April 19, 2026

Third Sunday in Easter

Acts 2:14a, 36-41

Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19

1 Peter 1:17-23

Luke 24:13-35

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,

grace and peace to you

 from the one who comes to those who are near

and those who are far off. Amen

Who is the message of Christ,

 the promise of God for?

According to Peter in his Pentecost sermon:

 “For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” (Acts 2:39)

The promise is for you,

for those who are close,

for those who live far away,

 everyone.

This is a radical message

 (and it will only become more radical with time and the work of the spirit)

 Remember Peter is preaching to a large crowd

 of "devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem” (Acts 2:5)

These are people who have come to Jerusalem

for the festival of Pentecost

 from all over

and as such represent not only a wide variety of cultures and history

but also viewpoints within the Jewish faith

 especially on the importance of geography.

 That they have come to Jerusalem

from so far away

 means that their understanding

is that their homes are not as good a place

 to celebrate the festival as Jerusalem,

 and knowing humans I’m sure that translated

into some attitudes seeing those who live in or around Jerusalem

as better/ more holy than the Jews living farther away.

This is pure speculation

but in their response to Peter and the apostles

 has an undertone of “is this for us too?”

Yes Peter says with a resounding affirmation,

it is for you, for your children,

 even for those who are far away,

perhaps especially for those who are far away,

as Jesus has a habit of appearing first to those on the margins,

 even from the very beginning

 Jesus has been moving from the outside in.

The shepherds out in the fields away from everyone

were the first to hear the tidings of great joy,

of the birth of their savior.

So it shouldn’t surprise us

that Jesus does the same with his first resurrection appearance.

As Luke tells it

on that first Easter morning

 the women went to the tomb

and had an angelic encounter

telling them that Jesus had risen,

 they go and tell the men

who don’t believe them

 so Peter goes and looks in the tomb

sees the linen cloths left behind

 then goes back home.

Thus far in the narrative Jesus has not appeared,

 until he joins two of his followers

walking away from Jerusalem and the rest of the disciples,

and these are not some of the main characters,

we learn one is called Cleopas and the other isn’t named.

It is to these two,

 heading out of Jerusalem

that Jesus appears first.

This is what Jesus has been doing all along, 

Now we are told that they are kept from recognizing him,

to them he is merely a stranger traveling in the same direction,

 and yet when this stranger asks what they are discussing

they share openly about the events of the past three days

 and their hopes now dashed,

a potentially risky move

 not knowing the religious or political views of this stranger,

who then starts teaching them scripture,

 and still they don’t recognize him.

They arrive at their destination,

their home perhaps,

and they invite this stranger in to spend the night with them.

 Now this may have simply been part of the hospitality of the time

but perhaps there was more to it than that.

 Perhaps these two had been some of the seventy-two

 that Jesus had sent out to share the good news of the kingdom,

instructing them to only rely on the hospitality

of those they met for their needs.

And even if they hadn’t,

 as followers of Jesus

 they had heard his teaching,

seen him time and again reach out to strangers

offering what they needed,

 this is what Jesus did,

this is what followers of Jesus do.

 So they strongly urge this stranger to stay with them,

 ‘it’s getting late

 it will be dark soon and the roads will be dangerous,

 stay with us.’

 and the stranger accepts

 and it’s only when they sit down to dinner

and the stranger takes the bread, blesses and breaks it

that their eyes are opened

 and they recognize who has been with them this whole time!

 Jesus vanishes and they rush out into the night

on those dangerous roads

 back to the disciples in Jerusalem

 to tell them what happened.

As Lutherans we love the sacraments,

and we love to point to this story

 and say ‘look! It’s communion!

This is what Jesus does!

He’s revealed to us in the blessing and breaking of the bread!”

 and while I think this is true and very good news,

this time through the story,

 what I find more significant

is what comes before the breaking of the bread,

the disciples though heartbroken and leaving the rest of the group

still live the way of Jesus,

telling this stranger they meet on the way about him

and then wholeheartedly offering this stranger hospitality,

 it’s this way of life

 that paves the way for him to be revealed to them,

 had they refused to engage in conversation with a stranger,

had they not offered hospitality

they would never have been gathered around a table

 where bread could be blessed and broken

 and Jesus revealed.

Now even if they hadn’t noticed,

it wouldn’t change the fact that Jesus had come to them.

Because that’s what Jesus does,

he shows up from the outside in

and he is for all,

 those nearby and those far off

even if they don’t realize it right away

The people listening to Peter preach on Pentecost

are “cut to the heart” when they hear that they had missed the messiah,

that they were part of the group that crucified him,

“what do we do?” they ask

 and the grace of God is inherent in Peter’s reply

“repent and be baptized”

in other words,

return to God

 and receive the gift of the promise of God.

God is the one who has acted,

who offers us a great gift,

a gift we receive through trust.

All they must do is receive the gift of God,

 God has done the work and offered it as a gift!

What a change from the relationship riding on the actions of humans.

We hear an older and dare we say wiser Peter

preaching this in his first letter,

 a letter written to Gentiles

 an audience even greater and more inclusive than that first Pentecost audience.

‘Look’ he tells the communities to which he is writing,

 ‘you have a choice,

you can invoke the Father who judges,

 and while the Father is an impartial judge

if you make this choice

you will live in fear

 because you have asked to be judged according to your own actions,

which we know are never perfect.

 OR

You can trust the God who raised Christ from the dead

who died to ransom, to cover all your imperfections,

 meaning that joined to Christ

God will look on you as perfect,

even as you are less than perfect.

And this means that you are free to love one another genuinely,

freely,

apart from trying to be perfect,

apart from the anticipation of judgment,

 just love.’

This is the gift from God we receive at our baptisms

and carry forward into our lives,

 this is the gift of God that Aiden says yes to today

as he affirms his baptism his faith

and we send him out to live in love

 this is the gift that is for you and your children,

 those who are near,

those who are far away,

those who are friends

 and those who are strangers

the gift God extends to all.

Thanks be to God. Amen. Alleluia