WEBVTT 00:00:01.120 --> 00:00:03.040 How often are you surprised? 00:00:03.359 --> 00:00:03.600 Right? 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:08.000 I mean, it it it doesn't happen often, I imagine, right? 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:10.560 Because it's sort of in the definition of it. 00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:14.960 If it's happening every day, it's not a surprise anymore, right? 00:00:15.039 --> 00:00:18.160 It's just a Thursday or whatever it is. 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:26.000 But in our story today, these disciples, they get surprised four different times. 00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:28.320 At least they're referred to four different times. 00:00:28.480 --> 00:00:30.879 Firstly, they meet this stranger. 00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:34.640 Later we find out it's Jesus, but they don't recognize that. 00:00:34.719 --> 00:00:41.119 But they meet him and they're so surprised because this guy, he doesn't know anything about this massive event that's happened. 00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:51.200 Jesus was crucified, and now it looks like he's been resurrected, although we're not so sure at this point, but just such a big event. 00:00:51.280 --> 00:00:52.479 So they're surprised. 00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:55.439 This is here's a guy who doesn't even know it happened. 00:00:55.679 --> 00:01:04.799 Then they talk about being astounded at the story of the women who went to the tomb, found it empty, and then came back and told them. 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:07.439 So now there's another sort of surprise. 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:11.599 Like I said, that's when they use the word astounded. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:14.239 Huge surprise. 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:26.159 Then they refer to their surprise when they actually go to the tomb and find it that uh it's empty, and they have that shocker themselves. 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:36.480 And then the final surprise comes at the end of our passage as they realize it was Jesus all along who was there with them, breaking the bread with them. 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:50.079 It's an interesting story, and our theme for this season of Easter, this whole season that leads us to Pentecost is stories that matter. 00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:57.200 So we ask ourselves the question: all right, well, why does this story matter? 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:02.000 You know, what is Luke trying to get across about the life of Christ? 00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:08.400 Or, or maybe even more importantly, what is Luke trying to encourage us to do in response? 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:14.159 You know, how is Luke trying to get us to change our lives for the better? 00:02:15.199 --> 00:02:17.439 So that's where we'll dig in. 00:02:17.599 --> 00:02:26.639 But first, I'm gonna deal with our scripture heads out there, the guys who like their exegesis, the gals who really like to dig in, like Steve here. 00:02:26.800 --> 00:02:28.560 I know Laura's one of those. 00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:31.199 We have other scripture heads. 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:33.840 I'd like to dig in Mark up here. 00:02:34.080 --> 00:02:35.120 All right, all right. 00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:37.599 I bet you, I bet you we have more. 00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:40.639 You guys are just like kind of chill, right? 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:45.120 Yeah, I'm digging into Malachi, but I don't need you to know it. 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:48.240 All right, scripture heads right here. 00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:53.280 First of all, this is the only one of our four gospels that has this story. 00:02:53.759 --> 00:03:02.080 So it's probably really, really interesting to Luke, so important that he includes it, and all the others don't include it. 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:15.120 In fact, a fun project, if you are into it, might be to go look and see what are the stories that are only in Luke, because you'd really get a sense of who Luke is and Luke's perception of who Jesus is. 00:03:16.080 --> 00:03:23.199 Also important, it comes right after this the discovery of the empty tomb. 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:27.759 This is an important moment, the big part of the whole story. 00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:32.879 It builds towards this, so we know it's a big thing, the resurrection. 00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:36.240 He's not just gonna throw any story out there. 00:03:36.479 --> 00:03:38.800 It's big, it's it's a worth it story. 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:40.800 We should dig into it. 00:03:41.439 --> 00:03:52.639 It functions as a reinforcement of the significance of the resurrection, why it means what it means and its intended effect on us. 00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:56.960 But here's what's interesting: it doesn't really stop there. 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:09.840 There's what you might call like an extension or or an add-on of Jesus appearing yet once again with the disciples. 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:23.680 In fact, as he vanishes after serving the bread or breaking the bread, then as it reads, he kind of comes back to them and starts talking again and then leaves yet again. 