This Week at UPC

Followers of the Way: Renowned Jesus scholar John Dominic Crossan made a profound statement about this week’s gospel reading. “Emmaus never happened,” Crossan wrote. “Emmaus always happens.” What we are invited to grapple with in that statement is the truth that the factual (historical) significance of the resurrection stories is secondary to a more profound truth: the risen Christ is with us. Now. Here. That is what the early church began to learn, and it is what enabled them to move on. Luke 24:13–35 The exact location of Emmaus is not known. Perhaps this uncertainty forms a commentary on the focus scripture. Emmaus may be anywhere. Hearts burning and eyes opening do not take place in only one place, either geographical or spiritual. Emmaus comes into sight wherever a path leads us toward communion with God and whenever we recognize the risen Christ among us. On the day of Jesus’ resurrection, two disciples walk along the road to Emmaus with Jesus, informing this “strange...

Yes! In 2016, major churches worldwide met to discuss a common date for Easter. Rather than it moving each year based on the cycles of the moon, they were proposing it always be the 2nd or 3rd Sunday of April. Does it matter? This moment—this awareness that Christ is risen—can come any time. Indeed, it must. This is what it is to be a Christian: to know somehow that Christ is risen. The “how” does not matter, nor the specific “when.” It is simply grasping the basic truth of this day: that God, not death, has the final word, and God’s word is a resounding “Yes!” John 20:1–18 The Easter account in John differs somewhat from Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Mary goes alone to the tomb in John. In the others, she goes with one or more other women. John says Peter and the beloved disciple go to the tomb after Mary’s witness. In the other gospels none of the male disciples venture into the tomb. Mary Magdalene plays an extraordinary role in John’s Easter story. She alone goes to the tomb and...