Jesus is Still Walking Next to Those who Welcome Him
ACTS 2: 14 & 36-41
LUKE 24: 13-35
APRIL 19, 2026
All of us regardless of how old we are … occasionally take time to reflect on life. On our lives. It is an essential element of human existence. Songs and poetry have been written nudging us into our memories. Since the advent of the camera photographs have been treasured even silly selfies with the Phillies Phanatic. And, before that paintings and drawings going back to the days of cave dwellers and the Flintstones were made to enhance the memories of a moment in time. We remember the challenges and we remember the good moments. At times all it takes is a word, a song, or being in a place that holds meaning or once upon a time meant so much to our hearts, our minds and yes, our souls that suddenly and almost magically we are transposed back to that place and that time.
Now, I do not mean that we can ever get teleported to a Waffle House because we want to experience our memories at such a place not that any of us ever want to get teleported back to a Waffle House. Based on my experiences at those southern centric breakfast joints, I have no desire to ever go back. I am curious, how many here have ever been to a Waffle House? Would it be on your top ten locations of places to go to eat?
Once upon a time I longed to experience that eatery … once upon a time but then I went there and that was that. I am sure that Cleophas and the other disciple longed to revisit their walk with Jesus for the rest of their lives … once they realized who they had been with that day. They were so self occupied, and Scripture says prevented from knowing that Jesus was walking with them on their way to Emmaus. They later reflected, “Weren’t our hearts on fire when he spoke to us along the road and when He explained the scriptures for us?” But … no they could never go back to that day … they could only remember it. They also had the opportunity to learn from that day and use that day’s experiences to make their lives better because of Christ.
Perhaps in future years when they passed the house where the eleven and their companions had been hiding; they remembered that special walk with Jesus. It’s clear that it was a special moment … “THE LORD REALLY HAS RISEN!! Ahh, He has RISEN INDEED!” And, when they remembered walking with Jesus, they reinvigorated their faith … they made plans to step up and do more for God because Jesus had been with them.
We are in the season of Eastertide. I was reminded of that at this past Wednesday’s service of Holy Communion that the days, and weeks … 50 days … between Easter and the day Jesus ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives … the early church valued these days. The days when the RISEN Jesus walked amongst His disciples and others as the most essential days … the truly special days … EASTERTIDE when we continue to and actually begin again to walk with our Risen Savior in the freshness of His victory over death. You see … more than Advent, more than Christmas, and even more than Lent those whose time on earth was closest to the days when Jesus walked along the dusty highways of the Holy Land … they valued EASTERTIDE because it was during those first days that the RISEN JESUS CHRIST was with them.
Church, have you ever been so preoccupied … so busy with yourself … focused on your treasures, your priorities or attempting to figure out how you can fit into the world that you didn’t realize that Jesus is still there walking with you or at least hoping to walk with you; with us … that God’s Holy Spirit is hovering around like a best friend whose priority is sharing time and space with you? God’s Holy Spirit, our guide and God’s presence, which God has gifted to all believers to at least attempt to nudge us to embrace God … actually to push us to worship God, obey God, and love God. Do you realize who is walking with you and do you pay attention? That’s not a survey question but it is something to think about … it is an essential truth of faith.
Do you think that those individuals who were in the audience with Peter and the other eleven apostles remembered that special day … I am sure that most if not all did. Peter had raised his voice … “JUDEANS and EVERYONE LIVING HERE In JERUSALEM … KNOW THIS … LISTEN CAREFULLY to MY WORDS!!” Church do you listen carefully to the lessons from God’s Word? Do you pay attention to the Gospel lessons that you read? Do you read them? Do you adopt Jesus’ teaching into your life?
It’s the basic lesson of EASTERTIDE that Peter was sharing that day … “CHANGE YOUR HEARTS and LIVES!!! THEN you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you … your children … and for ALL who are far away. BE SAVED from this PERVERSE GENERATION.”
Church, Peter was sharing the lesson of the Risen Jesus … the lesson that Jesus focused in on while walking on the road to Emmaus. Jesus gave the warning … “You foolish people … your dull minds keep you from believing.”
