There’s a line from the play, Jesus Christ, Superstar, which goes: “If you’d come today you could have reached the whole nation. Israel in 4 BC had no mass communication.” In the twenty-first century, the Risen Jesus could have made a Public Service Announcement on TV, could have advertised on social media, could have sold out Soldier Field for a city wide event, maybe in conjunction with NASCAR. But even back in the day his method of revealing the Easter miracle could have been more dramatic. He only appeared to a select few, those who knew him, over a period of a several days. Why not gather all the people in Jerusalem – Pilate, chief priests, Roman soldiers, Pharisees included – and appear to them as the Resurrected Christ? Wouldn’t that have convinced them? Come to think of it, though, that was exactly the strategy that Satan tempted Jesus with at the very beginning of his public ministry. “Throw yourself down from the temple and let the angels catch you. Make a spectacle. That will get people’s attention.” Jesus rejected the temptation then and he avoided it at Easter. His method of bringing people to faith was not popular but personal, not an explosion but an encounter.
The same strategy is needed today. We live in a world which needs Christ more than ever given all of the worries and ills that afflict our families, our politics, even the planet itself. Sadly, the number of believers is declining rapidly – only about one in three millennials say they belong to a church. But it will not be a slick ad campaign or a clever mini-series on YouTube which will bring people to faith. Rather, it will be operating as Jesus did after Easter – having a personal encounter with another. As St. Peter put it in the first sermon he gave in the Acts of the Apostles, God uses witnesses, those who have experienced something for themselves, to help people to come to know Jesus. If we are to become witnesses we need one thing above all: not communication skills, not theological education, not even Bible knowledge. We need burning hearts.
“Were not our hearts burning within us,” said the Cleopas family after their encounter with Jesus. That’s what we need – burning hearts. Too often it seems like those who are in church are the frozen chosen – no zip, no enthusiasm, no passion as we gather in prayer. What is wrong with that a picture? We have some marvelous news to share – that God has overcome even the worst that this world can dish out, even death itself, in resurrection life. We have a community where everyone can feel like they belong — relationships which are supportive and loving. We provide opportunities to live a meaningful life – a life which includes repairing families, healing our planet, helping those in need. With all that what do Christians need to do to be charged up, to catch fire? A closer examination of the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus gives lessons on how to get burning hearts.
For something to burn you need three things: heat, fuel, oxygen. How were those elements present causing the Emmaus disciples’ hearts to flame up? Heat. The source of ignition for their hearts was welcoming a stranger, someone other, into their lives. First on the road itself and then when they got close to home they reached beyond their comfort zone to include someone from outside their customary circle. We have the opportunity to welcome someone other in our lives every Sunday. There are people you see here every week but don’t know who they are. Reach out to them to ignite some divine love. Or think of the family members who have fallen away from practicing the faith. Instead of simply harassing them about coming to Church spend time getting to know who they are and see what sparks might fly. There are many opportunities to rub up against another to start a fire.
Which leads to the second requirement for fire: fuel. What fueled the burning hearts of the Emmaus disciples was hearing the story of Jesus from his own mouth. It is stories of faith that will enable our hearts to burn. Certainly the Bible stories are important – Abraham’s fidelity, Moses’ courage, Mary’s openness, Peter’s leadership, Paul’s conversion, Mary Magdalene’s love can all stoke our belief. But our own stories of faith matter as well. When we share how God has acted in our lives it can prompt in others an awareness that God has been with them, even in ways that are not always obvious. Telling our stories enables our hearts to stay on fire.
Oxygen. I lived in Jersey City when the towers fell on 9/11, right across the Hudson River. I could smell the pile burning almost until Christmas. I asked a fireman working there about it and he explained that when both buildings pancaked down all of the heat was trapped with no way to dissipate. But it was so compressed that no oxygen was available. It was only when they took a layer of debris off that the oxygen enabled the heat to cause the fuel below to burst into flame. This kept happening again and again as they went down layer by layer. You need oxygen to burn. So what is the oxygen that will enable our hearts to burn? I wonder if it isn’t hope. “We were hoping…” said Cleopas. Even in his desperate hour, he hoped. We have hope that when we are going through the valley of grief and loss that God can bring us into green pastures. We have hope that hatred and racism and ugliness can be redeemed by compassion, understanding and empathy. We have hope that our children will grow up in a world a little kinder, a little gentler than the current one. Because of hope our hearts burn with the blessed assurance that because of Easter all manner of things will be well. Personal encounter (heat), telling stories (fuel), and hope (oxygen) – a recipe for burning hearts.
