Acts 2.14a,36-41, Luke 24.13-35
The Third Sunday of Easter, 23 April 2023, Austwick
I love the story of the two disciples on the Emmaus Road, a story of two people who are suddenly surprised by joy. Two men who begin their journey in a mood of defeat and loss, who by the end of the story are full of warmth and wonder, having realised that the stranger they had been sharing their troubles with, the guest at their table, had been Jesus himself. They recognised him in the breaking of the bread. As the crumbs fell to the table, they were surprised by joy.
This and all the other stories of Jesus’ resurrection appearances show us that our God is a God of surprises: always seeking to surprise us with joy.
The expression, Surprised by Joy, was coined by the 20th-century Christian writer C.S. Lewis. He made it the title of his autobiography, where he talks about his early days as an atheist, someone who went out of his way to avoid God, but who came to realise that there could be no escape.
"You must picture me," Lewis wrote, "alone in [my room], night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet."
Gradually he came to admit that God was God, and knelt and prayed: he said that "perhaps, that night, [he was] the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England." He began to attend church and to read the gospels. They started to make sense to him. Lewis had acknowledged God; now God was after him to acknowledge his son. The subject was on Lewis's mind constantly.
In a now famous passage of Surprised by Joy, Lewis related his final step into real joy: "I know very well when, but hardly how, the final step was taken. I was driven to Whipsnade one sunny morning. When we set out I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and when we reached the zoo I did."
The journey to Whipsnade Zoo was Lewis's Emmaus Road. It tells us that Emmaus Road experiences still happen in our day. They might happen to us. Writer Terry Lindvall explains Lewis's conversion like this:
C.S. Lewis was drawn into the kingdom of God by joy - by a taste of this blessed fruit and divine gift. Joy was the divine carrot that persuaded such a self-proclaimed donkey as Lewis to plod down the road toward Jerusalem. It was the soft, disturbing kiss of God that unmade all of Lewis's world. Joy compelled Lewis toward the resurrection laughter of Easter... [2]
We don't know what Jesus has in store for us. But if we keep walking with him then we can expect joyful surprises along the way.
Remember that the first followers of Jesus were not called Christians. That came later. They were called the People of the Way. Jesus had said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
Now, if you are on the way that means you're on a journey.
And if you are travelling The Way of Jesus your behaviour will be affected by him as you go. See how those two travellers to Emmaus were affected by him as they went about their way...
First of all, they were talking with each other about all the things that had happened. Talking and discussing about the story of Jesus. People of The Way love to do that together.
Secondly, they welcomed a stranger to walk with them. Worth remembering when our instinct might be to avoid people who aren't like us, particularly if they walk up to us unbidden in the street. People of The Way open their hearts and their minds to others they don't know.
Thirdly, the two men on the Emmaus Road shared the story of Jesus with the stranger. Something which People of The Way are always keen to do.
Fourth, they listened to the stranger when he gave them a different view on the story they had told. When he turned the story around to show them a better way of looking at it, they listened. People of The Way will always be willing to listen and learn from others, whoever they are.
And fifth, these two invited their companion in to stay with them. People of The Way practice hospitality, their table is always set for a guest.
They were deeply unhappy, these men, they'd just been bereaved in the most terrible circumstances, but they kept journeying, embraced a stranger, opened themselves up to new ways of thinking, generously offered up their food and their home. They did this because they were People of The Way. And if you are on the way then you're likely to be surprised by joy. And sure enough, they soon were.
For joy comes through sadness, to those who walk with Jesus. On our life’s journey, we may find no detour around the tears and tribulations that come our way. But Christ is always looking to come alongside us, to bring us words of comfort and hope, to turn our mourning into dancing. [3]
So whatever diversions or deterrents life may put in our path, let us keep on the Way of Jesus. It’s the Way many of us have been on for years, the Way we may have learned from those wonderful believers who travelled before us.
It’s a Way we maybe stray from every now and again, but which always draws us back to this table, where Christ makes himself known to us in the breaking of the bread, and may surprise us once again with joy.
Notes
[1] A rewrite of Luke 24 - Emmaus Road - Surprised by Joy preached at West Camel Methodist Church Anniversary Service, 19 October 2014 in turn based on the sermon first preached at Christ Church Norris Green, 10 April 2005.
[2] All Lewis quotes from Terry Lindvall, Joy and Sehnsucht, The Laughter and Longings of C.S. Lewis, Mars Hill Review 8, Summer 1997.
[3] Psalm 30.11.
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