Hello, you're listening to Second City Sermons,
a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown,
Harrisburg. This epiphany in Lent, we're back
in the Gospels, specifically the Gospel of Mark.
We are seeing the revelation of God in Jesus.
Mark is showing us the true King becomes a servant
for us. He says right at the heart, the Son of
Man came not to be served, but to serve and to
give his life as a ransom for many. And Mark
is nearly always asking his audience, what do
you make of that? So, what do you make of this
good news? We'd love to meet you and we hope
you'll consider coming and joining with us each
Sunday morning at 10 a .m. in the heart of Midtown
Harrisburg. You can find us online at secondcitychurch
.org and on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
We hope you enjoy this sermon. God bless. Thanks
be to God. Let's pray. Lord, we bless you and
we praise you, Lord, for freeing this sister
who is seeking to care for these women. God,
I pray that you will do a great work even through
her short imprisonment. God, that through her
suffering, Christ might receive great glory.
And God, even through this answered prayer, that
we, your church here, all the way around the
world, Might devote ourselves more to life with
you and to laying our burdens before you and
Finding in you that our despair is turned to
hope that our sorrows can be turned to joy God
bless us now as we look at this resurrection
narrative Or through this news I feel like our
hearts at least my heart already feels like it
is burning for you to work So I pray that you
would do that now. Amen All right You just heard
from Elise one of my favorite passages in the
Bible and I know I say that occasionally But
it's true. I can have multiple favorites just
like you can this is one of them I Love this
story because it has some suspense to it. It
has some sorrow and grief. It also has some humor
in it It always seemed a little strange to me
that Luke is the only one that recounts this
story. It's just so wonderful. Most likely, because
he tells us actually in chapter one that one
of the things that he's doing in his gospel is
he's trying to give a true account of the things
that happened. And he interviews people and all
these kinds of things. And he mentions Cleopas
here probably because he had interviewed Cleopas.
Hey, what are some of the stories of Jesus? And
Cleopas probably said, I've got a good one for
you. tell you about our walk back to Emmaus.
I think it's just such a wonderful story. And
that's why you've heard it a few times from my
lips. We've looked at this story a few times
together. And so when I was preparing for it,
I searched some of my old sermons and this is
where it's a little embarrassing. And last year
on this very week I preached from this passage
and I didn't remember that. I was like, how are
you supposed to remember what I'm saying if the
words from my own mouth seem to go out sometimes
and they die in my own ears? I preached this
passage not once last Easter tide, but twice.
The second week of Easter, which we are on today,
and the third week of Easter. Anyway, I am not
gonna give you my sermon from last year. partly
because it just doesn't work that way. In case
you're wondering, I've never actually gone back
and been like, wow, that was really great. They
need to hear that again. But I am going to give
you a similar introduction and tell you something
that I said last year. So what I want us to do
in this Easter tide is I want us to look, actually
what we're going to do is we're going to look
at some of the resurrection narratives, the post
resurrection narratives of Jesus. And then also
through those stories say, who are we to be as
a people? What does it mean for second city church?
And what are some of our priorities in light
of Jesus post resurrection interactions with
his disciples? Okay. So this morning we're going
to consider this idea that we are to be the people
of the word. And you can think about the power
of words, especially in light of me not even
remembering that I preached this text twice last
year, last April, this very month, a year ago.
Here is the shortest of Emily Dickinson's poems,
which I gave you last year also. It's called
A Word is Dead. A word is dead when it is said.
Some say. I say it just begins to live that day.
Since it's so short, I'm going to read it twice.
A word is dead when it is said. Some say. I say
it just begins to live that day. And what I suggest
to you last week is that that tends to be true
of most words, almost all words, significantly
powerful words, but then actually the odd thing
is that my own words seem to die in my own ears.
But my encouragement to us is to actually interact
with the living word. The real word as it comes
to us from God the Father the Lord Jesus Christ
and the Holy Spirit So think with me about the
scene that we have in Luke chapter 24 Think about
the story what we have is we have this couple
walking back to their home in Emmaus It says
about seven miles away about seven and a half
miles. We know today some people think that this
is Cleopas actually Clopas is is the name given
to us in John chapter 19 and his wife Mary So
Cleopas is mentioned here. It's very possibly
that it's Clopas and his wife Mary there in John
chapter 19. But you can sort of feel just the
dread as they walk back, the slow plodding of
their feet as they make their way back home,
having celebrated the Passover, having spent
time with their Lord. And if it's true that that's
who they were, then they were actually at the
very cross of Christ when Jesus tells John, You
know, there is his mother in Mary and Mary, there
is your son to John, the disciple of John. You
can imagine their dismay and the failure of their
hopes. They had seen Jesus there on the cross.
