“What did you expect?”: a sermon for the FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT (30 NOVEMBER 2025)
Text: Gospel of St. Luke 24.13-53
Divine Comedy. Would you like to go for a walk? Just to be clear, this is not an invitation
to leave the room. Rather, I’d like for
you to join me as I walk through this Gospel passage – which, as it happens, is
all about two walks undertaken on the same day but each in a very different
mood. This story, which begins on Easter
afternoon, is full of pathos and what the late NT exegete Richard B. Hays called
“exquisite dramatic irony”[1];
indeed, I find it to be quite humorous, even playful. This Gospel scene reminds one of a Shakespearean
comedy. Of course, the God of Israel is
somewhat of a wily
God – he seems to enjoy surprises and plot twists. The New Testament claims that he did indeed
keep all the promises made to his people, and yet as he did so, he upended
all expectations
for how he would prove faithful to Israel.
God sends his Son into the world to redeem it – surely the most
important event in the history of humanity – and yet when this divine dénouement occurs, no one
realizes what is happening. Those who do pay attention to
the death of Jesus misinterpret it, except for the centurion in charge of the proceedings on Calvary (cf.
Mk. 15.39; Lk. 23.47). How ironic! As Jesus expires on the cross, the only
person – according to Mark’s account – who realizes who he is (too late?)…is
the soldier who nailed him there!
Instead of the Creator God acting in an
overwhelming, inexorable, undeniable display of divine power and glory, he
saves the world secretly –
albeit under everyone’s noses (and redefines “power” and “glory” as he does so). Once the act of salvation is accomplished,
two things have to happen. 1 – those
disciples who had followed Jesus before his crucifixion find themselves in need
of a scriptural interpretation of his death – as we shall soon see, an
interpretation the risen Jesus is all too happy to provide! 2 – these followers, who have now become witnesses to the resurrection, must
be sent to the four corners of the earth to inform humanity that it has indeed
been redeemed. The early Christians are
sent to announce good news,
comforting news, to a clueless world…your sins are forgiven (cf. Lk. 24.44-48; 23.34)! Luke’s Gospel begins and ends with the
message of forgiveness – John the Baptist had proclaimed it and the risen Jesus
reiterates this liberating proclamation.
JOURNEY
1: “EXILE” FROM JERUSALEM
A walk to Emmaus. Our Gospel episode opens with two people
walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus, having an emotionally charged conversation as
they go – arguing, reminiscing, ruminating.
Two people leaving Jerusalem in tears.
All kinds of biblical allusions are triggered by this opening line. Indeed, to quote Richard Hays again: he describes
Luke’s work as being “thick with Scriptural memory”[2]. Israel’s history echoes loudly as these two
figures take their leave of Jerusalem, after having experienced perhaps the
most tragic Passover of their lives… readers may recall the moment from
Israel’s past when the residents of Jerusalem were led away to exile in Babylon; or perhaps,
going all the way back – and if Cleopas’ companion is indeed a woman – one
calls to mind the primal pair who were exiled from the Garden to face a future which held
only one certainty –they were doomed to die. Our
grieving couple – perhaps members of the group of 70 disciples whom Jesus had
previously sent on mission (cf. Lk. 10.1) – have heard the report of the women
who had gone to the tomb that very morning.
However, their tale of an empty tomb and an angelic announcement of the
resurrection had not comforted them; they are still in shock about what had happened
on Friday, grief-stricken and now perplexed as to just what the women were
talking about (cf. Lk. 24.10-11).
History rhymes. I suggest that the peregrinations of our two
disciples reproduce the wanderings of the people of God as they were exiled
from Jerusalem to Babylon in the 6th century B.C. only for some of
them to return to Jerusalem 70 years later.
As Mark Twain had it: “History doesn’t repeat itself; but sometimes it
rhymes.” We’ll speak of the third journey
– the sending forth of the apostles from Jerusalem to “the ends of the earth”
(cf. Ac. 1.8; Lk. 24.47) – in a little bit.
