April 10, 2005
“Their Eyes Were Opened:
Luke 24:13-35
1. How many of us have had the experience of walking along totally oblivious to things around us because we were so wrapped up in some problem or in ourselves. In fact, how many of us are totally oblivious most of the time to the presence of God and the spiritual dimension of life? Not that we are totally turned off or we would not be here in church this morning. Yet, most of the time – we aren’t really paying much attention. Isn’t that right? In other words, we are often just like the disciples on the Road to Emmaus. We are oblivious.
Chances are, we mostly experience life as pretty much composed of facts or events or circumstance or mere accidents without seeing that they come from God. For, if you really think about it, everything that happens in life, in a way, does come from God – doesn’t it? Or, at least, many things that happen are designed to bring us closer to God … even bad things, hurtful things. For, as we realize sometimes, everything can become a way of connecting us with God - isn’t that right? That is, if we are not oblivious …
2. For instance, right now, here in Minnesota we are preparing for that big seasonal transition from winter to spring which is marked most obviously by the great and powerful moment in nature we are all waiting for which is…. when the ice goes out on Lake Bemidji, Right?
But, how does it actually happen that the ice melts? Well, of course, we all know that it is due to the increased warming of the ice by the sun … which, by April is now higher in the sky and for a longer time each day … and yet while it can be explained scientifically, I still have to admit that it still is a rather awesome event to suddenly see all that bright glistening blue water and the waves lapping the shore where only a few days before there was only cold and frozen ice. Who has not also thought that at times it is almost a kind of miracle? Who has not, in their thinking, found themselves echoing the more poetic words in Psalm 147?
The waters are frozen at his touch.He sounds forth his word and it melts away.
Well, this past week I spent two days in prayer and contemplation on retreat with several other pastors.
The whole point of it all, among other things … was to get away … and to let go of life’s tensions, responsibilities, addictions, and compulsions and focus on the presence of God … in our midst … in our world … in nature… and … in ourselves. And, instead of seeing things in separate compartments all divided up and competing with each other … to see the connectedness of ourselves and one another and the world -- and even God. For all things are really part of the same miraculous thing we call life – is that not true? Wholeness, I think is the word we like to call it nowadays. Wholeness or Oneness. Oneness with God, nature, ourselves, and others. That is what it’s supposed to be about – isn’t it?
One of the things we did each morning around 6:30 AM was to walk 20 minutes up to the Abbey to spend about a half hour in liturgical prayers and songs with the monks who teach at St. John’s University. Since this is Benedictine teaching community, the monks are no different, really, than the many professors who are here at BSU except that they all wear black cassocks and live and eat together at the monastery. And, of course, none are married. Otherwise, this is very much a University academic community – even if it is one with a specific religious routine. Can you imagine what it would be like if the first thing you did before eating breakfast and going to work or teach class each day would be to pray and read scripture every morning for a half hour (and every evening) in community with others? What would that be like? Boring, refreshing, wakening, tedious, rewarding, fulfilling or empty?
3. Well, as I have tried to convey this morning, being in a religious community and being focused on the presence of God works toward bringing us to an awareness of connections between everyday things and the sacred in unexpected ways.
Becoming aware of things around us and their sacred nature can be as simple as appreciating something even as basic as water.
For instance, as you know, like many people around here, I live on a lake. And as I have said, right now the big event is waiting for the ice to go out. (Just as in the fall it is waiting for the ice to freeze.) And, for me, it is always a surprise … sometimes. It even happens all at once … you go to bed and the ice is frozen and you wake up in the morning and it is all gone – just like that! And vice versa when in the fall it freezes. You go to bed and there is water and wallah!! In the morning there is nothing but sheer ice. It is a kind of miracle in away - a miracle of transformation.
Now, it also turns out that water is a very strange and unique substance that is far more complicated than we probably realize. Mostly we take it for granted. However, if you were to study the properties of water, you would find out that, among the other things, that it is one of the only substances that is capable of being a solid, a liquid and a gas. It also has many other curious aspects such as the fact that in solid form it is lighter than its liquid state which allows ice (frozen water) to float (on liquid water). Or, even more curiously, if you put two ice cube trays in a freezer, one filled with hot water and one with cold water, the one with the hot water will freeze faster than the cold water! Isn’t that interesting?
Water, as we also know, is the major substance of which our body is made.
In adults about 55-60% of our bodies are composed of water. In babies it is higher – about 80% However, as we get older, some of the water is replaced by fat! A sobering thought …!
So, if you think about it, if we are made up mostly of water … as a result we are are very connected to the very thing which sustains the whole earth – water.
4. So, while we were at the retreat, one of the pastors was telling us about some recent scientific research done by a Japanese scientist who took water and subjected it to different environments and then froze it and photographed it using a complex microscope. His photographs apparently reveal that water from pure mountain streams has very different and more crystalline patterns than water from polluted or stagnant water which were more disordered and disfunctional looking.
