{"id":7940,"date":"2022-04-26T16:45:47","date_gmt":"2022-04-26T23:45:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=7940"},"modified":"2022-04-26T17:24:32","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T00:24:32","slug":"they-knew-him-in-the-breaking-of-the-bread","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=7940","title":{"rendered":"
They Knew Him in the Breaking of the Bread<\/div>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Click here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke 24:13-35<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A sermon for the Third Sunday of Easter<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do we talk about when we get together? We talk about the weather. We talk about prices, gas prices, food prices. We talk about what\u2019s happening around us. Who has moved? We talk about unusual accidents. Have you heard? Did you know? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know not to talk about politics and religion. Apart from those subjects, we basically talk about those things that are important. We\u2019re expecting a new baby. We have a new grandchild. So and so is taking a new job, was accepted at the college of his choice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A young couple had a terrible fire that destroyed much of their home. The mother was quite distraught when carrying damaged furniture out of the house, she noticed that she had lost the diamond in her engagement ring. She was heartbroken. She looked everywhere but couldn\u2019t find it. Months later she was outside and saw something sparkle in the grass. It was the diamond! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s like the parable of the lost coin (Luke 15:8-10). The woman lit a lamp and swept the house. When she found the coin, she was so happy she called together her friends and neighbors and said, \u201cRejoice with me!\u201d Her reaction is well described in a remarkable translation of Luke 6:45: \u201cWhat the heart is full of, the mouth overflows with.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two weeks ago we celebrated Easter. Likely few of us have talked to others about what Easter means. To be sure, as we gather here for worship we are witnessing, we are saying publicly: \u201cRejoice! Our Redeemer lives!\u201d Easter is the keystone, the critical, the major, the biggest, the only event that really matters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2021 a California lottery winner won $700 million. The resurrection is bigger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet we tend to drift along. That\u2019s why it\u2019s good to have Mother\u2019s Day and Father\u2019s Day. We tend to take mothers and fathers for granted. But we also drift along about the center of our Christian faith, too. And we\u2019re not talking about something like \u201cstopping to smell the roses.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather, it\u2019s like presenting to a two-year old your open hand which holds a shiny toy and in your other hand, a hundred-million-dollar uncut diamond. It doesn\u2019t look like much, but that doesn\u2019t matter! Which will the child pick? Of course the shiny toy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re that child, and it\u2019s time for us to grow up, wake up (1 Cor 3:1-2). This is more than the biggest lottery. More important than all the worries and troubles of the day. Death is conquered and everything is different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke in chapter 24 has the remarkable account of two men taking a Sunday afternoon walk the same day as the resurrection. They are heading out to a little town about seven miles outside of Jerusalem (Emmaus). A stranger comes up next to them and asks: \u201cWhat are you talking about?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They say: \u201cYou must be the only one who doesn\u2019t know what\u2019s happened these past three days regarding Jesus of Nazareth. He was crucified, died, and was buried. We had hoped he would be the one to redeem Israel. Some of our women went to his tomb this morning, but they couldn\u2019t find his body, and then there are rumors that he is alive.\u201d Then this unknown stranger opened up Scripture to show that it all points to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As they came to the end of the day, they said: \u201cWe better stop. Won\u2019t you stop with us?\u201d He was going to go on, it seemed, but he said, \u201cYes.\u201d As they began their evening meal, he took charge and broke the bread and handed out the cup of wine, and then he suddenly disappeared. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did they know him? Luke 24:16 says on the road they didn\u2019t know him because their eyes \u201cwere kept from recognizing him.\u201d That\u2019s like Acts 10:40-41: \u201cGod raised him on the third day and made him manifest; not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.\u201d His appearance to the two men is not some normal kind of event. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luke 24:32 says: \u201cTheir hearts burned within them.\u201d We must not be misled by that verse. Long ago a renowned preacher at Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis preached on this verse: \u201cTheir hearts burned within them.\u201d His eloquent sermon was wrong. Yes, the text says \u201ctheir hearts burned within them,\u201d but that\u2019s not what the passage is about \u2013 that your heart must burn within you, that you must have a feeling, or, if you get a feeling, it means you are one of the chosen. We may have lots of experiences in which \u201cour hearts burn within us.\u201d  A beautiful garden, the birth of a child, a winning lottery ticket, a graduation ceremony. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We always remember what Paul writes in 2 Cor 11:14: \u201cEven Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.\u201d We know that feelings, even joyous, uplifting feelings are not what it\u2019s about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did they know him? It\u2019s spelled out in Luke 24:35: \u201cThey knew him in the breaking of the bread.\u201d It means: \u201cHe presided.\u201d He took charge as he always did. And they knew him.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This message is the same as that given in 1 Peter 1:23, 25<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have been born anew, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God. . . . That word is the good news which was preached to you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the Good News \u2013 that we have been born again through this Word, the Word of the Gospel that he is the one who is presiding and giving us life, and continues to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is the same as in John 6:51: \u201cI am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I give for the life of the world is my flesh.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat the heart is full of, the mouth overflows with.\u201d Therefore we now sing: \u201cI know that my Redeemer lives!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know that my Redeemer lives!
\nWhat comfort this sweet sentence gives
\nHe lives, he lives, who once was dead\u2019
\nHe lives, my ever-living head!\n<\/p>\n\u201cHe lives and grants me daily breath
\nHe lives, and I shall conquer death;
\nHe lives my mansion to prepare,
\nHe lives to bring we safely there.\n<\/p>\n\n

\n\u201cHe lives all glory to his name!
\nHe lives, my Savior, still the same;
\nWhat joy this blest assurance gives;
\nI know that my Redeemer lives!\u201d \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A sermon for the Third Sunday of Easter<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What do we talk about when we get together? We talk about the weather. We talk about prices, gas prices, food prices. We talk about what\u2019s happening around us. Who has moved? We talk about unusual accidents. Have you heard? Did you know? <\/p>\n

Select here<\/a> to read more or here <\/a>for a pdf document.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7940"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7962,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7940\/revisions\/7962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}