The Road to Emmaus
Luke 24:13-35
April 19, 2020
Well, last week we started with a little bit of a magic trick. Magic is fun, it creates an illusion that for some can drive us crazy as we try to determine how someone did it. I love learning about tricks and how they work. Today, I want to start out with an illusion. You’ve probably seen them before. Let me put them on the screen. And you can write what it is you see. There are 2 possibilities on both.
On the first one - do you see a young woman or an older woman. 5 seconds
On the 2nd one - do you see a duck or a rabbit. 5 seconds.
There are physiological reasons we see what we do, but that’s for another day.
In the scripture we’re going to look at today, there were two folks walking down the road, talking to Jesus, yet they didn’t recognize it was Jesus until later. How does that happen?
Well, let’s look at the story of the road to Emmaus. It can be found in Luke 24:13-35. I’m going to show you a video of what it kind of looked like on that road as two people met up with the resurrected Jesus. The video is not a word for word rendering, but gives you a picture of what was happening.
VIDEO - I used a LDS video because of the quality, cutting out the LDS info.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YlzWPPiH4A
That’s a pretty accurate depiction of what happened. And I think a little better than me reading it to you.
For these 2 guys walking on the road to Emmaus, a little town about 7 miles from Jerusalem, all was lost. Jesus had died, and even though they say the women went to the tomb and it was empty and the angels spoke to them, and still others went and found it empty . . . they really didn’t seem to believe the stories.
Again, it was an illusion. It was a cruel magic trick. Maybe the Romans were the ones who took the body to mess with their hearts and minds. You know the odds . . . I’m not a gambling man, but it’s a pretty safe bet, that 1 out of every 1 person … dies. Everybody dies. And in our reality, they stay that way. That’s how it works, there’s no changing that.
These two guys are disciples of Jesus. They weren’t part of the 11, but they were followers, they were part of the group who were devoted to caring for Jesus and to believing that He was the One who would redeem Israel.
They were there. They witnessed the brutality of the cross. They saw all that happened to destroy His physical body . . . the beatings, the ridicule, the desertion, the cross, the spear thrust into His side. They were there.
They must have been in town that Sunday morning and heard the stories from the women. The bewilderment, the confusion about what happened to the body of Jesus. They weren’t buying it. They were saddened that Jesus died. They had no expectation of His return.
Luke tells us about the encounter with Jesus, when Jesus said to them -
17 “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad.
They looked sad. They were lost, depressed, demoralized! Seriously, would we have been so different?
Remember, the dead don’t come back. Somebody took His body. The tomb is empty . . . and so are their hearts and spirits. Their minds are racing.
After they begin talking to Jesus they say one of the most disheartening things -
21 But we had hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel.
We had hoped He was the one. . . . WOW! Have you ever been there in your walk with Jesus? Have you ever had that sense that I HAD HOPED . . .
I’m not talking to wishful thinking. I’m talking about true belief in expecting something to happen in our lives. You fervently prayed for something to happen and it didn’t. Maybe it was healing, maybe it was a job, maybe it was school, maybe it was for your marriage or kids, whatever it was . . . it didn’t go the way you hoped . . . and now your hope is gone.
These guys had hope. Their hope was in Jesus. But He’s dead and dead people don’t come back to life.
But here’s where we are different. Without Easter, where is our faith? What is our faith? It’s crazy, but we must have an Easter faith. We must not doubt it, even when the world is telling us we’re crazy.
The resurrection is foundational to our faith. Imagine calling yourself a Christ follower and denying the resurrection. What kind of faith is that. There’s no miracles, no hope for a future life. You just live, try to do good, and then you die and there’s it.
If you take the resurrection out of our faith, you have nothing. That’s why their hearts were burning when Jesus was recounting the Biblical story through the Old Testament, how everything pointed towards Jesus. The stories and the prophets all lead to the revelation of Jesus as the Christ.
It culminates in the resurrection, a resurrection, or Easter faith . . . which lasts forever.
Listen to what Paul says in the longest passage about the resurrection. It’s 47 verses and I’m going to read all of them to you . . . NOT! I do want to share a little of that passage. It’s in 1 Corinthians 15. Listen to what Paul says as he starts this discussion -
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?
13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
18 Then those also who have died in Christ have perished.
19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (died).
Do you hear what Paul is saying? If we don’t believe in the resurrection, then we are to be pitied and our faith is in vain. We are living a deceiving life. It’s all messed up and we’re more messed up than anyone.
The resurrection is the focus of who we are in Christ. Without the resurrection, we really are to be pitied and ridiculed.
Back to the story . . .
These guys didn’t get it. They had lost hope. What’s really cool is that Jesus doesn’t rip into them. He doesn’t tell them how messed up they are, although He does call them foolish. They were foolish, not fools. They were foolish because the let go of their trust and belief in the One they believed in and trusted in. When Jesus was there, they believed, when He was gone their unbelief grew.
Jesus filled in the blanks for them, so that they were no longer staring blankly in their loss.
So, let me bring this home for us . . .
How many times have we believed when times were good? How many times did we say thank you to God when we received what we hoped for? How many times have we said, “Yes of course I believe in Jesus! I don’t doubt!”
But then the inconceivable happens. We don’t get what we wanted. We fall onto hard times. We struggle more with our health. We endure loss and grief.
Suddenly that joy and presence of Jesus gets upset and we struggle.
That’s part of what’s happening here. The question is how can we make Jesus real to us, real in the good times and the struggles. How can we cultivate that relationship with Jesus when life is going just right? Because it’s pretty easy to take God for granted in the good times. But that’s when we need to push ourselves to grow closer to Jesus.
Jesus has promised us that He will walk with us. He will never abandon us, never forsake us, never look at us and think to Himself, that’s it for Deutsch . . . I’m sick and tired of that no good dude. Yup, God says dude! He’s not going to do that.
Listen to what Isaiah tells us -
10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
13 For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.” - Isaiah 41:10, 13
Also, think about Psalm 23:1 - Our comfort comes in proclaiming
1 The Lord is my Shepherd!
The bottom line folks is the joy to hold onto that no matter what the circumstances of our lives . . .Jesus has promised us that He will be with us. When we struggle with recognizing His presence, know that He is with you.
As you walk that road to Emmaus. As you struggle with whatever is going on in your life, trust in the promise that He is walking right there with you. He has not abandoned you, He has not left you to fend for yourself.
He is your constant presence. Jesus . . . is here. Wherever you are today . . . Jesus is with you, He is present. Sometimes we just need to open our hearts, our spirits, our minds and let Him in and celebrate the joy of Christ’s presence, grace and love.