Our two disciples walk along, absorbed in
their melancholic musings, when they are joined by Jesus – the first time the risen
Lord appears in Luke’s narrative. But of
course, they don’t recognize him. The
narrator’s note in v. 16 indicates that these two are people who knew Jesus,
and under normal circumstances, would have been expected to rejoice upon
crossing paths with him. As Lauren
Miller says in her 2017 novel All Things New:
“We see what we want to see, what we
expect to see,
instead of what's really there. I don't think we do it on purpose, most of the
time. We just get kind of stuck. We start thinking that the way things are is
the way they'll always be. But that's not true. It can't be true. Because the
world is never still.”
Then
again, there seems to be another force at work here – “their eyes were kept from recognizing
him”. It seems like our two friends are
not yet ready to behold the Messiah of Israel and Lord of the world; first,
they must learn to “see” him in the Scriptures and in “the breaking of the
bread”. The women’s report of the empty
tomb had not been enough for them and the Scriptures remain shut to their
closed minds (cf. Lk. 24.45). Blind
eyes, closed minds, cold hearts (cf. Ac. 28.26-27; Is. 6.9-10). Jesus – still incognito – will now proceed to “open” both their
minds and the words of the prophets (cf. Lk. 24.32). Only then will their hearts burn and their eyes
“be opened”. So, this “Stranger” to
Jerusalem asks – twice – what his sad companions are discussing so
intently. We can imagine Jesus with his
tongue in his cheek as he enquires – innocently – What are you talking about? This is striking: the risen Jesus – the one
who had very recently undergone rejection, betrayal, torture and death – is playing
a joke on these people! The two disciples proceed to
relate “the things” concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who had shown himself to be a
mighty prophet, but who had met a tragic end at the hands of the Judaean
authorities. Even as the couple makes
reference to the horrific events of the preceding chapter, the way that Luke
has set up their account of Jesus’ condemnation and death evacuates it of its
terror – pathos
meets bathos.
The hope of Israel. The utter disappointment of the two travelers
– “we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel” (Lk. 24.21) – echoes the
sentiments that are expressed at the beginning of the Gospel narrative, in the
courts of the Jerusalem Temple. As the
infant Jesus is presented to be circumcised and named, Luke tells us that
someone was waiting for him:
“there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was
Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the
consolation of Israel” (Lk. 2.25).
Not only Simeon, but the prophetess Anna,
upon seeing the infant Jesus, “began to praise God and to speak about the
child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Lk. 2.38).
Luke
has book-ended his Gospel with reference to “the hope of Israel”, with members
of the people of God looking to be comforted and redeemed, as the prophets had
promised they would be. The
atmosphere of Luke’s Gospel is charged with expectation. Indeed, the Hebrew Scriptures invite just
such great expectations. Not only are
the Scriptures full of promises for Israel’s – and the world’s – future, but
the Scriptural narrative is incomplete.
The story of the people of God as told in the Hebrew Bible lacks an
ending. The loose threads of the
biblical narrative demand to be tied up.
How – and when – will this happen?
This is the question that inspired the New Testament authors to put
quill to papyrus.
What precisely was the content of the hope
of Israel? What exactly were the people
of God at the time of Jesus expecting?
Luke’s vocabulary is a clue which points us to a portion of Scripture
which will answer our question. The
language of redemption and consolation – not to mention the voice crying in the
wilderness to “prepare the way of the Lord” (Lk. 3.4-6; cf. Is. 40.3ff) – is
prominent in chapters 40—55 of the prophet Isaiah. This portion of the book of Isaiah is about
one thing – the return of both Yahweh and his people from exile. Matthew, Mark and Luke all plug their Gospel
narratives into “second Isaiah” by quoting the verse about the voice in the
wilderness near the beginning of their stories and by making the bold move of presenting
John the Baptist as the one who prepares the way of the Lord, which leads on to the even bolder
identification of the Lord as Jesus!