He then tried exposing water to music and the human voice and even prayer. Suprisingly, in every case, the molecular qualities of the water were more extensive and beautiful when exposed to positive and caring words and sounds than those which were exposed to loud, violent, or negative stimuli. Isn’t that interesting?
The book is called the Message of Water by Masaru Emoto.
Is this for real or just some more New Age nonsense? Is this science or pseudo science? I am not exactly sure. Are we really much more interconnected than we realize with our environment -- by the words of others, by music, and even by prayer -- so that it not only affects us emotionally but also at a molecular level? If so, it certainly does give new meaning to that old idea about people talking to their plants, doesn’t it?
In fact a close friend of mine who I was visiting recently told me that he had some indoor plants that were not doing well so he tried talking to them. To his surprise one of the plants made a remarkable turnaround! I said, “What do you say to the plants?” And he said, “I talk like I would to a pet or another person. You know, I say, “Well, it looks like a nice day today.” And, “how are we doing?” Go figure!!
Do you suppose that since, like plants, we are largely made up of water, we are more connected to everything else than we think? What if we are not merely connected to the external world by our hearing, or sight, and touch and smell and taste and but also internally in the very molecular structure of our bodies? What if we are much more connected to God – than we realize? What if, when we pray and worship we are connecting with God even on a molecular level and as result everything else and everyone else is also connected to God? It kind of gives a whole new meaning to prayer and meditation does it? Is this what Paul meant by being “part of the body of Christ?”
See what happens when your pastor goes away and meditates for a couple of days – he comes back with all kinds of strange ideas!
Well, of course, we are not inclined to think this way in the modern world … but that all seems to be changing as we move into the 21st century – partly due, in fact, to many new and mysterious discoveries of science itself. Isn’t that interesting? Could it be that a whole new spiritual understanding of life is evolving which includes things like wholistic medicine, meditation, and other kinds of healing? And, that these new concepts are not necessarily unscientific at all? At least not in the way that some of today’s fundamentalistic religious people are arguing in their attacks on science and evolution. In other words, what I am saying is that science and religious spirituality are not necessarily separate entities but actually part of the whole thing we call life.
Part of the problem, it seems to me, is the failure of people to reconcile factual and metaphorical thinking – both of which are parts of our brain and mental process. The difference being, of course, between seeing the details and seeing the BIG PICTURE. You know, the old saying “can’t see the forest for the trees.”
What if, metaphorically speaking it all depends on God but we are so busy looking at the trees that we can’t see God who, though present, is not knowable with in the same way as we know a physical object? What if, metaphorically speaking, the waters (really) are frozen at his touch? What if He sounds forth his word and the ice melts away. Is that unscientific nonsense? – or it is just a different way of perceiving the world?
5. Ancient people did not have all the information we have today and although they were in some ways just as skeptical as we are today about God -- in other ways they accepted many things we we have trouble believing today – especially about the natural and so-called supernatural world.
One of those things was believing in the appearance of Jesus following His crucifixion. In many ways, today when we encounter the New Testament reports of the appearances of Jesus after his crucifixion we are into a very difficult area when we try to verifiy them through the use of modern objective methods. For, unlike the Gospel accounts of Jesus crucifixion which are fairly consistent and relatively factual in appearance, the accounts of the resurrection are not. For instance:
(a.) In Mark’s Gospel it is says that Mary Magdalene and two other women went to the tomb but he was not there … and a young man told them that he had already gone on to see the disciples … and then later Jesus appeared to two of the women and then to the disciples but these appearances are not described at all.
(b.) Then, in Mathew’s Gospel … the story changes a bit and the young man is described as an angel … and as the women get up to leave Jesus himself appears to them … and then he later appears to the disciples on a mountain. That’s in Mathew.
(c.) However, in Luke we read this morning that there were two men at the tomb and then more or less the same thing happens, except that now we have the additional story of the two unamed disciples who were walking on the road to Emmaus when they encountered the Risen Christ … a very intriguing and highly detailed story – even if it reads a bit like a fairy tale to our modern ears.
(d.) Yet, again in the much later account in Gospel of John there is no one at the tomb when Mary arrives and so she goes and tells Peter and he and another disciple come to the tomb and they, too, find nothing and then leave again. However, Mary, stays behind weeping, suddenly sees two angels after which, most mysteriously, she turns around and there stands Jesus … except she does not recognize him … at first. But, when he calls out her name, she suddenly realizes who it is and tries to embrace him … and he tells her not to touch him (a most interesting response) … and after that there are other numerous other occurances.
6. Well, it is clear that what we have here, more or less, is a developing story. As it must have been … for the Gospels were not written down immediately as some people think but were told by word of mouth for some 30 or 40 years until Mark’s Gospel was first recorded in about 70 AD. And although we may believe they were written by persons who were truthfully inspired, we also realize that they are very human documents.