And so they're talking about these things that
they had witnessed. And again, think with me
of this week. This week began with the triumphal
entry. Remember that we reenacted in a slight
way as we wandered around our building and up
through our stairs and into this sanctuary and
they had thought probably they probably thought
here's the king here's the new ruler who's going
to put the world to right and yet as that week
continued on their hopes were dashed the one
who would bring the kingdom of god crucified
You know, they had probably heard the stories
of the Last Supper at the very least. Maybe it's
very possible that they were actually there in
that upper room. We don't know that it was just
the disciples. We know it was at least the disciples.
But there they were. They had probably heard
the story of the disciples fleeing in the garden.
Maybe they'd heard of the 30 pieces of silver
that Judah, just 30 pieces of silver that he
betrayed his Lord with, how he had gone and hung
himself. Certainly what they were talking about,
they were probably talking about all these things,
but almost certainly what they were talking about
was the crucifixion of Christ. That was probably
the central thing that they were talking about.
That their Lord, their teacher, their would -be
King died on a Roman cross. And the odd thing
probably they were talking about is their own
religious leaders that instigated it. And it
was the very power that they at least hoped would
be overthrown in the Roman empire. that brought
it about with their evil cross. There was so
much to talk about, but here's what's certain
about this walk and this long walk home, this
slow walk home, that of all the things that they
were talking about, it was something that took
away all of their hope, all of their joy, and
only brought despair. Because they were headed
back to a world where sickness, just like our
world seems rampant, where Work seems to be more
life -taking than right life -giving Where you
know, they're worrying about how the kids gonna
grow up. Are they gonna follow Jesus to the end?
For people move in and out of their lives They
put all their eggs in the basket of Jesus and
it seems as though the cross was the Easter bunny
who sat on them if you will Life with our bodies
and our minds don't seem to work, where our relationships
so rarely have the kind of intimacy that we desire
and long for and were made for. Just say they're
going back to a life like our lives, right? One
that you and I know. But then they encounter
the word. And oddly enough, it seems as though
they're slow trotting to Emmaus. which turns
them around to run back to Jerusalem at the end.
They encountered the word. And I want us to just
look at how they encountered the word and then
encourage us to say, this is how actually we
are invited to be people of the word, okay? So
the first way that they encounter the word is
actually, I'm titling this the questioning word.
Okay, the questioning word. First they encounter
the questioning word. So please open your Bible,
grab that. Bible in the pew in front of you.
It's on page 1051. So here's the thing, for all
the times that I have preached this text, I have
never pointed out and I don't even know that
I have exactly noticed that in all of these verses
from Luke chapter 24, 13, all the way to Luke
chapter 24, verse 35, in all 22 verses, the only
times that we hear the actual words of Jesus
other than his rebuke are in questions. We're
never given what we kind of want, right? What
we want, well, we're gonna get to this in a second,
is the great details of the Bible study, right?
Instead, what we get is Jesus' questions. Verse
17, look down there with me. And he said to them,
what is this conversation you're holding with
each other as you walk? And I love this. And
they stood still looking sad. They're just, I
mean, they're just taking it in and just asking
us a question. But this is what questions do,
right? They invite contemplation actually. Maybe
that question was exactly what they needed to
hear to get them to pause for a moment and to
sit in the sadness of what had taken place and
to contemplate. So then the next verse, verse
18, then one of them named Cleopas answered him,
are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does
not know the things that have happened there
in these days? And verse 19, and he said to them,
what things? Now keep in mind, Y 'all, we are
talking about the risen Christ. The long -awaited
Messiah, He just conquered death. He paid the
debt of our sin. He conquered the powers of darkness.
Does Jesus know what conversation they are having?
Yes, I would bet on it. Does He know the things
that have just happened in Jerusalem? Yeah. He's
like at the center of it all, no doubt. I mean,
if indeed this is the Clopas and Mary who are
mentioned in John chapter 19, he had just seen
them a few days earlier. They were one of the
last people he saw before he died. And yet Jesus
questions them. It seems as though this is his
desire for them to ask questions so that he's
not just stating, here's what you gotta do, here's
what you gotta believe. The truth is that a word
can often be dead in a way if it is just a statement.
But a question invites more life, more participation,
right? More dialogue and reflection and response.
