Easter: "we Had Hoped..."

EASTER: “WE HAD HOPED…” --Luke 24:13-35

On a Sunday, about 2000 years ago, 2 disciples were walking down the road. It might have been 2 men, or a man and wife. They were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus, about 7 miles. It was a walk of despair, for their hopes and dreams were gone.

Read Luke 24:13-24.

Everything they were feeling was in that one statement: “We had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.”

WE HAD HOPED…

How many of us haven’t said something like that: We had hoped…

We had hoped the child would live, the marriage would survive, the loved one would be healed.

We had hoped the headaches would go away, the stress would fade, the load would be lifted.

We had hoped the business would do well, or the new boss would be better.

We had hoped the Easter bunny would have delivered a bigger nest egg for retirement.

We had hoped the world would find peace and prosperity for all, and worries would be gone.

We had hoped the kids would be more settled, and we could relax and enjoy life.

We had hoped that these years would be the good years, the years we dreamed about.

“We had hoped…,” they said, but their hope was dead. They had pinned their hopes on a prophet named Jesus, but he was dead—killed on Friday, by the most horrid method known to humanity.

And on this Sunday morning, they are going back to their dull, lifeless, too-routine lives.

But Jesus doesn’t want that to happen!—not to them, and not to us! Jesus wants to keep the door of hope open, so he joins them—there, on their journey of hopelessness.

JESUS OPENED THE CONVERSATION

(verse 17) “He asked them, ‘What are you discussing together as you walk along?’ They stood still, their faces downcast.”

Jesus already knew what they were discussing! But he wants in—he wants them to open up to him.

I wonder whether this morning, Jesus would say to us, “Let’s talk.” Let’s talk about the crisis that fills your thoughts, so you can hardly think about anything else. Let’s talk about the emotions you don’t even share with your wife. Let’s talk about the fear, the bitterness, the shame, the doubt.

When Jesus asked, “What are you discussing?...They stood still, with a sad look on their faces.”

They assumed that the man talking with them was uninformed about the crucifixion, so they told him what had happened. Jesus just let them talk:

“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?’ ‘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. 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. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.’”

Their answer revealed a lot about their expectations of Jesus, and about their faith in God. They knew Jesus as a man from Nazareth, a prophet, with amazing words and deeds. But they had hoped he was more than just a prophet. They had hoped he was the promised Messiah, the ruler who would redeem Israel. They may have been looking for a Messiah who would drive out the Roman oppressors, and rescue God’s chosen people from a life of poverty and struggle.

They thought Jesus might be the one who would redeem Israel. When he healed the sick, cast out the forces of evil, they believed in the God who saves. When he took on the pompous Pharisees, and taught the people with such wisdom and grace, they saw a true prophet. When he talked of the kingdom of God, they thought he must be planning to re-establish the throne of David.

But now he was dead—dead at the hands of the Romans, dead by the scheming of religious authorities. “We had hoped…”—but those hopes died with him.

“We had hoped…” We—you and I—had hoped that the world would be fixed by now…that science and technological progress would have overcome disease, poverty, and injustice. We had hoped that people would be better: our families, our heroes, our leaders, our friends. We had hoped that we would be better, even while we know our failings.

Jesus is listening, as we tell him our hopes and dreams.

After the 2 disciples shared their dashed hopes, Jesus shared the depths of God’s plan for salvation.

JESUS OPENED THE SCRIPTURES.

Read Luke 24:25-27.

I wonder what Jesus said to them about the Messiah.