Sermon Archives
A selection of sermons by members of the Community or visiting preachers
Easter 3, preached by Br Ian
In the breaking of the bread, Christ is made known.
Not in words of wisdom; not in his appearance or mannerisms, not in some secret code words or special clothes, but through the memory of a shared meal and the blessing, breaking, and sharing of bread, Christ is revealed to them.
The conversation that Jesus and the two disciples shared in on the journey to Emmaus obviously prepared the ground. The words were important in understanding and learning, but the fulfilment, the realisation, the ‘penny dropping moment’ comes in the action of the broken bread, and in that broken bread there are elements of friendship, of sharing, of compassion, sacrifice and joy.
I find it both a liberating and frustrating event. Liberating partly because of its simplicity. There is no complicated formula to work out or deep mystery to understand. The breaking of bread reveals on its own a powerful statement of generosity and compassion. It is a simple everyday event but with a radical challenge to actually put that generosity and compassion into practice. The action of breaking bread is straightforward, but what it signifies is a willingness to give, to be sacrificially generous in sharing our gifts. Alongside that action of course is the story of Christ’s passion, a story of liberation; the journey to Jerusalem, the cross, and the resurrection revealing to us the ultimate sacrificial gift of God’s son, to free us from all that can destroy us.
But it is also a frustrating event for me because I must enter into the action and not just the words. Yes, we have the brief words of blessing used at the last supper, and we have the thousands of words written since then describing and interpreting what Jesus did, but still we end up back at the simple action of breaking bread. It seems clear to me that Jesus would not let words themselves be the answer. He didn’t say to the disciples “remember that meal we had and how I broke bread and what I said and what it meant”; he actually breaks his journey, goes into the place where they are staying, takes the bread, blesses and breaks it. It is the action that is vital to the meaning and the understanding and the knowing. And for someone like me brought up in a culture of words, in a faith with lots of words, and with a personality that enjoys words, the importance of the action can be a bit frustrating. How to get hold of it?
I don’t think I am quite alone. Words are of course very useful, helpful, powerful, tools in our life and faith. We live in a culture which puts great importance on words, perhaps even more so with the development of the internet and other communication media. We quite often measure our development by what we know, i.e. what we have read and understood. Our faith is rooted very much in words and interpretation of words and understanding words, as are many other faiths.
Yet here I think, importantly, Jesus draws attention to an action, and it is through being part of the action, that he is known. We are invited then to know and understand Jesus through the actions of sacrificial giving of generous sharing.
I may well be speaking to the converted. To those of you rooted in understanding and receiving the world through action this will seem straightforward and reasonable. For those of us with a different set up, it provides something of a challenge. It is, for all of us, a profoundly simple lesson. As much as we are prepared to enter into the action of sacrificial giving, and of abundant sharing of what we have, then we will, in time, know the Risen Christ. Amen.