Glimpses of Resurrection: 3rd Sunday of Easter

Yesterday, I walked along the lake in Guntersville for the first time since the storm. Everywhere I walked, I saw solid, tall trees that had once towered over me, blown down by nothing more than air. But as I walked, I also came upon a mother goose and her very young goslings, straddling the path on which I was walking. I know from experience that it doesn't take much to get a mother goose hissing at you. So I stopped, hoping they would move. But they just stood there looking at me. Eventually, I went around on the grass.

Just a few minutes later, I met a woman on the path who recognized me, even without the collar, as the Episcopal priest on Main Street. Her name is Jenny Kingbridge (?). We agreed that the weather was glorious. We also agreed how awful and awesome was the sight of all those massive trees blown away. I then mentioned the geese I had just seen. What a sign of resurrection, I said, that these small creatures had survived the storm that had killed such large members of the Plant kingdom. Jenny then told me about a nest near her house, where she believed, the mother had been killed just after her eggs had hatched. But according to Jenny, the father had fed the babies for days until they were able to fly from the nest. In our two stories meeting at the right place and the right time, Jenny and I recognized resurrection.

Recognizing Resurrection: That is the dilemma for all of us in Northern Alabama. It is also the dilemma for Cleopas and his companion, probably his wife. As far as I can recognize, resurrection is in the small things, which by God's grace will become great things.

This is not the first time in Luke's Gospel that those who perhaps should have known better didn't recognize who Jesus really was. Cleopas and his companion were walking away from Jerusalem after Passover thinking that Jesus was dead and buried. His mother Mary and Joseph were going back home to Nazareth after celebrating Passover in Jerusalem. After a day's travel, they realized that 12-year-old Jesus was not with them. As Cleopas and his companion waited three days in Jerusalem through Jesus' arrest, crucifixion and burial before leaving, Mary and Joseph searched three days for the boy Jesus in Jerusalem.

And when they finally find Jesus, both couples do not recognize him, and both are called up short for their lack of recognition. “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared!” this complete stranger tells Cleopas and his companion. “Why were you looking for me?” the boy Jesus dares to challenge his parents. And then, Jesus tells both couples essentially the same thing. “Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?” the 12-year-old Jesus tells His parents. “Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” Jesus says on the way to Emmaus.

In Greek, they’re the same basic word, “must” and “necessary.” Even at the age of 12, Jesus had begun to sense that he had a destiny; that there was a plan which was so much bigger than what his mother would imagine. And even when Cleopas and his companion thought that disaster had frustrated Jesus’ plan, they suddenly recognized that destiny had been fulfilled in the strangest way. “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.” They recognized him in something so small and ordinary as bread and wine.

There are so many in this state whose destinies have been permanently altered. So many plans have crashed like “sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground” as James Taylor sings. We at Christ Church know something of that. But if the truth be told what we have suffered is nothing compared to the hundreds of people in Marshall County alone who are living in tents, many of whom are in such shock that they’re walking around with a look in their eyes like zombies, as one member of the Long Term Recovery Committee put it. This parish, through its Outreach fund, has given $1,700 to the Diocese to help with the relief and recovery. But the recovery and relief that people need most can’t be bought. They need to know that whatever they have lost, they still have a destiny. They need to know that there is still a plan for them. They need to be able to recognize resurrection.

I think I caught a glimpse of resurrection yesterday. Like Cleopas and his companion, we catch a glimpse of resurrection this morning in the offering, the blessing, the breaking and the sharing of bread and wine. Let us all look for a glimpse of the resurrected Jesus, who walks with us in our joy and hope, our grief and anguish, on our road to Emmaus.