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April 6, 2008
C-Easter 3
Luke 24:13-35
Pastor Robert Raasch

Walk with Jesus on the Road to Emmaus

1. Jesus Brings Hope for the Disappointed
2. Jesus Brings Clarity for the Confused

(Luke 24:13-35)  Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. {14} They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. {15} As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; {16} but they were kept from recognizing him. {17} He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?" They stood still, their faces downcast. {18} One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?" {19} "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. {20} The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; {21} 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. {22} In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning {23} but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. {24} Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see." {25} He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! {26} Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" {27} And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. {28} As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. {29} But they urged him strongly, "Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over." So he went in to stay with them. {30} When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. {31} Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. {32} 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?" {33} They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together {34} and saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon." {35} Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

Does any one recognize this painting?  Maybe you have it hanging in your living room, or if you are like me, you have seen it hanging in the home of your in-laws.  It was painted by the Swiss artist Robert Zund.  And the name of this painting—does anybody know?  It’s called “The Road to Emmaus.”  That’s right, this is one artist’s rendering of the Bible story we have as our Scripture text for today.  This is Jesus traveling with two of his disciples on the road to Emmaus on the very first Easter Sunday afternoon.  Today we want to take a moment to put ourselves into this picture: to see what these disciples saw, to hear what they heard, to feel what they felt.  This morning/evening let’s take a little time to:

Walk with Jesus on the Road to Emmaus
As we do, I believe that we’ll discover two things:  We’ll see that:

I. Jesus Brings Hope for the Disappointed
II. Jesus Brings Clarity for the Confused
           
As I said, this whole encounter takes place on Easter Sunday afternoon.  Two of Jesus’ disciples—not necessarily two of the Twelve Apostles, but rather, two believers in Jesus—were heading away from the city of Jerusalem, and traveling toward the village of Emmaus, approximately 7 miles away.  As they travel, of course, the topic of conversation is all that has transpired in the past couple of days—Jesus’ trial, his crucifixion, and now the news that his tomb was found to be empty.  Apparently, they were so engrossed in conversation that they don’t immediately notice that a stranger has caught up to them and is now walking beside them.  Of course we know that this fellow traveling is Jesus, but as Luke puts it, “they were kept from recognizing him.”  Did Jesus somehow distort their vision so that they don’t realize who he was?  Maybe.  More likely, Jesus simply took on a different appearance when he was with them.  In fact, that’s what the gospel writer Mark seems to suggest when he says, “Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country” (Mark 16:12).  It is while Jesus is, in effect, incognito, that he asks these men, basically, “So what are you guys talking about?”  Jesus doesn’t ask this for his benefit, but rather for theirs.  He wants them to express out loud what’s going through their head and their heart.  And it doesn’t take long for it to all come pouring out.  After expressing their shock that this stranger had not heard about what had happened to Jesus of Nazareth, they go on to share what’s really bothering them with the simple words, “We had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.”
           
My friends, can’t you just hear the disappointment in their voices?  “We had so hoped (in other words, we were counting on him, we were praying) that he was the one (not an imposter, but the real McCoy), who was going to redeem Israel.”  Now, exactly what these men meant by “redeem Israel” is a little tough to know.  Were they looking for a spiritual savior to rescue them from the eternal consequences of their sin?  Maybe.  Were they maybe looking for a leader to rescue them from the Roman oppression and restore their nation to a position of power and glory again?  Probably.  In the mind of the Jewish Christians those two pictures kind of ran together.
           
The point is, now both pictures had gone dark.  When Jesus of Nazareth died, so did their dream.  Tell me, can you relate?  Have you ever had a dream—that was suddenly dashed to pieces?  Maybe you dreamed of being a professional ball player, and then were cut from the high school team.  Maybe you dreamed of being a doctor, but couldn’t make the grade.  Maybe you dreamed of having a beautiful wedding, and your fiancé ran off with someone else.  Maybe you dreamed of giving birth to your first child, when suddenly the doctor report that he can no longer find a heartbeat.  Maybe you looked forward to a healthy and pain-free retirement, but now you realize that’s not going to be the case.
           
Chances are, we’ve all had our hopes up about something, but in the end we were left feeling terribly disappointed.  The question is, how does Jesus provide hope for people like you and me and those men on the road to Emmaus?  Doesn’t he do it by ultimately taking care of our biggest source of disappointment, namely, our own sin?  I mean, just for a minute, think about the disappointment that Adam and Eve must have felt when they realized the mess that sin had made of their lives.  Suddenly the dream of living their whole lives with God in Paradise was shattered.  In its place there would be thorns and thistles, pains and heartaches, disease and decay.  Talk about disappointment!
           
