The following sermon is the third of six in the series titled, The Easter People, presented by the Reverend John W.

Howe, Rector of Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia.

The title is, Cleopas and Friend, and the scripture reference is Luke chapter 24, verses 13 through 35.

The holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.

Reading from chapter 24 beginning at the 13th verse.

That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus about seven miles from Jerusalem and talking with each other about all these things that had happened.

While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.

But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. and he said to them what is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk and they stood still looking sad then one of them named Cleopas answered him are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days and he said to them what things and they said to him concerning Jesus of Nazareth who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and crucified him.

But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.

Yes.

And beside all this, it is now the third day since this happened.

Moreover, some women of our company amazed us.

They were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body And they came back saying that they had even 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 him they did not see.

And he said to them, O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.

Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?

And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

So they drew near to the village to which they were going.

He appeared to be going further, but they constrained him, saying, Stay with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is now far spent.

So he went in to stay with them.

And when they saw at the table, he stood, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them.

And their eyes were opened and they recognized him and he vanished out of their sight.

They said to each other, did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?

And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem, and they found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them, who said, The Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon.

Then they told what had happened on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

The Gospel of the Lord.

There's a very famous black and white photograph that some of you may have seen.

It was taken a number of years ago, and it's a winter scene of trees and rocks and shadows against the snow.

When you first look at it, it appears to be nothing in particular, nothing discernible, just a random pattern of light and dark patches.

But as you continue to look at it, at least for most people, it suddenly snaps into focus.

And where you saw nothing before, you now see the unmistakable image of the head of Christ.

Have some of you seen that?

In fact, it's called Christ in the Snow.

It was an ordinary photograph.

Somebody just saw that and snapped it.

The interesting thing is that many people can look at that forever and they never see it.

Just look at it and just see nothing.

Others, once they have seen it, can never look at it again without seeing it.

I'm sure that virtually all of us have had that kind of experience with something, with maybe another piece of artwork or a photograph or some modern sculpture, maybe an advertising graphic.

Sometimes they hide things in the artwork so that your mind will do that.

You look at it one way, you see nothing.

And you look at it another way and suddenly a face or a scene or maybe a word or a logo emerges.

And once you've seen it, you can never not see it again.

A mystery story, a good mystery story, works exactly the same way.

You read Agatha Christie or you watch Murder, She Wrote and you see every one of those clues, don't you?

Except you don't until Miss Marple or Jessica Fletcher explains them to you and then you say, how could I have missed it, right?

At least that's the way it works for most people.

I mean, I can see that thing.

I haven't any idea.

See, I need a very simple plot.

James Bond shot the guy, took the girl, blew up the plant and lived happily ever after.

Apart from that, I really need some help.

Sometimes when we're singing in the Spirit, we begin each of us just offering up his or her notes of praise to the Lord.

It might be in English, it might be in tongues, it's just random notes.

But if an anointing from God comes upon the worship, He begins to weave those notes together and form chords and suddenly a melody emerges.

It may be one that we all know already or it may be one that God gives in that very moment.

A pattern emerges where there was none before.

And I want to suggest to you that for the Jews of the Old Testament, the promises of Messiah were something like all of these various illustrations.

They could stare at the photograph and never see anything but random patches of black and white.

They could hear the great promises of the prophets repeated over and over and somehow never quite catch the melody.

They could read the book from cover to cover and never figure out who done it.

And interestingly enough, that pattern continues on into the New Testament.

The disciples of Jesus. are exactly like that.

Just think of how often we hear Him saying to them, in frustration, if you can imagine the Lord Jesus getting frustrated, don't you understand yet?

Do you not perceive?

Do you not understand?

Having eyes, do you not see?

Having ears, do you not hear?

Do you not remember?

Do you not yet understand?

How can you be a teacher of Israel and not understand this?

over and over and over again we hear the gospel saying things like this they understood not the saying they understood none of these things they did not understand the scripture their minds were darkened and they did not understand see they had all the clues but somehow they couldn't put them together Saint Paul wrote to the Corinthians that even today when most Jewish people read the Old Testament it's as if a veil was over their eyes.

They can't see what it's saying.

Because only through Christ is that veil taken away.

Now, most of us are in the position of the folks who have had the picture snap into focus.

And having seen it, we can't not see it again.

So it is very difficult for us to think our way back into the mindset of those who haven't seen it yet.

We've heard the melody and our hearts soar with it.

One far greater than Jessica Fletcher has sorted out all the clues and we know who done it.

But I want you to try to do what I've just said is so difficult.

I want you to try for just a moment to put yourself back, back into the story before you've sorted it all out.

Put yourself back in Jerusalem on that first Easter day.

You're not one of the twelve.

You're part of a much larger company of disciples who have been following Jesus with varying degrees of conviction and hope that maybe He is indeed Messiah.

And you've come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, and it looked at the beginning of the week as if this might be the moment for Jesus to seize power, spark a political revolution, and begin something brand new.