Isaiah
chapter 40 famously begins:
“Comfort, O comfort my people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.” (Is. 40.1-2)
These
opening notes clearly indicate that the exile in Babylon had been the result of
Israel’s sins. Now that the exile is
said to be over, the people of God can be assured that Yahweh has forgiven
them.
Listen
to the “comfortable” words of Is. 52:
“How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,
who brings good news,
who announces salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
8 Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices;
together they shout for joy,
for in plain sight they see
the
return of the Lord to Zion.
9 Break forth; shout together for joy,
you ruins of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted his people;
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The Lord has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God.” (Is. 52.7-10)
Fulfillment. All this to say that Luke believes that the
Scriptures have been (unexpectedly) fulfilled through the story he is telling
in his two-volume work. Indeed, the work
as a whole is book-ended with quotations of Is. 40.5 (“all flesh shall see the
salvation of God”: cf. Lk. 3.6; Ac. 28.28).
Luke is convinced that Israel’s long state of “being in exile” has
finally been brought to a close and that the people of God have indeed been
redeemed. Luke is not content to
describe all this in an abstract way – rather, within his narrative, Luke has
certain characters – the risen Jesus, the apostles – explain to others that
this is precisely what is going on!
People within the narrative are taught how to make sense of what they
are experiencing – in the light of the Scriptures. Then again, this is not quite the same thing
as teaching someone grammar, or the multiplication tables. This is a strange, multi-faceted process
which completely involves those engaged in it.
Those “whose eyes have been opened” to the new reality unveiled by the fresh
interpretation of both Scripture and experience must adapt to the new story in
which they find themselves.
What did you expect? After patiently listening to the couple’s
explanation of why they are so downcast – and as he struggled to keep a
straight face – the Stranger – we suspect, with a twinkle in his eye –
exclaims:
“You idiots!
Haven’t you read the Bible? What did
you expect? Wasn’t it necessary for the Messiah to suffer
these things?”
We
can imagine a thought bubble appearing above the two disciples, containing the
retort they must have been very tempted to shoot back at this obnoxious and
pretentious person:
“Actually, we expected Jesus to liberate us
from our enemies, from all oppression…as the Scriptures say the Messiah
will do. No, we did not expect him to suffer and
die! Why would we have?”
The
Stranger proceeds to conduct a lengthy Bible study, interpreting the Scriptures
in such a way that what happened to Jesus – him – makes biblical sense.
The people of God had been yearning for
consolation and redemption. The two
disciples on the road are themselves comforted as “the Stranger” opens the Scriptures to them –
indeed, their “slow” hearts begin to burn within them! Their description of their disappointment –
“we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel” – is dripping with
irony. Little did they know, as they
walked along, that this Stranger had already redeemed them. Their sins had been atoned,
and they didn’t even know it! The Scriptures
had been opened,
but their eyes remained “closed” to the identity of this man, who seemed
to know quite a bit about the Messiah. The
two disciples seem to have accepted the Stranger’s interpretation of the
Scriptures, according to which the Messiah would have to suffer – but as they
approach their home, they seem to not yet have connected the dots…that the one
they had hoped would redeem Israel had indeed suffered…Could Jesus
have been the Messiah after all?
This couple had left Jerusalem, believing
their expectations to have been utterly disappointed, only to be given new hope
that perhaps the Scriptures themselves indicated that this had been the divine
plan all along. As they arrive home while
the sun sinks below the horizon, they invite this knowledgeable Stranger to
dine with them and presumably, spend the night under their roof. Once the man performs the eucharistic actions
of taking, blessing, breaking and giving bread to his hosts, their eyes are
finally “opened” and they recognize their Master – only for him to vanish
immediately out of their sight. That
“their eyes were opened” seems to be an echo of Genesis, when the original man
and woman became aware of their nakedness (cf. Gn. 3.7). Now, the couple from Emmaus are the very
first disciples to
become aware of the meaning of Jesus’ death.
This is staggeringly comic – the risen Jesus has to explain the meaning
of his own death! These two disciples
have come to understand that Jesus has indeed redeemed Israel, just as they had
hoped! Of course, according to Isaiah, the
Redeemer of Israel is none other than Yahweh himself… If Yahweh has redeemed his people –
who are his instrument of salvation – that means that the exile of the entire
human race is over.
