A New Beginning (Part 3)
Scott Bayles, pastor
Blooming Grove Christian Church: 4/20/14
I just want to take a moment to thank everyone for choosing to spend Easter morning with us here at the Grove. Whether you’ve been coming to the Grove all your life, or this is your first time visiting, or you just haven’t been back since last Easter—we’re glad you’re here because Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and it’s a time of new beginnings and fresh starts.
What comes to your mind when you think of Easter? Do you have warm memories of going to church and signing rousing hymns of resurrection triumph? Or maybe decorating Easter eggs as a family and hunting for them early in the morning? Have you ever wondered what bunny rabbits and colored eggs have to do with the resurrection of Jesus, anyway? The short answer is—nothing. The longer answer is that rabbits and eggs were both symbols of springtime and new life in many ancient near-eastern cultures and along the way got jumbled together with other Easter traditions.
I love Easter eggs as much as the next guy, mostly because they come filled with candy. But, that’s not what Easter is really all about. The past couple of weeks we’ve gone back to the beginning of the Bible, to the book Genesis. In Genesis we learn that God made this perfect beautiful world and filled it with life. The first people he created experienced unbroken fellowship and intimacy with God. But then they let Satan’s lies lure them away from the God they loved. Their sin severed their relationship with God. But God didn’t give up on us. He makes a cryptic promise that one of Eve’s descendants would someday crush Satan and restore the intimacy that was lost in the garden.
That decedent was Jesus. He lived the perfect life that we could never live, and then died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. His friends took his body and buried it in a stone tomb. But the story didn’t end there. Because when they returned on the first Easter morning, they found the tomb empty. Jesus rose from the grave!
Because of Jesus, Easter is a time of new beginnings and fresh starts.
No one illustrates this better than a couple of disciples walking a lonely road from Jerusalem to Emmaus. Their story is told in Luke 24, where the Bible says: “That same day two of Jesus’ followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem. As they walked along they were talking about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them. But God kept them from recognizing him” (Luke 24:13-16 NLT).
Their story, as we’ll see, is a story of transformation—of renewed spirits and fresh starts. But it begins with broken hearts.
• BROKEN HEARTS
These disciples had committed their lives to following Jesus. They believed in Jesus. They put their faith in Him. All their hopes and their dreams rested in a man they believed was God in human flesh. But then He died. The ground beneath the Old Rugged Cross was tinged red with the blood of God. To say these guys were discouraged is an understatement—they were devastated, heartbroken.
When Jesus joins them on the road to Emmaus, he asks, “What are you discussing so intently as you walk along?” (Luke 24:17 NLT) And immediately, the Bible says, “They stopped short, sadness written across their faces” (Luke 24:17 NLT). As they tell this stranger all about Jesus—the miracles he did, and the death he suffered—they finally conclude, “We had hoped that He was the one…” (Luke 24:21 NIV).
Anytime you start talking about hope in the past tense, you know you’re in trouble. A soul without hope is like a body without food. Can you identify with these disciples? Do you know what it’s like to think of hope as a thing of the past? Do you walk a lonely road with sadness written across your face?
We have all kinds of hopes and dreams—the hope that we might meet that perfect man or woman and get married or the hope that the marriage we have might be rekindled. Some of us hope desperately to have a child, while others hope that their adult children might finally turn their lives around. We hope to get out of debt or escape our stress. We long to be healed of some disease or disability, or we hope break the cycle of addiction that keeps dragging us down. When those dreams go unfulfilled or our hopes are shattered, it’s discouraging, sometimes devastating.
There’s something I want to point to you. Even though they didn’t realize it yet, Jesus was walking that road with them, listening to their sorrows. No matter how discouraging or depressing life gets, no matter how hurt or heartbroken you are or how lonely you feel; Jesus won’t make you walk that road alone. You may not see him, but he’s there. He came alongside his followers and walked with them in their sorrow.
He’ll do the same for you.
As they walked with Jesus, talking to him and listening to him, their broken hearts were transformed into burning hearts.
