Sermon: Memory and the Christian Life
Scripture Text: Luke 24
Quotes for Reflection
N.T. Wright, Luke for Everyone
The real slave-master, keeping the human race in bondage, is death itself. Earthly tyrants borrow power from death to boost their rule; that’s why crucifixion was such a symbol of Roman authority. Victory over death robs the powers of their main threat. Sin, which means humans rebelling against God and so conspiring with death to deface God’s good creation, is likewise defeated. Jesus has led God’s new people out of slavery, and now invites them to accompany him on the new journey to the promised land. The road to Emmaus is just the beginning. Hearing Jesus’ voice in scripture, knowing him in the breaking of bread, is the way. Welcome to God’s new world.
Timothy Keller, Center Church
Most of our problems in life come from a lack of proper orientation to the gospel. Pathologies in the church and sinful patterns in our individual lives ultimately stem from a failure to think through the deep implications of the gospel and to grasp and believe the gospel through and through. Put positively, the gospel transforms our hearts and our thinking and changes our approaches to absolutely everything. When the gospel is expounded and applied in its fullness in any church, that church will look unique. People will find in it an attractive, electrifying balance of moral conviction and compassion.
Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary
At the Last Supper Jesus tells his disciples to eat in remembrance of him. Of all the things he could’ve chosen to be done “in remembrance” of him, Jesus chose a meal. He could have asked his followers to do something impressive or mystical—climb a mountain, fast for forty days, or have a trippy sweat lodge ceremony—but instead he picks the most ordinary of acts, eating, through which to be present to his people. He says that the bread is his body and the wine is his blood. He chooses the unremarkable and plain, average and abundant, bread and wine.
John Calvin, Institutes
Scripture is the school of the Holy Spirit, in which, as nothing useful and necessary is omitted, so nothing is taught which is not profitable to know. In it, we experience God as he accommodates himself to our capacity, so that we might know him in Christ.
Application Questions
1. Why is remembering the gospel so central to experiencing Christ’s presence and power in our lives?
2. In your own life, what are the ways you most often forget Christ in the routines of everyday life — and what helps you remember him?
3. How might Parish Communities this year help us remember Christ together so that we cultivate a deeper life in him?