A question brings forth life, whereas a statement
so often dies. Not one of my favorite playwrights,
I remember reading him years ago, the absurdist
Eugene Eugène Ionesco, his French playwright,
wrote, it's not the answer that enlightens, but
the question. And he's right. Jesus rarely gives
answers. Have you noticed this? Sometimes it's
almost annoying. Jesus just answered the question,
but He wants our participation. He wants our
life with Him. He asked questions. Think about
this. The very first thing that Jesus says in
the Gospel of John is a question. What are you
seeking? What a way for the Word who has made
flesh to first engage with others. What do you
desire? Would you say, what are your hopes? What
are you seeking? Jesus questioning us, not just
them long ago. And interestingly, I actually
read this week that if you count them all up
through the ministry of Jesus, there are nearly
300 questions that Jesus asks. Let me give you
just a few of them. Why do you worry about clothes?
If you love those who love you, What reward will
you get? Aren't those questions still pertinent
today? How we obsess over the things that we
have or how we just want to love those who think
like us and act like us and disdain those who
are different. Here's another question of Jesus.
Why are you so afraid? Another one, why do you
doubt? This great question that I hope you are
all wrestling with and inviting others to wrestle
with. Who do you say that I am? And genuinely.
We could go on and on and our whole sermon could
just be me asking questions that Jesus asks us.
But this shouldn't be any surprise for us because
what does God himself do after Adam and Eve first
sinned in the garden way back when in Genesis
chapter 3? But he asks them a question. Where
are you? Where are you in relation to me? Friends,
for all the questions we may have about God,
what's most important actually is that he is
asking us questions. And I want us to be a people
who invite the questioning word. Because what
God is doing in Christ and asking these questions
is he's inviting us into actually dialogue with
him and life with him and an ongoing life with
him of dialogue. That's what questions do. And
let me say this, okay, the questioning word does
come to us through the scriptures. I just mentioned
that the gospel writers give us nearly 300 questions
from our Lord himself, but often actually the
questioning word comes through the body of Christ
living, the church, right? You together. So often
the questioning, Word comes to us over cups of
coffee with a friend, right? Or in our small
group settings or whatever, right? Questions
like this. What hopes have dashed your life today?
It's not just back then, but it's in the questioning
of our life together now. Where are you finding
joy? Which is another way of saying, what do
you desire? What are your hopes? I mean, ask
each other. Who do you say that Jesus is? Invite
dialogue through the body of Christ. It's the
application we can have, right? Invite thoughtful
questions. Because what we see actually, and
this is what happens, right? It's through these
questions, Jesus just says what things, and what
happens is that their initial, right? They stood
still looking sad. That's what happens after
their first question, and then Cleopas speaks
up. Well, after their second question, they begin
to recount. Right concerning the things of Jesus
of Nazareth the man prophet mighty indeed and
it keeps going on for a little while They actually
begin to open up as the question is posed to
them life Participating in life comes out of
these questioning words from God And yet there
is a moment here or sort of a movement to another
commitment that I hope we have with regards to
the word. So I want us to be a people that invite
the questioning word, but I also want us to be
a people who sort of investigate the given word,
okay? And that's sort of our next thing, the
given word. So Jesus asked this question in 19,
what things? And then, you know, Cleopas opens
up and he recounts what had happened in Jerusalem.
And then in verse 24, it ends like this. Some
of those who were with us went to the tomb and
found it just as the woman had said But him they
did not see which is why they're making their
way home, right and Jesus then says The one non
questioning statement he says in this in this
passage verse 25. He says this Oh foolish ones
which is how he treats his disciples sometimes,
right? You might remember a few weeks ago, he
said, oh, you little faiths, oh, foolish ones
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets
have spoken. Which is to say that as a people,
we can't just be a people that are committed
to the questioning word, to dialoguing with scripture,
but we actually have to be a people who are open
to the given word, to receiving what God has
given us, right? I hope you see the difference
there. There's the invitation to a questioning
word, but then we're supposed to actually investigate
what is it that God has actually said? How has
he already communicated himself? So then Jesus
gives this Bible study that we all wish we could
have been a part of, that we get no details of
here. Jerusalem to Emmaus is mentioned, it's
nearly about seven miles. And I imagine sort
of a slow... plodding walk, if they're downtrodden,
talking about the suffering of their Messiah.
And so maybe it's three hours long. And in these
three hours, we're told in verse 26 that beginning
with Moses and the prophets he interpreted to
them in all the scriptures, the things concerning
himself. And we could go over these things together.
