- Sermon - Mickey Anders

Text: Luke 24:13-35

There's a wonderful Christmas song that asks, "Do you see what I see?" Today, I want to ask that question again. Do you see what I see? Sometimes two people can look at the same picture and see totally different objects. This is especially true with optical illustions.

I love optical illusions. I find it amazing that I can look at a picture and see something that someone else may not see, or that they can see something that I don't see. I want you to look at some pictures like that.

In the first one, do you see a rabbit or a duck?

In the second one, do you see an Indian or an Eskimo?

In the third one, do you see a man's face or the word "Liar?"

In the fourth one, do you see a saxophone player or a woman's face?

In the final one, do you see a beautiful young woman, or an ugly old woman?

Physicists say that optical illusions prove that our brains add substantially to the visual input from our eyes. What we see is actually made up by our brains. Sometimes we have to look again to see the right things.

In our Scripture passage today, the two disciples on the road to Emmaus did not see Jesus even though they walked with him and talked with him on the road. That simple puzzle has amazed Biblical scholars for ages. We assume that Cleopas and the other disciple (who some say was Mrs. Cleopas) knew Jesus well enough that they should have recognized him. But verse 16 says, "...their eyes were kept from recognizing him."

How did that happen? Perhaps God put blinders on these two through some sort of special miracle. God certainly has the power to do that.

Some have suggested that the sun blinded these disciples. As they walked into the setting sun, they could not focus on this stranger walking with them.

Maybe these disciples had poor vision in an age without glasses. There had to be lots of people back then with vision like mine. Without these glasses, I would be legally blind.

Perhaps they didn't recognize Jesus because he was out of context. Maybe you've experienced this when you see someone that you know but they are in the wrong place. Your mind whirls trying to place the person. But without the appropriate setting, you can't recall their name.

Biblical characters often encountered God in unexpected ways. Moses turned aside from his flock of sheep to see why a bush would burn and not be consumed. Jacob laid his head on a stone while he was running from his troubles, and saw a stairway to heaven. Then, years later, he wrestled all night with a manifestation of God in the flesh. Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up in the Temple. Saul of Tarsus met Jesus on the road to Damascus. Jesus captured Saul's attention by knocking him to the ground and striking him blind.

And in our text for today, God's self-disclosure on the road to Emmaus was unexpected, but in a radically different way from the encounters I just mentioned. The road to Emmaus was not like the road to Damascus. Here, we have no blinding light or heavenly voice. Jesus walked along with the disciples, warming their hearts with scripture, but they still do not know who he is. Jesus is so unobtrusive that he would have walked on if they had not asked him to come in. It was only when he broke the bread at mealtime that they really saw him.

This should serve as a reminder that there is no one way that God comes to us. Sometimes God is in the thunder and lighting; sometimes God is in the still small voice.

As with the optical illusions, our minds have to be open to seeing the reality of God, or else God will walk on by.

Mary Magdalene expected Jesus to still be dead when she went to the tomb on the first Easter morning, so she didn't recognize him when she saw him in the garden, until he spoke her name.

Jesus wasn't expected to be walking on the road to Emmaus, so his disciples didn't recognize him.

I don't know exactly what happened that day. The Bible doesn't make it clear. Whatever it was that happened on that road on that first Easter evening, I believe it is still taking place today. We walk the roads every day and fail to see the God who is walking with us. I suspect that the disciples simply failed to see the divine in the ordinary.

As soon as the two disciples recognized the risen Lord, he disappeared from their sight. I find this an intriguing element of the story, and one that rings true to our experience. God's presence is always elusive, fleeting, dancing at the edge of our awareness and perception.

God always comes in unexpected, unpredictable ways. God's presence is mysterious and fleeting. For this reason, we learn to treasure religious experiences as we look back on them. The two in Emmaus exclaim, "Did not our hearts burn within us?"

The risen Lord meets us on the road to our Emmaus, in the ordinary places and experiences of our lives, and in the places to which we retreat when life is too much for us. The story warns us, however, that the Lord may come to us in unfamiliar guises, when we least expect him.

Remember the optical illusions we looked at earlier. Sometimes it was very difficult to see the other image. That last one was my favorite. I want you to look at it again. Do you see the young woman? Do you see the old woman?

Now I want to show you another optical illusion. What do you see in this picture?

