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.

 

The Essence of Easter

Jesu Juva

St. John 20:19-31                                               

April 12, 2026

Easter 2A                                         

 Dear saints of our Savior~

        Alleluia! Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!

        The resurrection of Jesus is too big to be tamed. It can’t be confined to just one day per year.  As most of you know, the resurrection is the reason we gather here on every first day of the week.  Every Sunday is an Easter celebration.  Our Lord’s resurrection appearances continue here in His church, bringing us paschal peace and joy.

        In fact, today’s Holy Gospel reading takes us right back to Easter Sunday.  Last week we traveled with the women to the tomb and listened to an angel with an attitude announcing that Jesus is risen.  We were there at dawn on the first day of resurrection.  Today’s gospel reading takes us to the evening of that same day—to ten men cowering behind locked doors.  Judas was dead and gone; and Thomas was famously absent.  Twelve minus two is ten.

        Ten wounded men were trembling behind locked doors. These were ten terrorized, traumatized men—men wounded by what they had witnessed on Friday.  There they saw the Lord they loved brutalized and tortured and executed.  Or did they see it?  It seems most of them didn’t.  This is why they were wounded with shame and sorrow for what they had done—for their sin—for how they had abandoned Jesus and even denied knowing Him.  These disciples were all faithless failures.  They had treated their Lord with contempt and cowardice.  They chose the path of self-preservation; as Jesus went the way of self-sacrifice.  And so there were ten—ten wounded men.

        But then Jesus came and stood among them!  Had there been a knock at the door?  Did He come in through a window?  No, Jesus simply stood among them and said: Peace be with you.  And with those words, Jesus showed them His wounded hands and side.  Jesus could have scolded them—could have rebuked them.  He could have shamed them for their sin.  Jesus could have said, "See what you did to me!"  But Jesus says:  See what I did for you.  Those are the scars of your salvation.  By those wounds you are healed.

        With His words and wounds the Lord Jesus forgave His disciples.  He absolved them.  He remembered their sin no more.  And then, something totally unexpected: He breathed on them!  Most of us don’t aspire to be breathed on.  I don’t care to inhale what you’re exhaling.  But this—this is the good breath of Jesus.  This is God’s good breath that goes back to the Garden of Eden, when the Lord breathed into Adam the breath of life.  Jesus now breathes on these men the breath of resurrection life—the peace of sin forgiven.

        Receive the Holy Spirit, He says.  If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.  Of all the topics Jesus might have raised that day. Of all the orders He might have given.  The risen Christ has one thing on His mind:  the forgiveness of sins.  This is the essence of Easter.  This is the enduring result of the resurrection—the defining doctrine of Christianity—that those called and sent by the Lord Jesus should forgive the sins of all who are penitent—in His stead and by His command.

        Do you believe it?  Do you believe that the Risen Christ is here to forgive you?  Do you believe that the absolution spoken by your pastor is not your pastor’s opinion—but is from God Himself? And that by it your sins are forgiven before God in heaven?  Your pastor has orders from the risen Christ to forgive sins.  Here I stand; I can do no other.  If we really believed that, we would run to the Divine Service.  If we really believed that, people would be lined up outside, waiting for our doors to be unlocked.  If we really believed that, then we would let nothing stand in the way of confessing our sins and receiving absolution.  For by that absolution, the very gates of heaven are unlocked. 

        Of course, we don’t always or fully believe this.  What we do mistakenly believe is that our sins aren’t really that bad. And that the world is filled with people who are much worse than us.  We believe that we have learned and grown from our sins.  And we only had the best of intentions—and the best possible rationale for doing what we did.  And isn’t the main thing that we learn to forgive ourselves?

        Let me be clear:  No, it isn’t.  Sin is never a teachable moment or a lesson to be learned or an opportunity for growth.  The only remedy for our sin comes from the words and wounds of Jesus.  The only solution for our sin is holy absolution.  Jesus Christ wasn’t crucified and resurrected so that you can deal with sin on your terms!  But if we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

        This truth about sin and forgiveness isn’t something that just gets tacked onto Easter as an afterthought.  This is the essence of Easter.  This is the peace brought to us each week by the Risen Christ.  He comes here to heal your wounds by the power of His wounds.  He comes to fill your heart with paschal peace and Easter joy.

        This is what our liturgy teaches us right after the consecration of the bread and wine.  At that exact moment comes the sacred exchange we call the Pax Domini—the Peace of the Lord.  You will see it and hear it in just a few moments.  The pastor takes the bread that is the body of Christ.  He takes the cup which is filled with the blood of Christ.  He elevates that heavenly food and drink and dares to declare:  The peace of the Lord be with you always.

        Beloved in the Lord, that is not a throw-away line.  That’s not filler.  That is the essence of Easter!  Jesus Christ risen from the dead, bringing you His perfect peace and the forgiveness of your sin, which He earned by His suffering and death.  Here the resurrection appearances of Jesus continue.  Here at this altar—here through time and space—the risen Lord comes with His words and His wounds to bring you peace that passes understanding.

        This is why you should never miss church.  Never pass up the opportunity to receive the risen Lord.  Just look what happened to Thomas!  He wasn’t there.  He missed it.  For Thomas there were no words and no wounds, no peace and no joy, no Jesus and no faith.  We call him “doubting” Thomas; but his real problem wasn’t doubt; it was unbelief!  Unless I see it and touch it . . . I will never believe it.  Thomas was the man who missed Easter and the results were terrible and toxic.

        One week later—the next Sunday—the Risen Christ returns for the sake of Thomas—who was dear to Jesus, and loved by Jesus, and precious to Jesus—just like you.  Be not faithless, Thomas; only believe!  Thomas could only conclude that this was the real deal, the genuine Jesus. No ghost.  No apparition.  Flesh and bone, body and blood:  My Lord and my God!

        On that very first Sunday after Easter, Jesus came back for the sake of Thomas.  On this Sunday after Easter, Jesus comes back for your sake.  He comes for you with His Words and His wounds.  His wounded hands and side for Thomas; His holy body and blood for you in the Lord’s Supper.  This is the ongoing, enduring, unending essence of Easter.

        Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.  That’s you!  Blessed are you on this second Sunday of Easter, that you believe Christ is risen from the dead.  Blessed are you, for you will see soon enough.  The peace of the Lord be with you always!

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