognizing Jesus. Even while he was walking right beside them. They are talking about him, but they don’t recognize him.
We can’t know for sure why scripture says that their eyes “were kept” from recognizing him. Some people interpret this to mean that their eyes were closed by some sort of mystical divine intervention so that they would listen while Jesus explained the scriptures to them and not just be distracted by the fact that he was there, physically in front of them. Others believe that they didn’t recognize Jesus because they knew he was dead and their faith wasn’t strong enough to believe that he could be alive. Despite the women’s testimony that Jesus was risen, and Peter’s confirmation that Jesus’s body was gone, they weren’t ready to believe that Jesus was alive.
But when I read Luke’s gospel, I tend to think that maybe it was their own preoccupation with Jesus’s story – trying to figure out what had happened that made them unable to recognize Jesus. Maybe they were just so busy thinking. And trying to make sense of Jesus’ ministry. And trying to figure it all out in their heads. That they just missed the real live Jesus, walking down the road. Right beside them.
I know I struggle with this. Sometimes I don’t see Jesus in the world because I get caught up in hype. And social media adds a new dimension for my distraction because I am constantly interrupted by unimportant things – like AI memes of the Golden GIrls – or sometimes by upsetting things – like the latest political news. And these things seem urgent when often they are just drawing my attention away from real places where I might be able to serve God in the physical world. I am thinking about what’s on the screen, or what’s in my head, or maybe even what’s written in scripture to the point that I forget to look at the actual world around me.
How many times do I miss seeing Jesus because I am too busy looking at other distractions? I don’t know, but it helps me identify with Cleopas.
We don’t really know why Cleopas and the other disciple don’t realize who Jesus is, but when they see a stranger join them on their walk and ask what they are talking about, they look at him like he’s crazy. Cleopas even asks in verse 18, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” They assume that Jesus must be an outsider because everyone in Jerusalem is aware of what has happened over the weekend. This man, this stranger, must be from somewhere else. He must be unaware of the local news and customs and culture. The Passover, the crucifixion.
Now, the Greek word for stranger that Cleopas uses to address Jesus is Pah’-roy-kos. It is derived from Para which means alongside and oikos, or home. So, this is someone who is alongside their home. Not at home. It’s a word used to describe someone who is living temporarily in the land, usually without citizenship rights. In America today, Paroikos would probably be the word we would use for an undocumented resident or a migrant worker. Someone without rights who doesn’t fit in our culture and doesn’t understand our customs. Someone that ICE might target.
So how can we recognize Jesus? We can look for the Paroikos, because Jesus was an outsider – not just walking to Emmaus, but all of his life.
Just as Jesus was not born into royalty, but into a manger. And just as he did not choose to ride into Jerusalem on a stallion, but on a donkey, when Jesus first appears to his followers after the crucifixion, he does not appear as a rich merchant, or a centurion, or a king. Although he had the ability and authority to be any of those things. Instead, he chooses to show up as a migrant who hasn’t heard the news.
I don’t know about you, but this makes me think a lot about the headlines in this week’s news. While Jesus, our risen Lord, appeared to his followers, he did not choose to appear as someone worthy of worship, but as a stranger. When Jesus has the opportunity to show the entire world his glory. To prove his triumph over death, he chooses to come back as someone who isn’t recognized even by his own followers.
In the meantime, this very week in the US we have a leader whose favorite pastime seems to be creating false images with AI to put himself in all sorts of positions of power – as a king, as a fighter pilot, as a Jedi, as the Pope, and this week, even as Jesus himself.
And although all these AI images are vile, and even sacrilegious, it’s usually easy to spot an AI-generated Jesus. What can be harder to spot are the other false prophets who claim to speak in Jesus’ name yet prophesy about why it is important to start wars to bomb unjust regimes and then use their false war to bomb neighborhoods and hospitals and schools instead. These wars aren’t limited to Epic Fury. These wars are being waged all over the world in the name of God or Allah or Yahweh, or even the god of capitalism.
So how do we spot Jesus in the world? We have to be able to know the difference between the Jesus who walks with the oppressed and AI generated images of Jesus who supports the empire.