But as the week unfolded, things went horribly the other way.

Faster than anybody could have imagined.

Witnesses stepped forward.

Accusations have been made.

Followers have defected.

A trial has taken place in the middle of the night.

A verdict has been rendered.

Sentence passed.

And an execution has been imposed.

Hard to imagine.

It could all be so swift.

And yet we've seen in our own day, very recently, in both the political world and the religious world, Persons of enormous influence collapsing like that, haven't we?

In the midst of total chaos at the end of the week, one thing is certain, only one thing, and that is that Jesus could not possibly be who he claimed to be because we all know Messiah, when he comes, will live forever.

And so, for three years, you've been hearing him say that he would die and rise again, but somehow it has never registered.

You've heard it without hearing it.

It made no sense, and it just didn't stick.

Passover has come and gone.

Jesus is dead and buried, and you're on your way home.

Your name is Cleopas. and you're walking with a friend and you're trying to sort out the incredible cataclysm of events that has just taken over everything that you've been involved with.

Suddenly, you go around a bend in the road and there's another person walking in the same direction and he sort of joins himself to you and he says, what are you talking about?

And you say, what else would we be talking about?

We're talking about what's just taken place these last few days. about Jesus of Nazareth.

We had hoped He might be the one.

And He's dead.

And He sighs a little sigh and He says, do you not yet understand?

Don't you see this was part of God's plan from the very beginning?

And it says, beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

What a Bible study, huh?

By the greatest Bible teacher of all times.

A man said to me just a couple of weeks ago, I've heard people say that all my life.

What a Bible study.

Wouldn't you love to have been there?

He said, but nobody ever tells me what the Bible study was about.

The truth of the matter is they have all your life in bits and pieces.

And the truth of the matter was that Cleopas and his friend had heard that all their lives in bits and pieces, but it had never fit together.

Beginning with Moses.

Jesus probably said, the very beginning.

Genesis 3, 15, Messiah must be born of a woman.

He's going to be wounded in his struggle with the devil, but ultimately victorious.

Same verse.

He'll be from the tribe of Judah and he'll be a king.

Genesis 49 verse 10.

He'll be a prophet like Moses, only greater.

Deuteronomy 18 verse 15.

He'll be born of a virgin.

Isaiah 7 verse 14.

Of the house of David.

Isaiah 9 verse 7.

He'll be born in the little town of Bethlehem.

Micah 5 verse 2.

They'll try to kill him by slaughtering all the children in the area.

Jeremiah 31.15.

His family will flee to Egypt.

Hosea 11.1.

He'll minister in Galilee.

Isaiah 9.1.

He'll be a priest like Melchizedek.

Psalm 110.4.

He'll cast the money changers out of the temple.

Psalm 69.9.

He'll be rejected by Jews and Gentiles alike.

Psalm 2.1.

There will be a seeming moment of triumph as he enters Jerusalem.

Isaiah 62.11.

But he'll be betrayed by a friend.

Psalm 41.9.

For 30 pieces of silver, Zechariah 11.12.

He'll be silent in the face of accusation, Psalm 38.13.

He'll be beaten and crucified while they cast lots for His garments, Psalm 22.

He'll be offered gall and vinegar, Psalm 69.

He'll be insulted and mocked, Psalm 109.

He'll die among criminals, but He'll be buried in a rich man's grave, and His death will be for the salvation of others, Isaiah 53.

And just when it seems as if all is lost, He'll rise again victorious over hell, death, and the grave.

And He will live forever.

Psalm 16, Hosea 6, Isaiah 53, Zechariah 14, and on, and on, and on.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

And our hearts burn within us.

As He opened to us the Scriptures.

And yet somehow it still hasn't quite snapped.

And so when you get to Emmaus.

You say come on in.

Let's eat together.

It's supper time.

And you sit at table.

And in that very familiar gesture, he takes the bread, and he blesses it, and he breaks it.

And as he does so, undoubtedly his robe falls back, and you see the nail prints in his hands.

And then he's gone.

But you saw him, And having seen him, you will never not see him again.

And what's your response?

You run out to tell some folks he's alive.

It changes your life.

Have you seen him?

If you haven't seen him, please ask God to show him to you.

Let him take you through the clues.

Let him be to you a Jane Marple or a Jessica Fletcher or a Sherlock Holmes or a Ben Matlock.

And put together the clues that are there on every page because he wants to do that more than anything else in all the world.

That's what it's about.

And once you've seen him, you'll never be the same again.

God so loved the world that He gave a book full of words and every word about the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us.

And we beheld His glory glory as of the only Son begotten of the Father.

And grace and truth came to us. in this Lord Jesus Christ.

Let's bow our heads together.

Thank You, Lord, for loving me and all of us so much that what You said, You did.

Thank You for Your Word.

Lord, let it snap into focus.

Let us see You more clearly that we might love You more dearly and follow You more nearly.

For this Lord Jesus Christ's sake.

Amen.