Lk 24:13-35 That same day two of Jesus’ followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles out of Jerusalem.
As they walked along they were talking about everything that had happened.
1) Walking away
a) That same day . . . what happened that day?
Lk 24:9-12 So they rushed back to tell his eleven disciples—and everyone else—what had happened. The women who went to the tomb were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and several others. They told the apostles what had happened,
b) When we are down, we stay away
c) Spiral. John Keats “disappointment is the parent of despair
d) That is just the time when we need to draw near to God
Suddenly, Jesus himself came along and joined them and began walking beside them.
But they didn’t know who he was, because they were kept from recognizing him.
“ You seem to be in a deep discussion about something, ” he said. “ What are you so concerned about? ” They stopped short, sadness written across their faces.
2) Dragged each other down
a) Soort soek soort
b) Positive people attract positive people and negative people attract negative people.
3) Jesus HIMSELF
a) He is here
b) We need to change the way we come to church
c) He came to his own but his own received him not
4) When we are negative, God shows up
5) They tell Jesus the facts (what planet are you from)
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 wonderful miracles. He was a mighty teacher, highly regarded by both God and all the people.
But our leading priests and other religious leaders arrested him and handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him.
We had thought he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. That 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, Jesus’ body was gone, just as the women had said.”
6) We get disappointed when God doesn’t fit our theology
a) We have it all worked out but then God doesn’t work according to our plans or our theology
b) Two paraplegics were in the news recently. One was Kenneth Wright, a high school football star and later, an avid wrestler, boxer, hunter, and skin diver. A broken neck sustained in a wrestling match in 1979 left him paralyzed from the chest down. He underwent therapy, and his doctors were hopeful that one day he would be able to walk with the help of braces and crutches. But, apparently, the former athlete could not reconcile himself to his physical disability. He prevailed upon two of his best friends to take him in his wheelchair to a wooded area, where they left him alone with a twelve-gauge shotgun. After they left, he held the shotgun to his abdomen and pulled the trigger. Kenneth Wright, twenty-four, committed suicide. The second paraplegic in the news was Jim McGowan. Thirty years ago, at the age of nineteen, Jim was stabbed and left paralyzed from the middle of his chest down. He is now confined to a wheelchair. But he made the news recently when he made a successful parachute jump, landing on his target in the middle of Lake Wallenpaupack in the Poconos. Newspeople learned a number of things about Jim. He lives alone, cooks his meals, washes his clothes, and cleans his house. He drives himself in his specially equipped automobile. He has written three books, and he did the photography for our country’s first book on the history of wheelchair sports. Two men with handicaps: one chose life and the other one didn’t. As Robert Frost wrote: "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and I took the one less traveled by--and that has made all the difference."
Then Jesus said to them, “ You are such foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures.
Wasn’t it clearly predicted by the prophets that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his time of glory? ”
Then Jesus quoted passages from the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining what all the Scriptures said about himself.
7) How does he help them?
a) Shows them all the prophets
b) Best way to get over disappointment is to get into the Bible
By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey. Jesus would have gone on,
but they begged him to stay the night with them, since it was getting late. So he went home with them.
As they sat down to eat, he took a small loaf of bread, asked God’s blessing on it, broke it, then gave it to them.
Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared!
They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts feel strangely warm as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?”
And within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem, where the eleven disciples and the other followers of Jesus were gathered.
They were on the right side of the resurrection but on the wrong side of a revelation
Eight-year-old Frank had looked forward for weeks to this particular Saturday because his father had promised to take him fishing if the weather was suitable. There hadn’t been any rain for weeks and as Saturday approached, Frank was confident of the fishing trip. But, wouldn’t you know it, when Saturday morning dawned, it was raining heavily and it appeared that it would continue all day.
Frank wandered around the house, peering out the windows and grumbling more than a little. "Seems like the Lord would know that it would have been better to have the rain yesterday than today," he complained to his father who was sitting by the fireplace, enjoying a good book. His father tried to explain to Frank how badly the rain was needed, how it would make the flowers grow and bring much needed moisture to the farmers’ crops. But Frank was adamant. "It just isn’t right," he said over and over.
Then, about three o’clock, the rain stopped. Still time for some fishing, and quickly the gear was loaded and they were off to the lake. Whether it was the rain or some other reason, the fish were biting hungrily and father and son returned with a full string of fine, big fish.
At supper, when some of the fish were ready, Frank’s mom asked him to say grace. Frank did--and concluded his prayer by saying, "And, Lord, if I sounded grumpy earlier today it was because I couldn’t see far enough ahead."
As he broke bread, they saw the scars
They returned within the hour even thought it was dark
They went back to where they were walking away from
Disappointment comes from having a hard heart
Disappointments that come not by our own fault, they are the trials or corrections of heaven; and it is our own fault if they prove not to our advantage.
William Penn
