Second Presbyterian Church

"Jesus Lives!
Preaching From the Gospel of Luke"
November 20, 2005

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Sermons Homepage » Sermons for 2005 » Sermons for November 2005 » Sermons from the Series on Luke

#69 in the Series on Luke
The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.

• Luke 24: 13-53

What a day! Today is Christ the King Sunday in the church calendar! It coincides with the last sermon preached from the Gospel of Luke, a sermon that stresses Jesus' resurrection. We have the baptism of Cameron Lee Crew. And it is by baptism that we die with Christ and are raised again with him. And we are going to celebrate Holy Communion. I hope everybody brought their lunches with them!

We have spent two years preaching through the Gospel of Luke. We have gone through the birth narratives, Jesus' baptism and ministry in Galilee. We have witnessed his preaching and teaching and all the miracles he performed to demonstrate the coming nigh of the Kingdom of God. We have seen the disciples follow Jesus, share his authority when they went out two by two, and struggle to learn the ways of the New Kingdom: a kingdom of Grace, a kingdom of love, a kingdom in which human values and authority are turned upside down. The disciples have followed Jesus through thick and thin. Sometimes they did not understand. Sometimes they made mistakes. Yet Jesus was always the faithful Messiah. They could not understand that Jesus had to go to Jerusalem and be crucified, then raised from the dead on the third day. They would not understand Jesus as the Messiah of the whole world until we come to these last forty verses of Luke.

Jesus Lives! Not, Jesus lived; that would imply that he is not currently living. Jesus lives! He is alive today. He lives as a resurrected man who once was laid in the tomb a dead man. He lives as God, the Word that is from God, who indeed IS God, who has been with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit from the beginning, before time.

The disciples experienced the resurrected Lord in two basic ways. The first way was when Jesus opened the Scriptures to them and explained how the Messiah must die and then be raised on the third day. Jesus wasn't quite visible to Cleopas and his companion at first. Although they noted later that their hearts did burn when Jesus was with them. Jesus was only recognized when he broke the bread and blessed it, a clear allusion to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. We see Jesus, the resurrected Messiah when we gather around the table and break bread and drink the cup. When we gather around the table we remember the sacrifice that Jesus made for us by being crucified for our sins. And we remember that Jesus rose from death and thus redeemed humankind from its sin and separation from God. What wonderful news for us in the story of the two companions who were on their way to Emmaus!

The second way the disciples experienced the resurrected Lord was directly. They were in the room together and suddenly Jesus was there, saying, "Peace to you!" They were frightened at first. I can understand that. We would all be startled if Jesus all of a sudden appeared with us now in our sanctuary. Theoretically he could do that. At first they thought he might be a ghost. They believed in ghosts in those days, even as some people believe in them today. But Jesus did something that no ghost can ever do: he ate broiled fish. He ate food. Ghosts cannot eat food, they have no flesh and bone.

The disciples were overjoyed. It was too good to be true, but instead of turning out to be false; it was still true! Then Luke gave a precursory account of Jesus' ascension into heaven while he was blessing them. Luke would redo this scene in the first chapter of Acts. Jesus had left specific orders. Do not leave Jerusalem until the power of the Holy Spirit (the Promise of my Father) has come to you. So the disciples were continually in the temple blessing God.

Jesus Christ is king. He is king of kings and Lord of Lords. He is the one to whom we can turn regardless of our situation. He is the one who reigns and some day the entire creation will be aware of Jesus' rule and worship Him in the manner that He deserves. Although we do not see the complete evidence of Jesus' reign yet, It shall come. And we, by faith, know it shall take place. So as a congregation we strive, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in the manner and command of Christ's love. We trust our salvation is in the Lord and we learn to forgive ourselves and others as we work out how we are to demonstrate the Kingdom of God even before it has been complete. It has begun. Jesus gave it its beginning. The church continues the presence of the Kingdom of God. We are called to live it with the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ living in our hearts.

And that is what we bring here to the baptism of Cameron Lee Crew. Today we officially recognize Cameron's membership into the kingdom of God. He doesn't know it yet. But with our help Cameron will learn to experience the love and grace of Jesus Christ as he grows up in our midst. He will learn the love and grace of Jesus Christ from his family and us. Cameron is just like us. When Christ died for our sins, we weren't even a gleam in our parent's eye. Yet the grace of God had already come for our sakes. It has also come for Cameron's sake as well.

It is yet another way we confess: Jesus Lives! Amen.

The Rev. Daniel E. Hale, D. Min.