Resurrection Rhythm

Jesu Juva

St. Luke 24:13-35                                              

April 19, 2026

Easter 3A                           

Dear Saints of Our Savior~

        Life has a certain rhythm—predictable patterns just built into creation.  This rhythm is so familiar that we don’t even notice it most of the time—like the beating of your heart or the breathing of your lungs.  We feel this rhythm in our daily routines:  sunrise and sunset, waking and sleeping, working and playing.  These things comprise the predictable pulse of life for all people.

        But on the road to Emmaus, a new rhythm is revealed.  And this “resurrection rhythm” is now the beating heart of all our hope and joy. This resurrection rhythm was first revealed on Easter Sunday.  It was midafternoon and two disciples were making their way home from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  It was a journey of just seven miles or so—like a walk from here to Mequon.  These two men had believed that Jesus was the One—a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people.  They had hoped He was the Messiah, the one who would redeem Israel.  But now their hopes had been shattered.  Jesus was dead and buried.  Now they were walking home with no hope, no joy, no faith.

        About that time a stranger drew near and joined their journey.  It was Jesus; but their eyes were kept from recognizing Him.  Note that passive verb:  their eyes were kept from recognizing Him.  His identity was divinely, intentionally concealed from them.  You have to wonder why.  Why play this little game with two distraught disciples?  Well, remember, Jesus is teaching them a new rhythm for life—a resurrection rhythm.  And a new rhythm has to be felt—has to be sensed—has to be experienced.  Jesus is teaching them something they will never forget.

        But there’s a problem with these two disciples; and Jesus has to address it.  After listening to their sad report on what had happened that weekend, Jesus rebuked them.  They were being “foolish” and “slow of heart.”  “Foolish,” as in faithless.  And “slow of heart,” as in hearts that were hardened to the Word.  These two men were followers of Jesus.  They likely knew what Jesus had said on more than one occasion—about how He would be crucified and how He would rise again on the third day.  But they didn’t believe it.  They didn’t trust that Jesus would be true to His Word.  That was a big problem for those two.

        And their problem is our problem, too.  Their sin is our sin.  For we too can hear the good news of Jesus’ resurrection but then carry on as if nothing of significance has happened.  We can hear that sin and death are defeated—we can shout, “He is risen indeed, alleluia,” but then face each day with grim and joyless faces—fearful, anxious, and hopeless.  Some days we’re fueled by fear; and some days we’re fueled by anger.  Some days we’re just as scared of living as we are of dying.  If a documentary crew dropped in to document a typical day in your life, would anyone at all get the impression from you that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead?  O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe.

        So let Jesus show you what He showed those two Emmaus disciples.  Listen to the resurrection rhythm—for in that rhythm is the remedy for our sin and a pathway to real peace and joy.

        This resurrection rhythm begins with the Word of God:  Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.  Jesus took the Word of God and taught it to them—all of it, from Genesis to Malachi.  He showed them how all of it pointed ahead to Him.  He preached that He was the Passover Lamb whose blood now marks our door by faith.  He proclaimed that He was Isaiah’s Suffering Servant who was stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God in order to bear the sins of the whole world.  Jesus opened the Scriptures—gave them the Word—and made their hearts burn for joy.  Remember this: The resurrection rhythm begins with the Word.

        But even after hearing the Word, the two disciples still didn’t recognize the One who was teaching them.  Their eyes were still kept from recognizing Him.  When they finally reached Emmaus, Jesus acted as if He were going further.  But they urged Him strongly: Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.  So Jesus went in to stay with them. 

But as the meal began, Jesus took over.  The guest became the host.  Jesus takes the bread, gives thanks, blesses it, breaks it, and begins to distribute it to them.  Sound familiar?  It should.  It echoes what Jesus had done in the upper room on Thursday evening. Then and there, at that moment, in that meal, their eyes were opened and they recognized Him.  As their teeth closed down on the bread Jesus gave, their eyes opened up and they beheld Jesus face to face!  Jesus made Himself known to them in the breaking of the bread.  The Master is made manifest in the meal.

        Why did Jesus do it this way?  Why spend all that time in the Word and in the Meal before appearing—and then disappearing?  Jesus knew that He was only going to be visibly present for forty more days.  He had to “wean” His followers from seeing Him with their eyes.  He had to teach them a new rhythm.  He had to catechize them to hear His voice in the Word and to recognize Him in the meal of His body and blood.  It would be in this new rhythm of Word and Meal, Word and Meal, that Jesus would continue to gather with His church until He comes again in glory.

        Beloved in the Lord, this is where your road and the road to Emmaus intersect.  Like those two disciples, you’ve heard the news that Christ is risen, but Christ Himself you have not seen.  And yet, He is here—quite here, profoundly here, bodily here—here to make your heart and life burn brightly with resurrection joy by the forgiveness of your sins.  The resurrection rhythm continues to pulsate here in this place—here in the Word and in the Meal.

        Word and Meal.  Word and Meal.  Word and Meal . . . and one thing more.  You see, the resurrection rhythm has a Trinitarian time signature.  It’s a threefold rhythm.  For let’s not forget that once Jesus revealed Himself in the Word and in the Meal—that once Jesus disappeared from their sight—those two disciples didn’t just turn in for the night.  They made a beeline right back to Jerusalem.  They reversed their seven mile journey—doubled their daily mileage to 14—jogging back to Jerusalem in the nighttime darkness, so that they could bear witness to the fact that Christ is risen.  It just couldn’t wait until the next day.  They couldn’t help but tell the good news of how Jesus was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

        Beloved in the Lord, that good news is also on our lips on this Third Sunday of Easter—good news that we can share with a world full of fearful people.  Only you don’t have to complete a seven-mile run to tell the good news that Christ is risen.  You express that good news in how you live and how you speak—by your very life and conversation.  Nothing can vanquish the hope that you have.  Nothing can undo the power of the resurrection.  Our present sufferings aren’t even worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in the resurrection.  Let that be your witness as you sync-up with the resurrection rhythm of the Emmaus road.

        Word, Meal, Witness.  Word, Meal, Witness. Through that resurrection rhythm Jesus Himself joins us.  He is with you.  We hear His voice in the Word.  His body and blood are made manifest in the Meal.  And we wake up every day bearing witness to the hope we have in Him.  Word, Meal, Witness.  Enjoy that Easter earworm!  Follow the Emmaus road.  Walk in the rhythm of the resurrection. 

        In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.