00:04:23.839 --> 00:04:28.720 Finally, Luke ends with the ascension of Christ up to heaven. 00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:37.439 So I'm gonna jump back to that second uh uh appearance of Jesus to the disciples because it's a little bit awkward. 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:40.480 Again, this is for the scripture heads here. 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:57.839 If we were New Testament scholars, we might assume that Luke had a few different parts of the story of Jesus or different moments that Jesus came to visit these disciples after being crucified, and he wanted to get them in there. 00:04:58.240 --> 00:05:08.959 He wanted them because of the significance of not just one appearance, but two appearances, or maybe somebody writing later with Luke's gospel, added it in there. 00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:16.560 Um what we can tell too is high priority wasn't necessarily to have a smooth thing. 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:28.000 You wouldn't necessarily have Jesus vanish after his big moment and then come back again and say, oh, and here's a few more things, very similar to what I just said. 00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:32.800 So it's more likely these are stories, add-ons that people had. 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:36.720 And for Luke, that added to the credence. 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:38.639 That was the value that they had. 00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:49.839 The ideas were supposed to be bringing people to Christ, and if there's more of these stories, then people will be more convinced, and that was probably the higher priority of our writers. 00:05:50.639 --> 00:05:57.199 So, now, again, what do we do with this story? 00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:00.560 How is it a story that matters? 00:06:01.519 --> 00:06:08.480 The easy first inclination is to say to ourselves, all right, further evidence of the resurrection. 00:06:08.639 --> 00:06:12.399 He came back two times, right? 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:16.480 And added on to you know, a few others with Thomas and things like that. 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:18.639 Oh, this is just evidence. 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:22.639 This now we know it really, really happened, right? 00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:30.959 For some, that's an assurance they really, really appreciate and like having those stories as proof. 00:06:31.199 --> 00:06:36.879 But for a lot of us, it doesn't fill all that we need. 00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:40.639 We're looking for that invitation, that guidance. 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:45.600 How are we supposed to be affected by this, other than to just believe it? 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:54.000 We want some answer to the question of how does this speak into our lives? 00:06:56.480 --> 00:07:02.240 So, something I identified with as I was working my way into the story. 00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:13.120 These disciples who were uh walking and talking about their uh disappointment on the journey, after all, Jesus had been crucified. 00:07:13.360 --> 00:07:20.639 Yes, they saw an empty tomb, but they're still in that place of, okay, what uh what's this about? 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:20.959 Right? 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:26.319 They say the words, we thought he was the one to redeem Israel. 00:07:28.079 --> 00:07:30.399 I think we can identify with that. 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:38.560 I think anyone who has said, why doesn't God just whatever, fill in the blank? 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:44.319 Anybody who has said that can identify with these disciples on this journey. 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:47.920 We thought Jesus was gonna redeem all of Israel, right? 00:07:48.560 --> 00:07:49.600 What was this? 00:07:49.759 --> 00:07:51.759 I thought, I thought this was it. 00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:54.480 What happened? 00:07:55.279 --> 00:08:05.519 Do you ever feel like you found that person or or that program that was gonna do that amazing, that was gonna change the world for the better? 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:14.720 And you got behind it and you got yourself excited about it, and then it didn't really come to pass. 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:28.079 Maybe it fell apart by personal failings of that person we were hoped for, hoping for, or for that program we were hoping for. 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:38.080 Maybe the world didn't create the space for that thing to happen, for that change that we really believed in, that we were excited about. 00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:40.960 We the world just didn't let it happen. 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:42.240 Right? 00:08:42.480 --> 00:08:48.399 We can identify with those disciples in that way. 00:08:49.279 --> 00:08:52.559 Those disciples who really thought this was it. 00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:58.000 And then it felt like it wasn't. 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:00.080 Because we've been there. 00:09:00.559 --> 00:09:10.720 We've all been in those places where we had lots of hope that something good was going to happen, and then it just didn't happen like we had hoped. 