• BURNING HEARTS
As they walked, the Bible says, “Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself…They said to each other, ‘Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?’” (Luke 24:27, 32 NLT).
Jesus reintroduced these disciples to the Old Testament. Perhaps Jesus started at Genesis 3:15 with the first promise of the Redeemer, and traced that promise through the Scriptures. He may have lingered at Genesis 22, which tells of Abraham placing his only son on the altar. Surely he touched on Passover, the Levitical sacrifices, the tabernacle ceremonies, the Day of Atonement, the bronze serpent in the wilderness, the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53. The key to understanding the Bible is seeing Jesus on every page! Jesus is the thread woven through all the Scriptures, the central theme that binds them together. Jesus didn’t just teach them the doctrines of the Bible, he explained to them from the Scriptures “the things concerning himself.”
Before they even realized who they were talking to, hearing Jesus explain the Scriptures set their hearts on fire, reignited their passion and hope. I think the Scriptures can still do the same for us. No matter what struggles you’re facing, you can open your Bible and Jesus will meet you there. He’ll minister to your heart through his Word.
Charles Stanley once told of a woman who received a lengthy letter from her fiancé who had just left for basic training. Her family and friends teased her because of her utmost care and frequent reading of the letter. She read it over and over. She even had it memorized after a while. No other piece of mail ever set her heart on fire the way this one did. What made this letter different from all her other mail?
She was in love with the author.
And the author was in love with her.
When we treat the Bible like a text book, it can lead to a big head. But when we see it as a love letter—by Jesus and about Jesus—it will lead to a burning heart. First Jesus opened the Scriptures, then he opened their eyes, and their burning hearts become buoyant hearts.
• BUOYANT HEARTS
When they finally arrived at Emmaus, Jesus acted as though he would go on alone, but the two disciples begged Jesus to stay with them for the night. They didn’t even know who this stranger was. All they knew was that their hearts were burning and they wanted this blessing to last.
So Jesus stays and as they sat down to eat, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. And in that instant, the Bible says, “Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared!” (Luke 24:31 NLT). He was there once moment, and the next he was gone. It reminds me of the little girl who tried to explain Easter to her younger brother. She said, “Easter celebrates Jesus coming out of the his tomb, but if he sees his shadow he goes back inside and we have six more weeks of winter.” Thank goodness Jesus didn’t go back into the tomb. And he never will. But it didn’t matter how quickly he vanished. What mattered was that they had seen Jesus. First they saw him in the Scriptures. Then they saw him face to face. And seeing Jesus made all the difference. Seeing Jesus transformed their broken hearts into buoyant, exuberant, joyful hearts.
The Bible says, “And within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem” (Luke 24:33 NLT). They were so full of hope and happiness that they couldn’t sit still. They raced the seven miles back to Jerusalem, and met back up with the other disciples to share what they experienced.
Meanwhile the other disciples in Jerusalem had a similar experience. Jesus appeared to them as well, and the Bible says, “The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord” (John 20:20 NIV). Seeing Jesus made all the difference. In that moment, they went from hopelessness and depression to joyful, thrilling, overflowing exuberance. Seeing Jesus filled their hearts with joy.
Conclusion:
These two disciples traveling the long road from Jerusalem to Emmaus, along with all of Jesus’ followers, experienced a fresh start that night. Their hearts were revived and they’re spirits renewed. The best part is that Easter promises to do the same for each of us. No matter where you are in life’s journey, Jesus wants to reveal himself to you and transform your life.
He may not appear to you physically like he did the disciples on the road to Emmaus, but he will show himself to you if you seek him. God created you so that you would look for him. The Bible says, “if you search for him with all your heart, you will find him” (Deuteronomy 4:29 GNT). You can see him in the pages of Scripture, you can see him in the bread and the wine, you can see him in lives of those who worship him with a radiant face, you can see him in the cross and in the empty tomb. When you see Jesus, it will make all the difference.
Invitation:
If you need a new beginning, it starts with a fresh encounter with Jesus. As we stand and sing this song, I want you to let these words be your prayer: open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus! Let’s sing together.
