The Road of Great Expectations
Luke 24: 13-35
Delivered: March 30, 2008.
Youth Sunday-First Baptist Lake City
What is it about life that makes it worth living? What is it about the promise of a new day after the heartache of a bad day? What is it about the wanting and passionate desire to move beyond the here and now into the future?
For many, it is our expectations, our greatest dreams and desires that help us to roll ourselves out of bed each morning, dress ourselves, brush our teeth, put on our shoes, head out the door, start the car, and drive off to our jobs, schools, or careers that have been waiting on us since we last pushed the time card the day before.
But our expectations can be good or bad. For many people, having to face a new day can be very depressing. They would rather stay in bed all day and not have to put up with conflict or face a bad day ahead.
For these people, it is still their expectations that get them out of bed in the morning, but the joy of a new day is nowhere to be found.
Of course, our expectations shouldn’t simply have to do with what we expect to get out of our jobs or out of school or whatever it is that we do. Our expectations need to move beyond this world and into what we expect God can do in our lives and in the lives of others.
For the follower of Christ, instead of using the word expectation, it is more appropriate to use the word “faith.” I like what our sign currently says down the road: “Faith is not knowing that God can, it’s knowing that God will.”
When we have faith in Christ, whether it’s faith that He is going to help us face the day, even the bad days, or faith that He is going to help us with our personal or family problems, or faith that He will strengthen and grow our Church, then we should have the great expectation that this isn’t a hope that just shoots in the dark, but it is certain that God is going to work things out.
The Scripture today is a very powerful story that most of us will be familiar with. It tells the story of 2 weary travelers that had many great expectations, which we will talk about, but all of these great expectations came crashing down one fateful day, and it seemed that evil had prevailed and all hope was lost.
Join me as we look at this story from the Gospel of Luke 24: 13-35
READ: Luke 24: 13-35
The Sunday after Easter can in many ways be the calm after a very pleasant storm of joy and worshipful emotions.
Easter Sunday is often planned for months. The choir practices for countless hours, beautiful decorations are placed in the sanctuary, and sermons will often lead for weeks up to the glorious resurrection Sunday.
The Church is usually a lot more full than the normal, because, let’s face it, Easter and Christmas are the 2 times a year in which many people think they pay their religious dues by showing up for the morning service.
So, sometimes, the Sunday after Easter may seem a little commonplace, a little “back to normal,” maybe even a little disappointing to some people.
That’s why this story from Scripture is so significant for a time like this.
This story also occurred when some people were not feeling too religious. In fact, they had lost all hope of a bright tomorrow, and the great expectations they had been happily carrying on their shoulders for the past few years was now a disappointing, heartbreaking memory of what might have been… so they thought.
In this story, Luke gives us a very vivid glimpse about what was going through the minds of some of Jesus’ disciples as they traveled on this road home.
This story, most often simply called, “The Road to Emmaus” really doesn’t need a lot of explanation. It is so clear and dramatic in its own description of what occurred that day, and yet, I will attempt to do it justice.
There is definitely some mystery that surrounds this story. If you go to the Holy Land of Israel today, you will find that no one knows exactly for sure where Emmaus was actually located. The Bible tells us that it was 7 miles from Jerusalem, and the word “Emmaus” actually means “hot baths.” But beyond this we don’t know exactly where Emmaus was located centuries ago.
What’s more, these 2 disciples traveling on this road are also somewhat of a mystery. Only one of them is named, Cleopas, and we have no idea what the other disciple’s name was. It is important to mention that these 2 disciples were not part of the originally 12 Disciples, although these 2 certainly were very familiar with Jesus and they had desired to follow Him.
But we join the 2 travelers at their lowest point in life. Their expectations, their hopes, their dreams, that which got them out of bed in the morning had been crushed before their very eyes. In a sense, their lives were over and they would never recover from the events they had witnessed just 3 days prior.
As the these 2 travelers are walking, they were undoubtedly discussing all that had taken place the past few days, and I am sure their heads were hung very low. As they were travelling along, all of a sudden a stranger joins them on their journey home.
Now we know this stranger was, in fact, Jesus, but we are told that somehow they were prevented from recognizing Him at that current moment. No doubt, God was going to teach them a very important lesson, and this temporary moment of not recognizing Jesus was part of this lesson.
Jesus comes to them and asks a very simple question—a question He already knew the answer to:
“What are these worlds that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?”
This is no different than you taking a walk through your neighborhood, or subdivision, or going to a park to exercise with a friend, when all of a sudden a friendly stranger approaches and asks, “What are you talking about?”
The response by Cleopas is very interesting. He says, “Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?”
Can’t you just see Cleopas later that night or few days later slapping his hand against his head thinking, “why did I say that?!”
