Open My Eyes
Our scripture for today reminds me of another scripture passage from 1 Kings 19. (Read 1 Kings 19:11-13)
We get so wrapped up in our conversations and we’re so focused on what we’re going to say that we aren’t listening. I have been in conversations like that myself. I can recall road trips with friends where we would talk back and forth constantly. Of course, we did solve all the world’s problems. But you probably know people for whom the saying holds true: “couldn’t get a word in edgewise.” Sometimes we are talking so much that God can’t “get a word in edgewise”, especially if He comes in a gentle whisper.
There is a time for talking and there is a time for listening. Granted it’s not always easy to know when it is time to, as the Psalmist tells us, “Be still and know that I am God.” Our story today is about two friends who were talking when they should have been listening.
Now, Jesus’ appearance has changed. And this story tells us that having been there, back then, was no guarantee of "seeing" the resurrected Jesus. Those closest to him did not or were slow to believe. Something more was needed for sight and so Jesus, as usual, comes to help us and lead us to seeing. The story calls for a radical change in us. It calls for us to experience the story, not just hear it.
We don’t know much about them. There were two of them, but we’re not sure of much more than that. All we know is that one of them was named "Cleopas."
Whoever they are, they’re completely disillusioned. That week they had been with Jesus. It had been a great week – at least until Jesus had been arrested, tried, & crucified. Now all their hopes & dreams were shattered. Poof. Gone. Slowly, dejectedly, they were making their way home.
Oh, they had hung around for a while after hearing the rumors about an empty tomb. Peter & John went to the tomb & confirmed that it was empty.
So at about 5 pm they are on the road to Emmaus, having one of those “can’t get a word in edgewise” conversations.
"Can you believe how they turned on Jesus?" “Did you see the tears in the eyes of the centurion whose servant Jesus healed?” “Did you see the way Peter denied ever knowing him?" “Did you hear His words as He hung on the cross?”
And as they are walking along, a stranger enters into their conversation and asks what they’re talking about. Amazed at the thought that this stranger had no idea of what had happened over the past 3 days, they told him. To which the stranger replies with yet another question, “What things?”
Through all this they did not recognize Jesus. They were so wrapped up in their own thoughts that they just didn’t see him. Why not? Let’s look at QUESTION #1.
What is your final answer? Correct answer is “D”. There was a supernatural force was at work. God was at work. Jesus was right in front of them and the 2 failed to see. There are times that God is at work and we don’t even know it. Our eyes don’t recognize it at the time.
Verse 17 said that these two travelers were downcast. Let’s look at QUESTION #2.
Verse 21 gives us the correct answer. Verse 21 says –“But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” “But we had hoped...” Problem was, they were hoping for a political Messiah, a Messiah who would deliver their nation from the oppression of Roman rule. And now this Messiah was dead. And so was their hope. In the matter of just a few hours on Friday, their hope was shattered.
Maybe some of your hopes have been shattered.
*A marriage that ended in divorce?
You had hoped when you said ‘til death do us part…
*Anyone have a serious dating relationship come to an end?
You had hoped this person might be the one…
*Maybe your adult children haven’t embraced your faith in Jesus.
We had hoped…
ILLUS - (Hold up a light bulb)
I think hope could be represented by a light bulb.
Hope is bright and promising. Full of potential. But it is also fragile.
Then something unexpected happens and hope is shattered.
(put bulb into bowl, break it, show broken bulb)
That’s these two travelers on the road. Their hope was shattered.
They get home & Jesus is ready to leave them, but they stop Him from going. Our passage says,". . .they urged Him strongly. `Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.’ So He went in to stay with them."
Notice it doesn’t take much to get Jesus to stay. All we have to do is invite Him. So invite Him in. He’ll be more than happy to come & stay.
I can just picture the wife quickly picking up, maybe throwing another plate on the table, probably shooting dirty looks at Cleopas for not calling to tell her he was bringing home company. But they continue to visit, still clueless as to who they were talking to; which leads us to QUESTION #3.
The correct answer is “D”. God opened their eyes. “Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.” The same supernatural force that prevented them from seeing Jesus opened their eyes to who this man really was.
And Jesus, in the breaking of the bread, restored their hope.
(pull out a new, unbroken bulb).
Then our story says that "They got up & returned at once to Jerusalem." It was probably 8 or 9 o’clock by now. It was a seven mile journey back to Jerusalem. In the dark. In a region where you didn’t travel at night. They could have waited until morning, but that same night they started back. They got on that same road.
The road that had been marked by defeat. Marked by shattered hopes.
Now the road was different. The road was full of possibilities.
Same road – different destination
Same road – different conversation
Same road – different observations
Same road – different realization
But why? Why couldn’t they wait to get back to Jerusalem.
Question #4.
Hope restored. Their dream had come true. He was alive! They went back to Jerusalem to tell everybody the good news.
“That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.”
Jesus restored their hope in the breaking of the bread, just as our hope is renewed every time we partake of the bread. As we eat this bread today, it’s not a snack. And it’s not just bread. Jesus at the Last Supper, blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to his disciples. Bread, one of the basics of life, was blessed by Jesus. And after that blessing, we cannot look at bread in the same casual manner. The bread is a symbol of Christ’s body, his body given for us that we are to take and eat in remembrance of him.
In the liturgy for the Great Thanksgiving in our Presbyterian Book of Common Worship, it says, “Remembering all of your mighty and merciful acts, we take this bread and this wine from the gifts you have given us, and celebrate with joy the redemption won for us in Jesus Christ.
Therein lies our hope. In the redemption won for us in Jesus Christ. Jesus restored their hope in the breaking of the bread. And as we take and eat today, our hope is restored and we can see Jesus.
Let us pray: Father God, as we come to your table today, open our eyes to you, that we might see you in the breaking of the bread, just as the two from the Emmaus road did so long ago. The seeds planted in the plowed fields, the rain that waters, the fertilized soil, the wheat harvested, ground into flour, mixed into dough, and baked into bread. Lord we know that you are in all of these things. The bread is blessed and thereby we are blessed. Thank you, God. Amen.
