The Story Isn’t Over Yet! – April 16, 2023
Psalm 92, Luke 24:13-35
April 16, 2023
Sometimes when a holiday is over, whatever holiday it is, you breathe a sigh of relief and think, “Well, that’s over for another year!” Don’t you feel that way sometimes? Maybe not so much with Easter, but certainly with Christmas!
I remember when I was in Kansas, we would be heading somewhere on Christmas morning, and we would see Christmas trees already laying at people’s curbs! Christmas morning! Have you seen that around here? I never had before! Those people seemed very much ready for Christmas to be over! Or maybe the tree was dropping needles on the floor. Hey, they put them up in October!
But don’t we feel that sense of relief? The buildup to our holidays can be stressful. Or at least busy! There’s often a lot to do. And then we have celebrations with lots of people, and lots of other get-togethers. And then the holiday is past, and we get to relax.
I was thinking about that this week. Because Easter is past. The Lord is risen(!) And now we’re sort of hoping things can get less hectic for a while, or at least maybe they can go back to the normal level of hectic. Can’t they? Or can they?
If we read the story of Easter in the Gospels – and I pretty much hit them all last week – at least a little, Easter is the end of the story! That is, it’s the end of the written down story of Jesus! But, the story isn’t over yet! Is it?
That’s what I love about this next story in Luke. This is the Road to Emmaus. And this actually takes place later that same day, that is, Easter day. And as these two travelers described, there are a lot of things in this story that were “over.” First of all, the Passover was over. People were returning to their hometowns. Many people came to Jerusalem for the Passover. Now they were on the way home. And they must have been thinking it was all over for another year! They must have been breathing that sigh of relief!
And there was another story that was “over” – the story of Jesus. Or so they thought. This Passover had been different. This year, this rabbi – this prophet – Jesus, this guy who had caused such a great stir throughout the nation, had come riding into Jerusalem in triumph! Everyone had become so excited about this! Yes, they were even thinking this may be the Messiah. They were ready to crown him king!
But things had gone bad after that. Jesus had become the central figure in an ever more intensifying drama. He had been arrested – by their own religious leadership! He had been handed over to the Romans! And if you think about it, we really haven’t heard a lot about them during Jesus’ ministry. Maybe a story here and there. But as I’ve said before, they were ever present. They were watching. And now, at the end, they played a very prominent role in all of this!
So now this story was over. Or so said these two men to the “incognito Jesus.” They told of the disappointment that had engulfed the whole city. The people were devastated. They had lost hope. And now here, in the Gospels, the story of Jesus ends with his resurrection. That’s pretty much how all the Gospels end. But is his story over? I think you know where I’m going with this. The story isn’t over yet!
Maybe that’s why they put all the Gospels at the beginning of the New Testament, even though, chronologically, they were among the last books to be written. Maybe part of the reason for that is that the story of Jesus had only begun with the Gospels. The story had only begun with his earthly ministry. After that was when the real work of the Gospels began! The book of Acts is where the apostles began the real work of the church! The letters that followed were their dealings with the fledgling congregations that had just begun.
And I say all this today, because sometimes spiritually, we’re like these two travelers in this story. We think it’s all over with Easter. We say that the victory over sin and death is complete! We sing “The Strife is Over.” “The powers of death have done their worst, but Christ their legions hath dispersed.” Even Jesus, in his last words, said, “It is finished!”
Too many people think. “That’s it,” then! “It’s over!” “End of story!” As you’ve heard me say before, too many people think Easter means they’re going to heaven when they die, end of story. They don’t have to do anything else in their life of faith. (Maybe all they need to do is just “be spiritual.” Whatever that means!) You’ve heard me talk about people who are content with doing “the minimum of faith.” “Just believe, and that’s it.” “Just be saved, and that’s it.”
But that’s not all there is to it! The story isn’t over yet! We are now Easter people! Like I said last week, we are people of the Empty tomb. And that means our faith calls us, it challenges us, to move forward as the people of God! To live out the life of faith. To bring the cross and the empty tomb to bear on everything we do!
But it won’t always be easy. The stories in Acts are dramatic stories. And we’re going to be revisiting some of them in the next few weeks. It was not an easy time. The Apostles were reaching out to a world that was hostile to the message of the Gospel. And so today is our world. It seems more and more hostile to the Gospel all the time.
But like the Apostles of old, we are charged with telling the world this, the greatest story of all time! And it is that! And we shouldn’t shy away from it. God himself has come to this earth! The Almighty Creator himself has stepped into history! He has lived among us! He has redeemed us!
No! The story isn’t over yet! In fact, it’s only just begun! And we are part of the story! And may God give us the strength we need to live as his people, and to show the world his love and Grace!
Prayer
Eternal God, your love for us is overwhelming, and your faithfulness is everlasting. Help us to be the people who continue the story of Jesus. Help us to live in the joy you have given us through him, no matter how trying this life can be. We thank you for the hope you have restored in the world long ago, and in us today. For this we pray in our Savior’s name, Amen.