The Christian Rhythm of Work & Retreat - A Sermon

Mark 6: 30-34 & 53-56

Jesus’ disciples had just returned from going out in pairs to help to proclaim Jesus’ message of repentance and Good News, to heal the sick and to cast out demons.  They had obviously had great success, because Mark tells us, they “told him all they had done and taught.”  Jesus’ generous response to all they had done for him was, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.”

In these two verses we have what William Barclay describes as “the rhythm of the Christian life.  For a Christian life is a continuous going into the presence of God from the presence of men and women, and coming out into the presence of men and women from the presence of God.”  This is what a balanced Christian life should look like.

I’m sure that many of you will have noticed that at certain times of the year Ministers seem to almost disappear.  It’s quite rare to find a Methodist Minister taking a service the Sunday after Christmas and even rarer to find a Minister taking a service the Sunday after Easter.  The reason is that in the build up to these great Christian festivals Ministers find themselves taking extra services and things like Advent or Lent courses and come the afternoon of Christmas Day and Easter Day they are physically, mentally and spiritually exhausted.  They need to take time out, to enter into the presence of God and rest a while.”

It is necessary, though, to get the balance right.  It is all too easy to exhaust ourselves in frenetic Christian activity; to be so busy serving God and each other that we experience what I call spiritual burnout.    Sometimes burnout and depression can be the fault of individual ministers who feel so duty bound to keep their ordination vows that they feel guilty if they are not doing something every minute of the day.  At other times it can be the fault of over-demanding congregations who feel their Minister should be constantly available to them at their beck and call and resent it when they take time to serve in the wider community, as a Chaplain for example, or actually take time out for their families and themselves.  The result of such burnout is time off with depression or stress, divorce and family breakdown and people leaving active ministry for good.  I know this to be true because I have friends and colleagues who have experienced all these things.

But busyness as a Christian isn’t just limited to the ordained.  Potentially any Christian can do too much, giving their all to serving God is gratitude for all that God has done for them and forgetting that God doesn’t want us to be constantly active: he also wants us to spend quiet, restful time with him.  God delights when we take time out of our often busy lives to simply meditate on the Scriptures and pray. 

We cannot sustain our active work as Christians in our own strength: we need to spend time resting in the presence of God so that God can speak to us and recharge our spiritual energy reserves.

But, if there is a danger in busyness, there is equally a danger of spending too much time in withdrawal, in resting in the presence of God.  As William Barclay puts it, “Devotion that does not issue in action is not real devotion.  Prayer that does not issue in work is not real prayer.  We must never seek the fellowship of God to avoid the fellowship of men and women but to fit ourselves better for it.”

Or, as somebody once observed, “Some Christians are too heavenly minded to be of any earthly use.”

A third danger lies outside both being too active and spending too much time in retreat; and that is using God for our own convenience.  This concept is suggested in verse 56, “And wherever they went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the market places, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.”  Were these people really interested in who Jesus was and in the message of repentance and salvation he brought, or were they just interested in what Jesus could do for them?

You may also recall a passage from John’s gospel where, after feeding the five thousand, Jesus says, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.”  They weren’t interested in who Jesus was; they just wanted more from him.

There are people who just use the church for their own convenience.  They want the church when a new baby is born, or when they are about to get married or when a loved one dies; but are not so interested the rest of the time.  They see the church as a provider of services, nothing more.

Some people treat God in pretty much the same way.  They never pay a thought to God until they need him.  The only time they pray is when they have reached their own limits; the only prayers they pray are prayers that request and even demand things of God: as though God were like a prayer slot machine providing things on demand: you put your prayer in and the answer comes out!

To an extent we are all guilty of this.  We get frustrated when church is not exactly as we want it to be because we don’t like the music or the sermon, because we are not coming out of a service feeling good or having enjoyed the worship.  Perhaps the worship was not to our taste because the preacher has done something new or different; or perhaps we have been uncomfortably challenged by a hard word from God.  And so we complain to others, gather little groups of fellow malcontents together and try to get things changed, in some cases even top try to undermine the Minister and Church Leadership team, so that the church is what we want it to be and doing what we want it to do, rather than perhaps what God is calling the church to be and do.

What we need to do to avoid all these dangers is to strike a balance between rest and devotion and activity; between praying to God for what we need, because we are indeed weak and helpless without God’s help, and praising, worshipping and thanking God for all that God has done for us and continues to do for us.

