MELVIN M. NEWLAND, MINISTER
CENTRAL CHRISTIAN, BROWNSVILLE, TX
A. When you were a child, did you ever daydream about being a superhero? Did you ever wish that you were like Superman or Wonderwoman, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, or fly faster than a speeding bullet?
Why do children daydream? I think I know why. You see, when we’re young, we aren’t in charge. We’re children. We don’t make the rules. We can’t always do what we want to do. There is always somebody bigger & older & meaner. A child’s life is not all fun & games.
As children, we couldn’t do anything about some of our problems, so we daydreamed. And in our daydreams we were no longer helpless. We were heroes! We punished the wrong, rewarded the good, & made everything right from now on.
B. Don’t you wish you could do that today? I mean, as you look around at all that is wrong in society & the world, don’t you wish that somehow you could do something to make everything the way it really ought to be?
ILL. Do you remember Bernard Goetz? Four young men in a New York Subway car allegedly threatened him & tried to rob him. He was frightened & tired of being taken advantage of. He was sick of a society where subway riders were frequently terrorized & nothing much was being done about it.
So he took out his gun & shot them. Some people cheered, & he became a hero. His picture was imprinted on T-shirts, & they wrote songs about him. Why? Because there are many people who would love to be able to take a gun & blow away everything that is wrong around them. But of course, we would never think of doing anything like that, would we?
C. People do react in a variety of ways. Instead of trying to change the situation, some seek to escape from it. And there are a lot of ways to do that. Many turn to alcohol & other drugs to drown their problems, dull their senses, & blot out the world around them.
ILL. Others just can’t cope. Charles Dickens writes in the "Tale of Two Cities" about a doctor who was imprisoned for 20 years in a French prison. Unable to practice medicine in prison, he tried to keep his mind occupied by becoming a cobbler, & learning to repair shoes.
So for 20 years, in a small, dark prison cell, late at night he could be heard tap, tap, tapping away, repairing the shoes of his fellow prisoners.
Finally the French Revolution came & he was set free. But he couldn’t cope with his freedom, unused to the brightness of the sunlight, & the openness of the world around him. He no longer knew how to respond to all that.
Dickens writes that he went home & had his servant prepare a room for him in the attic that was exactly the same size as his prison cell. And every evening the servant would escort him to the room, lock him inside, & through the night could hear him tap, tap, tapping away. It’s a sad story.
D. Still others join cults, participate in seances, dabble in transcendental meditation, or try to develop supernatural powers - all this just to escape from the realities of life.
SUM. Folks, because of God’s Word, I’m convinced that we don’t have to blow things away if we don’t like them, or seek to escape from the realities of life if we can’t seem to do anything about them. Instead, there is a third alternative, we can deal with them with the help of our resurrected Lord!
ILL. Sir Douglas Bader was a pilot who lost both his legs in a plane crash before WW2. He was fitted with artificial legs & resumed flying. In 1939, when Germany & England went to war, he enlisted in the Royal Air Force.
Flying with two artificial legs, he shot down 22 enemy airplanes in the Battle of Britain. He became a national hero, & an example of how even a handicapped man could still be able to serve his country.
Then in 1941 his plane was shot down over France & he parachuted into enemy territory. In the process, both of his artificial legs were destroyed. Helpless, he was captured by a German patrol & made a prisoner of war.
Bader was so respected by his German captors that, amazingly, they contacted the British government to airdrop his two spare artificial legs so that he could have the use of his legs once again. And the British did.
The Germans soon realized that they had made a big mistake, for as soon as Bader received his legs, he started trying to escape. After 4 escape attempts his captors decided that there was only one thing to do. So every night when he went to bed, they took his artificial legs away from him & locked them up. That was the only way they knew to keep him from trying to escape.
We’ve got to admire a man like that, don’t we? He gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "You can’t keep a good man down."
ILL. Have you heard of Tim Hansen? Tim was injured while mountain climbing. His spine was badly damaged & he is in constant, excruciating pain. He has to pop pills all day long just to be able to move around. But listen to his comment, "Pain is inevitable, but misery is optional."
PROP. To bring that point home, I want us to look this morning at an account preserved for us in God’s Holy Word. It is a story with an element of mystery, found in the 24th chapter of Luke. It tells about two people who are walking along from Jerusalem to their home in Emmaus, 7 miles away.
