We Meet the Lord, Crucified and Risen

I will summarize rather than read today’s text from Luke 24:13-35. On Resurrection Sunday afternoon, two disciples of Jesus were walking to Emmaus, a village about seven miles from Jerusalem, talking with grief and despair about the events of the week. The risen Jesus drew near and walked along with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. They expressed their previous hopes that seemed to them to have come to an end with the crucifixion. Their despair was so deep that they took no renewed hope in the empty tomb or in the women’s testimony that angels had told them that Jesus had risen from the dead. Jesus responded, “‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” It was drawing toward evening when the disciples came to their destination and invited the still unrecognized Jesus in to dine with them. I take up the reading with Luke 24:30: “When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?’ 33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!’ 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.”

We at First Christian Church of Berryville are a people of the Lord’s Table. Week by week, we gather around this Table to meet our Lord, crucified, risen, and present. For many of us, the observance of the Lord’s Supper is the high point both of the worship service and of our week. Strangers may ask how we can do this every week without allowing it to become humdrum, a merely empty ritual. They are rightly aware of a danger that does exist, but it is a danger that ought not exist. Coming to this Table is like going to a gourmet restaurant which offers a brand new special every day; there is always some rich new experience available at this Table if only our eyes are opened to see it.

It was on Thursday evening just prior to his Friday crucifixion that Jesus observed a last Passover meal with his disciples, instituting the Lord’s Supper as a new covenant meal to be regularly observed by his followers in all times and places, taking bread, blessing and breaking it, and giving it to his disciples. It was on Sunday evening, just after the discovery of his empty tomb that morning, that Jesus supped with two disciples in the village of Emmaus, and, it was as he took bread, and blessed and broke it, and gave it to them that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, their Risen Lord. I do not think that it is an accident that the wording of what Jesus did at table on Thursday evening prior to his crucifixion and what he did at table on Sunday evening following his resurrection are so closely similar. This is the Table not only of crucifixion, but also of resurrection. It is a Table of many experiences.

I want to lay before us today just a portion of the richness of this Table summarized by seven words: 1. Commemoration, 2. Proclamation, 3. Examination, 4. Participation, 5. Anticipation, 6. Incarnation, and 7. Celebration.

1. Commemoration In instituting the Lord’s Supper, Jesus said, “Do this in memory of me.” The Greek and Hebrew words behind memory involve more than mentally recalling something; they involve re-entering the experience. This meal is a commemoration, a memorial, a re-presentation of what Jesus has done for us as he fulfilled all the prophecies and promises of the Old Testament, especially as he opened the possibility of our redemption from sin, death, and hell by dying for us on the cross. I remember a time when the Lord’s Supper in many churches was observed as if it were a funeral service for Jesus, complete with grief and gloom. It was considered irreverent not to act as if you had just suffered an irreparable loss. Nothing could be less appropriate. Note that Jesus who instituted the commemoration meal saw the grief of the two disciples on the Emmaus road as a sign that they were foolish and slow of heart to believe. To be sure, Jesus’ death on the cross was agonizing and so a solemn awareness of the cost of our redemption, and an awestruck wonder at his amazing self-giving love, is appropriate. But although Jesus died, he is not dead, and although he died because of our real guilt, the point is that he died and was raised to redeem us from that guilt. What we are most to commemorate is that, as the redeemed of the Lord Jesus, we have entered a new and eternal covenant with God. Let us commemorate his great gift of redemption with that attitude of joyful gratitude for redemption.

2. Proclamation One of the benefits of observing the Lord’s Supper weekly is that it guarantees, whatever the deficiencies of the preacher (ahem), that you will receive in every worship service a proclamation of the saving gospel of Jesus Christ, and a very potent proclamation it is, complete with tangible representations of the torn body and poured out blood that paid the cost of our redemption. The Lord’s Supper is the enacted gospel, the supreme object lesson of the lavish and costly grace of our God. More than a few people have been converted by the sight of it. Let us at this Table proclaim his death, resurrection, exaltation, and coming again until all is fulfilled.

3. Examination When we are baptized into Christ, we die to sin and come alive to God. Paul says that it is not appropriate for the baptized to go on sinning. But ungodly actions and attitudes continue to creep into our lives. It is not fitting for us to be re-baptized each time we stumble, but it is very important for us to get back on track as quickly as possible. The Lord’s Supper offers us weekly opportunity to examine our hearts, minds, and actions, to confess our sins, to repent, and to seek the renewal that Jesus offers. We all know that skipping regular maintenance of a vehicle or of a home heating and air conditioning unit is asking for big trouble down the road. The Lord’s Supper is sort of a spiritual maintenance contract that comes with our baptism. It is foolish to pass it up.

