Sermon - After the Empty Tomb: Closer Than We Think | Pastor Jisun Yang | 4-19-26
- Middletown UMC Meadowlark
- Apr 19
- 3 min read
Pastor Jisun asks. "Have you come home exhausted after a long and difficult day, disappointed, tired, wondering what next? When you feel abandoned and there is no one there to help you". She recounts the scripture passage of the day which deals with two disciples leaving Jerusalem and walking to Emmaus after feeling abandoned by their teacher and leader who had died on the cross. They were disappointed and in despair. Along the way they were joined by a stranger who talked with them and became a fellow traveler. He asked them what they were talking about. Their faces downcast they said "About Jesus of Nazareth, a prophet powerful in word and deed before God and the people. The chief priests and our rulers sentenced him to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he would redeem Israel and would rise from the dead." The stranger chided them saying "Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter into Glory?" And beginning with Moses and all of the prophets he explained to them what was said in the scriptures about the Messiah. The disciples asked him to stay with them in Emmaus. At their evening meal he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus, who then disappeared from sight.
One morning Pastor Jisun looked for a tube of ointment in the box where it usually sat, but could not find it. When she came back home that evening she found it on the same table right next to the box. Sometimes we do not see what we need to see even when it is right in front of us. We often overlook what is most important in our lives until our eyes are opened. We may not see the risen Christ walking alongside us, talking with us and teaching us through people around us. Later, when we connect the dots in our lives we see how God has been at work all along. The Holy Spirit warmed John Wesley's Heart at an unexpected moment, just as Jesus unexpectedly joined the disciples on their walk to Emmaus.
Why did the risen Christ sill carry wounds on his body? Those painful moments are also a part of who Jesus is. As Henri Nouwen says, Jesus is the wounded healer. The apostle Paul wrote that suffering is not in vain but leads us to hope in Christ. Suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, character produces hope and hope does not disappoint us because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. We embrace that our suffering and wounds are part of who we are today on the journey as we become who God calls us to be. Along that journey we may have eye-opening experiences as we encounter Jesus in unexpected moments and places.
The risen Christ meets us on the road and joins us when hope feels far away. He turns strangers into companions, sorrows into strength and confusion into clarity. So if you are walking through a difficult season today, do not lose your heart. Christ is still on the road, speaking, breaking bread and warming hearts, closer than you think. Rise up, turn around and return with hope that resurrection is still happening among us.