Luke 24:13-35

Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, "What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?" They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?" He asked them, "What things?" They replied, "The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him." Then he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?" Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

As they came near the village to which they were going, he 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 stay 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.

We’re nearing the end of our “On the Road Again” series, so it’s fitting that today’s story is about Jesus’ last road trip before his ascension. This Emmaus road story is probably a familiar one, especially since Pastor Mark preached on this story a couple months ago. But this time the story hits me in a different way--as a message of hope and a reminder that God is always speaking to us.

I want to begin by telling you about my watch. A couple Christmasses ago my wife bought me a Garmin smartwatch. I don’t utilize 10% of what it is capable of; I just use it to tell time and keep track of my daily steps.

I quickly allowed that watch to determine my worth as a human being. Each night before I got into bed I would check my watch to see if I hit the magic total of 10,000 steps. Anything under 10,000 and I felt like I was a failure. Anything over and I felt like I couldn’t have possibly been a more fantastic human being that day. As far as measures of a man go, it was a pretty weak one; but at least it was quantifiable (unlike those other measures like character and relationships).

It should be noted, I did employ some mind games in relation to my daily step count. I noticed that I was not getting credit for steps when I mowed the grass (I guess that’s because I have a push mower and my hands are steady the whole time). Same thing when I went grocery shopping with a cart...no credit for those steps. So, on those nights when my count was under 10,000 I would mentally bridge the gap with whatever arbitrary value I needed.

What really hurt was when I discovered that the opposite was true; that is, my watch was giving me credit for steps that I knew deep down I did not earn. This was made explicitly clear following a drive to Chicago. I left early in the morning, not having gone for a walk before I left. I stepped out the car, glanced at my watch to double check I arrived on time, and noticed my step count had surpassed 5,000 for the day. Apparently my car needs new struts because the vibration convinced my watch I had been walking while in the car. I ended up with over 10,000 steps total that day; and as much as I tried to own it, I heard the little voice inside my head tell me my steps were a lie!

This watch is incapable of giving me an accurate reading of my actual steps, but it is pretty accurate with regards to my soul. Ever since I have owned and worn this watch, a little voice in my head has been telling me that not only was the step count not accurate, but also that it was counting things that ultimately didn’t matter. That’s not to say movement and activity is unimportant, but that certainly does not correlate with character.

I think about this when I read about the two Christ-followers who were on the road to Emmaus, all the while accompanied by Jesus himself, though they did not know it. The two characters were so focused on the wrong things (namely their disappointment and grief) that they missed the presence of Jesus. And yet, once Jesus was revealed to them in the breaking of the bread, one says, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?"

You see, we all have little voices and burning hearts desperately trying to crack through the surface of our thoughts, but our egos go to great lengths to keep them submerged. These little voices and burning hearts are one of the significant ways that God speaks to us. God gives us permission, even encourages us, to pay attention to the whispers of our own burning hearts.

In the story about my watch, my little voice and burning heart-whispers were telling me to stop lying to myself about the steps; that they were not a measure of my success or value as a person.

In the story of the Emmaus road, the little voices and burning heart-whispers were telling them that Jesus was still among them, physically and materially, even though he had died.

I am confident that each one of you has a little voice and a burning-heart whispering profound, beautiful, and God-given truths to you. I am confident that each one of you, like me, and like those two on the road, usually fail to hear or heed them, often because you are too busy paying attention to the loud voices of your selfish desires or distorted impressions of yourselves.

Think back to a recent argument or conflict in which you were engaged with someone else. At any point did you hear a voice whispering, “You can let this one go; you can walk away; you can be right and not have to prove it by tearing the other person down.” But instead your pride and ego took hold, your heels dug in, and the conflict lingers still today. Please tell me I’m not the only one this happens to!

Think back to a recent time in which your thoughts were stuck on all the ways you are a failure or a disappointment. Maybe your first reaction was to numb yourself from that pain by watching another hour of television, scroll mindlessly through social media, stuff yourself with junk food, or pour yourself another glass of alcohol. In the midst of that, did you ever hear your burning heart whisper the truth that you were actually a beloved image-bearer of the divine and worthy of love and respect?

For some reason our negative and damaging thoughts carry more weight in our minds than positive ones. That is as true for us as it was back in Biblical times. The Emmaus travelers had faith in the good news that Jesus was alive; however, their disappointment and focus on the situation at hand kept that truth buried. It’s easy to let the bad stuff build up on the surface of our lives so much that it is all we end up noticing.

But hear the good news: those “good news” whispers became shouts and their burning hearts became raging fires of the Spirit through something as simple as the sharing of a meal after a long journey.

The two travelers had ventured far enough away from Jerusalem, far enough away from the center of their disappointment and pain, that Christ was able to break through to them through something as ordinary as a shared loaf of bread.

It took those travelers a 7-mile journey on foot. It took me a 200-mile shaky car ride. I don’t know how much distance you will need to put between yourself and all the lies you tell yourself; but I do know that God will break through the surface and fan the flame of your heart that had all along been burning with the knowledge and love of God. I’m not suggesting that you need to run away from your problems to solve them; but a little road trip often yields just enough perspective to see things for what they really are.

