Today is the 9th week in our series ‘Witness,’ looking at the life of Jesus through the eyes of his followers… and what a great series it has been! We’ve looked at John the Baptist’s relationship with Jesus, at Mary, Jesus’ mother’s life with her son, and we’ve looked at a good number of the 12 disciple’s experiences with Jesus, to name a few of the people we’ve met in this series; and we’ve done all of this in the hope of gaining a deeper understanding of Jesus and his love for us. Last week, in Barry’s Easter sermon, he focused on Mary Magdaline’s time with Jesus… both her time with Jesus before his death and after his resurrection. If you didn’t get to hear that sermon, please do find the time because it became very clear to me, after hearing from Barry, why all four Gospel writers prominently included Mary Magdaline in their writings about Jesus. But today we are going to talk about 2 followers of Jesus who had a profound encounter with the risen Lord Jesus on the day of his resurrection, and yet this encounter with Jesus is only mentioned in one of the gospels… the Gospel of Luke. (I have some thoughts on why we only find this amazing story in Luke, but that’s for another day). Why don’t we turn to Luke 24 starting in verse 13 and we’ll get right to it! That’s Luke 24:13 where we will find the story of two followers of Jesus, one named and one completely anonymous, meeting the risen Jesus as they walked the 7 miles home to from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus on what would have been the first Easter Sunday afternoon. You can find it in our house Bibles.
Pray and welcome.
Luke 24:13… okay, before we start reading, I must tell you that this verse literally begins with one of my favorite Greek words… and it’s a word that isn’t captured by the way our NLT house Bibles start this verse. The word is and it means, ‘Behold!’ was a word that ancient writers used to say, ‘Listen up!’ or ‘Pay attention! What I’m about to tell you is very important!’ And boy, was Luke right to start this story with an ! 13 Behold, that same day two of Jesus’ followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem. These two followers of Jesus were walking home after the week-long Passover celebration, and you can bet that they’d expected a different outcome that week than what had happened! It’s no wonder that we next read, 14 As they walked along, they were talking about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them. 16 But God kept them from recognizing him. 17 He asked them, “What are you discussing so intently as you walk along?” Luke says they were talking about ‘everything that had happened.’ The literal Greek says, ‘all these things that had occurred’ and my feeling is that ‘all these things’ means everything we read about Jesus from the very beginning of Luke’s gospel up to this point: the whole of Jesus’ ministry as well as his unexpected, terrible death! I’m sure they were reassessing everything… trying to make sense of all that had happened during the time they’d spent following Jesus. Also, I love the way the original Greek puts Jesus appearing alongside of these two: ‘and Jesus, himself, drawing near, journeyed with them.’ Again, I love that… and this is just a personal aside, but I find this to be a great description of how my life with Jesus has been… and I’d bet it’s the same for some of you as well: Jesus, himself, drawing near, and journeying alongside us! I just had to tell you that! But, back to the story: Jesus asking the question, ‘What are you discussing so intently?’ didn’t mean he didn’t know what they were talking about or what had been going on the last few days in Jerusalem. I believe he simply wanted to hear these two travelers say in their own words what their thoughts were about ‘all these things that had happened.’ And their response to this question, starting in the last half of verse 17 makes perfect sense to me. They stopped short, sadness written across their faces. Then one of them, Cleopas, replied, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days.” “What things?” Jesus asked. “The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth,” they said. “He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago. Then some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report. They said his body was missing, and they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive! Some of our men ran out to see, and sure enough, his body was gone, just as the women had said.” First off, did you notice that Cleopas is named by Luke? There is a reason behind Luke naming him. Ancient writers would often name their eyewitness sources if those sources were still alive at the time the author wrote things down; they did this so you could look them up and ask them directly if what the writer had said was true. This is everywhere in the Gospels. Luke, by naming Cleopas, was telling the first readers, ‘If you aren’t sure about what I’ve said, you can go to Emmaus and talk directly to Cleopas. He’s still living there, and I’m very confident that he’ll tell you that what happened that day is exactly as I described it!’ What this also implies is that the other traveler had either died or left Emmaus between the time of this event and Luke writing his gospel… no need to name him if he can’t speak to the truth of what Luke reports. And of course, what was true of both men was they were sad! They’d had high hopes for Jesus… they’d believed he was The Messiah, for heaven’s sake! They’d assumed that he was going to bring salvation to Israel and usher in the Kingdom of God! And yet he’d been crucified of all things, and now unimaginable rumors were swirling around that he’d been seen alive! To be honest, what they told Jesus was the truth: Jesus was a mighty teacher and miracle worker… Jesus was loved by the people, but Jesus was also hated by the religious leaders, and these leaders had judged Jesus unfairly and then they had made sure that he was crucified… just three days ago! And it had only been a few hours since some women from their group of Jesus’ followers had, as the Greek says, ‘Astonished them’ with some amazing news: angels had told them that Jesus was alive! I can see why they stopped short and wondered where this fellow traveler had been these last few days! What were they talking about so intently? What else could they be talking about?