I decided to go to MERRIAM Webster this week to check on that word believing. I felt it was important because I know that Jesus chastised those two individuals who were walking with him … we know from Luke’s Gospel that Cleophas and the other were not just every ordinary folks going home from their day’s labors at Jerusalem’s McDonald’s. They had not just worked for minimum wage putting hamburgers onto sesame seeded buns with a special sauce and cheese … Cleophas and the other were TWO DISCIPLES.
They were talking to each other about everything that had happened in Jerusalem related to “Jesus of Nazareth.” When Jesus joined them in their walk they pretty much shared with Jesus the headlines of the day … “because of His powerful deeds and words He was recognized by God but our chief priests and leaders handed Him over to be sentenced to death and they crucified Him. We had hoped he was THE ONE … but there’s more. Some women from our group have left us stunned … they went to the tomb and didn’t find His body. They came to us saying that they had even seen a vision of angels who them He is alive.”
They were disciples … they were insiders who knew what was happening, but Jesus declared … “YOU FOOLISH PEOPLE … your dull minds keep you from believing. Wasn’t it necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and then enter into His glory?” It was reminiscent of when Jesus shared the lesson of Matthew 25 when one group who claimed to be followers of Christ ended up in the fiery pit because they really didn’t verify their faith but doing what God expects us all to do.
MERIAM WEBSTER says believing means to consider something to be true and to accept the word as genuine and to hold an opinion based on what you have heard. To have a firm or wholehearted religious conviction as to the goodness of someone or something. BELIEVE
When did you first believe church? Do you remember your early faith moments? Do you remember inspiring moments of your faith walk? Are you still in that walk with Jesus Christ … with the Holy Spirit … Jesus is still walking with us right next to us … if we welcome Him.
Yesterday, as we sang HOW GREAT THOU ART at the service celebrating Jim’s life … I was taken back to Randall Memorial Baptist Church once again. It happens when I hear that song of faith. Ed Lyman was the tenor singing at that Sunday evening service that our parents had dragged Mark and me to … I am sure we went screaming. The keynote speaker was John DeBrine he was a radio evangelist. I don’t remember a single thing about him other than his name. His obituary includes this question he often asked, “What in your life is only explainable by God?” Boston papers called him the first Christian disc jockey but Ed Lyman was the tenor … I couldn’t find much of a biography except he often worked with a ventriloquist named Bill Salisbury. But that night Ed Lyman sang HOW GREAT THOU ART … and we were sitting in a left sided pew … and my heart was warmed in a John Wesley sort of warming in the kind of warming that Cleophas spoke of. I will never forget … and as I looked at a photo of John DeBrine this week and of Ed Lyman I was transposed back to the 1960’s and those moments.
Friends … when did God come into your life and change who you were into a follower of Jesus? What God and Jesus moments followed that gave your faith strength.
I remember other moments and one trigger that took me back to my early days of faith during this EASTERTIDE is the date April 22nd. It was on APRIL 22, 1970 that United States Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin’s proposal to hold a nationwide teach-in on the essential values of caring for God’s creation because a reality.
Back then we allowed coal burning plants to fill the air with SMOG … we allowed polluters to destroy our streams and rivers and lakes, which resulted in a massive oil spill in Santa Barbara California in 1969. The Buffalo River in my hometown caught on fire because we had politicians who ignored the environment they were focused on enriching polluters. But, here was a leader willing to push and push until something special happened. EARTH DAY was established and I can remember when I heard of EARTH DAY I opened up God’s Word to Genesis “The Lord God took humans and put them in the Garden to work in it and to care for it.” I turned to the Torah in the book of Numbers and read, “You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell says the Lord your God.” The 11th chapter of Revelation warns against destroying the earth. Psalm 24, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.” Proverbs “The righteous care for the needs of their animals.” Leviticus, “The land must not be sold permanently because the land is mine says the Lord … you are but aliens and tenants.”
And there in my youth I discovered that there were leaders willing to follow God’s teaching to save the land, air, and water and protect animals rather than the profiteers. Earth Day despite our failures and the fact that current leaders want to again bring back coal, the smog and pollution … Earth Day gives me hope in the human condition.
And, so today in this season of EASTERTIDE … Jesus has not stopped walking and reaching out … God’s expectations are as clear as a bright sunny day for those who believe. The Lord Jesus Christ has really risen! He appeared to many and now calls on us to believe … not just to say we are His but to live as God and Christ expect! AMEN