Ordinary Miracles
Luke 24:13-35
by Rev. Frank Schaefer

To me this passage, commonly known as the “Road to Emmaus,” is one of the most intriguing eye-witness resurrection stories, in part because that's one Easter experience I can relate to. Other post-resurrection stories of Jesus happen in such an out-of-the-world miraculous way. I haven't seen a lot of signs and wonders, but, like these disciples on the road to Emmaus, I have looked back and discovered that God had been at work in my life--something I couldn't for the life of me see when it was actually happening.

But there is another aspect that I truly treasure about this Easter story: the hospitality aspect. The disciples welcome this stranger, talk to him, and even invite him to stay with them and share a meal.

That's pretty significant because from very early on in Christianity, there is this theme of hospitality to strangers. In Hebrews 13:2, for instance, we read: “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”

And of course, Jesus said in Matthew 25:40 “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

And to me that's the heart of the Easter story too. We live in a world eager to experience the risen Christ. There is so much need, so much suffering, so much uncertainty, war and terrorism. There is not always a need for big miracles, most often ordinary miracles will do.

But we long for God to break into our lives, we long for something meaningful to happen; a sign of hope, a sign of new life, a sign that our lives matter, that there is a higher purpose to all this.

The Road to Emmaus teaches us that there are ordinary miracles happening among us, all we have to do to find them is to reach out and help our fellow human beings in the name of Christ. It was in the moment of showing generous hospitality to a stranger that they found the risen Christ.

The risen Christ still makes appearances, and he often comes to us through the stranger, the neighbor, the needy and the friend. Easter is about so many things, but it certainly is also about finding the risen Christ as we reach out to fellow human beings in our community.

I will never forget Linda, a woman diagnosed with a terminal illness at he Hershey Med Center where I served as a Chaplain. I just happened upon her while actually looking for a different patient. I literally walked into her room by accident. Only, as it turns out, I was supposed to do that, because what followed was a visit with the risen Christ. I remember Linda sharing her story with me and I remember feeling helpless. I could not find words of comfort or hope as Linda shared she only had a few weeks to live.

Instead my eyes got misty, and at the end of my visit, I desperately tried to find the right words in a prayer. I thought it was a horrible attempt at a prayer. When I opened my eyes, I wanted to apologize to Linda for not being able to do anything else. And she looked at me long and intently and said: “but you did. You sat with me, you listened and prayed with me. I will be returning to our creator soon and when I do, I will speak of you kindly.

That's what Easter is about too: reaching out to people and finding the risen Christ in them, experiencing ordinary miracles in desperate and painful, or just humdrum situations. Christ is risen, he is risen indeed, right here, among us, in our ordinary lives! Amen.