A Personal Encounter Makes the Difference

Based on Luke 24:1-12

“The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” Jesus said these words to his disciples. And it was pretty clear. No metaphors or parables. Jesus went down the list. He would be rejected, killed and be raised three days later. No ambiguity. Straight talk. The disciples that heard these words from Jesus were not just the twelve, by the way. There were women that accompanied them as well, including Mary Magdalene, Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for everyone out of their resources. They all knew. Jesus had told them ahead of time not only that he would be killed but that on the third day he would be raised. Short and sweet.

But they did not believe. Even though they followed Jesus, trusted Jesus, loved Jesus, there were some things Jesus said that went in through one ear and out of the other. They heard him but it didn’t sink in. They simply could not accept what Jesus said, that he would be killed and that after three days he would rise from the dead. It was too hard to accept.

If they had believed what Jesus said and taken his words to heart, why did the women go to the tomb as soon as they could, after the Sabbath, to anoint his body with the spices? If they believed, they should not have expected a body to be in the tomb. When the women told the disciples their experience of an empty tomb the disciples should have not been surprised. They should have expected Jesus not being in the tomb if they had believed him. Peter goes to the tomb himself, looks inside, sees for himself that Jesus was not in the tomb. And even with this evidence, he goes back home in amazement. He still does not believe. There is something that is blocking him, all of them, from accepting the reality that Jesus actually rose from the dead as he said he would. What is it? Why did they not believe what Jesus told them?

We can hear people who we trust and love say things that seem far-fetched or unbelievable and it doesn’t stick. We forget what was said. It goes in one ear and out the other. We don’t take what they say seriously. Maybe we think they are joking. We don’t really buy in to what they are saying. We hear what they say as a pipe dream, an idle tale, wishful thinking, an unlikely story, too good to be true. We can still trust and love people who say things that are unlikely or incredible. We just shrug our shoulders. Just because the disciples didn’t take what Jesus said about being killed and raised from the dead seriously, that doesn’t mean they didn’t trust him or love him. Sometimes people say crazy things. Until something happens and what they said doesn’t seem crazy anymore.

I heard a story recently from someone who has been working for decades to address the housing crisis and the struggle to get people in permanent housing. Bill does a lot of advocacy with politicians in order to push for policies that will be helpful in this effort. In his advocacy, he uses a lot of statistics, talks about real life examples of programs and policies that can make a difference in the lives of real people. He says there are solutions if we would just muster the political will to act.

There was one politician in particular that Bill was talking to. They had a good relationship. He was hearing what Bill had to say. He was nodding along. But the politician was not really sold. He didn’t have buy in. It just was not connecting. So, Bill invited him to come and see. Come to a shelter and see what services are being offered that are making a difference. The politician took up the offer and went with Bill to visit a shelter. While he was there, he saw someone in the shelter he knew. They had worked together in government many years ago. And there he was, a friend and colleague, who found himself homeless and having to stay in a shelter. Suddenly, a light clicked on in that politician. He couldn’t get past that someone he knew personally had stumbled into homelessness. He started really listening to Bill and did what he could to support Bill’s advocacy because he had a personal encounter with someone he knew who was unhoused.

The disciples had heard what Jesus said. But they didn’t really buy it. They didn’t take Jesus seriously. Even when they heard the facts from the women and saw the evidence that Jesus was no longer in the tomb, they just couldn’t get on board. It wasn’t until they had a personal encounter before the light came on and they came to belief. For the women it was their encounter with two men wearing dazzling white clothes. For Clopas and Simon joined by a stranger along the road to Emmaus, it took that moment when the stranger took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to them that they came to a realization that they were in the presence of Jesus. For the rest of the disciples, it wasn’t until Jesus stood before them showing his hands and his side before they came to belief. It was a personal encounter that made the difference.

I was raised in church. I learned when I was a little boy that Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. I learned that Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. But they were just songs to me, words I heard. I didn’t really take them to heart. I knew what Easter was about. But it was just a story. I couldn’t relate to it or understand it.

I was at a retreat with my youth group. We watched the movie “Godspell”. We would watch a section and then discuss it. This movie opened my eyes to what the gospel was about because the stories in the gospel were being told in a new, fresh way. It was like I was hearing them for the first time. There were a few times where I said to myself, “Jesus said that? Huh. I didn’t know.” Something was stirring in my heart.

And then, one evening, something happened. For the first time in my life, it dawned on me that Jesus shed his blood and died on the cross for me. It dawned on me how much God loved me and that God had a plan for my life. A light clicked on that because of Jesus I was forgiven, promised eternal life, and destined to serve God the rest of my life as an agent of love. My heart overflowed with love. Love for God and love for others. It was like scales fell off my eyes. The world looked different. The joy that welled up in my heart was not like anything I had experienced before. I was blessed to have a personal encounter with Jesus. I didn’t visibly see him. But I felt his presence. And in that moment I came to believe. I was changed. All that I had heard about Jesus started to become real to me.

What is your story? What was it like when you experienced a personal encounter with Jesus?

For those of us who have had that personal encounter with Jesus, Easter is an opportunity to remember that encounter. To remember means to bring the past into the present. We can remember that moment when we encountered the living Christ. We can remember that moment when the promise of resurrection became real for us. When we bring those encounters back to remembrance, it has been my experience that the joy that came with that encounter is stirred deep inside, welling up and expressed outward. This is the reason why Easter is my favorite day of the year. Maybe it is yours too. It is a day where the joy of knowing Jesus, of having had that encounter with Jesus, is stirred up. Bringing to remembrance that encounter with Jesus makes our hearts sing.

For those of us who have not yet had that encounter, today is an invitation to be stirred with wonder and amazement, just as Peter was when he saw the empty tomb and then went back home amazed. It didn’t make sense to him. He couldn’t connect the dots. He was amazed at what had happened. But he had not yet come to belief. Maybe that’s where you are today. That’s ok. These encounters with Jesus are not premeditated or planned. They just happen. And they happen in surprising ways, just like how Jesus appeared to Clopas and Simon on the road to Emmaus. I invite you to spend this day with the question that the two men asked the women who came to the tomb to see Jesus. Why do you seek the living among the dead? Sit with that question. Meditate on its meaning. You may be surprised what comes up for you. Who knows? Maybe this question will roll away the stone and you will find yourself having an encounter with the living Christ. Why do you seek the living among the dead?