As we might expect in a situation like this … especially one of such magnitude, there was much doubt and confusion. After all, no one expected it. The disciples, least of all. Everyone was amazed. There was also a huge amount of grief and all kinds of rumors and reports and skepticism. As a result, the resurrection story is much less clear, less factual, and hard to verify. It is also quite possible, as one biblical scholar notes, that not everyone reached the same conclusion about Jesus having been raised from the dead at the same time. And also that there were more appearances than are recorded as Paul states in I Corinthians 15:
…he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles…
In fact, Paul’s own vision of the risen Christ on the Road to Damascus is estimated to have occurred approximately six years after Jesus death.
Does this make sense? Does it make more sense in a way than the more Fundamentalist ways of reading the Bible which proclaim that ever word is literally true? Especially when this approach cannot account for the discrepancies and contradictions which I have just noted in the four Gospels?
And, a big part of the problem, we must admit is that we are now into that highly subjective realm of “religious experience.”
In short, no one knows for sure how it happened that the disciples were suddenly made aware of Jesus presence following his crucifixion. No one knows what happened to St. Paul on the Road to Damascus, either.And it probably doesn’t matter because when you are dealing with subjective religious experience – trying to rationally explain it so long after the facts – just won’t work.
This is because the truth of the matter is that most, if not all, genuine religious experiences are very private and personal. And they are not entirely rationally or psychologically explainable. Which is also why we should not be gullible just because someone says that "God spoke to them." Unfortunately, as we all know, too often, religious visionaries play on people's superstition and fears in order to gain power or money. Some of the more blantant examples are various television evangelists who practice healing right on camera. While presenting themselves as very pious and well-meaning, they often take advantage of the poor and the elderly who send them money in hopes of regaining health and good fortune. This gives a bad name to legitimate religious experiences which many people have but never discuss for fear of being seen as being "mentally unstable."
In his book, Varieties of Religious Experience, the famous American author William James gives many and varied accounts of religious experience in people's lives. Perhaps you yourself have even had a religious experience. Or, have you ever encountered extra-sensory experiences which were unexplainable and which you have never told anyone about or only a few? Or, have you ever been going along in life like the two persons on the road to Emmaus and something suddenly happened which caused your eyes to be opened?
Could it be that Jesus might even appear to you or I today in the guise of someone else - even an ordinary and unexpected person? Has it ever happened to you? Is it possible that God's word can come to us in a variety of ways? How does the Holy Spirit act upon our hearts?
7. Ever since John Wesley had his own religious experience in the famous “upper room” on Aldersgate street in London and felt his “heart strangely warmed” Methodism has emphasized the important role of religious experience in religious faith. Notice the similarity between Wesley and the disciples in Luke who felt their hearts “burning.”
But, in doing so, Methodists, according to Wesley, were not to make religious experience the be-all and end-all of faith in God as some groups like the charismatics and pentecostals do today. Not that some Methodists did not go that route. Which gave rise to thea accusation that Methodists were too “enthusiastical.”
Why exactly Wesley had this experience and what it means for us Methodism and us today is a very important matter to consider. Expecially now that we know more about how the human mind works and how we are able to perceive the world through cognative, emotional, intuitive, rational and many other ways. Because, when it comes down to it … we also relate to God in various ways … and our religious practices reflect these various forms of seeing, thinking, feeling, and intuiting life.
So, what role does religious experience play in our faith? How would you explain it if you were in a discussion with a fundamentalist, or a Catholic, or charismatic-Pentacostal, or even a rationalist?
8. Well, first of all we, as Protestants, are supposed to believe that the Scriptures are the formost authority in matters of belief. This is why the sermon is based on some scripture passage, not on just whatever topic the minister thinks you might be interested in hearing. However, as we have seen, taking scriptural authority too far results in fundamentalism and biblical literalism. This is most obiviously seen in the bumper sticker which says:
“The Bible says it, I believe it, and that settles it!”
Don’t get in an argument with these people because you will lose every time – not because they are right – but, because they are not willing to look at any other point of view than their own. This is not really faith – this is an attempt to establish absolute certainty. However, God does not ask us for absolute certainty – God’s asks us for faith and trust. There is a difference.
The 2nd problem with biblical literalism is that for some people it seems that just because the scriptures are written down on a piece of paper they are facts. When, in reality, they are based on the personal testimony of human beings. What this means is that the accounts of Jesus’ resurrection are very subjective. They are not based on facts but on personal religious experience. The resurrection therefore is not true because the Bible says it was true … it is true because we trust that the accounts in the Bible of the disciples and other witnesses are truthful and honest.