Jesus response is comical and shows the humor and subtlety of God. It seems obvious that there is a ring of humor to Jesus’ voice when He answers Cleopas question with, “what things?”
The ironic thing is, Jesus was the ONLY ONE in Jerusalem who actually knew what had taken place in the past few days, yet Jesus longed to hear what these two disciples would have to say.
So they begin their story, talking about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people.
But immediately, their story takes a dark turn south, as they began to say how the chief priests and the rulers delivered Him to death and crucified Him.
When we read the Gospel accounts, we know the end from the beginning, and as a result, we miss just how devastated and utterly grief-stricken the followers of Christ were after Jesus had died on the cross.
If you close your eyes and can somehow put yourselves into the shoes of these disciples traveling on the road, I believe you would hear them take a very long, deep breath, and then say with a grand sense of disappointment: “We were hoping that it was He was going to redeem Israel.” We were hoping, we thought, we had the greatest expectations the world has ever known, but we were wrong.
Then they begin to tell Jesus the surprising claims that were being made by some women they knew. They said that they had gone to the tomb early in the morning, but they didn’t find His body. What’s more, some angels had apparently told them that Jesus wasn’t dead, He was alive.
But again, they didn’t quite seem to believe that this had actually happened. After all, no one had ever been resurrected before, and they had seen Jesus die on the cross. And anyone who died on a cross was believed to be cursed by God. They probably believed that Jesus’ body had just been stolen or that someone was trying to deceive them.
After all, the testimony of women was not that reliable; no one really gave women that much credibility in first century Israel, so they were probably just making it up. But as a side note, it was very interesting that God chose to reveal the greatest event in history to women first.
Then Jesus responds to all of their talk and their sorrow, and He was very pointed in what He said, “Foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory? Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.”
“Moses and with all the prophets” is an old way of describing all of the New Testament.
You see, these disciples and all of the other followers of Jesus failed to look at what the Scriptures actually had said about Jesus.
Those who had been following Jesus over the past few years were eagerly waiting the time in which Jesus would unsheathe a sword, grab a shield, and mount a massive rebellion against pagan and imperial Rome.
They were waiting for Jesus to charge into the palace of King Herod and overthrow his throne. They were waiting for the time in which Jesus would crush Pontius Pilate. They were waiting for the day that Jesus would lead a massive army upon the armies of Caesar and crush him and all of Rome.
They were waiting for a strong, military Messiah who would reestablish the earthly Kingdom of Israel, to restore the Jews to their rightful reign as shining lights of God’s triumphant victory.
To them, the idea of a Messiah who would suffer, who would be meek, winsome, and approachable was as foreign as a new world.
And so Jesus begins to relate the truth of the Old Testament to them, starting with Genesis, working His way into the Psalms, and then to the Prophets.
I don’t know exactly what He told them, but I would imagine He shared with the 2 travelers how sin in the Garden of Eden had separated mankind from God, and how in Genesis 3:15 God promised that the seed of the woman would crush the serpents head, referring to the cosmic struggle between good and evil that would result in Christ’s victory over Satan.
Perhaps he mentioned how through Abraham’s decedents, all people of the earth would be blessed, referring to the birth of Christ.
Maybe Jesus mentioned Psalm 22, which talked of the agony of the cross centuries before crucifixion was even invented, where it was foretold that Christ’s hands and feet would be pierced and that His garments would be divided among those surrounding Him.
Jesus may have pointed them to one of the most powerful prophecies of all from the prophet Isaiah, that reads so strikingly: Isaiah 53:4-6 (HCSB)
4 Yet He Himself bore our sicknesses, and He carried our pains; but we in turn regarded Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds.
6 We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished Him for the iniquity of us all.
Lastly, Jesus may have pointed them to Psalm 16, that victoriously spoke of how God would not allow Christ to remain in the grave or be abandoned in death, but that the grave could not hold Him, and He would rise again.
By this time the 3 travelers were in Emmaus and the 2 disciples stood in front of their home. Jesus was about to go on His way, but the 2 disciples urged Him to come in.
Not long after Jesus had entered the house, He takes on the position of host. And as Jesus begins to break the bread and give it to the sad and tired travelers, all of a sudden their eyes are opened, and they realize that this stranger who has been walking with them for miles from the city of Jerusalem is not a stranger, He’s the Savior. At this moment the lesson was learned and Jesus disappears from their sight.
Now I don’t know exactly what it was that made these disciples realize that the traveling stranger was Jesus, but I have thought about this and, although it is speculation, it seems reasonable.
I can’t help but wonder, as Jesus walked and talked with these worn out walkers that maybe He didn’t do a lot of talking with His hands. Maybe He kept His hands folded together or tucked away in His pockets (if He had pockets) as He explained to them the Scriptures on the way home.