That might be profitable, but we could talk about
The suffering Christ through the lens of the
sacrificial system of the Old Testament. We could
talk about David and how he was the great King
who looked for the greater King like in Psalm
2. Or how his Psalms so often pointed to the
suffering reality of this life and how they're
to be offered up as prayers to God to be received.
And we could talk about the suffering of Israel
through the deportation and the exile and all
that. But part of the point that I want us to
see here is that Jesus is saying you need to
search the scriptures Be a people that are devoted
to the scriptures He says oh foolish ones Did
you not know that it was necessary and then he
opens to them the Bible Questions are good. I
hope we all learn to be good askers of questions
Bringing your questions to God is good. Letting
God ask you questions is deeply, deeply important.
But we must be a people of the word who are devoted
to the study, to the memorization, to the contemplation
of what God has revealed, what he has given to
us in the Holy Scriptures. Second Timothy tells
us all scriptures breathed out by God and profitable
for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and
for training in righteousness. That the man of
God may be complete, equipped for every good
work. What I'm telling you is I think one of
this resurrection narrative here is Jesus inviting
us into receiving the word through questions,
but he's also saying, do you study? Do you know
what it says? Do you understand? Have you given
yourself to contemplating the word that I have
already given to you? One of the things I think
you'll quickly notice if you've been around Second
City for a little while is that we are people
of the given word. If you just look through your
liturgy, most weeks we have about seven or eight
scripture passages and they are intentionally
from all over in the Bible. All scripture is
breathed out by God and profitable. I wanna encourage
you to devote yourself to the study of scriptures.
Maybe start by joining, there's some of us that
are reading through the Bible in two years, okay?
So it's just a couple of chapters a day. If you're
wondering kind of like, where do I start? Just
jump in where we are. If I would have said that
a month ago, you might have... stopped in a week
because it was a pretty tricky part. It's getting
a little bit easier. It's soon going to get a
little more easy. Jump in with us. Maybe take
on this challenge, okay? Every month we have
this scripture passage that we encourage the
children to put to memory. What if this year
you said, I'm going to memorize all of those.
I'm going to put them to memory. And you just
devoted yourself. I'm gonna memorize the word
with my kids or with my friends. We're gonna
devote ourselves to the given word of God. Maybe
ask a few other people to read the Bible with
you. Just get together and read. Talk about it
some, but mostly just read. Devote yourself to
the given word. What I'm saying is that we as
a church, if we look at this resurrection narrative,
what we should actually desire is to be people
of the word and to invite the questions of God
into a life with God, but to understand that
the given word of God is still effective. It's
still life -giving. Useful for correction and
reproof and for teaching and for training today.
All right. Finally, what I want to suggest to
you is that this text invites us into being a
people of the suffering word. Okay, the questioning
word. the given word and the suffering word.
Again, I think it's really interesting that what
we have from the words of Jesus we have in this
beautiful passage, there's three questions, and
then there's a statement. And the statement isn't
the one that we normally want to hear from Jesus
to his disciples. Here's these dejected disciples,
they're kicking the rocks on their way back to
town, just like wondering what's happened? All
their hopes are dashed. And you sort of want
Jesus to just come around and be like, guys,
look at me. It's me. Instead, verse 25, he says,
oh, foolish ones. It's not exactly the Jesus
that we all picture, but he says, oh, foolish
ones, slow of heart to believe all the prophets
have spoken. And he says, was it not necessary
that the Christ should suffer? It was not necessary
that Christ should suffer these things and enter
into his glory. Anyway, he gives them this great
Bible study and they draw near to the village.
And probably one of my favorite details of this
story, what I find very humorous, is it says
that he acted like he was gonna go further. And
I just want you to picture Jesus acting. I wonder
how slow he walked. He was like, all right, I'm
moving on. What are you gonna do? And then they
invite him in, but while he's at table with them,
right? They invite him to be at table with them.
And it says in verse 30, that he took bread and
blessed it and broke it and gave it to them.
Which is exactly what is said just two chapters
earlier when Jesus is in the upper room with
his disciples And he takes bread and he blesses
it and he breaks it and he gives it to his disciples
and it's and he says this is my body broken for
you and It's in that moment of reenacting the
reality that his body is broken for his disciples
That says that their eyes were opened Their eyes
were opened They realized, they recognized him
when he was taken, blessed, broken and given,
which is to say it is in the remembrance of the
suffering reality of the word made flesh that
they actually see properly Jesus and they understand
properly their place in the world. Look with
me for a moment at the image on the front of
your bulletin. This is a famous picture by Caravaggio.
