While serving at Christ Lutheran, I have not had many opportunities to participate in any concrete, personal ministry serving those with intellectual disabilities or those on the autism spectrum. Yet, such experiences remain a deep part of who I am. They have shaped my vocation, my relationships and theology, even my personal relationship with God. People experiencing these issues have always been part of my life, and they have taught me a lot…even helped me experience Jesus…if not see him.
Long before I was born, my grandmother chose to keep my Aunt Therese at home after she was born with intellectual disabilities in the 1930s. Many relatives pressured my Nana to give her daughter up…to institutionalize her and move on with her own life. That was the way things were back then. Instead, my grandmother (with my grandfather’s support) ensured that my aunt learned how to read and write, manage household tasks, and was educated about Jesus and the importance of loving others. As a result, Aunt Therese was eventually able to find a job in a factory, serve on her congregation’s altar guild, and even drive. Later in life, she could live alone with the proper support in place. When I came along and still a child, I only saw my aunt as my aunt. There were no labels yet in my mind. She was just another person to love and care for me. And I loved her. I still love her although she died many years ago.
In high school, I was one of several students chosen to assist physical education teachers during the school day. One day, a coach came over to ask me if I would be willing to help a teen new to the school with intellectual disabilities. He was having a hard time adjusting, had loads of energy, and was prone to act out as a result. My job, if I accepted it, was to help accompany him…to model and teach sportsmanship and relationship…and try to get some of his energy out in a healthier way. I was maybe 15 years old, and I must confess I was intimidated. This was not my aunt. It was a new experience.
Yet, I said yes, and my relationship with that young man led me to a new kind of joy. I was eventually asked to help the Special Education Teacher at our high school on a regular basis, and I made more friends who just happened to have disabilities as a result. I also discovered that these students who were sometimes made fun of by others, discounted, ignored, or cast aside, could teach me more things than I ever taught them – especially about kindness and the acceptance of others. Those who were often called the least of these proved to have an inestimable value.
Once in college, I was on a vocational retreat exploring service in the Church. We were in the Appalachian region of Kentucky, and as part of the ten days, we stopped by to visit and help residents at an underserved nursing care facility. Brother Cal, the group leader, invited me to help feed a young woman who was restricted to a life reclining in a special wheelchair. She was physically, and intellectually, severely disabled. She was also almost blind, only able to see shadowy figures. I believe I’ve shared with some of you this experience, for my fear and reluctance turned to a profound joy with new understandings as she responded to my male voice, felt the contours of my face and stubble of my unshaven chin (in order to “see” me in some way), and giggled like a small child as she felt words and noises come from my mouth. I came to sense a kind of holy relationship form between us. Although brief, I still sense our connection as I speak of her or when I think of her. It created a kind of mystical and life-changing communion like that which we speak of in our prayers.
Later remembering these experiences and many others, I would come to support Special Olympics as a police officer after college. You likely know that police officers love to support Special Olympics. (It’s a thing.) Still later as a pastor, I therefore quickly volunteered to Go Over the Edge for Special Olympics Virginia, rappelling down the 26-story Sun Trust building in Richmond for donations. “Push your pastor over the edge” was my tagline, and apparently many people wanted to do just that! I raised over $6,000 that first year. And in following years, other pastors and Lutheran lay people (including Pastor Anne) were crazy enough to join me on that rooftop. In three outings, Lutherans in Virginia raised nearly $20,000 for Special Olympics. This went not only to high quality training and sporting events for those with intellectual disabilities but also to school programs, health and dental programs, along with family support. These are all the activities of Special Olympics.
This became one factor leading to my being invited to serve on the Board with Lutheran Family Services of Virginia, now called enCircle. The nonprofit began with adoption related care in the 1800s, but it now helps with foster children and adoption, geriatric issues, schools for at-risk youth, counseling services for individuals or family, some migrant and refugee assistance, and many other things. Their efforts, of course, include services helping those with intellectual disabilities and autism. They offer day centers, in home care and support, and options to live in community.
I served for nine years on that board, and eventually came to also serve with a L’Arche community in Richmond. L’Arche is an international Christian program that supports and promotes people with different levels of ability living together in community. At one worship service at Messiah Lutheran, my former congregation, a severely autistic young woman, a member of L’Arche, could not wait for the Lord’s Supper and ran up to the altar with great abandon and joy to stand next to me. In her hunger and excitement for Jesus, she taught me something holy that day. And as with everything else I mentioned, I learned a lot about myself, life, and Jesus.
In reflection, I recognize that I could feel my heart burning inside me. There was something…is something…sacred about all these relationships and experiences. In summary, I agree with the words of Father Henri Nouwen, famous for what he learned through his involvement with L’Arche communities:
Giving yourself to others is only possible when you have been fully received…only when you know yourself as unconditionally loved – that is fully received by God – can you give gratuitously. Giving without wanting anything in return is trusting that all of your needs will be provided by the one who loves you unconditionally. It is trusting that you do not need to protect your own security but can give yourself completely to the service of others…When you know yourself as fully loved, you will be grateful for what is given to you without clinging to it, and joyful for what you can give without bragging about it. You will be a free person….Free to love! (As quoted at Apprenticeship to Jesus.)
