"Seeing is Believing" | Grace Covenant

“Seeing is Believing”

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Date: April 30, 2017

Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church

Asheville, North Carolina

April

2017

Sermon: Seeing is Believing”

Rev.

Samantha Gonzalez

–

Block

Psalm 116:1

–

4, 12

–

Luke 24:13

–

“How is this night different from other nights?”

Growing up in an interfaith home, with a Jewish father and Presbyterian mother, the Easter

season was always coupled with the cherished Jewish holiday of Passover.

As many of you know, Passover is a time to sit at table with loved ones and share an

eveni

ng meal where we ask questions and remember the Exodus story: when God freed the

Hebrew slaves from Egypt, where they had been held captive for nearly five hundred years.

It is a time to give thanks for the sweet gift of freedom today and declare our commi

tment

to helping bring about freedom for all people throughout the world.

During the Seder, there are a number of cherished rituals:

such as dipping bitter herbs into salt water to represent the bitterness of slavery,

dripping drops of wine on our plate

to acknowledge with broken hearts the ten plagues

the Egyptians endured, and retelling the story of how God appeared to Moses in the most

une

xpected form of a burning bush:

telling him to lead the Hebrew people out of bondage

and across the sea

–

to a

new beginning.

As is tradition, the Passover table always includes a place setting for the ancient prophet

Elijah (remember, he’s the one who never died, but was instead whisked away into

heaven). At the Seder, Elijah always gets his own chair, his own cu

p, and towards the end of

the evening, someone is sent to open the front door

–

to “welcome him in”.

Well, a few years back, my sister and I were given the honor of opening the door for Elijah.

We rushed out of our seats, turned the knob and swung it ope

We then shrieked in

unison and jumped about five feet in the air.

Before us

was Elijah.

Standing tall, with a white cotton ball beard, wrapped in badge

bedsheets and holding a long curtain rod staff.

When our eyes regained focus and the laughter su

rrounding us died down a bit, we realized

that it was in fact our neighbor Ben playing a “harmless” trick on us.

But the lesson of it all

–

felt more s

ignificant than meets the eye.

Every year, we had been open

ing the door for this prophet,

and every y

ear we never really expected him to show up.

Why would we?

We spend much of our life, arguably all of our time here in church, seeking out God.

Yearning for the Divine to show up

–

somehow, someway

;

yste

riously be revealed to us

in the midst of a

frustrating morning commute

or in the calm of that familiar church pew

in the whisper of the cool mountain breeze just after daybreak

Or in the creaking of the ol’ house late at night when all are asleep.

We spend much of our life, prac

ticing holding f

ast to the hope

that just down the road,

just past the next hill, the next hurdle

–

Jesus will really show up.

Yet as I look

around the room today, I wonder, e

ven in our most wholehearted, faithful

anticipatio

are we really expe

cting to see Jesus at t

he door? And when he does appear, d

we have the capacity to recognize him, the trust to welcome him in,

the authentic faith to

permit him

to guide us down an unfamiliar

–

even treacherous path?

The two disciples had no idea what they were getting into

that day on the road to Emmaus.

We know for sure, they were in mourning

–

their hands and hearts still trembling from the

gruesome murder they had witnessed a few days earlier. Their friend, rabbi, holy prophet,

who they believed was the One sent by God

to bring redemption to

all of

Israel was gone

–

crucified. Certainly, their hope of liberation and renewal had died with him.

Sure, some of their friends had said “he is risen”, “he can’t be gone” “Look, he’s not in the

tomb”

–

but the two had not seen ‘Je

sus risen’ for themselves

–

and as much as they wanted

to keep up the faith

–

to believe in what he had promised them

–

they still couldn’t wrap

their minds around something so “impossible”.

And so, they left. Emmaus was no

t a very prominent destination.

was just a simple

village.

They were going home

–

the place we all go when we are feeling lost and defeated,

when we need time to recharge, and heal,

and figure out our next steps.

They probably

did

expect to bump into some familiar faces

along the w

ay.

Perhaps on this stretch of seven miles they anticipated running into some old cousins who

they hadn’t seen for years,

maybe they feared encountering Roman soldiers looking to

capture any remaining Christ followers.

They expected to see

anyone else

than the one they

longed most to see.

And so, when Jesus shows up

–

miraculously standing

before them in

his risen body

–

‘

their

eyes

are kept from recognizing him.’

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