A Walk To Remember

Easter 2015

“A Walk to Remember”

Luke 24:13-35

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I want to share something that will shock most of you in attendance this morning. I used to be a professional wrestler. [Show picture] It’s a fairly long story to tell you how that came about but suffice to to say that I spent nine years involved in this endeavor.

You might think that the most memorable things about my time in pro wrestling would be all the places I went and all the people I met. Those things are memorable. But the most vivid memory I have from that time period is the night I took a walk. It wasn’t a planned walk. It was an unpleasant surprise.

I had wrestled in a town in western Kentucky. In fact, I wrestled twice that night: once in a singles match and again during a battle royale. I felt fine when I left home and drove to the venue for that night. I felt fine all through the wrestling event. But as I started to leave the building, I could tell that something wasn’t quite right. My stomach began to ache and I began to get the chills.

I got in the car to make the trip back to the central part of the state and got on the Western KY Parkway going east. I was about 10 miles from the exit that would put me on the road to home. Anna and I lived about 18 miles north of the exit so I was a little over 20 minutes from home. That’s when things started to go really wrong.

The motor in the car started to sputter and it died. I rolled over to the median on this four lane highway. Now, not only am I not feeling well but my car has quit running. I had plenty of gas in the tank but all attempts to restart the vehicle were fruitless. I didn’t have a cell phone so my only option was to walk.

I was feeling really lousy now and would walk awhile and sit on the edge of the highway for a while. Walk some more and sit some more. There were times I felt so bad I had to lay down on the edge of the highway and the grass. Only a few vehicles passed by and no one wanted to stop and help. I just kept walking and resting.

After about 2 hours, one car pulled over to help. It was a KY State Trooper. He said someone had called and reported a dead body on the side of the road. I said, “Well, obviously they were wrong but I’m glad you stopped.” He gave me a ride to the exit which happened to be the town where my parents lived.

From a service station, I called my dad and he came and took me back to my parents’ house. I called Anna and then slept for a few hours. My dad and I went back for the car in the morning. We found out that the fuel line had a problem. The bottom line of this story is that it was one of the most unenjoyable walks I’ve ever taken.

We’re going to look at an account of a walk that started off being unenjoyable. Two people made a journey out of despair. But along the road, they experienced the most thrilling event of their entire lives. It was definitely a “walk to remember.”

Lk. 24:13-35 – 13 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 the only one visiting Jerusalem who does 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 they did not see Jesus.”