Luke 24:13-35 Easter 3 - by Don Neuendorf
It's hard to keep our timeframe straight in the Sundays after Easter. This Sunday's Gospel lesson takes place still on Easter Sunday itself. Although we are 2 full weeks after Easter, these 2 disciples on their way to Emmaus are only a few hours from the first news of the resurrection. For us the Easter decorations are all put away and we're starting to shift our thoughts to summer vacation plans. But as these 2 men walked they were still very much overcome by Good Friday...
We move on, don't we? When we attend the funeral of an acquaintance, or the family member of a friend, we are moved at the time - but a day later we are not usually under a cloud. On the other hand, when someone we deeply love passes away - or when someone who has been a part of our daily life has died - then everywhere we turn our life is changed. Our grief lasts longer because we can see the effects longer. The empty chair - the unfinished projects - the favorite things left behind.
How long does the joy of Easter last? Imagine going down the funeral home where someone you love is laid out in a casket. Their face has that clay-like appearance - too much make-up. You place your hand on their hands and it seems like wood. Cold and unresponsive. Then, standing there at the casket, you pray for Jesus to return that person to life with us, and the stiff, dead flesh grows warm, flexible, alive. The slight rise and fall of the chest shows your loved one is breathing again. She stirs and her eyelids flutter open, and she looks at you and smiles!
When you have seen someone rise from death, how would you respond? I suspect the rest of the day would be taken up with telling people - calling people - explaining it again and again until your voice was hoarse. And when you awoke the next day, would that feeling still be there?
When we awake each day, our first awareness ought to be that Jesus is no longer dead. He has risen! And his new life changes the way we look at everything!