A NEW YORK CITY COP NAMED CHARLIE IS HAVING COFFEE IN A LITTLE DINER. FINISHED HE REACHES INTO HIS POCKET TO PAY AND LEAVE HIS USUAL TIP, BUT FINDS THAT HE HAS JUST ENOUGH MONEY TO PAY FOR THE COFFEE.THERE'S NOT ENOUGH FOR A TIP. EMBARRASSED, HE OFFERS THE WAITRESS A CHOICE. HE PROMISES TO RETURN THE NEXT DAY WITH DOUBLE THE USUAL TIP. OR, TAKING A LOTTERY TICKET OUT OF HIS WALLET AND HOLDING IT UP, HE PROMISES TO SPLIT THE WINNINGS, IF ANY, HE HAD JUST JUST PURCHASED FOR THAT EVENING'S DRAWING. NOW, YVONNE, DIDN'T NEED TO HEAR THAT. SHE HAS HAD A BAD ENOUGH DAY WITHOUT LOSING A TIP. IN FACT HER LIFE WAS IN THE PITS. SHE HATES HER JOB AS A WAITRESS. HER RUN AWAY HUSBAND HAS RUN UP HER MASTER CARD BALANCE SO HIGH THAT JUST THAT AFTERNOON SHE HAD BEEN IN COURT TO DECLARE PERSONAL BANKRUPTCY. COULD THINGS GET WORSE? STILL SHE IS GOOD NATURED ABOUT IT. SHE SMILES HELPLESSLY AT HER BAD LUCK, FORFEITS CHARLIEYS PROMISE OF TOMORROW'S POCKET CHANGE. AND JOKINGLY TAKES CHARLIE UP ON HIS OFFER OF HALF THE LOTTERY TICKET'S POTENTIAL WINNINGS.
WELL, AS GOMER PYLE WOULD SAY, SURPRISE, SURPRISE! MAZEL TOV. THE TICKET BEATS INCREDIBLE ODDS, AND WINS 4 MILLION. CHARLEY COMES TO THE DINER THE NEXT MORNING TO GIVE YVONNE'S THE GOOD NEWS. HER TIP FOR SERVING A CUP OF COFFEE IS NOT TWO BITS, BUT TWO MILLION DOLLARS. WELL, YOU CAN IMAGINE YVONNE'S REACTION TO THIS GOOD NEWS. AT FIRST DISBELIEF. "NO. NO. WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME? IS THIS SOME SORT OF CRUEL JOKE? " NO IT COULDN'T HAPPEN."
THEN, AS CHARLEY INSISTS HE IS NOT JOKING, A TINY FLICKER OF HOPE REGISTERS DEEP INSIDE YVONNE. SHE DARED JUST FOR A MOMENT TO BELIEVE CHARLEY'S GOOD NEWS WAS TRUE.. "YES? YES? SHE ASKS WITH HER EYES WIDENING. " CAN IT REALLY BE TRUE?" BUT DISBELIEF WEDGES ITS WAY BACK INTO YVONE'S FACE. SHE HAD, AFTER ALL, ONLY YESTERDAY ACCEPTED HER FATE. BANKRUPTCY. 'NO! NO!' SHE SAYS, SHAKING HERSELF BACK INTO REALITY, GENUINELY HERS. SO ULTIMATELY, WE SPECTATORS KNOW HER JOY WILL DEMOLISH HER DOUBTS.
YVONNE'S GLIMMER OF BELIEF GREW STRONGER AS CHARLEY'S SMILE AND EXCITEMENT GRADUALLY THAWED HER SKEPTICISM. CHARELY'S GIFT GRIPS HER, SHE SUDDENLY FINDS HERSELF DANCING, SWIRLING THROUGH THE TABLES OF CUSTOMERS CONTEMPLATING HER NEW LIFE., A LIFE CHANGED FOREVER BY CHARLEY'S GIFT. THIS SECOND STORY COMES FROM, NOT FROM NEW YORK VIA HOLLYWOOD , BUT FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT. IT COMES FROM THE BOOK OF LUKE AND ITS OUR LECTIONARY TEXT ON THE THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER. THE SCENE IS NOT ENTIRELY UNLIKE THE LITTLE NEW YORK DINER. THERE ARE FISH ON THE GRILLL, AND SADNESS AND CONFUSION IN THE AIR. THE DISCIPLES OF THE SLAIN JESUS HAVE COME TOGETHER FOR A LITTLE REFRESHMENT. THEY HAVE ACCEPTED THEIR FATE. THEIR LEADER WAS DEAD.. THEIR HOPES THAT JESUS WOULD REDEEM ISRAEL WERE BANKRUPTED. FINI. HAD THEIR JESUS NOT SAID AS MUCH WHILE HANGING ON THE CROSS? " IT IS FINISHED." LIKE YVONNE, THEY HAD ACCEPTED THEIR MISABLE FATE. DARED THEY THINK THEIR RABBI COULD DEFEAT DEATH? WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF THAT HAPPENING? ONE IN 1O,OOO,OOO WOULD BE WONDERFUL ODDS. NO ONE EVER HAD. DEFEAT DEATH? THE CHANCES OF THIS WERE MORE LIKE ONE IN TEN BILLION, ONE IN TEN ZILLION, ONE IN A WHOLE ETERNITY. YET THERE HE WAS. JESUS IN THE MIDST. OR, WAS IT AN ILLUSION? WAS JESUS NOT IN THE MIDST, BUT INSTEAD ONLY IN THE MIST? LISTEN TO LUKE'S DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCIPLES' REACTION. "STARTLED AND TERRIFIED, THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE SEEING A GHOST." COULD IT BE JESUS IN THE MIDST? NO THE NEWS IS TOO STARTLING. CAN'T HAVE HAPPENED. JESUS TRIES TO ASSURE HIS FRIENDS THAT WHAT THEY WERE SEEING IS REAL. THE IMPOSSIBLE HAS HAPPENED, " WHY ARE YOU FRIGHTENED, WHY DO YOU HAVE DOUBTS IN YOUR HEARTS?" JESUS IS SAYING, " IT COULD HAPPEN. NOT ONLY COULD IT HAPPEN, BUT IT HAS HAPPEN, AND IT HAS HAPPENED TO YOU"
