Walking in the Land of the Living! Psalm 116:9
Our sermon title is Walking in the Land of the Living. It’s taken from the appointed psalm for this Sunday, Psalm 116:9, I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
Does anybody enjoy an old-fashioned horror movie, like Frankenstein, or other classics like Godzilla, King Kong, the Mummy, or Dracula, or the Bride of Dracula? Or maybe it was the Bride of Frankenstein. Either way I don’t think it would have been a happy marriage, at least not for the bride.
About 10 years ago, vampires were all the rage; TV shows and movies, like Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, and movies like the Twilight series; young, good vampires. That sounds like an oxymoron to me, good vampires.
After awhile vampires lost their appeal, and zombies became the rage; TV series like The Walking Dead. I’ve never seen it, but as I understand, it portrays the world as being invaded by Zombies, the walking dead.
Today we’re going to talk about walking alive, spiritually speaking, as opposed to walking dead.
In our reading from Acts, we hear that life comes with repentance. Peter told the people of Jerusalem that the man, Jesus of Nazareth, who just a few weeks before they had cried out to Pilate to crucify, was actually their Messiah, who rose from being killed.
Hearing that they were filled with regret; they asked Peter, “What do we do now?” Peter said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Verse 41 tells us that many did just that: So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
Just like that, they went from walking dead in their sin, to walking alive in Christ. That’s what the Holy Spirit can do for you through Baptism and God’s Word.
Our Epistle teaches us that we were saved from the futile ways of the world; in other words, saved from walking dead; as Ephesians says, we were dead in our trespasses and sins, but Christ redeemed us.
Verses 18 and 19a say, You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. Jesus gave his life to put us on the road of life.
Our Gospel today takes place on the road to Emmaus. It was late afternoon on Easter day.
By late afternoon on Easter Sunday, things are probably winding down for most of us, as we finish our time with our families, and people go back home. But as the two disciples were going back to Emmaus, things were just starting to wind up for them.
Along the way, Jesus joined them, but kept them from recognizing him. He wanted to give them a chance to share their thoughts unimpeded.
He asked them what they were talking about, and they told him what had happened to Jesus of Nazareth; and how they had hoped he would be the one to redeem God’s people, but he had been killed.
And to make matters even more confusing, they told him, some women had gone to the tomb that morning, and found it empty, and angels there instead.
Jesus then explained to them how the Scriptures teach that, in order to save the people, the Messiah first had to die, and then rise.
When they got to Emmaus they invited him, even pleaded with him, to stay the night where they were staying; probably partly to be hospitable, and partly to hear more from this fascinating stranger.
As they sat down to eat, Jesus took the bread and blessed it, just as he had done a few days before in the Upper Room, and then they recognized him.
But before they could say anything, he left them. All his appearances after his resurrection were brief like that.
He did that for two reasons: 1) So that they would have to depend on faith. He was gone and they would have to believe that he had really been there with them. 2) So that they would go back and tell the others, which they did.
When he left they said, “Did not our heart burn within us as he opened up the Scriptures to us.”
Their Sunday afternoon walk turned out to be the most invigorating walk of their lives.
A nice walk on a beautiful Sunday afternoon can be a pleasant and healthy thing; but their afternoon walk changed their lives forever. It put them on the road of life, the road that led them to life in heaven.
Which brings us back to our Psalm, I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
Walking with their Lord that afternoon, they started a walk that they would make as apostles, telling the world about Jesus. Having come to know Him, they now would make known. As we say, To know Christ and to make Him known.
That Sunday stroll with Jesus, if you will, that first walk with Christ probably happened for most of us when we were baptized. That’s when the Holy Spirit brought Him into our lives.
Others may have been introduced to Jesus later in life, maybe through the witness or sharing of the gospel by a friend.
We need to continue to take those walks with Jesus. We do that as we remember and reaffirm our Baptism.
Confirmation Sunday is a walk with Jesus, as we profess our faith in him before the congregation. Every time we share the gospel, we’re walking with him.
Sunday mornings, as we gather to worship Him, and hear his Word in the readings and in the liturgy, and in the sermon, and in Sunday School and Bible Study, is like a walk we take with our Lord; a walk we need in order not to stray of the road of life.
As we walk to the altar, and receive His body and blood at His table, it’s a walk of grace with our risen Lord.
Throughout the week, every time we pray, or listen to Christian music, or read his Word, it’s taking a walk with Him, and Him walking with us. It’s a walk of life that invigorates us. We need these walks with Him in order to walk alive, to stay spiritually alive in this world.
Which brings us back to our opening illustration: we can easily turn into spiritual zombies, the walking dead, spiritually speaking; that’s what our sinful nature can do to us. Our hearts can grow numb toward God, and His Word.
When numbness turns to nothingness; when faith is surrendered for worldliness, then, we become, spiritually speaking, the walking dead; the road we walk is no longer the road of life.
The road of the Gospel is the road of life; it leads to the land of the eternally alive in heaven.
The devil, and the world, and our own sinful flesh would trick us into thinking that the way to walk alive, is to keep your eyes and your heart down, focused on the earthly matters.
But by lifting your eyes to the cross, you see your Lord who overcame death, walking dead, walking in sin. He walked out of His tomb alive; and even though he has ascended into heaven, he walks with us here through His Word; to keep us walking alive, on the road that leads to eternal life.
May your heart always burn, not with a desire for sin and worldly living, but with a passion for Christ and his the ways of His Word.
May you always walk alive in His love, and always live in that peace, which passes understanding, and guards our hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus our living Lord. Amen.