Finding Hope That Lasts | Trinity Sermons

Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity

Sermons. This week we are continuing our teaching

series called What Remains. 1 Corinthians 13

.13 says, And these three things remain, faith,

hope, and love. Last week we looked at faith,

next week we're looking at love, but today we're

talking all about hope. And hope is really important,

but it's also really hard to find in some of

the challenging moments of our life. Which is

why today, Sandra Seaborn is going to be talking

to us about how we find hope. Today's reading

is from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 24, verses

Luke 24:13–35

13 to 35. Now that same day, two of them were

going to a village called Emmaus, about seven

miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with

each other about everything that had happened.

As they talked and discussed these things with

each other, Jesus himself came up and walked

along with them, but they were kept from recognizing

him. He asked them, What are you discussing together

as you walk along? They stood still, their faces

downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him,

Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does

not know the things that have happened here in

these days? What things, he asked. About Jesus

of Nazareth, they replied. He was a prophet,

powerful in word and deed before God and all

the people. The chief priests and our rulers

handed him over to be sentenced to death, and

they crucified him. But we had hoped that he

was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And

what is more, it is the third day since all this

took place. In addition, some of our women amazed

us. They went to the tomb early this morning

but didn't find his body. They came and told

us that they had seen a vision of angels who

said he was alive. Then some of our companions

went to the tomb and found it just as the women

had said, but they did not see Jesus. He said

to them, How foolish you are and how slow to

believe all that the prophets have spoken. Did

not the Messiah have to suffer these things and

then enter his glory? And beginning with Moses

and all the prophets, he explained to them what

was said in the scriptures concerning himself.

As they approached the village to which they

were going, Jesus continued on as if he was going

farther. But they urged him strongly, Stay with

us, for it is nearly evening, and the day is

almost over. So he went in to stay with them.

When he was at the table with them, he took bread,

gave thanks, broke it, and began to give it to

them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized

him, and he disappeared from their sight. They

asked each other, Were not our hearts burning

within us while he talked with us on the road

and opened the scriptures to us? They got up

and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they

found the eleven and those with them assembled

together and saying, It is true, the Lord has

risen and has appeared to Simon. Then the two

told what had happened on the way and how Jesus

was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

This is the word of the Lord. Good morning. Well,

I wonder if you have been on any walks this summer.

With the recent weather, I have found it a nice

time to be outside. Perhaps you have a dog. Any

dog lovers in here? Yeah, got a few dog lovers.

So if you have a dog, you probably walk in your

neighborhood every day, maybe several times a

day. But your speed is based on the dog, right?

Like it could be really fast chasing the squirrel

or really slow. when they just want to smell

everything. So that's one kind of walk. Maybe,

maybe this summer you've been able to go on a

walk in an area that's forested. This area has

so many beautiful trails. Maybe you've been able

to be on one of them in the midst of trees, rustling

leaves, maybe the occasional bird song, or maybe

water, right? Aren't we blessed in this province

with so many lakes? including Lake Ontario. We

have beaches and soft sand. Your feet can sink

in. We've got that driftwood and logs. Either

way, walking by water is a gift as well. Well,

in today's sermon and today's scripture, we are

meeting people who are walking. They were traveling

by foot, and they weren't traveling because they

had to with their dog or for exercise or just

the beauty of a lake. They were traveling about

11 kilometers, which is about two and a half

hours at walking pace, and they were likely traveling

to go home. And those two people, when they were

walking and talking together, they were trying

to sort out what had happened in the city of

Jerusalem. They were trying to understand and

process grief and deal with shock and grapple

with this new reality. They were in a moment

that felt terrible. They were in the moment at

the beginning of that walk where they had not

yet experienced hope. That moment where it describes

them feeling despondent and walking. reminds

me of the many walks that we took as a family

in COVID. Remember way back then? That's when

you walked because that was one of the few things

that you could do when everything else was shut

down. We walked at that time and we tried to

process the news, the things happening in the

world, and it was a bad time. There was grief

and there was shock and there was a new reality.

And so we walked. and we talked with whoever

was in our bubble. And I remember hoping that

the shutdown was going to be short and that it

would all go back to normal somehow. We'd find

a cause or figure out a solution. We'd hug those

loved ones. But the world had changed, and we

did a lot of walking and talking. And so, friends,

this story of two people walking and talking

to me, feels as current as the latest news feed.

