Easter 3 - Open Our Eyes, Lord!

Easter 3

May 4, 2014

Fr. Philip Eberhart

Open Our Eyes, Lord

It is amazing what can happen in a moment!   A moment when your eyes are opened - not by you most likely  since we have a tendency to live our lives, as a 90's Stanley Kubrick movie title suggested, with "Eyes Wide Shut!"  What we are talking about this morning is REVELATION - not the book or the noun, but the verb form of that word - the active revelation that is a part of the on-going encounter between God and people, without which we would remain in the dark, stumbling about and groping for truth with no clue of where or how to find it.

You see Truth - especially the truth about God - can only come through revelation.  God has to be active in the process of revealing His truth to our minds and hearts.  And God is active, both in his GENERAL revelation and supremely, in his SPECIAL revelation.  These are two categories that theologians tell us of how God reveals Himself to humanity.

General Revelation:

Ps 8 is a case in point.  The psalmist David wondered aloud one night, out on the meadow with his sheep:

"When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,"

"what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?"

"O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!"

Or in Ps 19, again David speaks of the witness of creation:

"The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship."

"Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known."

"They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard."

or the last verse could also read:  There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard!

The point is that the heavens and the earth - the whole of creation - speaks loudly of the presence and the reality of the creator!  Paul tell us in his opening remark to the Roman Gentile community:

"For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God."

They, Paul says - WE - have "no excuse" for not knowing God!  General revelation. All of us know and acknowledge the truth that is planted in the cosmos by design at creation - we can see His fingerprints if you will.

When our girls were little we used to point at some of our Colorado sunsets and tell them that God got out his paint set and painted that especially for them.  I think they still believe that!  Why,  because its true!

But so often in the world, both ancient and modern, the revelation that is placed before our eyes daily as we live our lives simply passes us by - it escapes our notice!  It's a little harder for us here in Colorado, cause we occasionally have to drive in a westerly direction and actually see a mountain or a sunset.  It is hard to ignore God's invisible qualities - His eternal power and divine nature - that are shown in just those two realities!  for me anyway - jus sayin.

But as our friends the disciples of Jesus discovered, thankfully, there is another kind of revelation that God takes an active part in:  It is called... 

Special Revelation.

Sometimes God comes in special ways, at special times, with special words and points to Himself - in ways that we cannot ignore, the way that we do most things about God.  God reveals Himself - He opens our eyes to His mercy, his grace, his salvation, his presence, his provision - He reveals Himself in a myriad of ways.  Now let me say here that all of the ways God reveals Himself require FAITH - not one will require you to have less faith!!!  Sorry!!!

In our story on the road to Emmaus, Jesus appears, but they don't recognize Him for who He is.  O boy do we have that one down, in spades!  Have you ever looked back on a moment and realized that God was speaking to you through it?  We've all had those experiences.  So what is Special Revelation and how does it happen?

Now I want you to note first of all, that the "revelation" that happened in our Gospel this morning was not an immediate "aha" for the boys - they weren't bowled over by Jesus appearing to them in shining robe with choir of angels announcing his presence and personhood!  NO!  He came in the form of a stranger - unrecognized.  How many times has that been true for us - I only hope that we can look back and realize, like our friends from Emmaus did.

But what I want you to note particularly is the mode of revelation here.  What was Jesus doing with the boys as they walked?  

About midway through our reading there is this line:  Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

From where?  "IN ALL THE SCRIPTURES."  Is it possible that Jesus could still do the same thing with us?  Friends, we count on it! If Jesus doesn't come and open these scriptures for us and explain them, by the power of His Holy Spirit, we remain clueless.  But I want you to take note that it is from here - the Bible - that Jesus himself takes His teaching and reflection as He walked with the two on the road to Emmaus.  Likewise He still walks with us on the road of revelation - as we search the scriptures, "beginning with Moses and all the prophets" - from Genesis to MAPS!  Cover to cover, Jesus Christ is revealed in these pages, and we neglect them at our own peril and detriment!

Let me ask it again ...  Is it possible that Jesus can still do the same thing with/for us?

If your answer in faith is yes, then the question becomes one of how and when, not if.

My prayer for you and the kernel at the center of all the work that I do, in church and in the city, internationally and on my block in my neighborhood is that people might become acquainted with the Jesus we see in this book!  That the WORD might take on FLESH again!

John tells us that Jesus, in his incarnation, took on the "tent" - the "tabernacle" of flesh - and came among us.  In our reading from 1 Peter this morning we heard that that event was planned from the "foundation of the world."

He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. 

If that is true then there are tell-tale signs along the way - some have called it the "RED THREAD" that runs through all of the scriptures - perhaps this is what Jesus was pointing out when he was walking on the seven mile walk of revelation to Emmaus, when the boys got "revelation heart-burn!"  What was Jesus saying as He revealed himself to them?  Perhaps something like this...

