INTRODUCTION
Good morning! Every year around Easter there is a major holiday in parts of Southeast Asia, called “Tomb Sweeping Day”. Tomb Sweeping Day was on Thursday last week. I was talking with our son, who is still living in Southeast Asia, and he was telling me what had happened that day. He and his wife were staying in the countryside over the holiday, and he said they woke up at 4:30am when the temple celebrations started… drums, horns, fireworks… The celebration started in the alleyway right next to their house, so it was really loud. Imagine being sound asleep at 4:30am and waking up to all this commotion right outside your door!
Now, I’m not going to share the details of what he saw with you this morning. It can be rather graphic and unsettling, even for those of us who have been around it before. But what I DO want to share about Tomb Sweeping Day is this…
During Thursday’s celebration, a handful of men were chosen to beat and torture themselves on behalf of the community… Around this same time of year, Christians remember how Jesus was beaten and tortured on behalf of all mankind.
Then they sacrificed some pigs in the middle of the street to appease their gods… We remember how Jesus offered Himself as the only perfect, acceptable sacrifice… that through His death, the price for our sins is paid in full… God’s wrath was poured out on Jesus as He hung on the cross.
And then they went out in family groups at sunrise to visit their family tombs… They bring items to care for the bodies of their deceased ancestors, and they clean out any debris and weeds…
Christians retell the story of how the women went to Jesus’ tomb early in the morning, bringing spices to care for His body…
Then the families will offer food, drinks, and prayers to their ancestors… The food and drink WE offer are the bread and the fruit of the vine that we share in communion in remembrance of Jesus’ body that was broken and His blood that was shed for us.
But unlike the family tombs that day, Jesus’ tomb was empty! Jesus is risen! Jesus is alive!
I’m not surprised that Satan has found a way to mock Resurrection Day. While we celebrate a risen Savior, there are still millions of people living in darkness… They continue to celebrate Tomb Sweeping Day following centuries of tradition… They don’t know that the tomb that really matters has been empty for all those centuries.
This morning, we’re going to look at two men who heard that Jesus’ tomb was empty, but they didn’t know how to process that information… They had placed all their hope in Jesus, but then their hope died when Jesus’ body was put in the tomb. And now there’s this wild story of the tomb being empty… and women talking with angels… and that Jesus is really alive. These two men don’t know what to think or what to believe anymore.
Let’s pick up the story starting in Luke chapter 24 verse 13… Please turn there in your Bibles with me… Luke 24:13-17…
13 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem.
14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.
16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.
17 And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?”
Let’s PRAY…
MESSAGE
So here we see two of Jesus’ disciples on the road… They are not part of Jesus’ inner circle of 12 disciples, but close enough that they were there listening as Mary and the other women told what happened at Jesus’ tomb. We don’t know why they took off for Emmaus later that day, but as these two disciples were walking, they were talking and trying to make sense of everything that has happened… And then, Jesus comes up to them and walks with them… But they don’t recognize Him.
When I read this part of the story, it made me think about my own walk with the Lord… My own Christian journey… There was a time when I was walking through a spiritual desert… I was a believer, and had been growing in my faith… but then it just seemed like God went quiet… I did not sense the peace and fellowship of the Lord’s presence for a period of several years… It seemed like my prayers were not even being heard.
Toward the end of that desert time, I remember going to visit someone who had visited our church… but I didn’t want to go. As we talked, I asked about her spiritual condition, but I didn’t really care… I was just going through the motions. After I shared the Gospel with her, I asked if she wanted to pray to ask Jesus to forgive her of her sins and to surrender her life to Him. She did, and after we prayed, I remember thinking, “I doubt if she really meant it.”
Then she and her husband started coming to church every week. They got involved in the youth ministry. One day, she told my daughter that her life was forever changed because I shared Jesus with her. At that moment… when I heard that… it was like God opened up the curtain… and I could see that Jesus had been walking with me all those years when I felt like I was alone.
There are going to be times when it’s hard to see Jesus… even when He is walking right beside us… Times when our hopes are shattered, and we are left struggling to figure out what’s going on. We pray and cry out, “Jesus, where are you?” And sometimes, we just get silence in return.
Does that mean that God has forgotten us, or that He doesn’t care about what we’re going through? Of course not! If you have surrendered your life to Jesus, then He has promised that He will never leave you nor forsake you! He is still walking with you… even if you’re not experiencing the peace and fellowship of His presence. I can’t tell you why God chooses to work in this way sometimes… but what I CAN tell you is that after 3 years of silence, the Lord walked through that time with me… and I emerged on the other side of it with a faith that had become stronger… and with a deeper love for the Lord and for His word.
I think we see something similar with these two disciples on the road to Emmaus… Let’s pick their story up again in verse 18…
18 Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?”
19 And He said to them, “What things?” So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,
20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.
21 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.
22 Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us.