I. THERE WERE TWO OF THEM
A. We don’t know much about them. There were two of them, but we’re not sure whether they were two men, or a man & a woman. All we know is that one of them was named "Cleopas."
Whoever they are, they’re completely disheartened. That week they had been with Jesus. They had followed Him. It had been a glorious week - until Jesus had been arrested, tried, & crucified. Now all their hopes & dreams were shattered & gone. Now it was all over, & slowly, they were making their way home. It was not a happy trip at all.
B. Well, yes, they had waited a little while this morning after hearing some rumors about an empty tomb. Some of the women said that they had been to the tomb, & that Jesus had even appeared to them as they were coming back, but the apostles just didn’t believe it. Peter & John went to the tomb & confirmed that it was empty, but how or when nobody seemed to know.
Confused & disheartened, they leave Jerusalem & are traveling the road back home to Emmaus. As they are walking along, talking over all the things that have happened this past week, Jesus joins Himself to them.
C. Listen to the last part of vs. 16, "But they were kept from recognizing Him." Every time I read that verse, it disturbs me because I wonder, "Would it actually be possible to meet Jesus & not know it?"
The Bible tells us that whenever two or more gather in His name, Jesus is there, too. Now that doesn’t imply that it has to be a physical presence, but what if Jesus came here this morning in the flesh? What if He put on a business suit & came to worship with us? What if He walked out the door & shook my hand & said, "Fair sermon?" How would I react? How awful would I feel if I actually looked into His eyes & shook His hand & didn’t recognize him?
Here were two people who didn’t recognize Him. They were His followers. But right now, in His resurrected state, they didn’t recognize Him. A disturbing thought, isn’t it?
D. Now let’s think about this for a moment. We all have our Gethsemanes, don’t we? Times when we feel like crying out, "Father, please let this cup pass from me. I don’t want to drink it! It’s too much! It’s too hard! Why is everything happening to me?"
We also have our Calvarys when we feel so alone, & we cry out even to God, "Why have you forsaken me?"
It is also possible for us to have a resurrection, too. In fact, Paul reminds us that all who have been baptized into Jesus, have been baptized into His death. And even as Jesus was raised from the dead, we, too, are raised to walk in a new life. In Jesus we can pass from death to life eternal!
APPL. Now if we have our Gethsemanes, our Calvarys, & even a resurrection, is it possible that we can have an Emmaus journey, too?
Here we are, traveling down the road of life. Our hopes & dreams are broken & shattered, our prayers seem unanswered. We’re trying to deal with everything all by ourselves, & suddenly Jesus comes. He walks beside us, & encourages us, & He never leaves us all alone.
II. THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT JESUS
A. Well, as they are walking, Vs. 17 says that He asked, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?" Cleopas answered, "Are you the only one living in Jerusalem who doesn’t know what things have happened there in these days?" "What things?" Jesus asked.
"About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word & deed before God & all the people. The chief priests & our rulers handed Him over to be sentenced to death, & they crucified Him; but we had hoped that He was the one who was going to redeem Israel."
You see, the key is to realize what this hope was that they had. Their hope was that Jesus would redeem Israel. Now what did He do when He went to the cross & died? He redeemed Israel. He not only redeemed Israel, He redeemed the whole world. But He redeemed the world from what? He redeemed the world from sin & death.
O, that? Sin & death? They had hoped that He would redeem them from Rome! They had hoped that He would redeem them from human misery, from poverty, from hunger, from disease. But He came to redeem them from sin & death.
B. We haven’t changed much, have we? We still want the same things. We want a Messiah who will make life a bed of roses, who will take away all our problems & worries. We want resurrection without death, victory without defeat.
So Jesus responds to them in vs. 25. "How foolish you are, & how slow of heart that you do not believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things & then enter His glory?" There is no way to have a resurrection without death.
So what Jesus is saying is, "I had to go through this. You have to go through it, too. I’m not going to take this road away from you. But I’ll walk it with you, even though you may not recognize me, I will walk it with you, empowering you every step of the way."
C. Well, they traveled along & pretty soon they pass through the gates of Emmaus. Vs. 28 says, "As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if He were going farther."
1. I like that verse. It tells me a couple of things. It tells me, first of all, that Jesus never invades our area of privacy.
