“What did you expect?”: a sermon for EASTER SUNDAY 2026
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 Easter?
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’m pretty sure 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? It’s Easter again. What
do you expect to do?
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