Liberation theology is the study of the gospel as it reaches to those who have been exploited by empire. It has its roots among the poor and oppressed. Not among the people who are controlling the empires and waging wars, but among the people who are being bombed around the world today while their governments take their sweet time working out a peace plan.
Liberation theology started in the indigenous communities of central and south America when they were being exploited by colonial capitalist who were tearing down their forests and taking away the land that their families had lived on for generations. It also has roots in the Black church in the US. With people who had been taken from their homeland and stripped of their culture and enslaved for generations. These are the people Jesus chose to identify with when revealed himself, not the rulers, but the oppressed.
And basically what liberation theology boils down to, is this: We have a choice in what we believe the message of Christ is. Did Jesus come to earth and live in a nation that was under the control of the Roman Empire, and die the death of a martyr, so that generations after his death his people could continue to live under the control of an empire and hope for a better life one day in heaven? Or did Jesus come so that all people might have life more abundant here, and now, on earth? Did he just come to give us hope for an afterlife? Or does his message of love thy neighbor, give us the tools to work for a better tomorrow here and now?
Father Bruce Morrill, says the entire Bible can be summarized in two lines. First, “Somebody’s in trouble,” and second, “Repent.” Throughout both the Old or the New Testament, every story starts with someone in trouble. The people of God aren’t the ruling authorities, they are the people who are in trouble. And even when the Israelites have some power, like King David or Joseph, there’s still trouble.
And the second line that Fr. Morrill says summarizes the Bible is simply one word: “Repent.” Repent means to change what you are doing because if somebody’s in trouble, then something needs to change. The Gospel of Mark is consider to be the oldest gospel, so the first words ever written to come from the mouth of Jesus are found in Mark chapter 1, Jesus says “The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news.” Somebody’s in trouble, and it’s time to repent.
I don’t know about you, but I find those words convicting. And I come here to church each week because I believe that the gospel message is not meant simply for heaven. It’s not just about the afterlife, but about creating the kin-dom of heaven here on earth.
Here at Vine Street, I know I am close to a group of other people who feel the same way. When I sit in Sunday school, or elders meetings, or on the O&A committee, I find myself surrounded by other people who just want to make the world a better place, who care for each other, and who welcome everyone to the table.
I see it in our members when they march at the capital and write letters and make calls to our legislators reminding them that they have a responsibility to take care of everyone who lives here, not just the wealthy or those who think like they do. Like the slogan for Room in the Inn says, “Love your neighbor, Y’all.” And every true Southerner knows that Y’all means all.
How many opportunities do we have to see Jesus that we aren’t even aware of? How often do we dismiss our chance because it seems too miraculous, too unlikely, or simply because we’re too busy doing other things?
On the road to Emmaus, Cleopas and the other disciple are talking about Jesus, but they don’t see him. They are believers. But the problem isn’t about their belief. They’re so busy talking about Jesus, trying to figure out the theology and what it means, that they miss Jesus in the world. They miss the Jesus that is standing beside them, talking to them, walking with them.
How often do we spend our time thinking about Jesus, reading our Bibles, and wondering what it all means?
When we spend time in our own heads, do we miss Jesus standing right in front of us?
Jesus says in Matthew 25 that some of us won’t recognize him when we see him out in the world. At the end of our lives there will be some people who say:
Lord, when did I see you hungry or thirsty and give you food or drink? When did I welcome you as a stranger or visit you when you were sick or in prison?’ 40 And he will answer them, ‘Just as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me.’
And the good news for Cleopas and the other disciple is that even though they didn’t recognize Jesus when he was walking with them. When they came to the end of their journey, they invited the stranger to come in and stay with them. And when the stranger was in their house, and they were sharing their bread with him, only then were their eyes opened. Jesus took the bread and blessed it, broke it and gave it to them, and when they recognized him, he immediately vanished from their sight. And they realized the importance of all that Jesus had told them on their walk.
So, when I think about the entirety of this story, I think about what Father Morrill said and how to summarize the Bible: “Somebody’s in trouble, and repent.” These disciples thought Jesus was the one who was in trouble. They didn’t want the stranger to be out on the road at night so they offered him shelter and food. And only then did they realize that Jesus wasn’t the one in trouble at all.