Karen Karpow
United
Third Sunday of Easter
Luke 24.36-49
Get Real
Has anybody here heard of Brad Pitt? Yes?
Do you believe Brad Pitt is real? Raise your hand if you believe Brad Pitt is
real.
Why do you believe that?
Has anybody here met Brad Pitt?
[It turns out one person had, and another was from his hometown.]
Even though most of us have never met him, we do have a
fair amount of evidence that Brad Pitt is real.
His bio says he’s a Midwestern boy, born in
So, now do you believe he’s real? He’s got a resume. He’s even got a Wikipedia page. People take pictures of him all the
time. You can see what he looks like
when he’s all dressed up to go to the Oscars, and when he’s schlepping kids
around. He appears to have a family, and
houses, and a trail of former girlfriends, as well as one former wife. Reporters write about his work life, his home
life, and his charity work. You can
easily find out what he thinks on a number of issues—he’s quite outspoken on
matters of social justice.
While we’re on the subject of people who are outspoken on
matters of social justice…do you think Jesus is real? I don’t think any of us have ever met him in
person, in the flesh, either. But he’s
got a Wikipedia page, too. The gospels
are his resume and his biography. Lots
of people have written about him. There
are a lot of pictures of him around, admittedly none that were made during his
lifetime. His opinions on a number of
things are quite well-documented. Is
Jesus real?
I’m goofing with you a little bit, here. The question is not whether Jesus was ever
real—that is, did Jesus of Nazareth live 2000 years ago in
It’s the Easter question.
What happened on Easter? Did
Jesus rise from the dead, complete with a body, and appear to his
disciples? Did he give the disciples
instructions that also apply to us? And
if all that is true, what are we supposed to do about it?
That is, I believe, the main point of the first paragraph
of our scripture reading today. It
immediately follows the story of the two travelers on the road to Emmaus, about
seven miles from
“Why do you look for the living among the
dead? He is not here, but has
risen.”
They run off and tell the disciples that the tomb is empty,
and Peter goes to take a look for himself.
But in Luke Jesus doesn’t appear alive to anyone until that evening,
when he joins two travelers walking home to Emmaus. They don’t recognize him, but they invite him
in for supper. At the table, when Jesus
breaks the bread—just like in communion!—their eyes are opened, and he
vanishes. They run back to
36 While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 37 They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost.
As they are all discussing what happened in Emmaus, suddenly Jesus is right there. John tells us that the room is locked, which would multiply the surprise factor. The disciples certainly need some “Peace be with you,” because peace is not their first reaction. They recognize Jesus, but perhaps this body that can appear in a locked room doesn’t look like his former body. The disciples on the road to Emmaus walked with him for hours, after all, without recognizing him. So perhaps Jesus is the same, but also different. The disciples assume that they are seeing a ghost, and they are terrified.
So Jesus goes on to prove to them that he is real. Really real. He shows the wounds that they remember from Friday, when he was on the cross. He invites them to touch him. Their reaction is interesting—they are filled with a confused kind of joy, not yet believing what has happened. So Jesus adds another bit of proof.
41 While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” 42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate in their presence.
I love that very ordinary detail. “So, what’s for dinner?” The resurrected Jesus is real. He is alive, inhabiting a body. Jesus presents himself to the disciples after the resurrection, not as a disembodied spirit, but as a person in bodily form—a body recognizable by sight and touch, a body capable of eating food.
There’s a strong strain in Christianity (and other religions
as well) that says: body—bad,
spirit—good. This dualism divides
creation into competing realms, the physical and the spiritual. The idea is that we have to overcome the physical
so that our spirits can fly off to be with God.
There certainly are passages in scripture, especially in the writings of
Paul, which describe the desires of the body as the enemy of the
But that can’t be the whole story. If bodies were all bad, then the resurrected
Jesus, author of life and charter member of the
Barbara Brown Taylor, in her wonderful book An Altar in the World, describes this knowing we have, that there is more to life than meets the eye. She writes,
But where is the secret hidden? Who has the key to the treasure box of More?
People seem willing to look all
over the place for this treasure. They
will spend hours launching prayers into the heavens. They will travel halfway around the world to
visit a monastery in
No one longs for what he or she already has, and yet the accumulated insight of those wise about the spiritual life suggests that the reason so many of us cannot see the red X that marks the spot is because we are standing on it. The treasure we seek requires no lengthy expedition, no expensive equipment, no superior aptitude or special company. All we lack is the willingness to imagine that we already have everything we need. The only thing missing is our consent to be where we are.
Is it possible that to get to More, we must first experience what we already have? Do you long for More? I have felt for a while now that there is something amazing, shimmering just outside my field of vision, just beyond my grasp. I got hints of it while I was sick last year, when I was forced to stop so much of my usual activity. There were days when all I could do was sit—and it’s all I did do. I couldn’t sleep; I couldn’t even hold a book. And those times, rather than being barren, as I would have expected, were very rich. I think that Rev. Taylor may be on to something really important. We long for More, because there is More—but we’re standing on the X that marks the spot where the key to the treasure box is hidden.
We are both physical and spiritual, body and soul. Bodies are so essential to our identities and our experiences, that Jesus was resurrected with a real body, recognized by his companions in the very ordinary act of sharing bread and grilled fish. Our bodies and our spirits are connected. We don’t make progress in the life of the spirit without our bodies.
This is real. This morning, right here. To grow closer to God, we don’t have to overcome it—rather, we have to experience it. The hard pews under our behinds. The light coming through the windows, making us squint. The warmth sneaking in on the fragrant air. The birds singing. Cars going by. Children squirming.
Here’s what happens to me when I stop all the chatter of my mind and actually become aware of what is right here. I drop into a timeless experience of Real, of More—of God. It’s mostly a matter of paying attention. We are all capable of looking without seeing, of hearing without listening. Do you do that? I do. But when we are fully present—not wishing we were elsewhere or trying to fix something or planning what we’re going to do next—we make it possible for a power greater than ourselves to touch us. And that is what we need to live fully. Jesus says so. He tells his disciples to wait for that power.
…and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
We need that power from on high. It convinces us that the resurrected Jesus is real. And without that, what are we doing here? We’re just playing games and telling stories and amusing ourselves. We need Jesus to be real—as Serge said last week, quoting our friend Bill, “God, if you’re real, be real for me.” But the power has a hard time reaching us, being real for us, if we’re too busy to notice.
What’s real is that lives are changed. One of the best evidences that we have of the resurrection is the transformation of these disciples after they see Jesus. They had been afraid—scared TO death, scared OF death—but after seeing Jesus, they are no longer afraid.
But it’s not just long-ago lives that are changed. Jesus has changed my life, and he can change yours. Jesus promises to send to the disciples, and to us, that “power from on high.” I believe that power doesn’t come to us unless we are present to receive it.
This week, I invite you to try something. For ten minutes—twenty, if you can stand it—pay attention. It’s hard for me to pay real attention to something, without my mind (or even my body) wandering off. I think I’m paying attention to something, and suddenly I find I’m in another room, and I don’t even remember walking there! Since Jesus was revealed to his followers in bread and grilled fish, you might try paying exquisite attention for ten or twenty minutes to a meal. Turn off the TV and radio; put away the books and magazines and newspapers. I even eat in front of my computer, so I’ll have to turn that off too. And then notice: what are you eating? How does it taste? Smell? Feel? What do you hear?
Ask Jesus to join you at the table. And then just be there when he shows up.