The road to Emmaus
Story: The legendary Malcolm Muggeridge was a British journalist, author , satirist and media personality
He was also a Marxist before he found Christ.
During the Cold War he travelled to Russia to write a story about the Communist party and the decline of religion in that atheistic regime.
After conducting a series of interviews with officials in the Kremlin, he attended a Russian Orthodox Easter service.
The church was packed.
At the close of the service the priest said, “Christ is risen”, and the people shouted back, “He is risen indeed!”
Muggeridge looked into their faces and instantly realized that they were right and that Stalin was wrong.
He said it was the reality of their joy that tipped the scales of his soul toward Christ.
The reality of Christian joy is compelling!
Story: According to an ancient Russian Orthodox tradition, the day before Easter was devoted to telling jokes.
Priests would join the people in telling their best jokes to one another. (presumably “clean” jokes!!)
The reason was to reflect the joke God pulled on the devil in the Resurrection.
Satan thought he won on Friday, but God had the last laugh on Easter Sunday.
Our sketch this morning (in place of the reading) was the well known and well loved story of the appearance of the risen Jesus to two disciples on the road to Emmaus
We know one of them was Cleopas – but who was the other
There are two suggestions
1. The other was Luke himself – how else would St Luke know the story in such detail – but speaking against that theory is the belief that Luke was a Gentile – in fact the only Gentile to write a book in the New Testament – and the two disciples were clealy Jews.
2. The other suggestion is that the other disciple as Cleopas’ wife. She is unnamed because of the position of women in first century Palestine. Women could not give evidence in a Jewish Court of Law.
An interesting conundrum – but actually not that important to the story .
As I have mentioned over the last two weeks , the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is central to our faith.
St Paul puts it like this:
“..if Christ has not been raised from the dead, your faith is futile” (I Cor. 15: 17)
Yet, have you ever been surprised how little space all four Gospel writers give the post Resurrection appearances of Jesus?.
St Matthew devotes one Chapter out of 28
St Mark devotes one Chapter out of 16
St. Luke devotes only one chapter out of 24 &
St. John devotes two Chapters out of 21.
St. Luke only records two post Resurrection appearances.
i) one of these was Jesus’ appearance to the two disciples on the Road to Emmaus (Lk 24:13-35) and
ii) the other (Lk 36-49) follows on.
Cleopas and his friend go directly back the seven miles from Emmaus to Jeruslaem and tell the other disciples what has happened.
As they are discussing what Cleopas and his friend had to say Jesus appeared in the room where they were meeting.
Now we know from St. Paul, that at least 514 men – not to count the women such as Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (as St. Matthew calls her) - saw the risen Lord (see 1 Cor. 15:3-8).
So the question I asked myself is this
" Why did Luke pick these two Resurrection appearances of Lk 24 as the only evidence of the Resurrection in his book
What was so special about these two appearances?
To answer that question, I will have to pose another and that is:
What was St. Luke’s aims when he wrote his Gospel?
As you all know, St. Luke was a consummate historian.
He wrote his two volume treatise (Luke-Acts) on the Christian faith with - I would suggest to you – at least two aims in mind.
1. His first aim is to give a reliable explanation of the origins of Christianity.
That is to say Luke sets out to tell the story of Jesus and its continuation in the life of the church.
2. His second aim, I believe is to show the relationship of Christianity to Judaism.
In other words, St. Luke sets out to show how Jesus was the fulfilment of the messianic prophecies of the Old Testament Scriptures.
And interestingly, both these post Resurrection stories in Luke fulfill these criteria.
1. Firstly we see a reliable explanation of the origins of Christianity
We read of the truth of the Resurrection and as Charlie Moule the famous New Testament scholar once wrote:
"the birth and rapid rise of the Christian Church ... remains an unsolved enigma for any historian who refuses to take seriously the only explanation offered by the church itself - the resurrection."
C.F.D. Moule, The Phenomenon of the New Testament).
The resurrected Jesus was seen by the two disciples – Cleopas and his friend, he was alos seen by the disciples
Luke is telling us: Jesus really bodily rose from the dead.
We read how, in the inn in Emmaus, when Jesus was at table with them,
He took bread gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them (Lk 24:30)
Does that remind you by association of anything?
The Holy Communion service of course
There is something very special about the Holy Communion service when Christ touches you
Story: Last week Mac Hall died and I was privileged to take him communion a number of times before he died.
And each time he took communion, a peace would come over him
No wonder St Paul tells us not to neglect taking communion regularly
2. Secondly we see the relationship of Jesus with the Old Testament Scriptures of Judaism
St Luke records in the Emmaus story how Jesus said to the two disciples:
25…. "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" 27And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
And, as an aside - by the Scriptures St. Luke meant the Old Testament as none of the New Testament books had been written by this stage).
Jesus was the fulfilment of what God promised centuries and even a millennium before - in the Old Testament.
What is interesting is the two disciples response to Jesus’ teaching
After Jesus had left them they said:
"Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"
Story: John Wesley, founder of the Methodist church was actaully an Anglican all his life.
He experienced something similar to the experience of the Emmaus Road Disciples when was 35 years old.
It happened on the evening of 24th May 1738.
Wesley, who by that time was an Anglican clergyman, had gone very unwillingly to a non-conformist meeting in London.
Here he heard William Holland reading Martin Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans.
Let me read to you what Wesley himself wrote about the transformation that occurred as he listened to Luther’s preface:
“About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation: and an assurance was given me, that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."— The Journal of John Wesley.
I’d like to leave you with a question this morning:
What do you feel when you read Scripture.
1.) Is it simply a “Christian chore” – aduty we have to perform or
2) Do you feel your heart strangely warmed or
3) Do you find your heart burning within you
If it has become more of a Chore than a delight, may I suggest you invite the Holy Spirit to make God’s word burn within you