And yet, to counter that kind of ultimate disappointment, what did God do?  He promised to send them a Savior, a God-Man who would keep all of God’s commands perfectly, who would offer his life as payment for their sins and then rise triumphant from the grave to prove that death is not the end, but rather, that life with God forever in Paradise is more than a dream; it’s a reality for God’s children through faith in Christ.  How does St. Peter put it in his first epistle? “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).  A living hope—that’s what you and I have, in the knowledge that Jesus is not dead, but alive, preparing a place in heaven for us and ruling all things for our eternal good.
           
That’s the hope that Jesus gave to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.  Unfortunately, these two men are still a little foggy on exactly how this all fits together.  Which bring us to the second thing that Jesus had to offer on the road to Emmaus:

II. Jesus Brings Clarity to the Confused
           
Certainly, that would be a word to describe these two disciples, wouldn’t it?  They were “confused.”  I mean, they had thought that Jesus was the prophet sent by God.  But then he was killed by their own Jewish rulers.  They had thought he was dead and buried.  But now three days later, there’s this report that Jesus’ body is missing from the tomb.  They’re going, “What is going on?  We don’t get it!”
           
So what does Jesus do?  How does he clarify their confusion? He goes back to God’s written word.  {25} (Jesus) said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! {26} Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" {27} And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”  Man, please don’t miss what Jesus does here.  Realize that Jesus could have just come right out and revealed himself to them as the resurrected Lord.  They would have said, “Wow, this is great!  Jesus is alive!  We have visible proof.”  But Jesus didn’t do that.  Instead, he hid his identity and pointed them back to the Scriptures.  He said, in effect, here’s where you’ll find the answers.  This is where you’ll make sense out of it all.  It’s all here, in the Book.
           
Why did he do that?  He did it not just for the benefit of those disciples.  He did it, more importantly, for you and me.  Jesus knew that wasn’t going to be able to visibly come walking up beside everyone who has ever questioned his resurrection.  He wasn’t going to be able to personally answer every question raised by one of his believers.  So what was Jesus training his disciples then and now to do?  He is training us to look to his Word.  This is the best tool we’ll ever have for the life long task of making sense out of life.
           
When we find ourselves saying, “I don’t get it.  Why is this happening in my life?  How do I deal with that?”  God provides his answers right here.  And of course, the more we study it, the more we see.  Lately, I’ve been reading some of Luther’s writings as a part of my personal devotions.  And I’m so often amazed at the connections he makes between various parts of Scripture.  He was writing about how sometimes Christians have to suffer, and then he draws on Ezekiel’s example of King Nebuchadnezzar being used as an instrument in God’s hand to carry out God’s purpose for his people.  And I’m thinking, “Wow!  I never saw that before.  That makes sense now.”
           
Maybe as you’ve spent time in God’s Word, you’ve had some of those same kind of “aha” moments.  When I was at the Seminary, we talked about the spiritual light bulbs going on over our heads.  I’m sure that there were some doctrine classes when, from God’s perspective, it must have looked like a room full of flash bulbs going off.  It’s like, “I get it!” And yet, spending time in Scripture is not just about learning new things.  It’s not just about straightening out our thinking.  It’s also about deepening our trust.  Or to put it another way, even more important than knowing what God’s Word says is believing what God’s Word says.  In fact, isn’t that what Jesus chided these disciples for?  He says, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken.”  Chances are, these disciples knew their Old Testament Scriptures.  They had probably heard the words of the Prophet Isaiah read many times, “For the transgression of my people he was stricken.  He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death…it was the Lords’ will to crush him and cause him to suffer…(yet) after the suffering of the soul, he will see the light of life” (Isa. 53).  Who were those words referring to except Jesus?  Yet the disciples still didn’t believe it—and they were confused and disappointed because of it.
           
My friends, isn’t the same thing often true for you and me as well?  Often we don’t believe what God says.  I don’t mean believe what he says we should do and not do.  I mean believe what he says that he’s done for us.  Believe it when he says he knows exactly what’s going through your head—and loves you anyway.  Believe it when he says that in Christ, you are a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come.  Believe it when he says that he has equipped you with the gifts necessary to be a productive member of his body, whether you’re serving at church, or at home, or out in the office or factory.  Believe it when he says that he came so that you may have life, and have it to the full!