What we should be doing is coming to God to offer our love, our service and our devotion, rather than treating God as some kind of universal servant who exists solely to meet our demands.  Yes, as our passage makes abundantly clear, we need God and must rely absolutely on God for all things; but it is our duty to serve God, not the reverse.

Our passage indeed makes our need of God plain.  In verse 34 we read that when Jesus saw the great crowd, “he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd.”

Sheep without a shepherd are very, very vulnerable; especially in the Middle East.  They cannot find the way and get lost easily.  They cannot find the pasture that provides their food.  They have no defence against the dangers which threaten them.  In the same way people without Jesus as their Saviour and Lord are subject to similar perils.

Without Jesus in our lives it can be very difficult to know the best way to live.  Jesus himself said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Jesus was and is God incarnate; to know Jesus is to know God, to know what Jesus is like is to know what God is like: if we want to know God we need to know Jesus.  Once we understand that, once we grasp with our hearts, minds and spirits that the words and actions of Jesus are the words and actions of God then our way becomes clear!    The best way to live is the way of Jesus.  Once we understand and accept that and put it into practice our lives are going the right way: we are walking the narrow path that leads to eternal life.

Without Jesus we cannot find the spiritual food and drink that we need to keep ourselves going, the energy, mental and spiritual strength that keeps us living the Jesus way.  God, of course, as our Creator is the one who literally provides our physical food and drink; but through Jesus and only through him we receive the spiritual food and drink we need to live our lives as his disciples, as subjects of the Kingdom of God.  We are fed by reading the words Jesus spoke, words that are life revealing and life giving, we are fed by reading all the other words of Scripture, words inspired by the Living Word Jesus Christ through the power and influence of the Holy Spirit: words that guide us in our living and relationships with each other and with God.  People all over the world are trying to find meaning and purpose in life, moving from one self-help guru to the next, trying different spiritualties and religious paths, only to find that they are unsatisfying and lead to dead ends.  To paraphrase Peter in John’s gospel, “Jesus has the words of eternal life!  To who else can we go?”

Without Jesus we are in danger from spiritual threats that can overwhelm and destroy us.  We cannot live good, loving lives without the help of Jesus.  Without Jesus it is so much harder to resist the strong temptations that come our way.  Without Jesus it is harder to take a stand against the evil in this world and fight for justice and truth.  Once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour we come under his protection and receive his help.  It is not that we will no longer be tempted, indeed it sometimes seems that the more progress we make as disciples the stronger temptation becomes; and it is not that standing up to evil will be any less difficult: what it is, is that with Jesus with us we know that, ultimately nothing and nobody can take away the eternal life that is our promised reward as Christian disciples.  Paul wrote, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

So let us continue our walk with Jesus, serving him in the church and in the world and taking time to retreat and rest in the presence of God; always remembering that we are God’s servants and utterly rely on Jesus Christ for all that we seek to say and do in his name.

A Tribute to My Mum, A Woman of Faith

Tribute to Mum


As many if you know I like to talk, too much, too often and too loudly some would say.  As a Methodist Minister words are what I use most, written words and spoken words; and yet as I come to use words to talk about Mum I find them totally inadequate,  how do you sum up the wonderful, generous and loving lady whose life we are here to celebrate and give thanks for with mere words? Yet words are all I have, and I make this tribute knowing it is wholly inadequate.


My earliest memories of my Mum always involve her kindness and love: my brother and I honestly could not have had a better Mum.  She always wanted the very best for us, whether that was the food we enjoyed, the toys we played with of the clothes we wore.  Admittedly, when looking at old photos of when I was young I cringe at some of the clothes, but Mum assured me they were very fashionable and that dressing my brother and I in the same outfits was the done thing.  She wanted the very best for us and made sure we had it.


I have so many memories of growing up and of Mum's influence in my life that it's hard to pick any out.  One thing that does stick in my mind is that she taught us that from wrong and impeccable manners.  My brother and I always knew how to behave properly in a restaurant or hotel dining room, something sadly lacking in many children today who shout and run around in restaurants.  My Mum was a true lady and wanted to bring up true gentlemen.


I remember once on a family holiday that we were looking for somewhere to have lunch and everywhere was full.  We eventually decided on fish and chips and to my Mum's horror we made her eat them out of the newspaper as we walked down the street.  She was not amused!  It was a bit like the time when we had a caravan and my Dad put the milk on the table in a bottle for breakfast.  It was swiftly removed and the milk returned in a jug.

