Worship > Sermon Archive

The Reverend Beth Fain

April 6, 2008
Easter 3a RCL: Places in the heart

There's a beautiful prayer from the office of Evening Prayer:
Lord Jesus, stay with us, for evening is at hand and the day is past; be our companion in the way, kindle our hearts, and awaken hope, that we may know you as you are revealed in Scripture and the breaking of the bread. Grant this for the sake of your love. AMEN

This prayer sets us right in the middle of the Gospel we heard from Luke today.
Is this something you want?
For Jesus to be our companion in the way
For Jesus to kindle our hearts
For Jesus to awaken hope
For us to know Jesus in Scripture
For us to know Jesus in the breaking of the bread.
Can you imagine God saying no to that prayer?
As much as we may want for Jesus to be our companion in the way, for our hearts to be kindled, for hope to be awakened, for us to know Jesus as we read Scripture and as the bread is broken, don't we know that God wants it even more for us?
Then why don't we have it?
It can't be because God doesn't want to give it to us.
Why do we feel lonely? Why do we feel hopeless? Why do we have ash-filled hearts? Or hearts of dry sticks? Or smoldering hearts? ++++++++++++++
Anyone know what the Greek word for heart is?

Kardia. No surprise---like cardiology and cardiac.
As a noun, kardia means the organ in our chest that pumps our blood and gives us life as well as the very center of our being-physically, spiritually, emotionally and, in Jesus' day, mentally, too.
The heart then is that place where God wants to live.
The heart as the place of companionship with God, the heart as a place on fire for God, the heart as a place of hope, the heart as a place of knowledge through Scripture and nourishment through the breaking of bread. +++++++++++++++
Did you notice in our four readings today, three of them contain references to the heart?
Telling about four places of the heart.
In Acts, after hearing Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, we are told of the response of those who heard that sermon:
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?" Acts 2. 37


Cut or pierced to the heart: the heart as a place of repentance; the place of the possibility of change

In our Gospel from Luke we have two references to the heart:

Then he [Jesus] said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Luke 24.25

Slow of heart to believe: The heart as a place of doubt, of dullness, of foolish thought as well as a place of the possibility of faith

Later in the Gospel, after the two on the Emmaus road had said to Jesus,

"Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over."
So Jesus went in to stay with them.
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.
Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.

They said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?" Luke 24. 29-32

Hearts burning: the heart as a place of renewal, passionate belief, even if, especially if, in hindsight

Last but never least, in our reading from Peter, the author says:

Now that you have purified your souls [which could also be hearts] by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. 1 Peter 1.22

The mature heart as a place of deep love for others

Where are our hearts this morning? Doubt? Confusion? Repentance?
Faith? Love?
Do we have a patchwork heart? Some of these….or more in our hearts ++++++
The two men, disciples other than the 11, on the road to Emmaus had patchwork hearts.
They had left Jerusalem the day of Jesus' resurrection.
They must not have bought into Jesus' resurrection, or I don't think they would have left town. Skeptical hearts.
They were chatting up a storm about everything that they had seen and talked about the last few days.
Gossiping perhaps.
Jesus joins them.
We're told that they were prevented from recognizing him. Clueless hearts.
I don't think it was God or the Spirit that kept them from recognizing Jesus.
I think it was their own closed hearts that kept them from recognizing Jesus.
They didn't expect to see Jesus, and they don't.
It wasn't God's fault. It was them.
But Jesus comes where he's not expected or recognized.
Especially where he's not expected or recognized.
Jesus does the Bible study we all dream about-all those hard (in what we call) Old Testament passages explained and given clear meaning.
But hearing a master Bible study doesn't open the two men's hearts to recognize Jesus.
It's sundown of that first Easter and the two men offer Jesus good Middle Eastern hospitality; they invite Jesus to stay and eat with them.
Then Jesus does a remarkable thing.
Jesus, the invited guest, takes the position of the table host.
In Jewish tradition, the host at the table is the one to do the meal-time ritual of blessing, breaking, and sharing of bread.
Like we got to experience at the Maundy Thursday Chabourah meal.
When our table hosts broke bread and shared with us.
When Jesus unexpectedly does the mannerly ritual, of taking the bread and blessing, breaking, and sharing the bread, then they have the ah ha!
Oh my God! It's Jesus. Believing, resurrected hearts.
Now that they've finally recognized him, he's gone (only they will see him again a little later when they run back to Jerusalem and join the other gathered disciples).
Now we take that blessing, breaking, and sharing of bread by Jesus as an Eucharistic moment-because it is to us.
But I'm not sure it was to the two on the road.
They'd had other meals with Jesus; maybe they'd even been there at that last precrucifixion meal four nights before.
But meals had not become sacramentalized at that point.
Meals were meals.
Certainly a time to give thanks to God---but still an ordinary meal.
Just like when we recognize a long forgotten friend when he gives us a smile, the two recognize Jesus when he does the familiar act of hosting a meal.
And then, and only then, do the parts of the Jesus story come together for them.
It is in the common act of eating a meal that the holy words of Scripture and Jesus' life make sense.
It is in the Scripture and the sacrament of the breaking of bread that our common lives make sense.
For all of us with patchwork hearts today.
What does it take to have a strong heart?
For our beating hearts, we know the drill:
Genetics. Diet. Exercise. Sometimes a little help from the world of medicine.
The same for the heart that is the center of our being.
Genetics:
We are all created with hearts to beat for God and God alone.
Given a second gift of "genetics" when we are born again through the waters of baptism.
Diet: Receiving Jesus in Scripture and breaking of bread especially through the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Table.
Exercise: Walking with Jesus as our companion in the way, living, practicing the scripture we're studied and heard, and recognizing God's presence at our daily meals and all the ordinary moments of our lives.
When we need it, receiving the gift of healing that God alone can give.
We need both, what we live and receive here.
What we live and receive out there.
Companionship in the way
Awakened hope
Hearts kindled with love
Jesus in known in Scripture
Jesus known in all the ways we break bread
For God's love sake.
AMEN

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