This sermon was preached at the 8am service at All Saints Church, Oakham. Sunday 23rd April 2023

Do you ever walk into a room full of people who talking away and you realise that you have no idea what people are talking about? They are talking about this programme that you think was on BBC2 last night, although it could have been Channel 4, but you are not sure. Or are they even talking about a TV programme and in fact are talking about something completely different? You’re not sure but you join in the group hoping to ease into the conversation gradually. 

I had a similar experience last September when the Queen died. On the 8^th September we had all heard around lunch time that members of the royal family were making their way to Balmoral to see the Queen, so we knew that she was near the end. However, when the announcement came in the evening, I was taking a wedding rehearsal. In fact, it was the rehearsal for my first wedding on the Saturday. So when the news came I was not checking my phone at the time, and to be honest, I was far too engrossed with trying to coordinate the bride’s dad and brothers, and making sure the flower girls new when to come in and at what speed. However, though I was too engrossed to look at my phone, throughout the rehearsal, the wedding party had all checked their phones and knew the Queen had died. And in hindsight I can see that the murmuring between one another was probably people sharing the news with each other, though somehow, I wasn’t included in this. Then after the wedding rehearsal was done, I check my phone and I see a message from Cecily letting me know that the Queen had died. I then check the news and figure I better tell everybody the sad news, however, as I tell people I realise that everyone had clearly known for a little bit and it was me who was late to the party to find out. 

Well on the road to Emmaus Jesus has appeared and is walking with two disciples. Luke doesn’t specify if they are both part of the 12 or a wider group of disciples, though one of them is named as Cleopas. But Jesus unrecognised comes alongside them and asks them what are they talking about, to which these two disciples respond, ‘how on earth do you not know? Are you the only person in Jerusalem to have missed everything that has gone on?’ Talk about being late to the party when the whole city knows ahead of you. Obviously, Jesus knows what has been going on – after all, he was at the centre of it – but he plays along like he doesn’t know, and these disciples tell him what happened. 

As Jesus hears these disciples recount the story, he realises that they still haven’t grasped the whole picture of what his death and now resurrection truly mean. So, Jesus talks them through it, taking them through the readings of the prophecies of the Hebrew scriptures, i.e. the Old Testament. The disciples are clearly excited by what they are hearing from Jesus because when they approach Emmaus, they urge him to stay with them and to have dinner with them. 

‘So he 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 Jesus; 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?”’

Talk about being late to the party. The disciples thought that Jesus was late to the party not knowing what had been going on in Jerusalem, but really, they were the ones who were late to the party. It’s like me telling my wedding party that the Queen died, then realising it was me who was late to the party and not them. All the chatter that had been going on throughout the rehearsal was about the Queen. 

And these disciples said to each other, ‘were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road?’ How did we not realise it was Jesus? Could we not see his familiar appearance, his words, his voice, his mannerisms? Jesus was their friend and teacher with whom they had spent the last three years. How did they miss that it was Jesus? How did they not see all the signs and realise that it was him? And that phrase, were not our hearts burning within us. It’s like the disciples could sense it was Jesus, but they couldn’t take the next step in their heads to realise what they were sensing in their hearts. 

Many of us might think and say, ‘gosh disciples, how can you miss what is going on?’ Well the truth is that many of us do the same thing today. How many times are we looking for God and then later find that he was there the whole time with us? We are struggling with financial provision and we ask, where is God? We are supporting a loved one who is terribly sick stuck in hospital and we ask, where is God? We are feeling depressed and stuck in a pit without a ladder and we ask, where is God? We ask all these things, but it is only later when we look back with hindsight that we see how God was there. How he kept bringing the money in, and the right medics were there to figure out the right treatment, and friends and family came to surround you when you were feeling completely alone. God is working in our lives and our hearts and are not our hearts burning within us? 

One of the more challenging things we experience in our Christian life is learning to spot when our hearts are burning within us because we are in the presence of God. Learning to sense God’s hand and presence with us; opening our eyes and ears to see and hear him working in our lives. The party of God’s heavenly kingdom is going on all around us and God doesn’t want you to be late, he doesn’t want you to miss out on seeing and knowing him and his presence in our lives. God wants us to see him and to recognise the burning of hearts, the moving and stirring of our hearts when we sense and encounter God’s presence in our lives. 

Remember that the promise of God is that he puts his Spirit in us as his followers, as his disciples. God’s presence is already with us. Can you sense the burning in your heart, the stirring in your soul of God’s presence? It’s great if you can. If find in this moment that you cannot sense that burning in your heart, that is perfectly fine. Jesus isn’t going anywhere. He is right with you journeying with you to Emmaus. The disciples didn’t realise it was him until they sat and ate with him and as he broke bread with them. 

Some good news for you this morning is that we are going to break bread together, in fact we are going to break the bread that is the body of Christ. It is the bread and the meal that Jesus gave us as act of remembrance of his death for us. In the meal of Holy Communion, we remember and receive Christ’s body. And I pray that like those disciples on the road to Emmaus, that we too will know Jesus here with us through the breaking and sharing of bread. That we will know our hearts burning within us for him, for our risen and present Lord Jesus. 

Amen.