2026-04-19 Lk 24 13-35 He Is Where He Is
Last Sunday, we had the story of Doubting Thomas.
The disciple who wouldn’t believe until he had seen.
Today, we have the story of two disciples who HAVE seen Jesus,
– they’re literally walking right beside him –
They SEE him but they still can’t believe.
So where does that leave US?
Because, if you can’t believe until you see him,
But you can’t see him until you believe,
How’s that supposed to work?
What are the Terms and Conditions of faith?
I think faith really becomes real when we set aside OUR terms and conditions, set down our rules and regulations for Jesus
…and we let him find US, wherever we are.
Because that rascally Savior always turns up where he turns up.
He is where he is.
He’s gonna be where he’s gonna be.
And once we accept those terms, we’ll find him.
Spoiler alert: We’ll also find each other.
-–
What are YOUR Terms and Conditions?
You – or someone you know – tries very hard to do all the right things.
I hear it all the time, “I’m a rule-follower.”
And yes, you are.
Because you are good.
God bless your heart.
And that’s the goal, right?
I know one of you here today sets your cruise control on 19 whenever you enter a school zone.
Regardless of the time of day or night.
You’re a rule-follower.
You’re good.
You set an alert on your phone to warn you when you come within a thousand feet of a McDonalds.
Good for you and your A1C.
You have a “My child is an honor student” bumper sticker -
– and it’s TRUE.
Which makes me wonder, if your child falls off the Honor Roll, (you know where this is going)
…is there a rule that you have to take the sticker off?
Cover it up with one that says, “Proud parent of a C-student?”
(“Who – face it – your honor student really wants to date.”)
You don’t drink or smoke or chew
and you’ve never gone with boys (or girls) that do.
You’re an example to us all.
And because of that, rest assured St. Peter will unlock the Pearly Gates and you’ll see Jesus on the other side.
You might not say it out loud, because the Bible says to be modest.
It’s just spiritual fairness.
Those are expectations.
Our Terms and Conditions.
The problem is when the terms are violated.
By life.
Through no fault of our own, things can go wrong.
Horribly wrong.
The doctor calls you back to her office.
A careless driver runs a red light.
Your company says they’re going “a new direction” –
without you.
And there is nothing right about it.
Whether you say it out loud or not, your gut is screaming,
“But I did everything RIGHT.”
“I don’t DESERVE this.”
And we wonder:
Where’s that Savior now?
Did he slip off an exit ramp when I wasn’t watching?
—
Today’s scripture’s about two disciples on their road.
And they’re two of the good guys.
They know everything about Jesus.
They’re shocked – SHOCKED – that this stranger they bump into is so out of the loop.
I mean, did he lose his phone?
“Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?”
These two know more about Jesus than Jesus.
They’re really good.
But yet, there he is, right in front of them,
and they can’t see him.
Jesus calls them “slow” AND “foolish.”
Ouch, Lord!
On the road through the Bible,
From the Psalms, to Job, even to Jesus himself –
The path is lined with people who do all the right things,
Paved by people who say the right words,
who eat the right foods,
who associate with only the right people.
And still.
That doesn’t stop life from going south in the blink of an eye.
Even if you’re the Son of God
Life can crucify you.
I hear it said, in good times and in bad, that classic line from Socrates – or maybe it was Garth Brooks:
“It is what it is.”
Yep. It always is.
—
Lately, I’ve started buying silly T-shirts for myself and as gifts for my family.
Which they say they appreciate (and I believe them).
T-shirts are kinda my thing now.
I bought one – just one –
and now Instagram fills my feed with a stream of ads that Mark Zuckerberg engineered to be irresistible.
So it’s HIS fault.
I guess, in my mind,
clothing myself in the witty quips,
dressing myself in sarcasm,
obscure song references,
And prints of Abe Lincoln shredding on an electric guitar –
I guess I think they make me look like the cool grandpa.
But I’m not a grandpa and I’ve never been cool.
They’re aspirational T-shirts.
So, I wear my $25-plus-shipping T-shirts, and rarely does a single soul comment on them.
Rude.
But I do have one that always gets a response.
It’s the one that says in huge block letters all across my chest and belly,
“IT IS WHAT IT IS.”
I wear that one to the beach and people point and laugh.
In a good way.
Men, women, small children –
Even white boys gotta shout,
“I like your shirt!”
I just shrug and reply, “It is what it is.”
As a minister, I talk to a lot of people whose life isn’t what it’s supposed to be.
Whose sweet life has turned sour.
Their new mantra is a deep, aspirational sigh of,
“I guess… It is what it is.”
I’ve stood in hospital rooms with more than one person who’s said out loud,
“I don’t get it.