In the Torah - Jesus is there as the expression of Gods heart ...

He IS the promise that breaks the curse...
Basically - Jesus is "hidden in plain sight" -  

in every line of the Old Testament, in symbolic form: 

     He's the atonement cover on the ark, 

     He's the Bridegroom of Blood for Moses, 

     He's the burning bush, 

     He's the voice from the mountain, 

     He's the burning fire pot that walked between the animal halves-making a covenant with 

             Abraham that was upheld by His own promised blood, 

     He's the Angel of the Lord all through out - 

     He's the promised son to Eve-that would crush the serpents Head to redeem her like 

             Adam couldn't...I could go on forever! 

LOOK-for your Redeemer has always Lived-for YOU. For ME.

In GENESIS Jesus is the Ram at Abraham’s altar
In EXODUS He’s the Passover Lamb
In LEVITICUS He’s the High Priest
In NUMBERS He’s the Pillar of Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by night
In DEUTERONOMY He’s the City of our refuge

In JOSHUA He’s the Scarlet Thread out Rahab’s window
In JUDGES He is our Judge
In RUTH He is our Kinsman Redeemer
In 1st and 2nd SAMUEL He’s our Trusted Prophet
And in KINGS and CHRONICLES He’s our Reigning King
In EZRA He’s our Faithful Scribe
In NEHEMIAH He’s the Rebuilder of the Wall that is broken down
And in ESTHER He is Mordecai sitting faithfully at the gate

In JOB He’s our Redeemer that ever liveth
In PSALMS He is my Shepherd and I shall not want
In PROVERBS and Ecclesiastes He’s our Wisdom
And in the SONG OF SOLOMON He’s the Beautiful Bridegroom

In ISAIAH He’s the Suffering Servant
In JEREMIAH and LAMENTATIONS it is Jesus that is the Weeping Prophet
In EZEKIEL He’s the Wonderful Four-Faced Man
And in DANIEL He is the Fourth Man in the midst of a fiery furnace

In HOSEA He is my Love that is forever faithful
In JOEL He's the Baptizer with the Holy Spirit
In AMOS He’s our Burden Bearer
In OBADIAH our Savior
And in JONAH He is the Great Foreign Missionary 

         that takes the Word of God into all the world
In MICAH He is the Messenger with beautiful feet
In NAHUM He is the Avenger
In HABAKKUK He is the Watchman that is ever praying for revival
In ZEPHANIAH He is the Lord mighty to save
In HAGGAI He is the Restorer of our lost heritage
In ZECHARIAH He is our Fountain
And in MALACHI He is the Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings.

HIS Name IS Above All Names!

In MATTHEW “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God”
In MARK He is the Miracle Worker
In LUKE He’s the Son of Man
And in JOHN He is the Door by which every one of us must enter, the Narrow Gate
In ACTS He is the Shining Light that appears to Saul on the road to Damascus
In ROMANS He is our Justification
In 1st CORINTHIANS our Resurrection
In 2nd CORINTHIANS our Sin Bearer
In GALATIANS our Redeemer who redeems us from the curse of the law
In EPHESIANS He is our Unsearchable Riches
In PHILIPPIANS He supplies our every need
And in COLOSSIANS He’s the Image and Fullness of the Invisible Godhead, Bodily
In 1st and 2nd THESSALONIANS He is our Soon Coming King
In 1st and 2nd TIMOTHY He is the Mediator between God and man
In PHILEMON He is a Friend that sticks closer than a brother
And in HEBREWS He’s the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant

(are you still with me?)

In JAMES it is the Lord Jesus that heals the sick
In 1st and 2nd PETER Jesus is the Chief Shepherd
In 1st, 2nd, and 3rd JOHN it is Jesus who is the tenderness of love
In JUDE He is the Lord coming with 10,000 saints
And in REVELATION, He is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings-

                 the Alpha and Omega, Great I AM

+ + + + +

Are not our hearts burning within us?

Shall we pray.

O Jesus Christ, come to us this day and walk with us on the way.

Open your Word to us so we see in it Your Truth and Personhood,

Who you are and who You want us to be.  Cause our hearts to be

set ablaze anew - light your fire, Lord Jesus - and open our eyes

to see you at the breaking of the bread.

Cause us Lord to know you through your word, day by day as we

open and study and pray, send your Spirit to reveal your truth to

us through your Word.  Let our minds acknowledge you, let our 

hearts be filled with your light, let our hands be directed to your

deeds and our steps to your ways. 

In the name of Jesus, the 

Messiah, 

King of Kings and Lord of Lords...

The Great I AM.

Amen.