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:25.200 And we land in these spaces like these disciples, wondering not only whether it happened or not, but whether it was even worth it, whether it was true and even worth all the energy that we put into it. 00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:38.320 And here in Easter season, when we're supposed to be feasting on all the blessings that God has given to us, and we get into this place again, like those disciples. 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:42.480 You really died, Jesus? 00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:46.000 But the job's not done. 00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:49.279 What about it, God? 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:53.360 Are you are you gonna fix this or not? 00:09:55.919 --> 00:10:10.159 It's enough to make you feel that when you're in that space here post-Easter, all of a sudden we can feel let loose again, detached again, disenchanted, unmoored again. 00:10:11.840 --> 00:10:15.840 Just like those disciples on that walk. 00:10:17.279 --> 00:10:27.039 But I found some grounding, I found some stabilizing in the words and the actions of Jesus in this story. 00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:29.440 First, he does two main things. 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:38.480 First, he reminds them that this is what was foretold in the Old Testament. 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:42.399 It happened like we anticipated it would happen. 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:48.960 It happened like they anticipated it would happen hundreds of years before that. 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:57.200 We would do well also to remember the significance of sacrifice in that whole event. 00:10:57.360 --> 00:11:15.120 Not just Jesus' sacrifice, but our invitation to sacrifice, to giving up of ourselves for others, for the world around us, for God, as part of that journey of faith. 00:11:16.240 --> 00:11:21.279 And then the second thing he did was share the bread. 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:25.200 He broke the bread with these disciples. 00:11:25.440 --> 00:11:35.600 He blesses it and he breaks it, and then they recognize him and he vanishes. 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:40.080 The breaking of the bread. 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:47.759 That's our thing, right? 00:11:47.919 --> 00:12:04.399 And when we're talking about a behavior, an act, a ritual that is Christian, it is that the ultimate act that identifies us, it's who we are. 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:07.679 This is what Jesus does. 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:14.000 Some of you are reading the daily devotion from Richard Rohr, right? 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:17.919 From from the Center for Action and Contemplation. 00:12:19.360 --> 00:12:23.840 I don't know if you caught the one for last Sunday. 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:28.879 But Rohr, he was talking about social transformation. 00:12:29.039 --> 00:12:34.559 He was talking about changing the world, presumably for the better. 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:37.519 I'm gonna assume that because I like Richard Rohr. 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:39.440 That's just a little joke. 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:40.639 Thank you, Boyd. 00:12:41.840 --> 00:12:44.559 He's my guy, he's my go-to over here. 00:12:45.679 --> 00:12:48.000 We have a signal, I give him. 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:55.840 No, he uh I was talking about changing the world for the good, and he uses Archimedes. 00:12:56.559 --> 00:12:59.759 Archimedes to talk about the effectiveness of a fulcrum. 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:02.000 So I think I did you get my pictures? 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:02.320 Yeah. 00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:04.000 So this is Archimedes, right? 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:09.679 It's a Greek philosopher, mathematician in the third century BCE, right? 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:11.679 So before Christ. 00:13:12.399 --> 00:13:18.559 And what he figures out is that wait, engineers in the house? 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:20.399 Raise your pencil. 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:26.240 Yeah, we got a few, and then a couple of you too cowardly to put your hands up. 00:13:27.039 --> 00:13:28.080 This is what I know. 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:28.799 All right. 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:30.480 I like you engineers. 00:13:30.720 --> 00:13:35.120 I know just enough to understand why you guys get so frustrated. 00:13:36.320 --> 00:13:36.639 Right. 00:13:36.720 --> 00:13:39.440 So he's uh that that kind of thinker, right? 00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:42.320 And he develops this understanding of a fulcrum. 00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:46.320 So I found a picture too that gives sort of a basic understanding. 00:13:46.639 --> 00:14:06.960 We kind of know that just in doing different things in our lives, but he came to understand, or the first to sort of formally describe this idea that when we find that right spot, we can actually increase our strength and move things that we wouldn't normally be able to move. 00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:09.519 Here, I have a summary here of it. 00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:24.559 Archimedes, a third century BCE Greek philosopher and mathematician, noticed that a lever balanced in the correct place on the correct fulcrum could move proportionally much greater weights than the force actually applied. 