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'Driven to Distraction'

John 20:11-18; Luke 24:28-35

The Christian Science Monitor carried the story of a woman in northern Greece who was traveling on an inter-city bus with her child. Apparently, she was so deep in conversation on her cell phone that when the driver of the bus reached her stop, the woman got off the bus, leaving her 4-month-old son behind. Fortunately, she quickly realized her mistake and hired a taxi to chase the bus back to its terminal, and the baby was still where she had left him 30 minutes before – on the bus’ back seat, crying, but otherwise OK.

You know, we look at this story and we say one of 2 things: 'Stupid woman - horrible mother,' or we say, 'What? It could happen to anyone.' Well, it’s easy to find the fault in someone else’s glaring mistakes, but we aren’t so keen on spotting our own mishaps. Yes, this woman was distracted from something that was very important, but we all face the temptation daily to turn our attention from what should matter the most to us.

Let’s look at the stories from John and Luke, both of which sound familiar to us and give us a picture of distracted people. Mary has been to the tomb already once that morning with the other women. They’ve returned to tell the disciples that the tomb is empty. Then two men who might have been angels say that Jesus is alive. So after collecting Peter and John, Mary Magdalene has returned to the tomb. Peter and John go into the tomb and leave, having noted it was empty. The other women haven’t trickled back yet, so it’s just Mary at the tomb. She goes into the tomb where two angels ask why she’s been crying. What she says betrays that she has trouble believing that Jesus is really alive. She thinks someone has stolen his body.

While she’s crying, Jesus appears outside the tomb. She turns around just enough to see Him in her peripheral vision, and through her tears assumes he’s the gardener. Now, Jesus speaks to her, but she doesn’t recognize His voice. Jesus asks why she’s crying, and Mary says this: 'Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.'

At that point Jesus speaks her name - Mary - and then she turns obviously all the way around and faces Him. Then she realizes that it is indeed Jesus, alive and very well, and all her disappointments and loss become joy and gain.

So there was a spiritual reason and a physical reason that Mary at first did not recognize Jesus. The spiritual reason was that Jesus hadn’t opened her eyes to see Him, and the physical reason is that she didn’t really turn to look at Him. She was lost in her own sorrows and heartache that she didn’t give her heart fully to seeing Jesus.

Now, the next story will also sound familiar. It’s the story of Jesus appearing to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and it’s found in Luke 24. Two disciples were walking along discussing the events of the previous days and Jesus appears with them along the road to the town of Emmaus, not far from Jerusalem. Luke mentions the name of one of these disciple: Cleopas. The other one doesn’t get a name.

Whoever it was, the two of them were discussing the current events on their Sunday afternoon stroll when Jesus started walking with them. Luke 24:16 says, 'they were kept from recognizing Him.' Again, Jesus’ true identity was hidden from the disciples, so they didn’t know to whom they were talking, but it’s more than that, too. Obviously they were very caught up in the things going on - Jesus’ death and missing body from just that morning. And what’s more, what do you think were their mental and emotional states? Verse 17 says, 'They stood still, their faces downcast.' At some point they stopped walking and just stood still, but maybe they didn’t even make facial contact with Jesus. Their words were dripping with sorrow, too. '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.' We HAD hoped - past tense.

The disciples were lost in hopelessness, and because of it they may not have even made eye contact with the stranger who had met them on the road to Emmaus. And of course, when a group of people are walking, there isn’t much eye contact made, anyway, because people are facing in front of them and their companions are to their side.

So there was a spiritual reason and a physical reason that these disciples at first did not recognize Jesus. The spiritual reason was that Jesus hadn’t opened their eyes to see Him, and the physical reason is that they didn’t really look at Him. They were lost in their own hopelessness that they didn’t give their hearts fully to seeing Jesus.

Do you see a pattern? Isn’t it astounding that people did not recognize the Risen Savior when he was speaking to them? So yes, He had to open their eyes, but it was more than that. They were distracted. They did not see Jesus partly because they were distracted by other things: emotional difficulties or busyness or sorrows.

Now, I can’t help but think that we are no better than Jesus’ first batch of disciples. After all, honestly, how well do we pay attention to Jesus? How easily are we distracted from seeing Him move in our lives, from hearing his voice as He gently guides us through life’s hurdles, from sensing His presence as we go perform our mundane activities each day? Distractions are all around us, and as human beings they present a real challenge for us to recognize Jesus as He tries to break into our hearts.

We come to church. We pay attention to song choices and sermon topics and noise from other people and who’s here and who’s not here and what we will eat when we get home or how we will entertain ourselves when we get home or responsibilities that await us when we are done and so on. Understand that there will always be 'stuff' that wants to distract us. Why do you think that sometimes the church is the hardest place to think about spiritual things? It’s not that your emotions or your responsibilities aren’t important - they are - but even worthwhile things can distract us from really seeking Jesus.

It isn’t just the internet or TV or radio or music or reading or computer games that distract us. They do, but we can turn those off. It’s the things we can’t escape that are the biggest distractions. It’s the busyness that seems so hard to get away from. You can’t just drop everything, can you? Well, no, but I bet you can chisel some time out of every day for something you enjoy, even if it’s just a few minutes at a time. Admit it. You find the time to do the things you love: that crossword puzzle, or that sport, or that hobby that brings you real enjoyment. That’s the thing we need to do right there with our spiritual life. Make the time to seek the Lord; don’t simply hope you’ll find it.

And as for the emotional issues, you can’t just turn them off either. So those are the things you need to pray about. 'Lord, you know how I really want to please you, but it’s so hard to concentrate. That’s why I’m going to pray about this thing that is hurting me so badly. That’s why I’m going to lift up this person in prayer, because they are really causing me stress.' That’s prayer. That’s taking your distractions before the Lord and praying for them. That’s seeking the Lord in spite of everything else going on around you.

Distractions are real and present real problems. Yes, it takes the Lord to open up our eyes to who He is and what He wants to do. But we can do something about the stuff that distracts us from seeing Him better. Busyness will steal our joy. Sorrow will steal our joy. Hopelessness will steal our joy. But we can press on and we can get glimpses of Jesus in our everyday lives.

Keep in mind what Christ has done to get our attention. He not only was crucified, dead, and buried on our behalf, but he rose from the dead! Take a good look at what happened that first Easter morning, and your perspective on everything else will change. No longer are the sorrows you feel when you’ve lost loved ones overwhelming, because Jesus has conquered death. No longer is life simply a rat race trying to keep your head above water when there is a downturn in the economy, because Christ gives us a life that is not only abundant but eternal. No longer do the hurts and rejections we experience in our daily lives define who we are, because in Christ we have are beloved children of God. Christmas may be the most fun Christian holiday, but Easter is the one that brings us everlasting joy.

So I encourage you today and every day to focus on the miracle that is Easter and the hope it brings to our lives. Jesus is risen! He is risen, indeed! Rejoice and be glad! Our Savior reigns and all is well with the world! Alleluia! Amen.

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