4. Participation Paul tells us that the Lord’s Supper is a participation in the body and blood of Christ and in the body of Christ, the church, the community in all times and places of all who believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, Savior and Lord of the world. The Greek word translated participation is koinonia. It can also be translated as sharing, fellowship, association, or community. It is the word from which our term communion comes. Translators who choose the word participation or sharing are emphasizing our active involvement in the community. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper establish a community of faith in whose fellowship and mission we are active participants. The community of faith is vital to our experience of the Lord’s Supper. The church is founded on the costly grace and self-giving love of our Lord Jesus, and that grace and love must find expression in our relationships with fellow believers and in our sharing the gospel in words of truth and deeds of love with those who are not yet members of Christ’s church.

5. Anticipation Some Bible scholars have noted that, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, their eyes were opened to their fallen condition, and that this led to their hiding from each other and from God, and to their being excluded from the Garden of Eden where they had enjoyed perfect fellowship with God and access to the tree of life. The scholars also notice that, when Jesus breaks bread with the two disciples at Emmaus, their eyes are opened to recognize the risen Jesus whose resurrected body is the anticipation of the resurrection we will share in a perfect new heaven and new earth, a restored Eden, complete with an even better tree of life. It is a very different sort of eye-opening event. This Table holds before us the perfect restoration of all creation as a greater and grander Eden where the faithful will reign with Jesus. This Table reminds us to live in anticipation of the future perfection, leaning toward as much of it as possible in this life, praying in words and actions, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Where are you today? Recognizing that you have lost something precious through sin? Or, recognizing that Jesus lives to restore the perfection we have tossed away? Our eyes need to be opened to both realities, but the dominant message of this Table is one of gracious restoration.

6. Incarnation The Word of God was incarnated or made flesh in Jesus Christ at the time of his conception and birth. We are made one with the incarnate Christ at our new birth through the waters of baptism, and that incarnation is regularly renewed in us at the Lord’s Table. Christ is really present to us when we gather around this Table. He meant what he said when he used the words, “This is my body” and “This is my blood.” I am not saying that some sort of magical transformation takes place in the molecular structure of the bread and wine when the words of institution are uttered. I am saying that Jesus is really present not just at the Table, but in these elements on which we are spiritually fed. Because of your baptism and because of your participation at this Table, Christ is really in you as you leave this place and go about your daily lives. He feeds you; he nourishes you, he imparts his nature and purpose to you. Because Christ is in you, you must take proper care of his life in you. Your eating, sleeping, working, playing, serving, studying, praying, and worshiping should all be undertaken with the awareness that Christ is really in you. You are the vessel through which people around you see his grace reaching out to them. Take care that you put good things into your body and mind in which Christ dwells. Take care that your actions and attitudes represent his gracious heart of redeeming love.

7. Celebration Among other things, the Lord’ Supper is an advance experience of the Messiah’s banquet table in the new creation. People will come from east and west, from north and south, from every tribe and tongue and ethnic group and nation to sit at Table in the new heaven and new earth. In short, it is a party. Now I quickly must say that it is not a party like a slumber party, or a fraternity party, a Super Bowl party, a cocktail party (it is not about us, our revelry, our entertainment, our social advancement, and so forth). This party is focused on one subject, the redeeming work of Jesus Christ. In Luke 14, Jesus told a parable about a great banquet to which many proper guests were invited, but they were too involved in the world’s pursuits to come; the master said that none of those who failed to prioritize his party would be allowed to enter. He extended the invitation to people of lesser worldly qualifications who knew how to value and prioritize a good party. In Luke 15, Jesus tells three parables, the first about a lost sheep, the second about a lost coin, and the third about a lost son. Each lost thing is found, and in each case the finder throws a party. In the first two parables, Jesus concludes by saying that, just so, there is joyous partying in heaven over every lost person who returns to God. Listen closely now. We are getting to the culminating point of the sermon. In the third story, the elder brother of the found son, complains bitterly about the party and refuses to attend. The father explains that it is only fitting to celebrate, for the younger brother was dead and is now alive, was lost and is now found. The implication is that, if the elder brother shared the Father’s heart, he would be inside celebrating instead of outside complaining. That is the gospel truth, and it is the truth we are commanded to celebrate at this Table.

In summary, the Lord’s Table has many levels of experience. Let’s not miss any of them.

1. Commemoration, 2. Proclamation, 3. Examination, 4. Participation, 5. Anticipation, 6. Incarnation, and 7. Celebration.

Sometimes It Is Hard to Believe Good News

Psalm 22:1-2, 7-8, 14-18, 22-24, 27-31

Psalm 22:1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? 2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest….7 All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; 8 “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”…. 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; 15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. 16 For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet 17 I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me; 18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots….