00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:37.840 He calculated that if the lever switched far enough and the fulcrum point remained fixed close to Earth, even a small weight at one end would be able to move the world at the other. 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:39.039 Right? 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:40.240 A fulcrum. 00:14:40.399 --> 00:14:44.320 So you can see maybe some of you have moved things doing that. 00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:49.840 You put the little rock in the middle and then you wedge it up and lift it, or a smaller version. 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:52.799 If you've used a nutcracker, it's the same principle. 00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:53.279 Right? 00:14:53.440 --> 00:15:01.919 If you're cracking that nut and your nutcracker, the the uh legs or the arms of the nutcracker aren't long enough, you can't get the force. 00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:09.279 But once they get to that really great length, then you can squeeze and get you that walnut you've been dying to eat. 00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:10.399 Am I right? 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:12.240 All right. 00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:14.960 So that I mean that's the principle, right? 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:25.600 We with uh we need uh leverage and gravity, and when we find just the right place, we can increase our capacity for uh for strength, for moving things. 00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:34.879 And Archimedes felt that we could actually move the world given the right fixed position and some counterweight in the mix of that. 00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:40.879 So Richard Rohr, he starts using that principle to talk about social transformation. 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:48.399 Talk about a big rock to move, talking about changing the world. 00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:56.240 And he writes, and I think I got this up there, the fixed point is our place to stand, right? 00:15:56.320 --> 00:16:05.919 The fulcrum relies on that sense of a fixed point, and if you get just the right point, you can maximize your capacity to move a big weight. 00:16:06.559 --> 00:16:13.759 It is a contemplative stance for Richard Rohr, steady, centered, poised, and rooted. 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:27.600 To be contemplative, we have to have a slight distance from the world to allow time for withdrawal from business as usual, for contemplation, for going into what Jesus calls our private room. 00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:45.039 However, we have to remain quite close to the world at the same time, loving it, feeling its pain and its joy as our pain and our joy, otherwise, our distance can become a form of escapeism. 00:16:47.120 --> 00:17:12.400 For Roar, he's trying to describe how that fixed point, that perfect place for that fulcrum is between contemplation and action, that we need to find that spot, that's where our spirit really wants to dwell, somewhere between the spiritual world of God's reality and then the reality we're living in, the physical reality that we are living in. 00:17:12.640 --> 00:17:38.880 But for me, in terms of our own passage, isn't Jesus telling us, with this short message after having been crucified and resurrected, isn't he telling us that uh making the point that the fulcrum for us is located in our sense of who Christ is and what Christ stood for? 00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:47.519 We should probably add to who we are trying to be in relationship to Christ. 00:17:47.759 --> 00:17:50.319 Isn't that our fixed spot? 00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:53.039 Isn't that our ideal space? 00:17:54.000 --> 00:18:00.319 Isn't that the point from when we're able to make the most significant difference in the world? 00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:11.279 Maybe it's not coincidental that when the disciples were at their lowest, Jesus returns to remind them of who they are supposed to be. 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:16.079 We hit our lows in this world, right? 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:32.160 When our faith seems uh uh least relevant, least worthwhile, least effective, times when the temptation is to abandon the behaviors of faith. 00:18:34.079 --> 00:18:37.200 After all, they aren't doing it. 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:41.519 They've abandoned all sense of decency. 00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:43.599 Never mind faith. 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:47.759 Why should I stick with this? 00:18:49.839 --> 00:19:05.440 And Jesus answers because it's your identity, it's your fixed point for the fulcrum where you are able to make the changes in the world that you believe in. 00:19:06.799 --> 00:19:20.400 It's from there that you're able to be who you are called to be, to be the change, to be the justice, to be the hope, to be the love you intend to be. 00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:32.640 And the cool part is, as Archimedes learned, from that point you can move way more than you think. 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:36.480 It might even surprise you. 00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:38.640 Amen.