Amen.

John 6:51-58

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" So Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever."

I would guess every person here has bought something this weekend. Maybe it was a ticket to the high school football game on Friday night. Maybe gas for your car, a meal out, food from the grocery store. Maybe a gift for someone else, a gift for yourself, an online impulse buy, or an online automatic purchase. Each one of us looked at an object and said, “That thing has value and I will give something that is mine in order to have it.”

Entire economic courses and divisions of companies are dedicated to the how and why of value attribution and pricing structures. The concept of supply and demand is one part of the equation. There’s also the idea that there is an ideal price point that makes the object affordable for the consumer, but still pricy enough for the seller to make a profit. It’s an amazing psychological dance between seller and consumer that produces a world where things for sale for $999 sounds like a much better deal than a similar item that costs $1,001.

In fact, an object’s price is part of what makes it desirable. If Gucci handbags cost only $3, they would cease to be as desirable because everyone could have one. If Fruit of the Loom came out with a pair of underwear that cost $50, no one would buy it; but Under Armour can sell $50 pairs of underwear without breaking a sweat (pun intended).

Speaking of handbags and underwear, let’s bring it back to Jesus.

Jesus is in a bit of a bind. He knows that his physical body will not last forever; in fact, he knows it will not last much longer. And yet, there is nothing more valuable to the world than Jesus’ flesh and blood. The people need the incarnated divinity in their lives even when he is gone.

The very idea of salvation (that is, an intimate and restorative connection to the divine) is found in the incarnation of the divine into the body of a first-century Jewish man – the Word made flesh. So how would Jesus make the gift of salvation available when creation can no longer gaze into his eyes, touch the hem of his cloak, feel his restorative touch, or hear his stories?

Jesus’ surprising solution is to declare that the incarnation of the divine will continue in perpetuity in something as seemingly mundane as bread and wine.

If church and communion have been a part of your life for a long time, you might take this idea for granted. But try to let it sink in anew. The flesh and blood of Jesus of Nazareth is just as infused with divinity as bread and wine that is given and consumed in his name.

This idea has to sound bonkers to economists and marketers. Jesus–the most precious and valuable “thing” in the world–promises to be found in two of the most common physical objects in the world. I mean, can you imagine God placing such value on something so mundane? It would be like if God would look at ash and dust and declare that it is valuable.

Which, by the way, is exactly what God does.

Which, by the way, begs the question, “What is it that we value?”

Do we have the capacity to see the divine in something mundane and easily missed, like ashes, soil, wheat, bread, a poor person, a kid who is bullied, or a person with a physical or mental illness?

Do we have the capacity to ascribe value to the things and people who are overlooked and taken for granted our world? If so, we are walking in the footsteps of the incarnated Christ. If Christ is eternal, then the idea of the common and mundane being valued is an eternal truth.

Allow me to approach this idea from a completely different angle.

I am blessed with a spouse who keeps me organized and forces me to purge things I have accumulated. So one day I was in the basement, at my spouse’s request, looking through the boxes of stuff that my parents had dropped off. A couple boxes were full of baseball cards. Then I found my collection of old comic books. I opened the box and found a note on the top that was handwritten on a piece of paper. It read,

“Hi Aaron! Well it’s 1999 and you’re about to graduate. Cool. These comics are estimated to be worth over $1,000 now. I want you to sell these and use the money towards your tuition.” Signed, “Aaron Stamper.”

It was a letter I wrote to myself over 25 years ago...apparently back when I thought the word "want" had an apostrophe in it. The letter is precious on a number of levels. First, who doesn’t love it when kids write to older versions of themselves? Second, it’s humorous that I thought $1,000 would make much of a dent towards tuition. Third, it’s downright hilarious that I thought those comics would be worth anything at all. It’s an idea that I had regarding my baseball card collection also. I always assumed that the things that gave me so much joy, like comics and baseball cards, would only grow in value and that I could capitalize on them at a later date.

I had Lindsey read the letter, and of course she laughed…and then she told me to get rid of them. So I did. I got rid of MOST of them – the cards, that is...I couldn't part with the comics. But I also gave a few baseball cards to my boys – a completely random assortment of late-80s baseball players with mustaches and a surprising number of pastel uniforms. We sat together to sort them by team and rank them by which teams and players were best back then. Next, we used the cards to play games the boys dreamed up.

Those cards and comics didn’t make me rich or even pay for one cent of my college tuition. I never could monetize them. But there was something beautiful about watching my kids play with things that I valued, but which they valued for a completely different reason.

The eternal truth I proclaim this morning is that the things we think are valuable often end up insignificant; but the things that are truly valuable are the things that are all-too-easily overlooked.

The meal we share every week is financially insignificant. I mean, a prime rib dinner would be a much more impressive meal than a humble offering of bread and a couple drops of wine. And yet is the most outrageously valuable thing any of us will touch, taste, smell, or see. Only when we realize this can we then go out into the world and see everything and everyone, no matter how seemingly-insignificant, as truly valuable.

Amen.

On the Road & Burning Hearts

Bread and Baseball Cards