Revelation – Holy Cross Episcopal Church

Acts 2:14a, 36-41Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

1 Peter 1:17-23Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

Luke 24:13-35

There is a saying in Zen Buddhism: If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him. Zen Buddhism is all about the shedding of attachments, including attachment to the Buddha himself. But Christianity, I think, is quite different. You might say it is about the deepening of attachments â€“ though in a particular way, a way that avoids the false attachment of idolatry but leads us rather into a deepening quest for the attachment beyond attachments, that with God himself. Anyway, those thoughts as introduction to the gospel weâ€™ve just heard, in which two of Jesusâ€™ disciples meet him on Easter evening, on the road to a village outside Jerusalem called Emmaus.

What does this story mean? How do you and I encounter the risen Christ on the road of our life? How do our encounters change us? There are three parts to the Emmaus story which we will take up in turn: what Jesus does in â€œopening the Scripturesâ€; what he does in the â€œbreaking of the breadâ€; and the final notation that when he had opened the disciplesâ€™ eyes he â€œvanished from their sight.â€

Revelation 21:1-6Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

John 13:31-35Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

Â Â â€œI give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.â€

— John 13:34

Â â€œIf you love me,â€ says the teenager in the parked car to his girl friend, â€œyou will do what I want.â€ â€œOh, I just love myself!â€ gushes the woman on the total make-over show as she admires her new face, new clothes and new hair in a mirror. â€œLove makes the world go round,â€ runs an old song. And of course, â€œDonâ€™t you love those Red Sox?â€ Love, love, love.

Talk about love puts me in mind of the Supreme Court Justice who wrote in an opinion that he couldnâ€™t define pornography, but he knew it when he saw it. I canâ€™t define love, but I know it when I see it. We donâ€™t see it all that often â€“ not real love. But we see it in Jesus. â€œJust as I have loved you,â€ he says, â€œyou also should love one another.â€ Church is not about a bunch of ideas, concepts, rules and regulations, even biblical texts. Church is about a person: Jesus. About learning to see ourselves, to see all life, in terms of the love we see in Jesus.