I can't think of Mum without thinking about Christmas.  She loved Christmas.  It was her favourite time of the year and a time when she thought family should be together.  When my brother and I were children we had Christmas Day with Mum and Dad and there were always more Christmas presents than we were expecting and the best Christmas Dinner in the world!  Boxing Day often involved the whole of my Mum's family with Aunties, Uncles, Cousins and Grandparents all enjoying more delicious food and each other's company.

As we left home and got married Mum would always spend Christmas with either myself, Sue and Alice; or Michael, Hayley and Elizabeth.  These were special times for all of us.

Other special times were family holidays.  I've already mentioned the fish and chips incident but I have so many happy memories of family holidays.  We went to Jersey several times as a family and the Isle of Man twice.  We also went to Ibiza, Formentera and Tenerife!  We also explored a lot of Britain as well, most of which I enjoyed, although I'll be perfectly content never to set foot in a Stately Home again.

My Mum and Dad together made me the person I am today.  Well, I'll credit them for all that is good about me, the rest is entirely my own fault!

In particular, if it wasn't for Mum I wouldn't be a Methodist Minister today.  From an early and she insisted I went to Sunday School and encouraged me as a teenager to be confirmed.  She prayed for me during the time I lost interest in Christianity around my early thirties and I'm sure it's due to her prayers and gentle challenges that I can back to my faith.  When I was accredited as a Local Preacher I didn't think I could do anything to make Mum more proud: but she was bursting with pride last June when she attended my ordination service in Coventry, telling anyone who was prepared to listen how proud she was of me.

That pride, if course, extended to my brother for all that he has achieved on his life, it was evident on both our wedding days and, particularly when her grandchildren were born.  It can be truly said that Mum was the best mother Michael and I could have had and she was also a fantastic grandma to Alice and Elizabeth: spoiling them rotten, which she said was a grandma's privilege and taking an interest in everything they did.

It goes without saying that Mum was devastated when Dad passed away last March and missed him terribly; yet she determined to get on with life and to continue to be the loving Mum and Grandma she has always been.  She had plans to sell her house and move to a flat in Poulton, but in March this year was told she had terminal cancer.

I think she took the news far better than I did and faced the cancer with courage and determination, determined to make the best of whatever life she had left but also confident in her eternal destiny.  She had an absolutely firm conviction in the reality of the eternal life promised by Jesus and the fact that she would be reunited with my Dad in heaven.  She told me she knew where she was going, but that she'd rather stay with us for a few more years yet.  Sadly it was not to be and she slipped away very peacefully at lunchtime on 20th May with her family around her, just as she wanted.

Mum, I will never forget you and I will always love you.  You are the best Mum anybody could have had.

PMS, Feminism & Religious Bigotry

Yesterday a friend of mine posted a very well written blog about the effects of PMS.  My friend is a Methodist Minister and a feminist and what she posted was very enlightening and helpful to me as a man, helping me to understand what women go through; enlightening me considerably.

For some reason this particular post was read by many more people then her usual readership.  I don't know all the details but she received abusive comments and threats from people who would, no doubt, consider themselves religious and claim that God is on their side.  I have a different description for them: in my opinion they are ignorant bigots!

It is people like that in all faith paths, not just Christianity, who give their faith a bad name.  In the case of Christians it is those for whom Christianity is an intellectual ascent to a set of beliefs or a creed, rather than on a living and loving relationship with Jesus Christ.  It is those who profess to be Christians but display no evidence of their faith in their lives, it is a faith of words without deeds, of lives without love.  Jesus gave us a new commandment, to love one another.  We cannot call Jesus our master with integrity and then fail to obey his commandment to love.

I write as a Methodist Minister, as somebody most people would consider to be religious.  I don't know if God is on my side or not: but I do my best to serve him and bring his love to those who so desperately need it.

The God I seek to serve, the God I love, is indeed love itself.  In his first epistle the Apostle John wrote, "love us from God: everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love". (1 John 4:7-8, NRSV).

My friend did a very loving thing for her sister women when she wrote about PMS.  I'm sure God was smiling on her for writing and publishing it.

I'm equally sure God isn't smiling on the person or people who have cause my friend such distress and worry.  He loves them and will forgive them if they repent; but right now it is my understand that God is not on their side because they have shown anything but love: "whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love."

