Isaiah 25: 6-9

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day: Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

Luke 24: 13-35

Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, "What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?" They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?" He asked them, "What things?" They replied, "The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him." Then he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?" Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, "Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over." 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 him; 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?" That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, "The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!" Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of bread.

Sermon Text

Today Christians all over the earth are breaking bread together and remembering Jesus of Nazareth. He was known for his table fellowship, you know. Most Jews would eat only with upright and respectable people, but Jesus was different. He broke bread with outcasts and misfits, invisible people, contemptible people. He broke bread with Peter, Andrew, James, and John, no-count fishermen; and with men like Zacchaeus and Nicodemus, who were rich in gold but poor in spirit. Jesus broke bread with despised tax collectors, like his disciple, Matthew. Mary and Martha invited Jesus to supper. That was odd?a Jewish man eating alone with women not in his family. When Jesus blessed and broke the loaves for the hungry crowd in Galilee, a land of many foreigners, he crossed another eating boundary: He broke bread with non-Jews, people who didn't keep kosher. The Bible doesn't say so, but judging by all these other bold border crossings, I wouldn't be surprised if Jesus broke bread with lepers, too. Jesus preached a lot about loving enemies and helping strangers. But to people used to staying in their places, his table fellowship spoke even louder than his words.

Today people all over the earth celebrate the liberating table fellowship of Jesus as we gather around this table, which he has set for Easter people. Today, heeding his invitation to dine in the sunshine we break open the death cages where society keeps us-- You are too poor, they say; you are too dark skinned; you are too ill; you are too foreign; you are too unbelieving; you are too effeminate; you are too butch; you are just too, too different?and we gather around this table to remember a man who overflowed with love and wasn't afraid to eat with rejects.

The passage from Isaiah this morning paints a glorious picture of a grant banquet in the kingdom of God. By then, God shall have removed the pall of death that covers all peoples, says our text. What a message for our world trembling in terror, waiting for the next car bomb, the next poisoned letter, the next sniper's bullet: The pall of death shall be lifted from the earth, and every tear from every griever's eye shall be wiped away. There shall be no more killing on my holy mountain says the prophet. People of all nations shall gather there for a resplendent feast, which shall include nothing but the best: the tenderest meat, the finest wine. When God throws a party, it's done right! Such is the glorious, hopeful image we hold in our minds and our hearts as we gather around our Lord's Table today. We celebrate Isaiah's vision in our communion liturgy which says: "People shall come from east and west, from north and south, and sit down together in the Kingdom of God." Isaiah was preaching to his disheartened countrymen exiled in Babylon. It's going to be all right, he told them. God is going to end the killing and the crying, and we're all going to join hands around a glorious table and eat to our heart's content. What a message for today. Do not despair! Keep on walking up the mountain. There's going to be a love feast there the likes of which we've never seen. God says so.

But meanwhile, we're on the road. Plodding along like Cleopas and his traveling companion. The news is terrible. The bad guys, however you define them, seem to be winning. The holy mountain and the great feast seem awfully far away. We'll be lucky just to get through today, won't we? Got to lower our sights and concentrate on the here, the now, the near. Sure, it would be great to dine with our enemies, as old Isaiah dreams, but we've miles to go before we rest. Got to concentrate on putting one foot in front of another. Just keep on keeping on. Not very exciting. Not very hopeful. Just hanging in there. Help us, Jesus!

The picture of communion we find in Luke's story is very different from Isaiah's. Luke's story is for those not yet arrived, on the road again, and again, and again. No great feast?yet. No opulently set table stretching as far as the eye can see, with people of all hues and clans. No, just a Motel 6 night table, a Gideon's Bible, and three weary travelers sharing the heel slice of yesterday's loaf. We Easter people do celebrate Isaiah's vision. We do! But we couldn't persevere by that alone. What keeps us going is meeting Jesus on our own road, every so often, most especially when we most need him, when the going is roughest and almost hopeless. A grand feast would be super, but we can make do with supper. I like the part of our communion liturgy that says, "whenever you do this, remember me." I take that to mean that we celebrate the presence of Jesus not just when we gather on a grand, holy feast day, like today, but even when we share coffee and a doughnut with another person hungry for peace and justice, for love given and received, for the things Jesus lived and died for. A feast would be super, but supper will do. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that we don't need a grand company of saints and a resplendent meal to assure us that you are present. No. Wherever two or three are gathered in your name, there you are too. Lord Jesus, sustain us by quiet suppers on the road, and keep us trudging up the mountain, so that one day, with the help of the same Spirit that was in Jesus, we will see Isaiah's dream come true. Amen!