April 14, 2024 – Easter +2

“Jesus himself stood among [the disciples] and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 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, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” Luke 24:16b – 48

The Gospel lesson we have today comes immediately following the appearance of Jesus to the two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus, three days after the death of Jesus.  In fact, the part of verse 36 that is not included this morning is the fact that the disciples were talking about the events that happened to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, when Jesus came and stood among them. So, two disciples had come to tell the others that they had this incredible encounter with the risen Jesus, and the other disciples were trying to make sense of their story. And then Jesus comes and stands among them. It is no wonder they were scared and confused. And while they are in the moment, they are trying to make sense of it all. They know Jesus died on the cross.  They know he was laid in the tomb. They know his body is missing – and they still have not made the association between Jesus trying to teach them that he was going to rise from the dead, and the fact that he actually did rise from the dead. So they are confused – and frankly, they are scared – and so you can imagine the disciples saying to one another “What is going on here?”

So what would Jesus do before he left his disciples? Well, once Jesus convinced the disciples that he was not a ghost, that it was the risen Jesus among them, Jesus decided there were two more things to do before he left.  Before Jesus left this earth, He opened their minds to understand the scriptures – and He gave them a mission – Jesus told them to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins in his name to all the world. Jesus wants to make sure there are people like you and me who can tell his story without wanting anything from Jesus – because Jesus has given us all that we need.  There is nothing more we could get from Jesus. We just have to fight the fear of what others think of us for being his disciples – his children – and are willing to be there and tell his story without wanting anything else. 

Pastor Dave

April 13, 2024 — The Coffee Shop Devotions: A Red Eye – Not Just Because You Are Tired

“Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, “Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John”  —although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized—  he left Judea and started back to Galilee.  But he had to go through Samaria.  So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.  Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.  A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”  (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.)  The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)   Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”   The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?  Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?”  Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”   The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”  John 4:1-15

I was sitting in a coffee shop that I frequent when I heard a barista call out a drink: “Red Eye on the Bar”.  I had never heard of a Red Eye coffee drink – and that got me wondering what it might be. So, being the shy person I am, I walked up to the coffee shop employee the next time I stopped and ask “What is a Red Eye?” They were much too excited to tell me that a Red Eye is a cup of regular coffee (iced or hot) with a single shot of espresso added in. Now, I also looked up on the menu hanging behind the coffee bar to try to find the drink called a “Red Eye” and it was not there. I also ran across a website that was devoted to telling you about the “secret” menu that exists for this local favorite coffee watering hole. Secret Menu?  Yes, apparently there is a secret menu – more coffee drinks so that people will never go thirsty or lack a diversity of coffee beverages.

Jesus was tired and was suffering from some “Red Eye” – meaning he was tired and needed to sit for a while. And in taking a break, he is able to meet with someone who needed a whole lot of Grace in her life. And even though he is “red eyed” by his journey, he takes the time to teach her about the Grace of G-d. Even his exhaustion did not keep him from ministering to someone in need. 

How often have we said we are too tired to go to church, or to go to bible study or some other obligation with the church? Even when we are tired there are going to be people who are looking for some Grace in their lives.  And yes, we need to take a break when we are too tired – because even the genesis of this story is Jesus stopping to take a break. It just reminds us that even when we are least expecting, someone who needs to hear about the love and grace of Jesus may sit down beside us – just as exhausted – but just as thirsting for grace.

Pastor Dave