But here, in the quite of their house, Jesus took the bread and handed it to His friends, and I believe, that possibly as they took the bread from His hands, they noticed the scars where the nails had been, and then they knew… it was Jesus. He had truly risen.
Then I am sure they looked at one another absolutely shocked and with unbridled joy in their eyes, and said, “were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures?”
They didn’t waste any time after they realized the stranger was Jesus. All of a sudden, these tired men had a new found energy, and they jumped from the table and headed back toward Jerusalem. It is very important to note that they didn’t stay locked away by themselves at the house, but they went to join with and fellowship with the rest of the Church.
When they arrived back in Jerusalem, they find the 11 Disciples and others, and Jesus appears to them again, as they continue to be amazed and come to the joyful realization that Jesus was alive.
This is one of my favorite stories from Scripture, because it takes a couple of very ordinary people doing very ordinary things and majestically shows how Jesus Christ changed their life.
These 2 disciples learned some very important lessons that day.
1. They Learned to Not Merely Look at Life with a Human Viewpoint:
a. As Cleopas and the other disciple were talking to Jesus, they mentioned God briefly but then went on to talk about how the chief priests and rulers had Jesus crucified.
b. They quickly turned away from God’s plan and looked at what happened with merely a human perspective.
c. The truth of the matter is, everything that happens in this world has been predestined by God to happen.
i. No, this doesn’t mean that God causes bad things to happen or causes evil to happen, it simply means that God is in complete control and nothing takes Him by surprise.
ii. Pontius Pilate, Caiaphas, the 2 thieves on the cross, all of these people are names that history is very familiar with, but we would have never heard of them had it not been for their relation to the story of Christ.
iii. Pilate thought he had so much power, but little did he realize that God was moving him like a chess piece.
iv. Caiaphas may have thought he was in complete control, but God had numbered every move he was making.
v. When things go wrong in your life. When your job doesn’t work out, when people give you problems, when school isn’t going that great, just remember, God hasn’t given up on you, and if you love the Lord, He is working it to your good.
2. They Learned that God Can Take the Worst and Bring about the Best:
a. Cleopas and the other disciple 3 days earlier had witnessed the greatest tragedy the world has ever known.
b. A perfectly righteous man, who had never done anything wrong, was crucified at the hands of wicked and evil men.
c. Yet, when mankind was at our worst, God was at His best, and on that darkest of days, He was taking the worst act in history to bring about His great redemption plan.
d. God would use the death of Jesus Christ on the cross to reunite us with Him. Because of what Christ had now done on the cross, all people could have the hope and promise and expectation of eternal life.
i. And I know it is very hard for us to understand why faithful, upstanding people can contract cancer or some other horrible disease, while loose living, wicked people seem to live happy and carefree lives.
ii. I know it’s hard to understand some of the bad things that happen in our world.
iii. Yet, God can take the worst and turn it into the greatest, just like He did with the cross.
1. And if God can take the most tragic event in history and turn it into the grandest gift of all time, just imagine what He can do with your life and mine.
3. They Would See that God Would Exceed Their Greatest Expectations:
a. When the 2 disciples joined with the rest of the Church, they joined them with a sense of joy which they had never had before.
b. Their leader, the Lord, was raised from the dead. But even though they had witnessed the greatest miracle of God, the results of all that Christ had done would be seen in powerful ways for the rest of their lives.
i. They would begin to see how God loved all people and how He wanted everyone to have a relationship with Him.
ii. They would see thousands upon thousands of people come to faith in Christ and be baptized.
iii. They would see a ruthless persecutor named Paul, who once victimized the Church, bend his knees to the risen Lord.
iv. We could go on and on, but in short, their greatest expectations were far exceeded by what God actually did.
1. I pray that each of us has high expectations for what God will do in our life.
2. I pray that each of us has high expectations for what God will do with our Church.
In closing, this powerful story about “The Road to Emmaus” is in many ways a Metaphor for life. Because, we are on a road of our own, a journey of life, a journey in which God longs to use us to far exceed the greatest expectations we have of ourselves.
And on this road we call life; we will encounter many disappointments and setbacks. Like the 2 disciples, we will many times find our heads hanging low, as the struggles of the world weigh heavy on our backs—as disappointments and heartaches cause us to lose joy and hope.
But just when we think all is lost, for the Follower of Christ, we find that another has joined on our journey. And this person is not a stranger, but He is Jesus and walks along the road of life with us.
Then we find that He has reached out to hold our hand and, as we walk a little further, much like the single set of footprints in the sand, we realize that Jesus has been carrying us the entire time.
But the most special thing of all is this: Just like the weary travelers on the road to Emmaus, Jesus is walking us home.