ILL. When I get home in the evening, the telephone often seems to ring with people trying to sell me everything from light bulbs to aluminum siding. I try to be courteous, but I resent it. You probably do too. But Jesus never invades our area of privacy.
They finally arrive at home, & Jesus takes a step, ready to leave them, but they stop Him from going. The King James Version says, "They constrained Him." This one says, ". . .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."
2. The second thing that tells us is this, "It doesn’t take much to get Jesus to stay." All we have to do is invite Him. Open the door, for He’s knocking. So invite Him in. He’ll be more than happy to come & stay.
Now, in my imagination I can just see them enter their house, & the wife quickly trying to wipe off the furniture because dust has collected while they have been gone. Then she goes to the freezer, grabs up three frozen dinners, & puts them in the microwave. Pretty soon she brings them out, piping hot, & they sit down to eat. In this relaxed atmosphere, they continue to visit.
III. THEIR EYES WERE OPENED
A. Vs. 30 says, "When He was at the table with them, He took bread, gave thanks, broke it & began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened & they recognized Him, & He disappeared from their sight."
All this time they had been with Jesus, looking at Him, but never seeing Him. Now suddenly, as they eat together, their eyes were opened & they actually saw Him for who He was.
After He left, it says that they asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road & opened the Scriptures to us?"
APPL. Would to God that all of us would experience this burning deep inside of us. The greatest plague of the church today is our contentment with mediocrity. We are content to look & never see, to listen & never hear, to be motivated & never respond. So we sit like bumps on the log, walking on the road, complaining because we hurt now & then, & never responding to His touch.
B. How different for these two. Did you read the rest of the story? It says that "They got up & returned at once to Jerusalem." It must have been 8 or 9 o’clock. It was a seven mile journey back to Jerusalem. They could have waited until morning, but that same night they started back. They couldn’t wait to get back to Jerusalem.
When they did, it says that they found the apostles & those who were assembled with them. They rush to the door & knock upon it, anxious to tell their story. But when the apostles open the door, the indication from Scripture is that the apostles spoke before these two could speak.
The apostles are saying, "It is true! The Lord has risen & has appeared to Simon." These two are standing there, blinking their eyes, saying "Yes, we know that it is true. He met us on the way, & we talked with Him, & we recognized Him when He broke the bread."
Do you sense the excitement there? All these people are trying to talk at the same time. Everybody is saying, "It is true! He has risen! Jesus Christ is alive." What a time of excitement & rejoicing it must have been!
SUM. We’re all traveling on that road to Emmaus this morning. Sometimes our dreams are shattered. Sometimes we laugh. Sometimes we cry.
C. Jesus said, "I didn’t come to take the road away. I just came to walk with you. I’m going to walk with you until we’re home. In the meantime, open the Word so that your eyes can be opened & your heart warmed."
How long has it been since you felt that warming in your heart & in your soul? It’s so easy for us to slip into neutral, spiritually, & just allow things to come & go. To go to church because it is Sunday morning, but never experience the stirring of God’s spirit in our lives, the warmth of His love, looking but never seeing, listening but never hearing.
ILL. Do you remember the story we used to tell in Sunday School about the man who stood before St. Peter at the Gates of Heaven? He said, "Peter, I’m ready to go in & receive my inheritance." Peter answered, "That’s fine, but it takes a thousand points. What have you done that is worth 1,000 points?"
He answers, "Well, I attended church & Sunday school regularly. If I wasn’t sick I always went to church & Sunday school." "Fine," Peter says, "regular attender in church & Sunday school - 50 points. What else?"
"Well, I taught a Sunday school class for many years." "Sunday school teacher," Peter writes down - "25 points. What else?"
"Well, I gave 10% of my income to the Lord." "A tither," Peter writes down - "25 points. You now have 100 points. You only need 900 more. What else?"
By now the man was perspiring, suddenly fearful that he was not going to be able to enter heaven at all. He started wringing his hands & said, "At this rate it’ll only be by the grace of God that I get in."
And Peter writes down, "Grace of God - 900 points. Enter through the gates of joy."
CONCL. O, Lord, wake us up this morning. Give us eyes that see & hearts that burn. Give us souls that yearn to serve, & to tell the world that our Lord is alive. We know that He is alive because He has raised us up from the deadness of our sin & given us new life in Christ.
That is His invitation this morning. I pray that you will respond to it as we stand & sing.
