Researchers say that consumers are exposed to 3500-5000 marketing messages each day. These come in the form of billboards, television ads, print, pop-ups, product placement in reality TV. 3500-5000 messages. These are just marketing messages.

What about the messages of our modern world and culture? Messages like: you can make it on your own, you have to look out for #1, the ends justify the means, he who dies with the most toys wins, you cannot rely on others. The only source of hope is your own self-actualization.

The messages of this world often leave us at a dead end. This is all there is. What you see, what you experience; this is reality.

We are also given messages as Christians living in this world. We’re told it’s OK to be a Christian. Sure you can gather and read stories, sing some songs, if that’s what makes you happy. But ultimately keep that stuff to yourselves. Don’t push that religion stuff in the schools, in the workplace, in society. Don’t get any crazy ideas about your place in this world. Don’t mess with the powers that be: the culture, the economic markets, the civil authorities. If you do, there’s a price to be paid.

Some messages haven’t changed in 2000 years. Our world may not look so different from that of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. It was just a couple of days before that Cleopas and his friend lost their teacher, their friend. He was the one in whom they placed their hope. He was the one who was supposed to rescue Israel from foreign authorities. He was the one to lead Israel back into their freedom in the land promised to their ancestors. The inscription over his head was correct, “Here is the king of the Jews.” But his lordship threatened the authorities. This got Jesus killed, crucified on the cross. Cleopas and his friend lost their hope.

It is in this despair that the miraculous occurs. Jesus, the one for whom their hearts long for appears. Yet, they are so blinded by their grief, by the messages of this world, they do not recognize him. He is but a stranger to them.

Jesus walks with them. He inquires into what is going on in their lives. After they tell him their story, he catechizes them. He gives them a new lens to understand what has happened. Who knows how they had followed Jesus and heard his teaching? After all, they lived only 7 miles from Jerusalem. I’m sure they had seen some of his healings and heard some of his teachings. But, perhaps they were not there when Jesus opened up the scroll in the synagogue and read from Isaiah: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Some additional catechism was in order along the road.

But even as they are being transformed, given a new world view, by the interpretation of the Scriptures, by the one to whom they refer, they still don’t recognize him. It was only after those distinctive actions at the table, where the guest became the host, when he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them that their eyes were opened. This they must have seen before; either at the feeding of the 5000, or most certainly at the Last Supper. Their recognition of Jesus at the table drives them back into Jerusalem to share the good news of meeting the risen Jesus while on the road. They go back to share in the Easter proclamation, the Easter message, “The Lord is risen indeed.”

This story from the road to Emmaus gives us much insight into the calling of the church. Through our incorporation into Christ’s body at our baptism, we are commissioned to participate in the life of the risen Jesus. The risen Lord meets his distraught friends on the road, in the midst of their journey. He tells them the story of Israel and her redemption, interprets the Scriptures, and makes Eucharist. Their eyes are opened and they witness to what they have experienced.

Is this not what we do in worship? We gather together in the midst of life, with its ups and downs. We proclaim God’s word given to us in the Holy Scriptures. We interpret this word in the light of contemporary life, in consultation with the teachings of the church, and in conversation with the saints. Then we give thanks and make Eucharist, as we take bread, bless and brake it, and give it. And then we are dismissed, sent out to do these things out in the world.

Are there not opportunities to do these things each day? To walk along side of those on the road, to proclaim the Gospel, interpret the Good News and to give thanks, to boldly say, “The Lord is risen indeed?” I bet each of us knows more than one person in our lives who needs us to embody the risen Lord to them.

This is living as a resurrected, Easter people. To live as Christ’s risen body. Our call is not to run and hide from the world, but to walk alongside and engage in the lives of those who God has placed in our midst. As we do, their eyes will be opened to the great Easter message, the tomb is empty. “The Lord has risen indeed.”

This proclamation is not just some private message for Christians. It is Good News for the life of the world. It is a message that transform us and our view of the world in which we live. It is a message that draws us further into God’s love and drives us to love one another. The promise of Easter is that we don’t have to live in despair. The powers of this world think they are in control. But there is hope. We know and say something far different. It is a message we have been saying for 2000 years. “Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The Lord is risen indeed.”

Some messages haven’t changed in 2000 years. We join in the chorus of the apostles, the martyrs, the monastics, the patristics, the mystics, the reformers, the missionaries, and everyday Christians throughout the centuries in proclaiming and sharing this message. Let us this Easter season go out, walk along side others in their journey. Let us pray that the risen Jesus will be known by them in the scriptures and the breaking of the bread. And let us embody the ministry of the risen Lord, boldly proclaiming, “Alleluia, Christ is risen, the Lord is risen indeed, alleluia.” Amen.