I am saddened and angered that my friend has been hurt, frightened and distressed by the unloving, uncaring and, in my opinion, bigoted words of others.  I pray that God will touch their hearts with the love of the living Christ and they would know the changed and transformed lives of true Chrustian believers!

I also pray that God will protect my friend from any who would wish her harm and that she would be able to nestle securely in the love and care of God.

As the General Election Dust Settles....

And so the dust starts to settle after Thursday's unexpected General Election result.



I have posted a few thoughts on FaceBook in the past few days, but wanted to revisit my thoughts on the General Election and also to reflect on a response to a majority Conservative government.

My first thought is the genuine anger on FaceBook at "the electorate", and anger presumably spread beyond that social networking site.  People are angry with "the electorate" for choosing a Conservative government, saying they got it badly wrong.

It is worth pointing out that we live in a democracy where people are free to vote as they choose.  The "electorate" didn't get anything wrong; individual voters have expressed their preference in their constituencies and, as a result, the Conservatives have a majority.  That's how our British democracy currently works!

It is also worth pointing out that due to our current electoral system the Conservative won a parliamentary majority even though only 37% of voters voted for them.  63%, the majority, did not vote for them.  More people didn't want a Conservative government than did.  This will continue to happen until we agree to a proper system of proportional representation in our elections, instead of our manifestly unfair first part the post system.

There has been much debate about why Labour didn't do better in the face of an unpopular government.  Some have suggested that Ed Milliband may have been the problem, that people just did not see him, for whatever reason, as a credible Prime Minister: even though a friend who knows him well has assured me he would have been a great PM.  Otters have suggested that the people still do not trust Labour with the economy, despite the fact that the economic collapse under the Gordon a Brown government was largely the fault of the bankers.  Still others have suggested that there was so little perceived difference between Labour and the Conservative on the big issues that people decided "better the devil we know".  In direct contrast, others still suggest that Labour has moved too far to the left for most voters, as it did in the 80s, and made itself unelectable.  Former Labour PM Tony Blair has suggested they need to move back towards the centre.

The SNP were also a factor in Labour's defeat.  The actual number of seats they won in Scotland made not difference, but the Conservatives managed to successfully generate a fear of a left wing Labour/SNP alliance to scare voters into supporting them.  It is always a matter of concern to me when the politics of fear is used; one only has to look to Germany in the 1930s to see where that can potentially lead.

Whatever the reason, the Conservatives won the General Election.  The Labour and Liberal Democrat parties now have to dust themselves down, choose new leaders and rebuild their credibility in the eyes of the electorate.  I pray that they will do so because strong opposition that calls the government to account is good for democracy.  An opposition leader who is seen by all as a credible Prime Minister is also a good thing for democracy.

As for those of us who are Christians, are not politicians, and are unhappy with the result, what can we do?  Complaining about the results in social media achieves nothing.  That is not to say that social media isn't a good platform for political comment and protest as it manifestly is, but considered criticism that challenges and makes people really think is far better than angry protest.

What we can do us to become more politically active.  Those who say Chrustianity and politics don't mix have obviously never read their Bibles properly.  We can be active by joining one of the political parties and helping with their campaigning.  We can be active by supporting those causes we believe in; by helping others and showing them the love of Christ who is concerned for all.  The parable of the sheep and goats suggests that we cannot be neutral when it comes to welfare and justice: we are called to be active in helping others.

And just in case you are wondering what I'm going to do..... amongst other things I'm joining the Green Party!

The Road to Emmaus - An Easter Sermon

Today, all across the world, Christians have faithfully proclaimed, “Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!”  This has been proclaimed confidently, with faith, with a firm conviction that Jesus indeed lives.  Yet two thousand years ago the two companions on the road the Emmaus did not proclaim “Jesus is risen”.  They had heard reports that Jesus was alive again but didn’t believe those reports.

A few years ago a ferry called ‘The River Dance’ ran aground on the beach in Cleveleys during strong winter storms.  I saw the BBC television news report about it the following morning, but somehow it didn’t seem quite real.  I read the report in the local newspaper, ‘The Gazette’, and saw the photograph, but still it didn’t seem quite real.  Only when I went down to Cleveleys on the following Sunday afternoon and saw the forlorn sight of that beached ship with my own eyes did it seem real.

Similarly when a local landmark in Blackpool, Yates Wine Lodge, was torn apart by fire, I first heard about it from somebody in the street and didn’t entirely believe them.  Then I saw the photos and report in ‘The Gazette’ and I believed it had happened, but it didn’t seem quite real.  It was only when I drove past a few days later and saw the remains that it became real for me.