I want to draw your attention to the man on the
right. There's a lot of wonderful things that
are happening in this story. This is called the
Supper at Emmaus. But the man on the right is
reaching his arms out. And what I read is he's
reaching his arms out in astonishment. But you
could also see that he's reaching his arms out
actually. in the shape of a cross. And imagine
if this man was Cleopas. He would be doing this
both in this wonderful way of saying, wait, what
has happened? But wait, I remember that you're
the one whose body was broken. He's saying you
are the one that was hanging out on the cross
just like this. And now you're alive right before
me. His whole being as it were, is receiving
Jesus as the suffering word. What I'm saying
is that you cannot just, and it's at this moment
that they actually understood and that their
lives were changed and that they run back to
tell others. Because you cannot just receive
Jesus as the questioning one. It's kind of fun
to dialogue with God maybe. Most people who are
interested in spirituality will maybe say, oh,
let's question who God is and allow him to talk
to me and I'll talk to him and let's have a dialogue.
That's good. Jesus invites us into that. And
it's not enough just to sort of know what the
Bible says, though we should devote ourselves
to it. But what Jesus says is you miss the whole
thing if you do not understand that God comes
and he suffers. And it's in his suffering. That
you have life So thanks to what I'm saying is
we must be this people that receive him not just
as the questioning word the given word But as
the suffering word made flesh for us Dietrich
Bonhoeffer that great German theologian who opposed
Nazi power was imprisoned for it and died in
prison for that opposition. You might know this,
that he studied in New York City at Union Theological
Seminary. Maybe you know this. I think it was
1931. He was there for about a year. And you
may know that while he was there, he worshiped
primarily at a Baptist church, Abyssinian Baptist
up in Harlem. And he spent a lot of his time
actually studying the history of the black church
in the United States. He actually wrote this.
If it had not been for the black church, There
would probably be no church in this country Why
did he say that He said that because he understood
that the suffering of Christ the center of the
church's life and If you do not experience if
you do not know the reality of the suffering
Christ you miss it all You don't get it at all
He said the black church had such a commitment
to the experiential religion and God's suffering
that it gave them life and through them gave
life to others. And what we so often see, frankly,
is that the church is all about power grabs,
all about coddling up to those with power. And
what these disciples saw before them and what
made them turn was the broken body of Christ
taken blessed, broken, given. And their eyes
are open and they know why their hearts were
burning and their lives are changed. Because
that is what will change us. Receiving the questions
of God, devoting ourselves to the given word
and the scriptures, but also understanding that
it is in the suffering of Christ that we have
life. is where life comes from all right this
sermon is long enough let me read again this
poem a word is dead when it is said some say
and why i began let me say this actually why
i began with telling you that I forgot what I
preached this week even though it was the same
last week last year even though it was the same
text is because sometimes that's true sometimes
words go out and they seem to die she says I
say it just begins to live that day and that
is what we have in Christ That's what we have
in Jesus. That's what we have in his questions.
He's inviting us into a further life with him
That's what we have in the scriptures all scriptures
breathed out by God and is useful meaning has
continual life and even in the suffering life
of Jesus is found true life and so second City
Church What will we be committed to? What do
we want to be known for? I'd say we want to be
known as the people of the word, the people of
the questioning word and the given word and the
suffering word. And if we devote ourselves to
those things, we will be a transformed life giving
people. Amen. Lord, thank you for your word.
God, thank you for the word made flesh in Christ.
who John says comes to us right from the beginning
asking us, what do we desire? And he's giving
us life. Lord, I pray that we would be a people
who devote ourselves to the word, to allowing
you to ask us questions and to searching out
your scriptures and finding in them a life and
reproof and correction and training. But most
of all, Lord, I pray that we would find our life
in the suffering word, Jesus on the cross, that
God himself comes into the midst of sorrow, into
the midst of religion gone wrong and political
grabbing after power and all of this that seems
so wrong, Lord, that God, you come and you suffer
for us. God, I pray that we would find our life
in the cross, that we would find our joy in the
empty tomb. God, that Second City Church would
be a people of the Word. We pray this in the
name of Jesus, the Word made flesh. Amen. Thank
you for listening to Second City Sermons podcast.
We hope this sermon has encouraged you to worship
God and to celebrate the gospel of Jesus. Please
consider subscribing to this podcast and joining
us in person each Sunday at 10 a .m. You can
find us online at secondcitychurch .org and on
Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Thanks again
for listening. God bless.