HOW WERE THE DISCIPLES TO RECEIVE SUCH GLORIOUS NEWS? LIKE YVONNE, THEY SWAY BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN EXHILARATION AND THE HORRIBLE POSSIBILITY THAT SOMEONE IS PLAYING A CRUEL JOKE ON THEM. " IN THEIR JOY," SAYS LUKE, ' THEY WERE DISBELIEVING, AND STILL WONDERING." THERE WAS A REASON THIS TEXT WAS CHOSEN FOR THE THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER. CENTURIES AGO, AS THE TRADITIONS OF THE CHURCH WERE BEING FASHIONED, THIS SUNDAY BECAME KNOWN, IN THE LATIN, AS JUBILANTAE-JUBILANT SUNDAY.ITS A TIME FOR THE CHURCH TO CELEBRATE ALL OVER AGAIN THE JOYOUS NEWS OF EASTER. THIS IS EASTER REVISITED. IT'S AS IF, IN THE TRADITION OF THE CHURCH, THIS WOBBLING BETWEEN DISBELIEF AND JOY IS RE- ENACTED. LAST SUNDAY CHURCHES AROUND THE WORLD READ THE STORY OF DOUBTING THOMAS AND WE WERE REMINDED OF THE DIFFICULTY IN BELIEVING SUCH IMPOSSIBLE NEWS WE CAN IMAGINE THEM THINKING "HOW CAN THIS BE?
THE GOOD NEWS THAT THE AGONY IS JUST NOW SINKING IN. "IN JOY THE DISCIPLES DISBELIEVED AND LIKE YVONNE THE JUBILATION BEGAN AND THEY BEGAN TO DANCE, THINKING THEIR LIVES HAVE CHANGED FOREVER, AS JESUS LAY IN THE DARKNESS OF THE TOMB AND THE GLORY OF HIS RESURRECTION- ALL HAPPEN FOR YOU AND ME. THE GOOD NEWS IS JUST STARTING TO SINK IN. I SUPPOSE MOST WOULD SAY THE "CHURCH" IS THE LAST PLACE TO BE FOUND DISBELIEVING IN JOY.
BUT IN CHURCH? NO, THE HAPPENINGS OF CHURCH ARE TO ORDINARY, TOO EVERYDAY, TOO COMMON. AND THAT'S THE CURCH'S FAULT. THE CHURCH HAS ALLOWED ITSELF TO BECOME STODGY INSTEAD OF SCINTILLATING, CEREBRAL, RESPECTABLE INSTEAD RAMBUNCTIOUS. WE HAVE TRUDGED THE WELL-WORN PATH OF PREDICTABILITY. I'M NOT SAYING THE CHURCH SHOULD PUT CHEERLEADERS ON STAFF TO TEACH US TO DO THE WAVE. STILL, THE CHURCH IS ALIVE, AND WE MUST SHOW OURSELVES ALIVE CONVEYING A TRUTH SO GRAND THAT THE WORLD CAN ONLY WONDER AT THE LARGESS OF GOD'S GIFT--TO YOU.
IT COULD "HAPPEN TO YOU."
THIS PASSAGE IS PRECEDED IN LUKE 24 WITH THE WONDERFUL STORY OF THE DISCIPLES ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS. THIS TOUCHING STORY WAS TOLD AND REMEMBERED BY THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY BECAUSE THEY UNDERSTOOD IT AS A GREAT HELP IN APPROPRIATING EASTER TO THEMSELVES. THE QUESTION STANDING OUT IN THIS STORY IS NOT A THEOLOGICAL TREATISE ON "HOW DID GOD RAISE JESUS FROM THE DEAD, " OR "WHY DID GOD RAISE JESUS FROM THE DEAD." THE QUESTION EMERGING FROM THE EMMAUS STORY IS MUCH MORE
PERSONAL, HOW DOES EASTER GET INTO US? THE DIVINE PRESENCE, AMONG US. IN THIS STORY, THE RESURRECTION BECOMES AS PERSONAL AND INTIMATE AS A FAMILY SHARING A MEAL IN THE DINING ROOM. HOW DO WE MOVE FROM A FINITE HUMAN BEING OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST, A HEALER, WISDOM TEACHER, SPIRITUAL LEADER PROPHET--TO A DIVINE REALITY WHO IS ONE WITH GOD? WHEN WE ACCEPT GOD'S GREAT GIFT OF ETERNAL LIFE; THEY DISBELIEVE IN JOY. WE MIGHT ASK A QUESTION SIMILAR TO YVONNE'S. " GOD WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS? WE ARE SO UNWORTHY OF SUCH A GIFT."
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