I’m sure that most of us can think of times in our lives when we’ve heard or read about things, but they only became real when we saw them for ourselves.

The two travellers on the road to Emmaus, Cleopas and an unnamed companion, had heard about something they couldn’t quite believe in.  They’d heard that some women had been to Jesus tomb and found it empty.  Those women were claiming that they’d seen a vision of angels who said Jesus was alive.  Some others had been to the tomb and confirmed it, but as far as they knew nobody had seen Jesus alive.  Cleopas and his companion had heard that Jesus was alive, but they couldn’t believe it; it didn’t seem real to them.

The companions are joined by Jesus, but they don’t recognise him.   The New International Version says that this was because, “they were kept from recognising him.”  The Revised English Bible has “something prevented them from recognising him.”  In ‘The Message’ Eugene Peterson translates this passage as “they were not able to recognise who he was.”

No translation gives us any real clue as to why they couldn’t recognise Jesus and I’m told the original Greek is just as ambiguous.  Why couldn’t these two travellers recognise Jesus?    The clues are in the rest of the passage.

The unrecognised Jesus joins them on their walk and asks them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They begin to talk about Jesus and about who they thought he was.  “He was a prophet.”  That is how the two viewed Jesus.  They had recognised that he was somebody sent by God but they saw him as somebody like Isaiah, Jeremiah or John the Baptiser; a prophet and not the Messiah.  They said that they had hoped that Jesus would be the Messiah, “the one who was going to redeem Israel” but their hopes had been dashed by Jesus death.  They’d heard the reports that Jesus had been raised from the dead but obviously didn’t believe them.

There are a lot of people in the twenty first century who have a similar view of Jesus, both outside and inside the church.  Even those who follow other faiths recognise Jesus as a prophet, as a great teacher sent by God, perhaps the greatest ever religious teacher; but they will not or cannot see him as Messiah or Son of God.  Because they have this view of Jesus, that he was a great religious leader but nothing more, they cannot believe that he was raised from the dead.

Cleopas and his companion were Jews who had almost certainly known Jesus for a while and heard him teach.  They were not among the twelve, but might have been among the seventy two Jesus sent out with his message.  As Jews they would have known their scriptures far better than most Christians know their Bibles today.  They knew the scriptures that said what would happen to the Messiah, they had almost certainly heard Jesus himself preach and yet they just saw him as another failed prophet; not the Messiah who would bring salvation to God’s people.  People today, too, can read the Old Testament, they can read the New Testament as well and still not believe that Jesus was and is the Son of God who rose from the dead on that first Easter Day.

So we have Jesus, Cleopas and his companion walking towards the village of Emmaus.  The two travellers tell Jesus about their feelings, about their disappointment that the man they thought was the Messiah who would save Israel was now dead and their confusion over reports that he had been raised from the dead.

Jesus’ response is to take them through the scriptures that they knew well, to help them perhaps to see those scriptures in a new way.  We don’t know exactly which texts Jesus used, but clearly the passages he chose and the way he explained their meaning made a difference.  As they were later to say, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the scriptures to us.”

Without the living Jesus to help us understand, the scriptures can seem confusing, contradictory even, hard to understand.  When the living Jesus speaks to us, maybe through the words of ministers and preachers or in our minds and hearts as we meditate, the scriptures come alive in a new way.

As Methodists we are very familiar with the account of John Wesley’s conversion.  Reflecting on the experience later, Wesley wrote, “I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to The Romans.  About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed.  I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”  No doubt Wesley had read Paul’s Epistle to The Romans many times, he may even have read Luther’s preface to Romans many times, yet something that night was different.  Through William Holland’s reading of Luther’s commentary John Wesley heard the voice of the living Lord Jesus and found in it salvation.

As Jesus finished explaining the scriptures they reach Emmaus.  They still hadn’t recognised him, they still hadn’t realised their travelling friend was Jesus, but they invited him in for the night.  After Jesus exposition of scripture they were very close, but hadn’t quite got there.