Then we read this in verse 25… Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?” Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. Now, verse 25 has been a confusing one for a lot of people. Here is my translation of what Luke wrote: ‘O foolish ones and slow in heart to believe all things which the prophets spoke.’ I have read many commentaries on this and almost to a scholar they struggle with Jesus responding, ‘O foolish ones.’ It’s like this newly risen Jesus has a mean streak… calling these sad, confused men, who’d believed he was The Messiah, ‘foolish ones!’ First, we must admit that Jesus had told his disciples many times that what had just happened to him was going to happen. The Gospel of Luke, alone, gives us 3 accounts of Jesus saying almost verbatim what these 2 men said had happened. Here is Jesus speaking long before his death, in Luke 9:22. “The Son of Man must suffer many terrible things,” he said. “He will be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.” I’d say he’d told them… though to be honest, we don’t know if these two were recent followers of Jesus and they hadn’t even been around when Jesus said these things; or they may very well have heard him tell them what was coming, but they didn’t understand what he meant. Truth is, none of the 12 disciples even understood what he’d said! But what we do know is that Jesus was certain that everything that had happened, all ‘these things,’ were prophesied a long time ago and people should have been able to figure out what was going to happen to God’s Messiah! Now, I might be going out on a limb here, but don’t think Jesus was necessarily speaking directly to these two disciples when he said, ‘O foolish ones.’ I think he was sadly referring broadly to everyone that was shocked by what had happen to him; Jesus’ point was that there was plenty in the Old Testament, from Moses all the way through to the prophets, that said what was coming for the Messiah. But everyone had their own assumptions about what would happen when the Messiah finally did show up, and those assumptions had nothing to do with the scriptures had said. ‘O foolish ones’ seems to me to be a sad, shaking-of-the- head on Jesus’ part... not a harsh critique of these two travelers… just a sad Jesus realizing that even his closest followers hadn’t understood his message. Plus, we get no indication whatsoever that these two men were offended in any way by what Jesus said… The only way that we even know that Jesus said, ‘O foolish ones,’ was that these 2 told us. And they didn’t add, ‘Can you believe he said that to us?’ Verse 27 says, Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. Can you imagine? Walking with Jesus as he tells you about everything in the Old Testament that spoke of him. My bet is that when Cleopas first told Luke about being given a tour of the scriptures by Jesus, Cleopas went on and on and on about that conversation; I’d also bet that Luke felt Cleopas had given him too much material to include in his gospel… Luke was probably thinking that we should just read the Old Testament for ourselves… but still, I wish we had at least some of what Jesus said that day… I’m sure it was something!
So, rather than giving us any of what Jesus had to say about Moses and the prophets, Luke goes right to the practical. Verse 28 says, ‘By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey. Jesus acted as if he were going on, 29 but they begged him, “Stay the night with us, since it is getting late.” So, he went home with them.’ Inviting a stranger you’d met along the road into your home for the night was expected Jewish hospitality… and these two had done more than just run into Jesus, they’d had a very meaningful conversation with Jesus and so it makes sense to me that when they arrived at their destination and the sun was beginning to set, and they knew that Jesus traveling on to wherever it was that he was going, he would have to travel in the darkness… and that would have been unwise for host of reasons. And so, they did what any conscientious, courteous Jew would have done: they strongly urged him to have a meal and shelter with them for the night. And now the story goes a bit mystical! Verse 30. As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. 31 Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared! They’d clearly seen him break bread and bless it before… and something about Jesus breaking bread and sharing it with them either opened their eyes to who he was, or it was the right moment for God to open their eyes… and they knew this was the risen Jesus! And then, as the Greek says, ‘And he became invisible to them.’ What exactly happened we don’t know. The word that is translated ‘disappeared’ or ‘vanished’ or ‘became invisible’ is and it almost always is used to say, ‘something became invisible.’ Now, if this means Jesus became invisible to them, but he was still there or if it means he not only vanished from their sight, but traveled someplace else, we don’t know. But what we do know is that Jesus was now different! Some things were the same: He could be physically seen; he was carrying on conversations; he was eating a meal! All regular stuff! But he could also hide his identity from others and even vanish into thin air… such was his new existence post-resurrection from the dead. And while I don’t fully understand it, it all sounds very cool to me!