9. Now, going from fundamentalism to Catholicism, you will find that many Catholics will say that they don’t know for sure either … but that if the church says it is true … then it must be true … because the church … not the Bible is the final authority. That takes care of that … more or less.
Some rationalists, on the other hand, will argue that they do not believe the accounts of the resurrection because they are not ovjectively provable, therefore they are not facts.
And they are partly right. But as I have already pointed out, not everything that is true in life is based on facts. Furthermore, the way our brain actually works can lead us necessarily to understand the world in different ways – which do not necessarily contradict each other – such as understanding how ice melts can be seen as both a physical reaction of matter to sunlight and yet, at the same time, be seen as a revelation of God as the creator of the world and all life. Both, are in fact, true.
So, don’t get me wrong - for reason and science are essential parts of our thinking about our faith in God. Actually, in Wesley’s time science and religion were not thought to be at odds with each other as some people see things today. And unfortunately nowadays some religious people as of late uhave argued that things like evolution are unbiblical. Whereas the truth is that even our religious understanding of God and the Bible has evolved over time.
For instance, as I have mentioned in regard to Catholicism which was the one and only version of Christianity for over a thousand years, it was the Pope and the church which were the finally authority in matters of faith. Wesley and the Church of England called this TRADITION – or THE TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH.
But in the Reformation, Martin Luther overthrew the teachings of the Pope by placing the Bible above the church in matters of authority. Hence the SCRIPTURES came to supersede the church in protestantism. This works pretty well until it too comes to stand for infallibility. For fundamentalists, it has become a matter of replacing the infallibility of the Pople with the infallibility of the Bible.
10. In the eighteenth century, however, something else happened to religious faith. And this was the emergence of modern science and rationality. This was called REASON. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, grew up and was trained in the Church of England – at Oxford University. He was taught that the three bases for faith in God are Tradition (ie. THE CHURCH); the SCRIPTURES, and REASON (or science.).
Like all things British, it was a compromise worked out by the English Church in its desire for moderation following the blood religious wars of the previous century.
With his religious training and background in English Church teachings, which was based on SCRIPTURE, REASON, AND TRADITION, Wesley set out to become a minister. But it didn’t work very well. Wesley had doubts … uncertainty … something was missing he discovered.
The problem was that it was all external … outside him … so to speak. Tradition, Reason, Scripture … it was all intellect … up in the head … as we would say today.
In fact, one day, someone asked Wesley if he believed in Jesus Christ, and he replied “Yes, I believe He is the Savior of the World.” And then he was asked, “But what about you? Did Jesus die for you?” And Wesley said, “I am not sure?”
11. So, you see, religion must also become personal … subjective … it must be experienced in order to become real … it must come inside … and dwell in the heart. Otherwise, it is just a set of teachings, doctrines, ideas … but it is not real … and felt in the soul.
So, in his emotional breakthrough, Wesley added the forth element: EXPERIENCE – to the Anglican churche’s emphasis on TRADITIONA, REASON, AND SCRIPTURE. And Methodism became known as a religion of the heart. But, like any good thing, it can go too far.
Last week, I heard Jim Wallis speaking on public radio in Minneapolis about the dangers of pure evangelical religion in America.
He didn’t say it … but what in essence he was trying to say is that we have to be careful we don’t take Wesley’s emphasis on religious experience and separate it from the other three elements … because when this happens we have a purely “personal religion” which emphasizes that all that matters is our own subjective experience.
You know the phrase – “Jesus is my personal savior.”
When this goes too far then we have a religion which is divorced from real life and the rest of the world. At this point Jesus is no longer the savior of the starving children in Africa … the people who have AIDS … the victims of oppression and injustice … and the commandment to love our neighbor is meaningless.
And, for that matter … if we spend all day in prayer and meditation and never do anything … we can be making the same mistake. Prayer and meditation are for the purpose of renewal and to refocus our lives not to be a private escape from reality.
12. Religious experience, then, is not an end itself. It is, however, the thing that breathes life into the soul … and makes God come alive. It is an opening of the eyes … to the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Our own religious experience may not be as profound as St. Paul on the Road to Damascus or meeting Jesus on the Road to Emmaus. It may even be rather ordinary and simple. It may be as ordinary as seeing the ice melt … and understanding that this event is not only an objective fact – but also a miraculous revelation of God
Who touches the water and it is frozenWho sends his word and the ice melts.
Can something like ice melting really be a religious experience for you?
It can if you let it. for if you can do that … if you can avoid being oblivious to the miracle of water in its freezing and melting … then maybe you will also not be like the disciples who were oblivious to Jesus’ presence on the way Emmaus.
For your eyes will be opened and maybe your hearts will “burn within you” … and the Scriptures will no longer be empty words on a page … but will speak God’s word to you … in strange and powerful ways. And maybe even the molecules in your body will somehow mysteriously become more beautiful ... what do you think?