This picture was taken in 2001. Look hard. What do you see? Do you see bare land or a ministry center?

This picture was taken in 2002. Do you see a building under construction or a place for worship?

Do you see walls and doors and a roof or people?

Do you see a building or ministry?

Let me persuade your eyes to see something very different.

These are not just four walls.

Do you see a completed Christian Ministry Center or do you see children learning about Jesus?

Do you see a building or do you see worship?

Do you see concrete and mortar or do you see a place where we have the consignment sale?

Do you see the mistakes that may have been made in construction or do you see potential for church growth?

This was our church on one of the first worship services in the new building.

And this was our church last Easter Sunday!

Do you see tables or do you see fellowship?

Do you see a debt or do you see ministry?

In Mark 18:8, Jesus asked the Disciples, "Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you not remember?"

Over the next few weeks, we will be training your eyes to see. We want you to see that this building was not always here, that it took people of vision to make it happen. Not everyone would be able to see that kind of vision. It took a tremendous risk for South Elkhorn Christian Church to undertake the building of a $1.3 million building! That was a huge risk.

The people knew that they could not afford to take enough money out of their regular ministry budget to pay for a new building. The people did not want to cut ministry or programs in order to build this building. So they decided to raise the funds for this building over and above their regular contributions to the ministry of the church. So the people of the church were challenged and a capital campaign was conducted, and then another.

Since I have only been here for a year and a half, I can't speak with too much authority about the history of the campaigns. But I do know this: The building was completed in 2003 at a cost of $1.3 million. The debt was financed for a 15 year term. Now five years later we only owe 57% of the cost of the building! Our debt is currently $748,000 on this building.

I know that the people of this church have given sacrificially to pay for this building, while maintaining their giving to the regular budget.

This is not a church that likes the idea of paying interest on this loan, so they are making every effort to pay the loan off early. Every month they have paid $800 more than the basic payment. They know that every dollar spent on interest is a dollar that does not go to ministry.

The members of this church have been very generous in their giving. But we have come to the end of the three-year pledges made in the capital campaign of 2005. Now is the time to renew our commitment to the vision. Those who have pledged before and have given sacrificially for six years will be asked to re-commit to the vision of ministry represented by this building.

And many of us are newcomers. We were not here in 2005 when the last pledges were made. Many of you are like me in that I never knew this church when it did not have this lovely worship and ministry space. We who are newcomers are challenged to join the others in making a commitment to pay for this building.

But I remind you that it is an optical illusion. It looks like a debt, but it is a building. It looks like a building, but it is a ministry. It looks like a church, but it is worship. It looks like walls and a roof, but it is children learning about Jesus. It looks like a gym, but it is countless fellowship meals.

The disciples weren't expecting Jesus, and they didn't see him until he broke bread. We also pretty much see and hear what we want. It takes a special moment, a sacrament to open our eyes.

There once was a little boy who decided he wanted to find God. He knew it would probably be a long trip, so he decided to pack a lunch -- four packs of Twinkies and two cans of root beer. He set out on his journey and went a few blocks until he came to a park. On one of the park benches sat an old woman looking at the pigeons. The little boy sat down beside her and watched the pigeons too. When he grew hungry, he pulled out some Twinkies. As he ate, he noticed the woman watching him, so he offered her one. She accepted it gratefully and smiled at him. He thought she had the most beautiful smile in the world. Wanting to see it again, he opened a can of root beer and offered her the other. Once again she smiled that beautiful smile.

For a long time the two sat on that park bench eating Twinkies, drinking root beer, smiling at each other, and watching the pigeons. Neither said a word. Finally the little boy realized that it was getting late and he needed to go home. He started to leave, took a few steps, turned back and gave the woman a big hug. Her smile was brighter than ever before.

When he arrived home, his mother noticed that he was happy, but strangely quiet. "What did you do today?" she asked. "Oh, I had lunch in the park with God," he said. Before his mother could reply he added, "You know, she has the most beautiful smile in the world."

Meanwhile, the woman left the park and returned home. Her son noticed something different about her. "What did you do today, Mom?" he asked. "Oh, I ate Twinkies and drank root beer in the park with God." And before her son could say anything at all, she added, "You know, God's a lot younger than I had imagined." (From "aha!!!", April 18, 1999, p. 18.)

What do you see?