JOURNEY
2: RETURN TO JERUSALEM
If exile – Israel’s as well as humanity’s
– has truly come to an end, there is of course only one thing to be done. The two disciples, though the darkness is
gathering, immediately take to the road to return to Jerusalem. They have become, like the women had become
at the day’s dawning, witnesses to “the salvation of their God”. Their feet must return to Zion to announce
good news of peace and salvation to the community gathered around the Eleven
apostles (perhaps the 120 mentioned in Ac. 1.15?). Some commentators suggest that the two
walkers would have arrived back in Jerusalem around 9 p.m. (Easter Sunday).
JOURNEY
3: FROM JERUSALEM…TO THE NATIONS
Luke’s Gospel ends with the risen Jesus preparing
his followers for a mission to “all nations” (Lk. 24.44-49). In terms of Isaiah 40—55, this makes perfect
sense. In Isaiah 49, the “servant of the
Lord” claims to have received a message from Yahweh:
“And now the Lord says,
who formed me in the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him,
and that Israel might be gathered to him…
he says,
…I will give you as a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Is. 49.5-6)
As
he had done during his ministry with the 12 and the 70, Jesus will now send his
“witnesses” far beyond Galilee and Judaea – clothed with the power of his
Spirit – to announce the word of forgiveness.
The early Christians were called to proclaim “Peace!” to the whole
earth. In the final chapters of Luke’s
Gospel, all the disciples go through a triple process – they have (unknowingly)
witnessed the fulfillment of Scripture, they have been taught how to re-read
Scripture in light of the things fulfilled among them, and now, they discover
that the Scriptures will continue to be fulfilled through their words and
actions, undertaken
in obedience to their risen Lord. They
will carry the Scriptural story forward, and in turn, their “Acts” will become
enshrined in the Scriptures of the New Covenant, and so the nexus of God, his
people and his (written) Word goes ever on…
What
do you expect this Advent?
To riff on the old Yiddish proverb, “If
you want to make God laugh, get attached to your expectations.” The risen Jesus told the couple on the road
that what they were grieving was the very thing they should have been
expecting. Hard to accept. How did they miss it so completely? If our couple was crying on the way to
Emmaus, I think they were laughing all the way back to Jerusalem. Laughing at themselves (and perhaps at their
local Rabbi), laughing at the fact that they, of all people, should have been
granted an exposition of Scripture by the freshly resurrected Messiah, laughing
at how subtle and cunning God’s plan of salvation was, laughing at the wonder
of it all. What happens to Isaiah
chapter 55 when read in the light of all this?
“8For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord…
10 For as the rain and the snow come down from
heaven
and do not return there until they have watered the
earth,
making it bring forth and sprout…
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose…
12 For you shall go out in joy
and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall burst into song,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall
come up the cypress;
instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle…” (Is.
55.8-13)
Of
course, just as it was “In the beginning”, when God’s word accomplishes God’s
purpose, the result is new creation. As
they found themselves dumbstruck on the way faced with the Stranger’s incisive
question (What did you expect?), these two disciples stood in for the entire
people of God.
Can we do now what they were enabled to do
then – can we go back to the Bible with fresh eyes? Can we read Scripture again for the
first time? Richard Hays yet again: Luke has told this
particular tale in such an evocative and teasing way in order to provoke us to
re-read his Gospel so that we can “recognize” all the ways that Jesus is
fulfilling Scripture… Do we dare to open
the Bible once more? Of course, the
really scary thing about the Bible is not that we may stumble across some rule
that we don’t want to obey, but rather that this strange and playful text is
inviting us to become part of the story, to read Scripture as a “script” – to live into it and out of
it. The Bible shows us a world; indeed,
it creates a world – a world we are summoned to inhabit and to steward, like
the primal pair in Genesis. Which story
will we inhabit, which world will we live in?
What do you expect to do?
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