Unshrouded Hearts -- Isaiah 25:6-9; Luke 24:14-39 (Rev. Dvera Hadden, preaching; 3rd Sunday in Easter)

Photo credit: Simon Berger, used with permission vial Unsplash

On this Communion Sunday in the Easter season, our scripture passages for today offer us familiar images of Communion.  The first passage from Isaiah illustrates the rich banquet of the end of times, when God’s reign is fully established, when the nations of the world are at peace and nature’s abundance is shared in celebration.  The second passage, from the Gospel of Luke, reminds us how we encounter the Spirit of God in Christ in the ordinary, sacred acts of our lives- such as when we journey together, when we offer hospitality, when we share a meal. Let’s look closer at what these scripture passages may have to offer us today.

The passage from the Book of Isaiah comes from the section of the book that biblical scholars call First Isaiah.  Later portions of the book are referred to as Second and Third Isaiah, recognizing schools or followers in the Isaian tradition whose materials from the 7th and 6th century BCE were added to the text of First Isaiah to complete the book of Isaiah that we know today.  

First Isaiah contains the witness of the prophet Isaiah (742-678 BCE) and is generally thought to pertain to the life of Judah during the reign of King Ahaz (732-716 BCE) and King Hezekiah (716 - 687 BCE.) Historically it can be pinned to events of the late 8th century BCE when Egypt and the Assyrian Empire were dominating military and political powers, and therefore the dominating economic powers, in the region.  Assyria prevailed over Egypt, and later Persia prevailed over Assyria. Our faith history from this time period is full of the narratives of military battles, of conquering powers and subject entities, of economic travail and lives destroyed.  Isaiah offers a narrative of God’s presence with God’s people in the midst of all the other realities of life. Amidst Isaiah’s dire warnings and predictions of the fall of Judah, a few chapters seem to be dropped into the text that cannot be pinned to historical events.  Biblical scholars imagine that these chapters were added late in the development of the Book of Isaiah into its final form. 

Our passage this morning comes from within those chapters.  These chapters seem to have a wider perspective than the immediate military and political events of Isaiah’s time and place. This particular passage names God by several different names that are ordinarily hallmarks of different traditions and communities.  We have God named as God Almighty or God of hosts, Sabbaoth in verses 6-7. Then we have God named as Sovereign God (Adonai) in verse 8, and in verse 9, Eloheinu “our God.” Each of these ways of naming God come from differing traditions and are preserved here, in this description of God’s universal welcome and hospitality. 

Our passage for today reveals the promise of God’s ultimate reign on earth, among the nations, where all peoples will come to celebrate and share in the abundance that nature can provide in God’s shalom, God’s peace.  In the fullness of God’s presence our sorrows are comforted, our tears are wiped away. God swallows up the shroud- the woven, webbed covering- that hides all peoples from one another. God wipes out the effects of death- the fear, hostility, warring madness, the need for power-over and dominance that arise from the urgency of our lives lived in the shadow of death.  In the reign of God, earthly life will be set free from the hurt and the harm, the people’s disgrace, that we per-pe-trate upon one another and creation. And the image that celebrates God’s reign of shalom- wellness, wholeness, abundance, and flourishing- is a banquet feast. God’s table is spread for all nations to rejoice in and share.  This promise and image of God’s reign on earth sits right in the midst the narrative of the earthly turmoil and tumult that the eighth century BCE nation of Judah lived and experienced. 

Our ancestors of faith placed the promise of God’s reign on earth in the middle of chaos and uncertainty, right where it best belongs! This promise of feasting at Table with God belongs to every time and place, to every people and nation, even when it may be difficult to imagine or discern the possibility for it.  It is the promise and proclamation of Isaiah and the community of Judah and Israel; it is our promise and proclamation, the proclamation that we repeat every time we gather in Communion together. God is with us. God is greater than the military, political, and economic powers, the uncertainty and insecurity, the dashed hopes and sense of powerlessness we experience. God’s abundant welcome is available to us no matter, or perhaps, particularly because of, whatever else may be true in our lives.

In our passage from the Gospel of Luke today, the disciples of Jesus on the road to Emmaus had a hard time imagining the reign of God on earth, the reign where God had swallowed up death and wiped away the tears of the mourners.  They couldn’t take in the women’s amazed and joyful witness that Jesus was to be found among the living and not the dead.  They didn’t recognize Jesus walking alongside them in the midst of their reality that their Messiah was crucified, the promise they had hoped for of God’s military, political, and economic reign was ended, of a world set right that they had glimpsed in Jesus’ healing and teaching.  As he opened the Scriptures to them, Jesus must have reminded them on that road of Isaiah’s promise and proclamation of God’s presence, of that banquet celebrating and sharing in God's shalom; God’s shalom that overcomes mourning and sorrow and warring madness, greed and oppression, destructive practices that arise from feelings of scarcity and fear…

Their hearts burned within them as they listened to this unknown person sharing their journey. Their thoughts kept them firmly rooted in the recent realities of their lives. They hashed it out on the road, all the things that happened in Jerusalem in the last week, all the reasons their hopes were dashed, the promise of God’s reign broken. What compassion Jesus must have felt when he saw how the grief and horror of recent days had overshadowed the witness of his ministry- his healing work, the people made whole in community, the sharing of bread and fish, the need for changed lives, the proclamation of God’s reign.

And yet, even in the midst of the real experience of that sorrow and grief, in the midst of dashed hopes and disoriented lives and thoughts, the disciples offered the hospitality of a meal to share.  The gesture of hospitality, the offer of a shared meal opened up the opportunity for the disciples to recognize the risen Christ.  In the breaking of the bread, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.  The ordinary acts of daily living become sacred moments to experience the presence of the risen Christ.

When we offer our ministry of presence and hospitality, the shroud that hides our hearts’ certainty of God with us, that shroud drops away.  We have the opportunity to share and embody the promise and proclamation that God’s reign of peace is greater than any earthly power.  Each of us has a share in the proclamation and promise of God’s reign of abundant shalom.  Each of us has a part in making visible God’s reign on earth as we give witness to resurrection life. We are an Easter people. We know the power and promise of the risen Christ over all that stands in the way of God’s justice and righteousness.  We listen now, with unshrouded hearts, for how we are each called to live out the reality of resurrection life, of life transformed and shaped by God’s reign of abundant shalom. 

How are you called to participate in resurrection life?  Are you called to accompany another along their journey? Are you called to the practice of welcome and hospitality? 

Are you called to follow the risen Christ in a teaching ministry? Or a healing ministry? Are you called to a prophetic proclamation of God’s justice and reign of righteousness and peace?  What does new life, Easter life look like in your life?

With unshrouded hearts, let us rejoice in the promise and proclamation of Christ’s risen life.  With unshrouded hearts, hearts open to recognize and receive Christ in one another and all Creation, let us rejoice as we gather around Christ’s Table.  Alleluia! Amen.

© 2025 Dvera Hadden