True realisation (Lk. 24:1–12)

In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’” Then they remembered his words. (Luke 24:5-8)

Over the last few years of following Jesus around the countryside, teaching and preaching about all kinds of things, I wouldn’t blame these women for forgetting a few details about what Jesus had said. It’s hard enough to remember one sermon!

Only a week ago, Jesus rode into Jerusalem with shouts of praise for the King. Only a few days later, one of his own disciples hands him over to the authorities and he is mocked, punished and killed. They’d spent years building momentum, gathering more and more followers. They probably had no idea what the crescendo was going to be, but surely not this. They were feeling the raw shock of a sudden, seemingly premature end.

That Sabbath, that Saturday, would have been like no other. The eleven and all the other disciples of Jesus – probably over a hundred people – are together. What would that room have been like? Imagine the sense of disappointment, confusion, shock... I’d imagine that room was very quiet.

Don’t get used to it – there’s more shock to come! These women are doing what any grieving friends would – tending to the body of their friend and teacher. It’s as if they’re going out to the cemetery to put fresh flowers out for someone that has died far too young.

These two brightly shining men – who we’ve heard of before at various points in Scripture – ask why they’re looking for the living among the dead. “Well, because he was dead. We saw where he was laid only a couple of days ago. Dead people stay dead.”

“Remember what he told you about being killed and then rising on the third day?” Jesus had said many times before about how he would die, why he would die, and what would happen next. This wasn’t just one sermon, and he didn’t just give them the odd hint – he said it plainly, multiple times.

And then they remembered his words. “Oh yeah... He did say that didn’t he. But that means... Oh...” Those words hadn’t sunk in before, but now that they had become reality, it all starts to make sense. Now it begins to come back to them. They still have a million questions, and they still have no idea where he is. But they do remember his words – what has happened wasn’t a shock to Jesus. He knew all along what was going to happen, and he had told them about it along the way.

It's like watching one of those three-hour thriller movies for a second time. The first time blows you away because it only just starts to make sense right at the end. When you watch it again, you pick up things you didn’t notice the first time. A particularly good movie will keep giving you new things to think about even after the fifth and sixth time.

Jesus’ words, and the entire Scriptures, are like that. Most of us know the Christmas and Easter narratives reasonably well. There’s been countless movies, dramas and even

symphonies put together to retell these stories. These are rightly at the forefront of our knowledge of the Bible. It might seem like the stories get stale. We can know them so well that we struggle to get new meaning out of them. The thing is, the Word doesn’t change, but our world does.

The Word is a living Word, an active Word. It speaks into our changing world. It resonates in new ways because as people, we grow and change over time. If the Easter story has felt a little stale for you this year, consider what has changed in your life since the last time you heard it, and what Jesus’ death and resurrection might say about that.

So, there we have the words of Jesus which was what triggered the sense of understanding for those women.

The next passage from our gospel reading today is the account of those two disciples on the road to Emmaus. The risen Jesus turns up, but they are kept from recognising him. They chat about the events of the last couple of days, and then Jesus does this wonderful thing. “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Lk. 24:27)

They were clearly on quite a long walk. I wonder how he went about explaining all the bits in the Old Testament that point to himself.

But, unlike the women, these two disciples don’t recognise him by his words. How do they?

They arrive at the little village of Emmaus and invite this stranger in since it’s getting late. “When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognised him. And he vanished from their sight.” (Lk. 24:30-31)

It wasn’t unusual for the host of a meal to take the bread, give thanks, and break it. Maybe Jesus had quite a distinct way of breaking bread apart, who knows. But one thing is for sure – they’ve seen him do this before. This might not be the Lord’s Supper, but it’s certainly the same language and the same action as only a few days ago in that Upper Room. It’s when he does this that their eyes were opened, and they recognised him.

The women began to make sense of the resurrection when they remembered his words. When he broke the bread, these two disciples recognised him. What do these two moments of realisation mean for us?

It means that we also recognise Jesus by his words and by the breaking of bread. These are incredibly ordinary things! We talk and we eat every single day. These are part of our everyday life.

Jesus may no longer be physically present with us like he was for those witnesses of the resurrection, but we know for certain that he is with us wherever his words are spoken and wherever bread is broken in his name. This is most evident when we gather for worship.

Pretty much our entire liturgy is made up of words of Scripture. We of course hear the Bible read from the Old Testament, Moses and the Prophets, as well as the New, which helps us to better understand the words of the Gospels, which are the words most specifically about Jesus. The sermon of course helps us to absorb that Scripture with the help of the Spirit.

We have the unique practice of participating in Holy Communion every week here. Every time those Words of Institution are spoken, which are the very words of Jesus, we remember him and recognise him. His body and blood are truly present because that’s what he says.

It is the resurrection that makes all this possible. It’s the final piece of the puzzle. It’s the conclusion to the story of God’s salvation for us. As Christians, we live in the wake of the resurrection, in a post-resurrection era.

It’s the resurrection that gives us certain hope for our future. It’s the resurrection that gives the cross its full meaning. Christ took the punishment for the sins of the world, which is death, but then he turned death itself on its head.

When the words of Jesus are spoken, and the bread is taken and broken, the resurrected Jesus is who we remember and see. It’s the entire work of Christ that we praise God for today – his love for the world, his passion for humanity, and his power over death forever.