Because we live in a world where the world seems

to continually be shifting. But as we look at

the story this morning, we're looking at it reflecting

on how does hope remain when we find ourselves

in these difficult moments. Maybe, maybe you've

been hoping in the last couple of weeks that

our country's leader would find some way to land

this trade agreement, or maybe you're really

happy he didn't. I mean, we've got people on

all sides here. Maybe you're hoping that our

neighboring country's leader would continue on

this strange imperialist trajectory. Maybe you're

hoping that a loved one would experience healing

and not suffering. Maybe you are hoping your

friends or colleagues would change their mind

or reconsider an opinion. All of those hopes

were with those people walking as well on the

road to Emmaus. They were walking with leaders

who had disappointed them, people who were their

people who took on some strange, unfounded, and

potentially dangerous opinions that those women's

opinions that morning were dangerous and felt

at that time to the people walking on the road

unfounded. And surely they knew people who were

sick. And these moments, they can shake us. They

can shake us. But we're here this morning to

reflect on hope and hope remaining. And the events

that we re -witnessed in that beautiful reading

from Rita this morning remind us that hope is

possible. does remain when we live into more

than this moment. When we live into more than

this moment. See, when it was all too much, Cleopas

and their companion, and some commentators actually

believe that's his wife, they were a couple as

they were taking this walk home, they walked

full of grief and they wrestled. That's kind

of the impression you get when you sort of dig

into the words. It's not like the other Bible

story of Jacob, right, where there's a physical

wrestling with an angel. But the way this is

described, they are intellectually wrestling

with their understanding of how the world should

and would be because their expectations had been

shattered. They had a God who had promised certain

things in the holy writings and their experience

of Jesus and these promises were not matching

up. Jesus was dead and it did not make sense.

So to emphasize this thought wrestling, this

biblical author in telling this story uses actually

not so common words that you sort of get lost

in the English translation. It looks like they're

just kind of talking, like kind of casual talking,

but the words for talking and discussing there

are not so common, and they have weight. So the

word for talking that's repeated in 14 and 15.

That portrays an earnest personal exchange of

words that occur over time when people walk together,

linger over a meal, or seek counsel. It's always

conversational, but it's about a sustained discourse,

shaping hearts and minds through shared reflection

on the works of God. That's the kind of talking

they were doing. And so it's not this kind of

everyday quick exchange, you know. It's the heart

-to -heart talks, the kind that can be particularly

elusive for us in our notification -driven culture,

the like, what's on the next thing on my calendar

kind of culture, where it's like, okay, I got

two minutes. What did you want to tell me? That

is not the kind of talking here. And then when

it repeats it, it says they're talking, talking,

and discussing. That discussing or reasoning,

it's like a verbal interaction that... Sometimes

it's courteous questioning, but sometimes reflects

vigorous debate. So every time the New Testament

occurrence of that word, it's linked with a moment

when truth, truth is being weighed, contested,

and clarified. In other words, what we have happening

here is people who've experienced a trauma, trying

to figure out what they don't understand, wondering

if they've misplaced their hope, and they are

not walking away from the problem. They are taking

the time and space they need to process it. They

were trying to see more than that moment. And

so that's the first... Learning from this text

this morning is that if we want to find hope

or remember what hope feels like, it takes time.

So I remember back in high school when I had

sort of recently decided to follow Jesus, and

I was super keen. And I was trying to read everything

and do everything right. So I went away to this

little retreat at a caper and re -youth center.

And I was like, okay. I went to the leader all

super keen. I was like, what do I need to do?

What do I need to do to become more like Jesus?

I must have sounded really earnest and hungry.

I just wanted more. And I received at the time

what I thought was the most unsatisfying answer

ever on how to grow in my faith. I don't even

remember the leader's name, but I'm grateful

for them. they said, Sandra, it takes time. And

my 16, 17 -year -old brain was like, what is

that? What is that? But the person was right,

because time brings space and perspective and

relationship with the world, and it brings time

for relationship with God and understanding of

self, and hope takes time. I wanted to grow fast,

get to the end line. I wanted to be like, we

describe, you know, the sped up videos you can

find on YouTube now, like where you bake sourdough

and it's like finished in 90 seconds. Okay. That

just like, we are learning to do that because

our daughter bakes sourdough. So my husband's

taking this on. It does not take 90 seconds.

It takes like two days of feeding the starter,

watching the starter, checking, separating it.