23 When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive.
24 And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.”
25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
These men HOPED that Jesus was the Messiah, but they just weren’t sure what to think now… Even after hearing about the empty tomb, they were struggling to understand… so Jesus reminded them of what Scripture said… He probably talked about how Noah’s family was saved from the flood, about Abraham offering his only son Isaac on Mt. Moriah, about the true meaning of the Passover, about manna and the bread of life, about how every part of the tabernacle points to Him, about the prophecies of Isaiah, and Daniel, and Zechariah, and others… Jesus spoke to them of thousands of years of history and prophecy, and how it pointed to the events of that week in Jerusalem.
“O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!”
Are there times OUR hearts are slow to believe? Maybe you’re sitting here this morning and you’re not really sure if you truly believe all this Jesus stuff or not. I wish we had time to go through all the evidence that Jesus really is who He says He is… But what I do have time to tell you this morning is that even historians agree that Jesus is real. And we have eyewitness accounts captured over a period of 40 days after Jesus’ death that He truly was raised from the dead. And I can tell you from my own personal experiences and those of millions of people before me that Jesus is alive today… and He wants to have a relationship with you… He wants to walk with you and fellowship together with you! Let’s look at our next two verses… verses 28-29…
28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther.
29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
God has a message for all of us this morning… and I believe these 2 verses are the key to that message… This whole story hinges on these 2 simple verses… It’s so important, I’m going to read them one more time… People, don’t miss this… [READ vv28-29 again]
At first glance, you may be thinking, “I don’t see what the big deal is.” Let me try and explain it like this…
These two disciples are struggling and confused… They hear the truth of God’s word as it is proclaimed to them… and then they have a choice… Will they let Jesus walk on by, or will they invite Jesus to stay and fellowship with them? Will they decide that hearing ABOUT the Messiah is good enough… or do they truly desire to experience the PRESENCE of the Messiah?
Now, before you think I’m mainly talking to people who have not yet placed their faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior… I’m talking to all of us… myself included! Are you satisfied with just coming to church on Sunday morning? Have you decided that just hearing about Jesus once a week is good enough? Or do you truly desire to experience the presence of the Messiah and explore the length and width and depth and height of His love for us? (Ephesians 3:14-19)
Are you going to live life in your own strength… Like the disciples in Mark 6… Right after the story of the loaves and fishes, Jesus sends His disciples across the water… and then in Mark 6:48…
48 Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by.
They were struggling and straining, but getting nowhere in their own strength… Then I want you to notice something… what does the last part of that verse say? “He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by.”
How many times have we missed out on what God wants to do in our lives simply because we let the Lord walk on by? H.A. Ironside, who was a theologian and former pastor of Moody Church in Chicago, puts it like this…
“The Lord Jesus never presses Himself upon anybody; He always waits for an invitation. He will pass on if we allow Him to do so. If He is not invited to come in we will be left without the spiritual help that we might have experienced.”
The two disciples had a taste of what Jesus was offering as they walked on the road to Emmaus… They chose to invite Him in to stay with them… They didn’t want Him to just walk on by… Let’s see what happens after they invite Jesus to stay with them… Let’s continue reading from verse 30…
30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.
31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.
32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”
33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together,
34 saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”
35 And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.
People, hear me! Just imagine how empty their lives would have been if they let Jesus walk on by! Instead, they invite Him in to stay, and their eyes are opened… Their hearts burned within them… Their confusion is GONE! They are filled with amazement, and joy! So they immediately jump up and hike the 7 miles back to Jerusalem that night! They couldn’t wait to tell others that they had a personal encounter with Jesus… Now everything has changed! Jesus truly is the Son of God!
Had they not invited Him in, they would not have experienced the joy of fellowship with the Risen Savior! At the cross, Jesus was crucified and His blood was shed so that our sins can be forgiven. We can all experience forgiveness and be set free from sin and darkness when we place our faith in Jesus. But that’s not the end of the story!
Don’t you also desire the joy of being in close fellowship with the Risen Savior? This is the one thing that no other religion in the world can offer… and this is the one thing that the world hates the most… the fact that Jesus is alive… and that we can only have forgiveness and the hope of eternal life through Jesus… There is no other way.
The Apostle Paul records this prayer in Ephesians 1:18-20…
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
19 and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might
20 which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places
CONCLUSION
Christian Brothers and Sisters… Have you invited Jesus in to EVERY part of your life? Or are there still areas where you keep the door closed off to Him? Don’t let Him walk on by… Invite Him in… Don’t just surrender PIECES of your heart to Him… surrender yourself FULLY and COMPLETELY to Him… invite Him in to be Lord of every facet of your life!
And if you’re sitting here this morning and you’ve never asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins… Don’t let Jesus walk on by you this morning! Invite Him in to stay with you… If you do that, He will open the eyes of your heart, and you will experience joy and fellowship with the Risen Savior!
Let’s PRAY.
