"As they came near the village to which they were going, Jesus walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, "Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over." So he went in to say with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?" That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, "The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!" Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread."
All of us have had the experience of having someone try to talk some sense into us when we least wanted to hear it. While she/he is there trying to put forth their best efforts we just cannot totally understand what she/he is trying to say. It is not until they leave and we have the opportunity to see things from a different perspective that what she/he was suggesting might make sense.
The disciples had just been through the events of Good Friday. They were feeling like all of their efforts had been lost. Suddenly a man came along who was telling them all sorts of things. After all they had experienced it must have been a relief for the disciples to be able to talk to someone who appeared to be able to explain things like this man did. Even after all that they talked about, it wasn't until he sat with them and broke bread that they realized the risen Jesus was in their midst. Just when they recognized him, Jesus disappeared.
There is a substantial amount of theology that suggests that this great resurrection story can be pointing us to the Eucharist. We recognize the presence of God in the Eucharist not because we can see the risen Christ there with our physical eyes, but only through the eyes of faith. Just as we see the risen Christ in the Eucharist through faith, so through faith we must also seek to be the presence of Christ risen from the dead through our service of our neighbors.
We recognize the presence of the risen Jesus when we learn to look into our attitudes towards other people. This is something that the writer of this blog struggles to learn and needs to keep learning. I was raised in a home with a dad that had judged everyone who was different from him according to his standards. When they say racism, sexism and hetero-sexism is a learned behavior it is very true. When they say you learn to think that people who do not work or pay for their own stuff are bums who should just be left to starve, they are right. Those were the opinions of my dad. They are opinions that I had not recognized with in myself, until I came out and admitted that I am gay. When I said that I am gay, I suddenly realized that I was now one of those people that my dad always talked about. So many of us have learned behaviors and attitudes towards people even ourselves that are not good. We get rid of bad attitudes when we admit that they are there.
All of the violent rhetoric that is being aimed at members of Congress for voting for health care reform will not go away, until people admit that their attitudes are violent and dangerous. Until people recognize that they cannot solve problems with violence, it will never end. As people who believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we cannot stand silently by and allow the hate rhetoric to continue without peacefully addressing it. When individuals are in danger because militias think that guns and war will solve the disagreements in politics, it is Jesus Christ who is affected. We need to recognize Christ in each other and know that no matter what or who we are, we are valued by God. The violence that is being uttered through all of the racist and anti-gay rhetoric is not of God and cannot be condoned. When people use Jesus Christ as their excuse for violence and discrimination they are bringing dishonor to the Cross and resurrection.
Jesus Christ came, died and was raised to bring people together. Not tear people apart through anti-Judaism, anti-LGBT and a lack of acceptance of people of different races, creeds, cultures, classes and challenges. Just as the early church had difficulties with many of these things, the church fails to embrace diversity today.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people continue to bear witness to the risen Christ as we call people to recognize him in all persons. The Body of Christ that is within the Eucharist and the church is one of many different kinds of people. LGBT people challenge the church to consider the next level of diversity. Diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression calls people to recognize that God is not limited by any one label, type, color, religion or any other status quo. God is always challenging us to go beyond things as we have always known and/or understood them. It is okay to change our understandings about God and others around us. LGBT individuals help people to confront their prejudices and find a new understanding of themselves and the world around them.
The risen Christ brought a whole new understanding to what it meant to be Christian. It means learning to not just recognize Jesus in the words of Scripture or in the latest theological treatises. We must recognize the risen Christ in and through the sharing of the Presence of God in the Eucharist and in the constant call of conversion. The Body of Christ does not just drop out of the sky and become what it is. Bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ because of the faith of the church that has been handed on through faith up to this present day. That faith did not arrive all wrapped up ready to go. It changed through the centuries and it can continue to change and become even better as the church embraces more diversity through less violent means.
O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of the bread: Open they eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Collect for Wednesday in Easter Week, Book of Common Prayer, Page 223).
Look with pity, O heavenly Father, upon the people in this land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Oppressed, Book of Common Prayer, Page 826).
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