If you happened to make it to church last Sunday, then you might have heard the news. Jesus, who was killed on the cross, went and got up from the dead!
The women were there. They saw the angels, they raced back and told the other disciples, and you might remember, the others dismissed what they were saying as an “idle tale.” Except Peter. He didn’t go along with the crowd. Something in him had to go back and check it out for himself.
Later that same evening, two of the disciples left Jerusalem and were heading toward Emmaus. They could have been husband and wife. They could have been heading home. We don’t know. We do know they were entirely dismayed. Whenever there is death, there is grief. Whenever there is grief, there is guilt.
At one point, they stop walking and stand still looking sad.
When a stranger approaches and begins walking with them, they tell him, See we had hoped. We had hoped Jesus would be the Messiah who would come to set Israel free! We believed in him, and he let us down. That’s what they say out loud. What they don’t say, but they might as well have, is that Jesus believed in us, and we let him down. We had hoped that he would save us, but he sure didn’t. And we didn’t save him either.
Now you and I know what these two disciples don’t. That stranger who’s come to walk beside them? That’s Jesus!
Now it could be, there’s something in us that wishes Jesus would have burst onto the scene in a cloud of glory with a Shazam! and a Hallelujah! Jesus would look at these two Disciples of the Year and shake his head. How dare you doubt the women when they were telling the truth! How dare you doubt that I’m the real Messiah! he would demand.
In Luke’s version, Jesus really does start down this path. He tells those two: “How foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared!” So at least that’s something, but I don’t know.
We can imagine how these two disciples were feeling guilty, how they kind of were guilty. They didn’t stay awake with Jesus in the garden. They didn’t protest when he was getting shouted to death by the crowd.
It’s hard to admit. But what if there is something in us that wants Jesus to get in their face, to repair the harm of injustice. He would say to them: “You’re worried that you let me down? You should be! You did.” And what if we kind of want Jesus to say this out loud…
Because this keeps being the problem. All through the Gospel, Jesus keeps forfeiting opportunities to call out people for their participation in evil. Why isn’t he shaming them for their sin! This is what the religious leaders keep asking. Jesus goes to dinner with tax collectors, and sinners, and prostitutes.
I invite you to think of a political group that offends you to your core. Imagine Jesus showing up at their rally, and instead of ripping the flag off the stage — yes, I mean that flag— instead of confronting their leaders and accusing them of oppression, you know what Jesus does? He unfolds a chair, and cracks open a beer, like he’s not going anywhere. This is Jesus! He’s hanging out with them! It’s a problem…
It’s a problem because we think we know and we do not know. We don’t get it, and I’m sorry. Jesus is the hero of our faith. We’re expecting him to show up with the judgement that will make things right and instead… Jesus shows up with grace. If you can believe that.
I recently heard an interview that won’t let go of me. It’s from the Braver Angels podcast and I’ll include the link on the sermon manuscript on the church website.1https://braverangels.org/and-the-winner-is-announcing-the-braver-angels-songwriting-contest-winners/ (If you listen to the podcast episode, you’ll find the interview with Prasada-Rao, at 14:42.)
One year ago, in April of Twenty-Twenty, there was a protest in Nashville against coronavirus restrictions. You might have seen the famous photograph from this rally. It features a woman holding the sign that reads: “Sacrifice the weak. Re-open Tennessee.”
When the songwriter Thomas Prasada-Rao saw this picture on social media, it cut him to the quick. He had been undergoing treatment for cancer and was immunocompromised. He was “the weak.” The sign was talking about him; this woman was talking about him! He thought about what would make her create such a sign, then he did what he does, and he wrote her a song. The lyrics of the chorus go like this:
“Whoever you are…
Whatever you’ve done,
It’s nothing that you can’t overcome.
Whatever it is
That you’re going through,
Even so…
Even now…
Even you…”
In talking about this song, Prasada-Rao reveals a trade secret that’s true for preachers and songwriters alike. He says, “No matter what the writer says, it’s [always] a song about themselves; it’s a song to themselves.” He explained that the song he was singing to the sign-holding woman is exactly the song he wanted somebody from the other side to sing to him.
It seems like the first problem is that Jesus comes to walk beside the very people we can’t stand. Despite our misgivings, Jesus offers them compassion. And maybe that’s not the problem, maybe that’s the miracle.
The other problem is that Jesus comes to walk beside us. Despite our misgivings, Jesus offers us compassion. And maybe that’s not the problem, maybe that’s the miracle. But this grace is so hard for us to accept. We just don’t get it. It’s like there’s something in us that wishes Jesus would burst onto the scene and render a verdict! But you know Jesus… Put your sword back, he tells us. Sit down, he tells us, let me get you something to eat.
Sometimes, in Christian circles, you’ll hear a certain worry rise up. It goes like this: We can’t let God’s forgiveness become a kind of cop-out. What are we supposed to invoke the grace of God in order to let people off the hook! We can’t turn a blind eye to evil! When I hear this worry, my first thought is, that’s right. We can’t turn a blind eye to evil. But really, that’s not what forgiveness is.
In my thirteen years of ministry, I can tell you, I have not seen the problem of people walking around believing that they are magnificently forgiven. The problem is exactly the opposite.
The common worry that taunts us that the bravest ones say out loud, it goes like this: Am I a good person? Which might really mean: Am I a good enough person? Which might really mean: Surely the LORD is coming to judge me, and God will be right, and God will be harsh. And the church says all kinds of nice things about forgiveness, but I don’t know.
When it comes to forgiveness, we don’t get it…
Until we do.
It really might take us the whole walk to the faraway village. It might take us our whole lives to believe. But the truth is: You are more forgiven than you know. I am more forgiven than I know. Grace is the power of God, and there is more grace than we can comprehend. There is always more grace than we know.
Imagine what it must have been like for those two disciples. When they set out to go to Emmaus, they were devastated. They were more than a little angry that Jesus had failed them. He was supposed to be the Messiah, but instead of bringing liberation, he went and got himself killed! The disciples were more than a little ashamed that they had failed Jesus. Maybe we can relate.
Here we are heading down the road when a stranger comes along intruding on our sorrow. Christ has a knack for meeting up with us at the worst time. He should be calling us out! He knows our shame, he should love us with the fierceness that won’t let us get away with evil. Jesus knows all the ways that we are exactly not worthy.
This is where there should be the fight! Where is the thunder! Where is the terrible swift sword!
Turns out… Jesus is just going to hang out with us, like he’s got nowhere else to be. Sure, he says. Let’s go inside. I’ll stay for dinner. He looks at us with eyes of love, and pours the drinks, and says the grace. And can you imagine if we got it!
The forgiveness we never saw coming came and hunted down the very people we can’t stand, but it found us too. It came right into the house! Imagine if our hearts got broken, and the bread got broken, and our eyes were opened! Our own forgiveness got poured out… Our cup runneth over.
“Whoever you are…
Whatever you’ve done,
It’s nothing that you can’t overcome.
Whatever it is
That you’re going through,
Even so…
Even now…
Even you…”
Whoever you are and wherever you are on life’s journey, there’s a word of grace that you are needing to hear. There’s also a word of grace that somebody you know needs to hear get spoken. Out loud.
May it be so.
Footnotes
| ↑1 | https://braverangels.org/and-the-winner-is-announcing-the-braver-angels-songwriting-contest-winners/ (If you listen to the podcast episode, you’ll find the interview with Prasada-Rao, at 14:42.) |
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