EASTER 3 ST ANNE'S

Sermon by Peter Davey

“Then their eyes were opened 

and they recognised him”

Readings: 1 Peter 1: 17-23 – Love one another from the heart…

Luke 24: 13-35 – They knew him in the breaking of the bread.

Have you ever wondered what it must be like to be blind? Guide-dog trainers occasionally have to put on blindfolds and go for a walk with a dog as their guide in order that they should experience what it is like for a totally blind person to put their trust in a guide-dog. There are restaurants in London and Paris where the dining-room is in complete darkness and you eat your entire meal in the pitch black. The waiters are blind so they are perfectly comfortable in that environment. Apparently when the diners attempt to pour their own wine it gets interesting!

Luke tells us in our gospel story this morning about two men on the road to Emmaus who were blind. Not in the sense that they needed a guide-dog, but they were unable to see Jesus who was walking and talking beside them. .They saw a man beside them but they did not see the the essential thing that the man was Jesus himself! Luke does not tell us exactly why they did not recognise him, but he was clearly with them for some considerable time explaining the scriptures to them, but still they were blind to who was with them on the road. We are told that when they reached Emmaus Jesus almost left them but luckily for them and for us, they invited him to stay with them in their house as it was getting late. It was only when they were having supper together and the stranger blest and broke the bread were their eyes opened and they recognised that it was Jesus. Why then and not before? Remember it is Luke who is telling us this story; Luke who is above all concerned with the compassion of Jesus. It is in that act of breaking the bread and sharing it with his friends , in that beautiful act of compassion and love, that they see their Lord! What they could not see with their eyes, they see with their heart.   Is this the clue then to what it means to open our eyes?

There is a beautiful little book that I discovered about ten years ago which I love. It is called, Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. It is read by all children in France  but loved by adults as well. The little prince meets a fox at one point in the book. And the fox tells the little prince that he has a secret to tell him. The fox says,

Here is my secret; a very simple secret. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.

So the fox is telling the little prince that he must see with his heart in order to see what is essential. But what does it mean to see with the heart and not just the eye? It means to see as a child sees. It means to feel rather than to think; to trust rather than doubt; to be open rather than closed; to be generous rather than cautious; to be vulnerable rather than defensive. If you spend time with small children you will see how they demonstrate all these attributes. But how can we become like small children again? In the epistle this morning Peter reminds his flock that they have been born again, born again that they might love one another deeply. Only by being born again and becoming like small children again can we hope to see with our hearts and so have our eyes truly open so that we too can see Jesus.

But we are not on the road to Emmaus. Where do we look for Jesus in 21st century Dunbar? The answer is that wherever there is love and compassion in action, there we will see Jesus. In a smile; in a kind word; in an act of kindness; in a hug when someone is feeling down or sad. If we look carefully and with our hearts we will see such acts everywhere we go for Jesus is indeed everywhere if we only have eyes to see. And the beauty of it is that when we are born again we also find the risen Jesus performing these acts of compassion and love through us.  This is because in order to see love in others we must have the same love in our hearts. There is but one love and only love recognises love. It is a funny thing but the more acts of compassion we perform the more our eyes are opened to the love that is all around us.

Through the Dunbar Churches Together Youth project I am fortunate enough to be spending some time at the Dunbar Primary School doing some mentoring and conducting a programme called Seasons for Growth with some children who have experienced a loss in their family life. I am amazed how much I see Jesus in the children I spend time with. The children tell me that they enjoy their time with me, but it is nothing compared with the joy I get from being with them. I learn so much from the children  and the love that I see in them. Do you remember the story in the gospel of John of Jesus giving sight to the man who was born blind? The Jewish authorities question the man about who had healed him suggesting that Jesus was a sinner.

The man gave the most brilliant reply, he said, “Whether he is a sinner I know not. But the one thing I do know, whereas I was blind, now I see.” I, too, have met Jesus. But if someone were to ask me how I knew it was Jesus I would simply say, “I cannot say for sure who it was, but one thing I know, whereas once I was blind, and now I can see!”