22 I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: 23 You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! 24 For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.… 27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. 28 For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. 29 All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. 30 Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; 31 they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.

Luke 24:1-12

24:1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.

From Thursday night through Friday afternoon, Jesus, the perfect Son of God, had been arrested, abandoned by his disciples, illegally and inaccurately charged with treason, cruelly beaten, otherwise mocked and tortured, and crucified to the point of an agonizing death. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, two Pharisaic members of the Sanhedrin who apparently had not consented to the Sanhedrin’s charges against Jesus, sought his body, prepared it for burial, and entombed it in Joseph’s own tomb just before the Jewish Sabbath began at sundown Friday. Sunday dawn brought the first post-Sabbath light in which the women who had followed Jesus from Galilee could go to the tomb.

When the women arrived at the tomb, they found the stone rolled away and the body of Jesus missing. Had the body been stolen? Two angels in the form of young men in glowing clothingtold them that Jesus was risen as he had foretold. The angels commissioned the women to go and tell the eleven. Mark tells us that the women fled in fear and were afraid to say anything. Luke tells us that the women remembered what Jesus had foretold and then went and told the men disciples. But the men considered the words of the women an idle tale and did not believe them. With the possible exception of Peter and John, who went to see the empty tomb and at least believed that it was empty, only the undeniable appearances of Jesus Christ in his resurrected body made real believers of them. For women and men alike, it was hard to believe good news. It still is. Why is it hard to believe good news? Let’s look at three common reasons:

Reason 1. It is difficult to believe good news when our minds are overwhelmed by bitter memories and present fears. The first messages about the resurrection came to the disciples when their minds were seared by the hard reality of the crucifixion. How absolutely horrible it had been and how much they feared what would happen next to them! They were in hiding behind locked doors. It is hard to believe good news when we are hiding behind locked doors.

It is hard to believe good news when we have just raced in terror to the scene of an automobile wreck only to hear an emergency medical worker say, “I’m sorry. Your child has died.” It is hard to believe good news when the doctor steps into the room and says, “I’m sorry. The form of cancer you have is incurable.” It is hard to believe good news when a year before your retirement plan matures, you get a pink slip. It is hard to believe good news when your spouse says, “I have found someone else.”

Almost everyone in this room—with no matter how much or how little faith-- has experienced some kind of pain similar to those examples. Sometimes that kind of news feels like the absence of God, which is to say it feels like hell on earth.

On the cross, Jesus on our behalf experienced the feeling of hell on earth, and from the cross he called out the opening words of Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Psalm 22 is a psalm of David written roughly a thousand years before Jesus. The Holy Spirit caused David to include in his personal lament a number of poetic details that were literally fulfilled in Jesus’ crucifixion: the mocking and insulting of him, his thirst, the piercing of his hands and feet, and the casting of lots for his clothing. Jesus’ experience of forsakenness was real, but even as he cried out his pain, he also knew how psalm ended, with the worldwide celebration of his great deliverance which was indeed fulfilled by the resurrection we celebrate today.

Psalm 22 exists to assure us that the feeling of God-forsakenness need not be the final word. Our bitter memories and present fears need not be in charge. There is a Sovereign God. He reigns even over our experiences of hell on earth. He can overturn them even after the worst has occurred. We all have bitter memories and present fears. But we need not let them govern our daily lives.

We are challenged to stay open to continuing resurrection experiences that come to followers of Jesus Christ. Resurrection experiences may not come quickly or easily or painlessly, but they will come. Psalm 22:27-28 says, “All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.” In short, our God reigns over and, if we will let him, ultimately overrules our experiences of hell on earth, and, in the long run, that will make all the difference. It is the good news of the resurrection.

Reason 2. It is difficult to believe good news because of who we are…insignificant mortals and unworthy sinners. Just before the sermon, the choir sang, “Who Am I?” by Mark Hall of the singing group Casting Crowns. Hall says that his first sense of personal identity was as a attention deficit dyslexic, and as a class clown trying to hide the fact that he could not read well. This Christian song unveils what he learned about himself when he came to Christ.

The lyrics raise the issue of our seeming insignificance: “I am a flower quickly fading, here today and gone tomorrow, a wave tossed in the ocean, vapor in the wind.”

The lyrics also raise the issue of our unworthiness, filled as we are with sin and fear: “Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin would look on me with love and watch me rise again? Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea would call out through the rain and calm the storm in me?” Our seeming insignificance and our sin and fear, our doubt, make us feel unworthy of God’s love. Indeed, we are unworthy. There is no contesting the point. We have no claim to the mercy of a Holy and Sovereign God.

