Their Eyes were Opened –– 3rd Sunday of Easter, Year A –– 30 April 2017

Luke's story of the risen Christ meeting the two travelers on the road to Emmaus is a many-layered work of wonder and beauty. It is a dramatic tale that invites reflection on the mysterious presence and absence of the risen Christ. It offers a glimpse of the essential pattern of what Christians do when they gather on the first day of the week, meeting the risen One in the opening of the word and the sharing of the meal.

The travelers also represent a sort of Christian Everyman and Everywoman. Their story pictures so well important elements of the experience of faith. In their journey, the risen Christ meets them when they are feeling dispirited and confused, opens their minds through word and meal, and gives insight and renews courage, so that they are strengthened to be witnesses to the risen Lord. –– Aaron J. Couch

GOSPEL READING: Luke 24:13-35

Here were two of Jesus' followers returning home after the disheartening events in Jerusalem at the Passover. They left pondering questions as they journeyed along the way. In the midst of their doubts, questions and fears, comes Jesus. The plan that they had envisioned, of this Jesus who was the Messiah and would liberate Israel from Roman rule, was step by step replaced by Jesus as he explained the plan of God that had escaped them: that the Messiah should suffer before entering into glory. Their eyes were opened as they once again had table fellowship with their rabbi, and they saw through the eyes of God's plan and not the eyes of their own plan.

As the Easter season progresses, and with it the risk of taking the good news of resurrection for granted, the texts this Sunday call us back to the mystery of God's plan of salvation and its call on our lives. It further invites us to celebrate the deliverance and release of God's salvation in the breaking of bread, our ongoing table fellowship with the risen Christ. –– Todd E. Johnson

 FIRST READING: Acts 2:14a, 36-41

Peter's sermon in Acts is directed at [those] . . . whose plan was to eliminate the heresy and distortion of the law. They rejected Jesus, who was the one God sent to save. While they rejected Christ, God validated him, raising him from the dead. The promises made to David were fulfilled in Jesus in ways the people of Jerusalem at Passover could never imagine. Their plans and devices were at odds with God's plans, and now was their opportunity to repent. –– Todd E. Johnson

EPISTLE READING: 1 Peter 1:17-23

The themes of God's saving plan are repeated in Peter's epistle, where Christ is named the one who has liberated us from sin and injustice and redeemed us with his blood. Jesus has become the object of our faith and hope through the resurrection and has validated God's plan. We are invited to abandon God's futile ways and embrace God's plan, which was established before the foundation of the world. –– Todd E. Johnson

Aaron Couch is a co-pastor of First Immanuel Lutheran Church in Portland, Oregon.

Todd E. Johnson is associate professor of worship, theology, and the arts at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California.

Homily Service 41, no. 2 (2007): 129-136.

Jesus Creates Faith –– 2nd Sunday of Easter, Year A –– 23 April 2017

GOSPEL READING: John 20:19-31

The church in Jerusalem in Acts 2. . . looks like few of our churches: people relinquished the privilege (or right) of private property and held all property in common. Koinonia, which we often translate as fellowship, literally means joint sharing, to commingle or merge. This is rendered in 1 Corinthians 10:16 in many translations as participation. . . [in the body of Christ]. We may choose to be partners in the glorified Lord, but what about the crucified Christ? We may choose eternal blessings, but are we willing to surrender earthly blessings?

The reading from John's gospel brings this theme of choice to a head. The disciples were bunkered up, waiting for the leaders who crucified Jesus to pursue them. Jesus breaks into their fear and offers them peace, not a temporary claim but an eternal shalom. Sensing their uncertainty, he offers evidence of his resurrection and in so doing offers validation of his authority to offer such peace. Jesus immediately follows by giving them the Holy Spirit and the authority to shepherd the church that attends it.

The confidence of Jesus' offer is again contrasted by the doubts of the disciples, this time voiced by Thomas, to which Jesus once again responds by offering evidence of his resurrection. . . .

Will we believe in light of the inconvenience, unpopularity and cost? Choices like these are watersheds in our lives, leading in very different directions. –– Todd E. Johnson

FIRST READING: Acts 2:14a, 22-32

Peter makes it clear that the death and resurrection of Jesus is the hinge upon which the human story turns. He summarizes essential elements of Christian proclamation: Jesus' ministry was by the power of God; Jesus was put to death by crucifixion; God raised Jesus from the dead. Peter asserts that these events were part of God's plan for salvation.

Peter then quotes again at length from scripture, reading a portion of Psalm 16 as though the psalmist's words were spoken by Jesus to express his confidence that God would rescue him from death. Peter explains that because the psalmist, King David, was a prophet, it was given to him to foresee Jesus' resurrection and to understand it properly as Jesus' exaltation and enthronement as Messiah. The language of the psalm expresses the central Easter message that God did not abandon Jesus in death. Peter identifies himself and the rest of the apostles as witnesses to God's power over death and God's faithfulness to Jesus. –– Aaron Couch

EPISTLE READING: 1 Peter 1:3-9

With exalted language, the author praises God for God's great work of salvation in Jesus and calls on believers to rejoice, even through times of trial, because of the power and goodness of God's gift. There is an already-but-not-yet tension within the passage. The inheritance God gives to believers is being kept for them in heaven, ready to be revealed in the last time. Yet it is also true that by faith, believers are receiving salvation in the present time. –– Aaron Couch

Aaron Couch is a co-pastor of First Immanuel Lutheran Church in Portland, Oregon.

Todd E. Johnson is associate professor of worship, theology, and the arts at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California.

Homily Service 41, no. 2 (2007): 113-121.