There are many people in our churches today who are very close, but haven’t quite got there.  John Wesley called them ‘Almost Christians’.  Wesley described an ‘Almost Christian’ in the most glowing terms, as somebody who is of good honest character, a charitable person who is outwardly religious, a devout person who prays and goes to church and is attentive throughout the service.  An ‘Almost Christian’, says Wesley, is sincere, they really intend to serve God and do his will, for His sake and not their own.  They sincerely desire to please God in every way, yet they are only almost Christians.  Wesley confesses that, before his conversion on Aldersgate Street, he himself was only an ‘Almost Christian’. 

So what changed for Wesley?  How did he go from being what he called an ‘Almost Christian’ to being what he called an ‘Altogether Christian’?  What is the difference?  The difference is love for God, a love for God that fills heart, mind and spirit; and faith in Jesus, faith that he is the way, the truth and the life; faith that Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of sins and that he rose from the dead bringing us the assurance of eternal life.  As John Wesley himself wrote, “an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

Jesus sits down to supper with Cleopas and his companion and breaks the bread.  As he does this, Cleopas and his companion suddenly realise who Jesus is, and as they realise he vanishes from their sight.  On the brink of understanding, it is the breaking of bread by Jesus that brings the final certainty of faith; they know that Jesus is their travelling companion and that he has indeed been raised from the dead, just as they had been told.

It is hard to accept, this idea of Jesus rising from the dead.  All kinds of theories have been suggested as to what happened on that first Easter Day.  The traditional Christian view is that Jesus’ physical body was literally brought back to life.  In Luke 24:39 Jesus himself says, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your mind?  Look at my hands and my feet.  It is I myself.  Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones; as you see I have!”   That physical body was changed in some way.  The risen Jesus could still eat food, as he demonstrated on more than one occasion; he could be touched and could cook fish.  On the other hand he could enter a locked room without opening the door; he seemed to be able to move from one place to another very quickly and even to vanish into thin air.  There was something essentially different about Jesus’ resurrection body.

My firm conviction is that Jesus’ resurrection was a physical one; that he did physically rise from the dead, however incredible it seems to us in the modern world.

Some Christians doubt a literal physical resurrection.  They would say that the resurrection of Jesus was a spiritual resurrection and that the meetings the disciples and others had with the risen Jesus were essentially inner spiritual experiences.  I have no doubt whatsoever that meeting Jesus was an intensely spiritual experience, as the account of the travellers on the Road to Emmaus proves.  They didn’t recognise Jesus for who he was until their spiritual eyes were opened.

The significance of Jesus’ resurrection is a spiritual one, because it is through spiritual experience that we meet the risen Jesus today.  I have spoken before of my own coming to faith, of the years of reading the Bible and hearing sermons, of my years as an ‘Almost Christian’ and then that moment when the gospel message came into my heart as well as my mind, when the risen Jesus spoke to me through the voice of another and I believed!  Ever since then I have wanted others to know that spiritual encounter with the risen Jesus for themselves, to share in that faith in Christ Jesus and love of God.

Our passage from Luke ends with Cleopas and his companion sharing that intense desire to make known the reality of an encounter with the risen Jesus.  Despite the fact that it is evening, that it is going dark and that they risked attack from robbers on the road between Emmaus and Jerusalem, the two companions set of straight away to Jerusalem to tell then eleven remaining disciples that they had seen Jesus.

As Christians we should have a burning desire to tell others about Jesus; about how he died for them on the cross to bring forgiveness of sin and then rose from the dead bringing us assurance of eternal life.  We can be used by Jesus to assure them that through faith in him, even though our bodies may fail and die, we can be sure that we will live on forever.

Jesus himself told us to pass on the good news of liberation from sin and the promise of everlasting spiritual life.  The final words of the risen Jesus, as reported in Matthew’s gospel are, “go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

In the passage in Luke that follows on from the account of the encounter on the road to Emmaus Jesus says, “The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.”

In the Acts of the Apostles, just before his ascension, Jesus says, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus does not call us all to be evangelists, any more than he calls us all to be ordained ministers, local preachers, church stewards or whatever.  But we can all be witnesses for the risen Jesus in the way we live our lives, in the love we show to others and by having the courage, if the opportunity presents itself, to be open and honest about our faith.  We never know, the risen Jesus could use us to bring that person to faith.

Like Cleopas and his companion we too may have, or have had, doubts about Jesus being the Son of God and rising from the dead.   Like Cleopas and his companion the risen Jesus comes to us and leads us gently to the truth of who he is; and like Cleopas and his companion we must be fired with enthusiasm to tell others about Jesus.  May the risen Jesus meet us and meet us again and bring us these blessings.