"Why do you look for the living among the dead?"

Easter Sunday: I had no responsibility at the hospital, so traveled with Jotham Simiyu (on the back of his motorbike) to Malaha Monthly Meeting for Easter services. From previous experience, I knew this would be an all-day event, and that I would likely be asked to "bring the message" (or at least one of the messages). When traveling among Friends in Kenya, I have learned to take Peter's advice to heart: "Always be ready to explain to others the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect (I Pet 3:15)

By way of explanation, I feel like I have heard quite a bit over the last week, building up to Easter, about the crucifixion, so this was my attempt to shift the focus a bit. What follows is an abbreviated and de-Kenyanized summary of what I said, or what I think I said... I spoke without notes. I was grateful to be forced to pause frequently for the translation, because it gives one time to thing what to say next. Another thing I have learned is that you can say most anything and talk about most anything, as long as you anchor it in Scripture. Also, I have left out the various Bukusu and Kiswahili greetings that are obligatory to begin with.

"Today is Easter, the day we celebrate, and remember that our story does not end with the crucifixion, but continues to the resurrection. In the end, we are people of the resurrection...

"When I read through the accounts of the first Easter from our four gospels, what strikes me is that the first reaction of the women who find the tomb empty was not joy, but confusion. They came to anoint Jesus' body with spices, and finding the tomb empty, all they could think of seemed to be, "What happened to the body?" But the angel redirects them: "Why do you look for the living among the dead?" (Luke 24:5)

I want to talk this morning about my own favorite Easter story, from Luke 24: 13-33, the story of the road to Emmaus. Someone once said that a Quaker is defined not so much but what he or she believes, or by what he or she does. Rather, a Quaker first and foremost is someone who has met the Inward Christ. I like this story because it about meeting Christ in an unexpected way.

[Scripure reading in two languages.]

Why are these two disciples traveling away from Jerusalem? By their own admission, they (like the women at the tomb) are confused, but it also seems not too much of a stretch to say they are frightened, frightened that what happened to Jesus might also happen to his followers. They were, quite reasonably, fleeing from Jerusalem.

What surprises in the account is that, in this long and involved conversation between Jesus and the two disciples, they don't recognize him. What are we to make of this? Sometimes, it seems, the risen Christ is indeed hard to recognize; even Mary Magdalene mistook him for the gardener. Beyond that, these disciples had certain expectations: "We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel..." God's ways are not our ways, and when we bring our human expectations of what and who Christ is and should be, he may remain unrecognized.

Even more surprising, when they finally do recognize him in the breaking of the bread, what happens? He vanishes... I prefer to think this is not because he is abandoning them; but rather, once Christ is recognized, he is confident that his disciples will do what is necessary -- and he is off to somewhere else. And indeed, once he is recognized, these disciples go back to Jerusalem, from where they had just been fleeing. They were tranformed, from confused and frightened, to bold and confident. "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, and opening the scriptures?"

One other thing stands out: what the risen Christ did on the road was to teach. This story is one of the places where early Friends came to use the phrase Inward Teacher to refer to the Light of Christ. Remember Fox's often repeated refrain: "Christ has come to teach his people himself."

Another passage that beautifully expresses this idea of the Inward Teacher is from the Hebrew Scriptures, Isaiah 30:20-21: ""Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And when you turn to the right and when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

There is much for us to ponder in this little story. On the road that is our life, the risen Christ may come to us in unexpected ways, ways that are difficult to recognize. Will we recognize him? Will we heed the word from behind us, encouraging us and teaching us: "This is the way; walk in it." And as we are walking, will we receive those who are sent to us by Christ? Jesus said (John 13:22) "whoever receives one whom I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me." Who might Christ send to us on this road? Might it be "one of the least of these?" Will we receive them in His name? Will we perhaps even recognize Christ in that person? And recognizing Christ, will we, like the disciples in our story, be transformed?

May it be so.