I do not share these experiences to brag, but hopefully to help point you a way down your own road…a way available to all of us…to help us encounter the Risen Christ. In life, too often, the stressors of our day, the fears over our tomorrows or potential want, and the sin that is at work in us and around us can blind us. We forget God’s promises, and we fail to see Christ’s presence…even though he is right before us!
Today, we heard of Cleopas and another unnamed disciple (possibly his wife, Mary, according to some early authorities) traveling to Emmaus after stories of Jesus’ resurrection had begun to spread. Think about what they had just experienced… profound grief and fear. They were likely still in shock over the death of their beloved Jesus…Now, they were to believe in his physical resurrection? It would be unthinkable for many of us. We would likely be overcome with perplexity and confusion just as they were. Again, fear remained like a specter before them as well.
Then unexpectedly, Jesus appears. He’s in a form where they do not recognize him at first. He’s just another traveler on the road as far as they are concerned…an uninformed one at that. So, they begin to share their dilemma. They speak of Jesus and all that was seen and heard. Jesus finally has had enough. How foolish they are! They seem not to remember all that Jesus and the scriptures before them have taught. “Then,” scripture says, “beginning with Moses and all the prophets, [Jesus] interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.” He unpacked the scriptures for them…held them up…so they might see how the scriptures touched their lives.
As they near the day’s end, they must have found some comfort or inspiration from their time with this supposed stranger. “Please do not go. Stay.” They perhaps hoped to help him, as he had helped them. This is the context in which their food is shared…a mutual, caring relationship. As Jesus blessed and broke the bread, only then do they see Jesus for whom he is. They ask in wonder, “Were not our hearts burning inside us?”
It is highly unlikely that Jesus will appear to us in a dream or a vision. (It is not impossible, but it is unlikely.) It is even more unlikely that we will see him in the flesh until our own resurrection. Yet, we are promised Jesus is here. Sure, scripture can help us catch a glimpse of Jesus. The sacraments rightly practiced and received in faith might give us a glimpse of Jesus sparking a fire in our hearts. These are both true, but they are not the totality of where we might see Jesus.
Let us recall Jesus’ parable about the judgement of the nations at the end of time for help. To those at the King’s right hand, he will say: “‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’” (See the complete parable at Matthew 25:31-46).
Indeed, in our faith and baptism, we become the vary body of Jesus as we serve. Yet, Jesus is reminding us that he is all around us in the world. He’s in all those who are suffering need. Jesus is even in the hearts of our enemies and those who don’t know him yet…trying to set a spark of recognition…wanting to warm their hearts. He can be spotted at the oddest times…when ordinary kindnesses are seen as the sacred things that they are meant to be…binding us together as one…helping us learn more about Jesus and the life he himself exemplified.
Today’s story tells us of a great miracle, but, oh, how foolish we remain and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared!…We are slow to believe what Jesus himself has taught us. Our life is meant to be sacred…a life where Jesus is not only made known but fully made present. We might only catch a glimpse, but he says he is there. Can you not perceive him? Have you ever slowed down enough to try. We can so often be like those travelers – seeing people for what they do or don’t do, or maybe as the world labels them, blinded by our own shortsightedness or our concerns for self. It is too easy to prove blind to Jesus who is always with us!
Yet, Jesus wills to not leave us in our blindness. He comes to us again and again in the need we find around us. In our ordinary life, we are called to a holy purpose that we might not ever fully recognize…or maybe we might never know and understand in this world…Still, there is something Jesus would have us do. If we want to glimpse…just glimpse…even a shadow of the Risen Christ in our lives, we have to look up and around us. We must walk the roads and byways aware and alert for those in need but also those marginalized and easily overlooked. For Jesus will be there.
Yet, we live in a world that often sees things otherwise. The autistic and intellectually disabled are sometimes said to not provide value. For too many, they are not seen as fully human. The homeless deserve what they get, some say, and those suffering mental weakness might be labeled as weak. The old are an inconvenience, a drag on finances. To have empathy and compassion is said to be against Christian values. (Some Christians say that!) These are all things I have seen, heard and read over the years…not just these last months. The day is over, and things are getting dark.
Who might Jesus be calling us to break bread with, so that he might be seen? It might be through serving others or in the sacraments. We might catch a glimpse of him in the forgiveness and kindness we offer others. It could be just non-anxiously accompanying someone through a life’s challenge, not having answers but being willing to listen and care as we walk with them.
These kinds of opportunities to see Jesus can happen when we least expect it…when we are so tired or stressed that we think that we cannot take anything else on…or present themselves at the most inconvenient of times. Yet Christ’s love is a fire, and his love burns in our hearts. When we feel it, we must pay attention to it…no matter how small a spark or even if it might lead toward our own sacrifices or death. For it is at just those times, we and others can be profoundly gripped by the wonder of Christ’s love. We will come to know that we are loved, and we will be better able to find a road forward loving others; leading us to a deeper communion with God; taking us to places where we will come to see Jesus face to face…together. Amen.
If you would like to listen to the above sermon or watch our service, the video can be found below. The Gospel text and sermon begins at about the 18:45 minute mark. The preaching text is Luke 24:13-35.
© 2025 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author. Scripture passages are from the NRSVue translation.
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