It is hard to believe the good news that we can be saved. And yet the lyrics say, “Not because of who I am, but because of what you’ve done, not because of what I’ve done, but because of who you are….Still you hear me when I’m calling; Lord, you catch me when I’m falling, and you’ve told me who I am: I am Yours.” The message, true to scripture, is that, despite our unworthiness, God has claimed us in Jesus Christ. All we must do is to give ourselves to the One through whom we have been claimed, and let Him be our Savior and Lord. He will make us what we cannot be on our own, children and heirs of God! While we are indeed unworthy, our God reigns over and will overrule our insignificance and our sin if we will let him. If we will believe, confess, repent, and seek renewal, we will be covered by his righteousness while we are growing into it. It is the good news of the resurrection.

Reason 3. It is difficult to believe good news that conflicts with our culturally-formed expectations. With regard to our believing the message of the resurrection in our culture, there are a number of culturally-shaped expectations that get in the way. I have time to mention two such expectations:

Expectation A. Our popular culture broadly expects that, when we die, some immaterial part of us, our soul perhaps, automatically goes to a better place which we imagine to be according to our own tastes. Nowhere in the Bible is it suggested that there is an automatic immortality in a better place to which we all go. If Jesus was raised from the dead--and there is good evidence that he was—then those who believe in him will be raised to share resurrection bodies like his in a new heaven and new earth, not our worldly idea of pleasure, but God’s perfect plan for all creation which is far better than we can imagine. Our God reigns over death and for his faithful overrules death. That is the good news of the resurrection.

Expectation B. Our academic culture broadly assumes that all real events have material explanations that accord with physical laws expressing the current consensus of leading scientists. Again, if Jesus was raised from the dead--and it is hard to contest the evidence that he was—then there is more to reality than our scientists have imagined. I am not debunking science. There is a proper place for the study of the natural order on its own terms. I am just proclaiming that there are bigger truths that science cannot address, that we can know only as the Sovereign God reveals them. Our God created the natural order that science investigates, and our God reigns over it. The death and decay that appear to govern the natural order are not the final word. The final word is the word of life in Jesus Christ. That is the good news of the resurrection.

Conclusion: If Jesus was raised from the dead, then our experience of hell on earth, our bitter memories and our present fears, are not the final word; a better word will yet be spoken and it will prevail. If Jesus was raised from the dead, then our unworthiness, our insignificance and sinfulness, are not the final word; a better word will yet be spoken, and it will prevail. If Jesus was raised from the dead, then ultimate reality is not about our immortal souls automatically going to a better place that fits our sinful imaginations; a better word will yet be spoken, and it will prevail. If Jesus was raised from the dead, then ultimate reality is not limited by physical laws that are discoverable by even our best scientists; a better word will yet be spoken, and it will prevail.

Jesus was raised as the first citizen of a new creation, a new heaven and new earth which reflects not our personal desires, but the best plans of our Sovereign Creator. There is nothing automatic about our entering that perfect realm. Those who enter that realm must do so under the covering of Jesus’ righteousness and must have placed themselves on the road to being made in fact righteous, or they will not enter that realm at all.

We have a crucified Savior and a Risen Lord who is the key to our eternal destiny. It is not my job and it is not your job to decide who enters the future realm. Jesus himself tells us that he will separate the sheep from the goats, that only those whom he recognizes as living in him will enter that perfect realm. We want to be in that number when the saints go marching in. Jesus is our only Savior, our only Lord, our only Judge. He alone decides our ultimate destiny. He alone decides which people have lived their lives in union with him.

If he died for our sins and was raised from the dead as our living Lord, then that is the solid truth on which we must build our hope, our faith, our love, and our lives. Our God reigns over hell, sin, and death. If we are in Christ, we have nothing to fear. That is the good news of the resurrection.

Let us claim the good news for ourselves. Let us proclaim the good news for the world. Let us exclaim the good news right here and right now! Our God reigns! We are his! Say it with me: Our God Reigns! We Are His!

Yard Sale for Youth Fund

Yard Sale will be Saturday, May 8. Start gathering items to donate.

Welcome new members!

We thank God for Kent Cochran, Dawson Stice, Corey Miller, and Trevor Wilson who joined the First Christian Church family on Easter Sunday. Dawson, Corey, and Trevor were also baptized, as was Zachary Salberg whose membership remains in another church.

Easter Sunday!

Egg hunt on the church lawn

The choir sang, "Who Am I?"

4 young men were baptized!

We all enjoyed the Easter Brunch

We had many guests 93 people attended the service!

Jennifer's flowers added beauty to the entrance

Thank you, God, for a memorable Easter Sunday.