“I did everything I was supposed to do.”
They say, “I can’t figure out what I did to deserve this.”
I think the universe owes them a T-shirt.
One that says, “It should be what it should be.”
Or, “It should be what it could be.”
“It shouldn’t be what it never should have been.”
Because… I don’t deserve this.
Sometimes there just aren’t enough boxes on our checklist.
And the only thing I can say is, “You’re right.”
—
I think the disciples on the Road to Emmaus must have been Presbyterians.
They were educated, they were bright.
Probably very good-looking.
They knew what was happening in the news.
They knew this week’s troubles in Jerusalem.
(Some things never change.)
They knew all about Jesus.
People ask me what Trinity’s like, and I say, (and this is an exact quote), “The place is filled with so many SMART people.”
I say, “There’s not a “low-IQ” person in the bunch – excluding the Interim Pastor.”
Cleopas and the other disciple, Who Shall Not Be Named, are articulate, they’re friendly, they’re Biblically literate, they’re on top of current events and can talk about them for hours and hours without end.
How much more Presbyterian can you be?
We read the Bible from the safety of 2000 years.
It’s easy to get high and mighty and think,
“Oh, these two Honor Students on the Road to Emmaus, they think they know Jesus, but look:
“Jesus was walking right beside them, for miles, patiently listening as they mansplained everything about Jesus to Jesus.”
But man-splainers or woman-splainers, how guilty are we of the same arrogance?
The same blinding insistence that Jesus appear on our terms and conditions?
That he looks like us.
That he sings the right hymns,
reads the right Bible version,
prays for debt-forgiveness not trespasses.
That he goes to Sunday worship at 10:30, and not 10:45 and definitely not 11 because then you’ll never beat the Baptists to the good places.
That he ISN’T what HE is, but that he’s like WE are?
Doing what we expect him to do?
Being where we want him to be?
When your life goes off the rails, knowing the answers to Trivial Pursuit Jesus Edition is small comfort.
Having the right boxes ticked off won’t heal your broken heart or mend your anxious mind, or make the tumor disappear.
I think we know that.
But still, we wonder, where is Jesus now?
We want better than, “It is what it is.”
–
I was just kidding about the disciples on the Road being Presbyterian.
Actually, they and Jesus himself, were Jewish.
And good Jews that they were, they followed Moses’s law that you always welcome the stranger and share your food.
Verse 29:
But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.”
I mentioned this to a Rabbi friend, how Jesus was always eating, and he laughed out loud.
He said, “Of course he was always eating; he was Jewish!”
That’s one Old Testament commandment we keep very, very well.
And we have the casseroles to prove it.
You pour cream of mushroom soup over anything, and Presbyterian Jesus will show up.
Something to notice in this scripture is how Jesus ISN’T revealed, when he ISN’T recognized.
Jesus isn’t revealed in conversation.
Jesus isn’t revealed because he’s smarter than the two travelers.
He’s not even revealed in his Bible teaching.
Jesus isn’t revealed because he’s wearing a name tag, or his robe is glowing, or his feet never quite touch the ground.
He never announces his secret identity like the superheroes do: “I’m Jesus.”
In verse 30, it says,
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.
Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight.
We Christians read it as an allusion to the Last Supper.
But Cleopas and Unnamed Disciple #1 weren’t AT the Last Supper.
For them, it’s just supper.
It says Jesus is revealed in “the breaking of the bread,” which is just another way of saying, “Supper.”
Jesus is revealed in THEIR act of kindness,
in the sharing of a meal after a long, dusty day,
in the satisfying of hunger,
in the friendship of sitting around a table and treating a stranger with dignity.
In the non-magical act we all can do,
the gentle work of turning a stranger into a friend.
It’s been said, “A stranger is just a friend you haven’t met.”
The Bible says that when they recognized him, the stranger vanished from their sight.
In other words, Jesus the Stranger disappeared.
Jesus the Stranger turned into Jesus the Friend, their teacher, their Savior, the one they knew all along, but didn’t see.
Not by a grand miracle.
But by the simple gift of a shared table.
He just was where he was.
And where he was, was with life’s travelers, changed into a friend, changed into a Savior.
He brought no Terms or Conditions.
Just a growling stomach, and a “Please pass the bread.”
He is who he is.
He was where he was.
And that was more than enough for the travelers on the Road to Emmaus.
Is it enough for us?
Is it enough for the strangers we meet on the road of our life?
Jesus is always going to be where Jesus is going to be.
We pray with our own hungry, burning hearts –
that he’s where WE are –
And pray that he leads us on the road to where we need to be.
[eos]
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