And boy do I love what Luke gives us next! He doesn’t say, ‘And they looked around to see where he might have disappeared to…’ or ‘They slapped their foreheads and said, ‘Did that just happen?’ Luke doesn’t say anything like that. No, Luke says their first reaction was this. Verse 32-33. They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” 33 And within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem. I’m going to stop here. There is still a lot that happens in this story, and you can read all about it on your own some time. But for me there is something wonderful in their final statement! “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” Yes, they had seen the risen Jesus! And yes, they jumped up and quickly headed out into the darkness for a 7-mile long, dangerous, outlaw-infested journey back to Jerusalem, so they could tell the eleven disciples what had just happened! But that trip and their excited retelling of seeing Jesus isn’t what Luke wanted to become the focus of his story… not at all! No, what Luke wanted us to be left thinking about is how their hearts burned as Jesus explained the scriptures to them. I don’t want to get too deeply into this today, but what they are quoted as saying in the Greek is more like this: ‘Weren’t our hearts being burned as he spoke to us as he opened the scriptures to us?’ In that time, our hearts were thought to be the center of our reasoning…not our emotions like we tend to think. A burning heart meant something was really making sense… logically! Earlier, when they were walking alone on their journey home, in what can only be described as disappointment and despair, they’d been talking about everything that had happened… and they were confused and looking for something to make sense of things. And then Jesus came alongside of them and explained to them the whole of God’s grand story as it is found in the scriptures… and suddenly everything made sense. They now understood, as terrible as it sounds, why Jesus had to be arrested and crucified… and why he had to suffer and die for the sins of the world… it made perfect sense that they’d now met the risen, living savior… the scriptures had absolutely said all of this was going to happen… and now they couldn’t help but run those 7 dark miles back to Jerusalem to tell everyone, ‘We have seen Jesus!’
Since we don’t know specifically what scriptures Jesus explained to Cleopas and his friend as they walked to Emmaus, I can’t be certain about what I am about to say, but there is something I can’t stop thinking about. There is a prophecy in the book of Jeremiah chapter 31 that says this: “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the LORD. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the LORD.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the LORD. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.” Jeremiah 31:33-34. This is an amazing promise from the Lord… and it would take a long time to dig everything we can out of this prophecy from Jeremiah, but, at least in my mind, the story we have been talking about today was a clear example of God keeping this promise! These two, two of the least of Jesus’ disciples it would seem… one whose name isn’t even given to us, and the other, someone we never hear another thing about, didn’t need anyone to teach them about ‘all the things that had happened.’ Jesus had put his instructions deep within them… he’d written his word, he’d burned his word, in their hearts... and now everything made sense… and they couldn’t keep silent! And can I tell you that Jeremiah’s prophecy is still being fulfilled among us today… I know that there have been any number of times when I have been discouraged or even in despair, and I have simply been reading the scriptures or listening to someone as they opened the scriptures and something has jumped out and suddenly something that had been confusing or wasn’t clear, made sense… and the best way to describe those moments comes right out of today’s passage: my heart burns as the Lord makes the truth of his word clear to me. And to be really honest with you this morning, this is a huge reason I became a pastor… the reason I wanted to go to seminary and learn all that I could about the scriptures… because I couldn’t keep silent with all of the burning going on in my heart! And I know this can be true for everyone. In fact, I know this is the mission that God invites all of us into… Not that you have to become a pastor or a missionary or anything like that, but there is a whole world of people out there, the people in your life, that only you can reach… people in your family… people at your workplace… in your neighborhood… in your classroom… people who are discouraged or in despair; people who are confused and are trying to make any sense of their lives… and what they are longing for in their sense of emptiness, even if they don’t say it directly, is for someone like you to come alongside of them and walk with them… and tell them something that will burn in their hearts! I often hear people talk about us becoming the hands and feet of Jesus in the world… doing the things that we know that Jesus wants to see happening in his world. And this is exactly what this passage is about… the two on the road to Emmaus… and you and me… running out into a dark world and sharing the one message that will cause the hearts of the ones we love to burn… the message that Jesus, the one who loves us more that we can imagine, has risen from the dead and his new life has given us new life.