The Journey: From Emmaus Piety to Emmaus Party

Sermon delivered by the Rev. Dr. Joseph Duggan at Trinity Church, Reno, Nevada on Sunday, May 9, 2011. Gospel: Luke 24: 13-35

If I were to title my sermon I would want to call it, “The Journey From Emmaus Piety to Emmaus Party”. The proposed sermon title sets the bar very high. Just to manage your expectations I may not be able to get you all the way there. As I said to friends recently I think the most frivolous thing I have ever done in my whole life was watch the Royal Wedding live from 1am to 5am, drink black tea, eat cream topped English scones and have a splash of scotch at 3am! I readily admit that I missed the rituals of staying up all night as a teen-ager!

Yet as we listened to the glorious music from Westminster coupled with daylong parties I had a vision of the spirit of Jesus’ hospitality at Cana and Emmaus. To really catch Jesus’ party spirit requires unpacking the piety that has become associated with the Emmaus story. After all the Emmaus story is simply a story about the journey of two disciples and the way they came to recognize Jesus. The Royal Wedding ironically reminded me that piety and party sometimes coexist. I think piety and party coexisted for Jesus and alas we have only remembered the piety.

It is understandable the way that the Emmaus story so easily leads to literal interpretations. As a former Roman Catholic I remember the way the Emmaus story was used as a proof text to substantiate and legitimize the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation. Roman Catholic doctrine teaches that Holy Communion is not merely a reminder of Jesus’ presence long ago, but rather the actual fleshy body and blood of the living Christ.

In this way of reading the Emmaus story the exclusive focus is on seeing Jesus in the breaking of the bread. All liturgical Christians such as Episcopalians can certainly resonate with the power of Holy Communion, though we have different beliefs than Roman Catholics. Holy Communion is certainly one of the very special ways liturgical Christians recognize Jesus.

However, if we are not careful we can read the Emmaus text in an exclusively literal way such that we only see Jesus in the breaking of the bread. I think the Emmaus story invites us to recognize Jesus in not just the breaking of the bread as in the Eucharist and Holy Communion but also in the simplicity of two friends walking on a path from one place to another as the disciples were on their way to Emmaus. The disciples’ hearts were burning before they recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread.

The Emmaus story like last week’s doubting Thomas story can be read in a kind of an I have gotcha tone of criticizing the way the disciples missed recognition of Jesus in their midst. Such a reading leads to a missed opportunity to connect with Jesus in new and different ways than through traditional piety. The experience of the A Lot of Good Men has taught many men in this congregation that out of the simplicity and the ordinariness of sharing a meal we are over and over surprised by what we see in each other and the new ways we see life in community as members of Trinity Church.

I think the point of the Emmaus story is to recognize Jesus’ presence in every aspect of our lives together and apart. Sometimes though if we are not careful the Eucharistic ritual and celebration of Holy Communion can too easily become the only place that we recognize Jesus. When we fall into this trap then Holy Communion becomes an idol rather than the blessed gift of God’s abundance that leads to more joy filled lives.

Like the miracle at Cana where Jesus made more wine for all to drink, similarly the miracle of Emmaus is that we enjoy the abundant presence of Jesus. Sometimes though like the disciples were distracted, other people, institutions or even our selves will impede our recognition of Jesus’ abundant presence in our lives.

When my mom was in the final stages of Alzheimer’s Disease, she was denied Holy Communion by a Roman Catholic priest who felt she was no longer able to recognize the presence of Jesus in Holy Communion. Like children who cannot receive the age of reason this priest followed the same logic at end of life. On her behalf I wrote to the Archbishop of New York and reminded him of the Emmaus story and implored him to have a priest bring Holy Communion to my mom.

The Archbishop was willing to make an exception, in what he described in a letter to me, as a ministerial accommodation for my mother. The Archbishop also instructed me that I should not make his accommodation public for fear that his gesture would give scandal to the faithful. Shortly after our correspondence my mother received Holy Communion.

Now as I look back on those days through my Protestant eyes I smile as I see that my mom experienced the deeper meaning of the Emmaus story even in her end stage Alzheimer’s. By the way at my mom’s funeral many spoke of the way she loved to have parties and at the same time she was a very religious woman.

No doubt it is why throughout her 11-year journey of Alzheimer’s she had experienced the abundant gift of recognizing Jesus in many forms beyond the Holy Communion distributed and so narrowly controlled by her beloved church. In the last three years of her life my mom laid in a nursing home bed and spent most of her day just staring at a fifty-year old crucifix on the wall that hung in every home my parents shared since their wedding day.

My Mom’s loving steady gaze gave her sons and daughters every indication that she recognized Jesus in the form of that cherished crucifix. Most of all as my mom forgot all of her children’s names and even lost the power of speech, she seem to be comforted by just sitting with us and holding our hands. I am confident in those last years that my mom recognized Jesus’ presence and warmth through holding her sons’ and daughters’ hands.

Like other marginalized people the person who suffers from Alzheimer’s has often been abandoned by their body, mind and even most friends and sometimes by even family. Jesus remains and continues to be recognized by the person with Alzheimer’s who often looks to us as just an empty shell of their former selves. As Jesus makes himself available to be recognized he reverences us even in our diminished humanity.

I tell you this story not just to say that we have the privilege to recognize Jesus even in end stage Alzheimer’s, but to show the way Jesus stays present to us beyond every impediment to our visible recognition. Jesus made a meal for the disciples for he knew in sharing a festive meal his disciples would recognize him. Jesus’ gesture was a gesture of friendship and joyful celebration. If we read the Emmaus story as only one of Holy Communion we will miss the communion also found in and through life’s ordinary celebrations at our many tables.
I don’t think that the Emmaus story is a proof text for Eucharist or Holy Communion. The Emmaus story simply offers us the occasion to celebrate the abundant presence of Jesus. The call of Emmaus is to live with open eyes and generous hearts that recognize Jesus. Both the doubting Thomas and Emmaus stories are about Jesus’ generous availability to us.

Jesus let Thomas touch his wounds and took the time for the disciples at Emmaus to recognize him. Likewise the Emmaus story calls us to live with the same kind of generosity that Jesus shows us by taking the time to let others recognize who we are.

The reason A Lot of Good Men have met for two years without an agenda of any kind is to remove the pious clutter that sometimes otherwise impedes our availability to be surprised like the disciples were at Emmaus by the presence of their friend Jesus.

As we all make an effort to remove all the unnecessary clutter from our lives we will be increasingly surprised to see that Jesus had been with us all along in forms most familiar to us. Let us share this Good News and the miracle at Emmaus with all we meet. The miracle of Emmaus has the potential to transform the world into joyous people who celebrate life just as Jesus did at Cana and at Emmaus. Than in this way our piety will lead to party and not end in idle/idol worship without joyful transformation.