Commemoration Service

(Lk. 24.13-29)

A few weeks ago I was a video of that great epic film, Jesus of Nazareth, ...and one of the things that really stuck in my mind was the shock and despair of the disciples when Jesus died.

Jesus' closest disciples had been with him for three years.

They had seen him perform many great miracles, ...walking on the water, ...the feeding of the five thousand, ...and turning water into wine.

They had seen him heal many people, ...restoring the sight of blind Bartimaeus, ...healing ten lepers, ...and the paralysed man, whose friends dig a hole in the roof and lowered him down.

And they had listened to the best teaching that the world has ever know, ...the Sermon on the Mount, ...the Parable of the Prodigal Son, ...and the Lord's Prayer.

Jesus meant everything to them, ...they believed that he was God's chosen Messiah, ...the one who had come to free their people from Roman occupation.

Earlier that week everything had been going so well. Jesus had arrived at Jerusalem to a tremendous applause. People had cut branches of Palm trees and laid them at his feet, (rather like we might roll out the red carpet for someone important today).

The crowd had shouted out, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!"

But five days later, Jesus was dead.

(Pause)

Jesus ...was ...dead! ...Their hopes and dreams had been shattered. They themselves were absolutely devastated.

(Pause)

I know that for many of you here this evening, your hopes and dreams have been shattered during the past year.

Some of you have told me how the death of your loved one came light bolt out of the blue, ...at a time when you least expected it.

Others have spoken about their hopes that their loved one would recover from illness, ...how the initial prognosis looked quite encouraging, ...but how these hopes were dashed.

For others, the death of your loved one came as no surprise, ...for several months you had been waiting for the inevitable, ...but that knowledge did not lessen your grief and sadness.

The death of a loved one is never easy, ...it's something that we can never be fully prepared for.

In our second Bible reading, we sense the despair of those two disciples as they walked to the small town of Emmaus, (just a few miles from Jerusalem).

They had been discussing the tragic events of the past few days, ...I guess like many people who have been bereaved, at first they just couldn't take it all in.

Then they met a stranger, ...and we read how their faces were downcast.

Then they share their shattered dreams with this stranger:

"Jesus was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, ...and they crucified him.

...but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to rescue our people."

One of the things that we can do this evening, is to acknowledge the despair that death can bring.

Some people find it hard to do this at home.

Some don't express how they are really feeling, because they feel that they have to 'be strong', for the sake of others in the family.

I was quite young when my grandparents died. ...I'm sure that my parents must have been devastated, but I don't remember seeing them upset. I guess they wanted to protect me from their grief, ...they didn't want to protect me.

Others feel unable to express their grief because they think that they should have gotten over it by now. Everyone else seems to have come to terms with the death, ...so they pretend that they have too.

But the reality for most people is that the death of a loved one can take many, many months to come to terms with.

So let us together acknowledge the despair that death can bring. ...to be honest with ourselves, and with God.

A second thing that we can do this evening, is to remind ourselves that they death of your loved one was a significant event, ...an event which in some way touched the whole of humanity.

The death of Princess Diana was also a significant event, ...an event which also touched the whole of humanity.

The death of Diana has, in some ways, changed the world.

But so did the death of your loved one, ...although in a less dramatic way.

I was recently reminded of those famous words by John Donne:

"No man is an island, entire of itself;

every man is a piece of the continent,

...a part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less,

...as well as if a promontory were,

...as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine were:

...any man's death deminishes me, because I am involved in mankind,

...and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; ...it tolls for thee.

Whether your loved one was great or small, let's remember that their death was a loss to the whole of humankind.

And finally, a third thing we can do this evening, is to remind ourselves that in the midst of death there can eventually be signs of life.

In the midst of despair, there can eventually be new seeds of hope.

They say that time is a great healer.

I was very moved to read the story of a Methodist minister, called Francis Young, who had a son, called Arthur, who was very seriously disabled, (both mentally and physically).

Although her child lived, she described how coming to terms with his disability was rather like bereavement. She too was overcome with despair. She was angry with God, for allowing such a thing to happen. She was angry with society, and their hurtful attitude towards anyone who is different.

She described those first few years as living under a constant black cloud. Very occasionally a chink of light would break through into her life, ...but most days were spent living under the dark clouds of despair, ...and there were no signs of things getting better

Then one day, she noticed that the clouds had mostly gone. Her circumstances hadn't changed, Arthur was still severely disabled, but somehow she felt quite differently.

The joy of living had returned. And she described the subsequent years as "mainly blue skies, with the occasional black cloud".

Time is a great healer, ...and many Christians have also found the presence of God to be a great healer.

God came alongside those two disciples who walked to Emmaus in a very special way. The stranger who met them, who walked with them, and talked with them, was none other than Jesus, who that morning had risen from the dead.

At first they didn't recognise him, (I guess he was the last person they expected to meet along the road). Nevertheless, his presence with them began to change things.

They later said to each other:

"Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us along the road".

All down the centuries Christians claim to have met with this same risen Jesus. He no longer meets us in a physical way, (like he did on the road to Emmaus), ...but nevertheless, people have sensed his presence with them.

Sometimes we don't recognise him at first, ...in fact sometimes Christians can be very angry with God (...and that's OK, we need to be honest with God about how we are feeling).

But many Christians have found this growing sense of Jesus being with them, has slowly helped to bring hope out of despair.

At the end of our Bible reading we read:

"As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going further. But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening."

Or as it says in other translations of the Bible:

"Abide with us, for it is nearly evening."

It was those words, which in 1847 inspired Henry Lyte to write the words of that well known hymn which we sang earlier.

"Abide with me; fast falls the eventide:

the darkness deepens;

Lord, with me abide;

when other helpers fail,

and comforts flee,

help of the helpless,

O abide with me.

God is with us this evening, ...and if we ask him, he will remain with us through all that lies ahead.

So we too can join with the thousands of people who have prayed this prayer:

"Through cloud ...or sunshine,

O, abide with me."

Amen.