Like I wanted it done in 90 seconds. But hope

is more like baking sourdough than the YouTube

video, right? Like it takes time. So friends,

by being here this morning or by watching today,

you are already starting that process of making

and taking time. But I wonder when else in your

week does space happen for that kind of talking

and discussing about the things of Jesus? in

an undistracted way? Do you have people like

Cleopas that you could talk to in those sort

of deep ways in your life to talk about those

innermost questions and fears and process whatever

the events are that are in your own life? Whether

it's five minutes over bath time or a cup of

coffee or extended silence that is found when

you live on your own. We need to find space and

make time if we want hope to be in our lives.

Now, back in high school, I learned a different

truth than just time. And it's a truth that continues

to challenge me because of my personality and

the way I was raised. And that is, see, I'm a

doer, a fairly driven person. I am driven to

learn and change myself and the world even before

I knew Jesus or conscious knowledge of Jesus.

I'll give you an example to quantify this. When

I looked at my old school pictures, there I am

in a brown suede dress in my grade two school

picture, and I have an anti -nukes button. I

must have been a handful to race. How did my

mother let me have that in the school picture?

I do not know. But one of the dangers I fall

into is that I think that I can affect my own

spiritual change. Because I'm a doer, I want

to do, and I want to do it now. So don't get

me wrong, we do have agency in our faith formation.

That's why we are growing in our faith. Absolutely.

And there are wonderful resources. And that's,

you know, we talk about those in church all the

time. However, the beginning of our relationship

with God, the core of our relationship with Jesus

is not our action. It is gift. It is gift. So

let me take you back to this Bible story. I'm

now trained as a social worker and a pastor,

and I read this story. My professional training

kicks in, and my posture is to prioritize and

to validate all the feelings that are in that

story. The shock, the sadness, the anger. Talk

about all the feelings. Look, the scripture talks

about feelings. It's relevant. Find yourself

in the story. But that is not the author's focus

of this story. Luke acknowledges those emotions.

He puts them out there for us to see them. But

his central theme in this story on the road to

Emmaus is not about the feelings of the people

walking. Rather, Luke's recounting of the walk

to Emmaus directs our focus to the limits of

our human reason and the gift of revelation and

redemption. Verse 16 is what gives us the clue

here, because in the divine passive voice, what

did we hear? We heard they were kept from recognizing

Jesus. This man joins them on the road, they

don't recognize him. John Calvin, a Protestant

reformer from the 1500s, might have said this

passage is an example of how human senses are

entirely dependent on God's active power to perceive

truth. Or another way of putting it is that God

controls how and when revelation happens, and

that without God's help, we can't recognize Christ.

Others people would say God must lift the veil

for our eyes to see. Or as my systematic theology

professor liked to say back in seminary, God

is the first mover and we respond. Or in more

simple terms, gift. Gift. Cleopas and his companion

were trying. They were using the fullness of

their natural intellect to thought wrestle and

they came up short. It just did not make sense.

Because without divine intervention, a dead person

does not become undead. That's a truth we know

if you've been to church a long time, but this

was them trying to reconcile that, figure it

out, and receive that for the first time. They

could not recognize Jesus without the gift of

revelation. Now this is pretty heavy. So to lighten

the story, the writer actually throws in a little

humor. So you also don't catch that when you're

reading it. But when Jesus comes up to them,

thank you AI generated image, when Jesus comes

up to them, and Jesus is also known as the Logos

or the Word in our scripture readings, and he

first shows up with a couple on the road, his

question to them could colloquially be translated

like this. Hey, what words are you guys volleying

back and forth to each other? Like, in other

words, what words are you tossing back and forth

to each other? That is so ironic and we just

don't even see it. Oblivious that the word incarnate

was with them, they're like, who is this foreigner?

I don't recognize this person, this word. And

so their story spills out. The leader's betrayal,

the strange behaviors of some of their female

friends, the unmet expectations of Jesus, and

their angst centers on verse 21. We had hoped.

We had hoped Jesus was the one to redeem Israel.

Now, Jesus doesn't let them walk in disappointment

and disorientation and mis... Placed expectations

for too long. He takes the posture of a rabbi

and he teaches. And he reinterprets for them

the sacred writings. He pulls the threads and

reveals a different pattern in scriptures than

they had seen before. He reveals an image in

the tapestry of scripture that was always there

but had just never been visible to them. And

what is the pattern that he shows them? He shows

them the pattern of a suffering Messiah leading

to triumph over the power of sin. A suffering

Messiah. It's really too bad there wasn't a live

stream. Scripture is as close as we get to it.

But later, when the two describe the time of

teaching they had on that road, they talk about

it as their hearts burning within them, as if

the divine fire was lit from the inside and out.

