‘Metaphors of Journey and Hospitality’ by Rev Allister Lane

Luke 24:13-35

This week I was having lunch with someone in a café in Cuba Street.

About halfway through lunch, I recognised a voice nearby.

We were sitting next to an adjacent table where two people were also having lunch.

And I suddenly recognised one of them was Jemaine Clement, from Flight of the Conchords!

This famous person had been sitting a metre from me all that time!

(And, like a true New Zealander, I ignored him completely. It’s the right thing to do!)

Last Sunday I described a common feature of the NT resurrection stories

(where Jesus appears alive to his friends):  

initial non-recognition.

1.     Mary mistakes Jesus for a gardener

2.     The disciples don’t recognise the person calling out fishing advice from the shore

3.     And today – the most prolonged non-recognition of Jesus – is with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.

They walked and talked with Jesus,  about Jesus 

- but still they did not recognise him.

Not until they came to a pub at the end of the day,

and at the table, when Jesus breaks bread:

“Then their eyes were opened, and they recognised him… “ (v31)

This is an incredible passage, and I only have time to pick up a couple of points for us today.

I want us to recognise two movements in this passage:

1.     When they are walking on the road

2.     And when they are sitting at the table

These two movements are faith experiences that are true for us too.

·      The walking on the road expresses our ‘journey of faith’.

·      The gathering at the table expresses our experience of God’s hospitality.

Firstly, the journey.

I love this metaphor for our faith. (You may have noticed!)

We have this old suitcase as a prop to remind us of this metaphor of being on a journey.

·      we are following Jesus together

·      it is a dynamic experience, always changing

My friend and author, Lynne Baab, identifies 3 reasons why ‘journey’ is such a great metaphor for faith.

1. “Journey” focuses on the process of getting there, not the arrival.

Christians are being transformed into Christ’s image “from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

This is a process that continues throughout our earthly life. On earth, we never arrive but we continually grow closer to who we were created to be.

When we talk about faith as a journey, we are emphasizing progress, not perfection.

2. A journey implies changes, transitions, challenges and adventures.

Although we may often have a desire for comfort and stability, seeing faith as a journey opens us to meeting God in the unexpected.

We are less likely to resist change and challenge.

3. Many human journeys involve travel companions.

In many instances, travel is quite difficult on our own and significantly easier with a companion –  

·      someone to open doors when we’re juggling luggage,

·      someone who knows the language to translate a menu in a foreign country, or

·      someone to chat with about the scenery.

Seeing faith as a journey, is to appreciate the travel companions God has given.

So, those are 3 great reasons ‘journey’ is a metaphor of faith.

The second ‘movement’ in today’s passage,

is the gathering at the table.

This expresses our experience of God’s hospitality.

Here, it is Jesus who is invited to receive hospitality from his walking companions:

“they urged him strongly, saying, ‘Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ [and] he went in to stay with them.” (v29)

But…

“When he was at the table with them, [Jesus] took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.” (v30)

Jesus is revealed to actually be the Host.

It is Jesus who, on the night before he died, shared a meal with his disciples, and said:

“Take, eat. This is my body, given for you.”

Jesus displays God’s hospitality with a love that gives sacrificially.

We recognise Jesus as the Host when we trust all that he gives us.

His life, death and resurrection are a gift of love from God the Father – for us.

So, as we come to the table today,

we recognise Jesus as the Host.

Communion is His meal,

he invites us to receive the grace he gives.

Here we are offered the hospitality of God.

So, these two movements are relevant for our faith still:

·      Journeying

·      Experiencing God’s hospitality

Let me be very clear about the journey we are on:

it is not our own journey which we (somehow) make our way towards God.

No.

God has made His way toward us.

The biggest and most significant journey in the Bible is…

Jesus leaving heaven and coming to earth for our sake;

to live and die and be raised again so that we can live in him.

Our journey with Jesus is a journey into the life of God.

And so it is (at the same time) a journey into family relationships, friendships, workplaces, neighbourhoods, and the broken world.

Jesus invites us to journey with him and to receive from him.  What do we receive…?     Love and life.

We receive this so that we can pass it on. That’s how grace flows.

And, just as Jesus switches between being guest and host,

on our journey with Jesus, we are invited to both receive as guests and give as hosts.

In recent months the St John’s Session has been discerning a new Vision for St John’s in the City –

  we sense something new, about the life that God gives. 

This Vision involves aroha, friendship, welcome, sharing – neighbourliness.

I’ll share more about this Vision in the coming weeks, and invite us all to see our part on the journey of faith together.

Friends, today we trust the Holy Spirit guides us to grow into Jesus’ image on the journey, as we make our way toward the destination promised to us.

Amen.