So for hope to remain and bring us to this place

of being more than in this moment, it takes time,

it takes gift, and it takes connection. Arriving

in Emmaus, the pilgrims extend hospitality to

this stranger. They still don't know it's Jesus.

Having engaged in this conversation, they invite

him over for dinner. Now, custom would have dictated

making such an offer, but that meal was anything

but customary. After the pause for preparation

and washing up, the three sit down. But instead

of remaining as a guest, Jesus takes the role

of host. He picks up the bread. He offers a blessing.

He breaks the bread and shares it with his walking

companions. And the breaking bread was the moment

of revelation. Suddenly it all made sense. Recognition

dawned. The veil was lifted. Jesus, the gift

of redemption. now visible to them in the scriptures

that he has unpacked for them, visible to them

in the breaking of the bread, made known to them

in the breaking of the bread, disappears from

their sight. Their hope... being reoriented the

pair return at once to jerusalem retracing that

two and a half hour walk to share their experience

their newfound understanding with their friends

to connect with them and to connect them with

this news this hope now when we experience something

special as relational beings there's this natural

urge even for the introverted ones in us to share

it right But I know there's people in here who

are more or less comfortable in being such witnesses.

You might hold your hope pretty privately. And

I've never had to walk 10 kilometers to share

news of anything amazing with someone. I drove

here. I mean, I've called, I've texted, I've

posted, I've video chatted. But two and a half

hours walking? This... we hear today, this historic

retelling of events helps us to remember the

importance of connection in hope. Hope that is

rooted in more than this moment has a power to

speak to us when our everyday moments seem overwhelming.

So let me cycle back a moment to my comments

at the beginning about grief and loss. Jesus

stood with them because they literally stood

still. Then they started walking. But he stood

with them in that sadness. And he listens and

is present as they tell their story before the

revelation. And so there's a moment in this story

before that revelation where we see the beautiful

and ongoing incarnational presence. of jesus

and i want to sit with that just for a moment

and reflect on it using a bit of poetry from

the author and songwriter john mark mcmillan

and he writes this in his song called the road

the rocks and the weeds he writes this come down

from your mountain your high -rise apartment

and tell me of the god you know who bleeds And

what to tell my daughter when she asks so many

questions and I fail to fill her heaviness with

peace. When I've got no answers for hurt knees

or cancers. But a savior. Make sure this is on

the slide. There you go. But a savior who suffers

them with me. Singing goodbye Olympus. the heart

of my maker is spread out on the road, the rocks,

and the weeds. Isn't that a poetically lovely

way of expressing hope? That the heart of our

maker is spread out on the road, the rocks, and

the weeds for us. Friends, biblical hope does

not lead us in sadness and despair. Jesus is

present, and that presence brings a change in

perspective, it brings the peace of redemption,

and it brings the power of connection. And right

after the story of the road, When they say in

Jerusalem, the resurrected Jesus shows up a couple

more times, doesn't he? And in those times when

he shows up again, he offers peace. But you know

what? Those disciples who were wrestling on the

road, they come back to that same question that

was on the road. They're like, so are you going

to restore Israel now that you've conquered death?

Is that the next step of this plan? When does

this imperial oppression end? When do we get

free? In other words, their misplaced hope in

this Messiah warrior, it still plagued early

followers even after this moment on the road.

And I think even in our day and age, we find

ourselves with misplaced hopes. We don't necessarily

buy into the Messiah warrior motif, but we have

different biases and expectations based on our

current. culture, geopolitics, and your intersectionalities.

Maybe you have hope in Christian nationalism

or technological utopianism. We have our own

misplaced hopes that we still need to find redemption

from. That we still need to find new perspective

on. Because to really grapple, to really sink

into hope. It takes time. It takes time because

the culture around us is telling us so many other

things that really sitting with the forgiveness

of sins is the Messiah's redemptive calling.

That's something every generation has to learn

again. And we get that gift of revelation, and

we get every week the connection and the breaking

of the bread to keep hope alive. You know, I

think if we had not inherited 2 ,000 years of

the telling of these stories, of the creeds,

the generations of interpretation, we'd probably

be as confused as the disciples walking their

road. And if we look in our own hearts, there

may be moments in our own lives when we have

been those disciples walking on the road. But

thankfully, today we are here, here with the

own roads that are in front of us. And in this

moment, and in this moment, we remember that

there is always in Jesus more than this moment.

Thanks be to God. Amen. Thanks for tuning in

to this week's episode of Trinity Sermons. This

sermon was recorded at Trinity Church Streetsville

in Mississauga, Ontario on August 30, 2026.