WHO IS JESUS TO YOU?
Luke 24:13-35
INTRODUCTION
Who is Jesus to you? Who is Jesus to me?
I was asked a few weeks ago to visit a woman I had never met. My friend, a minister in WA phoned me with regard to her. Her 17 year old son, Mark, had been involved in an extremely serious accident & was on the critical list in the Alfred Hospital. Consequently, his mum, Jill had flown across from WA to be with him.
I made phone contact with her. She wanted to meet with both Cheryl & myself. Arrangements were made to meet at the hospital sometime during that day, a specific time did not seem to be important, as she was not going to be away from the hospital.
We arrived. She was nowhere to be found – perhaps had gone to freshen up. We were directed to a particular waiting room which she frequented. We were assured that the sister would point her in our direction when she returned. While we were sitting in the waiting room, a woman came and sat opposite us – we wondered, ‘could this be Jill?’ She didn’t know us & we didn’t know her. As it turned out she wasn’t Jill & we did eventually catch up with her.
But it struck me – here we are strangers, looking to meet for the first time. I knew something about her, but I didn’t even know what she looked like. For all I knew she may have walked straight past me and I would not have even known it.
You may think, well that is a good story David, but what has that got to do with – ‘Who is Jesus to me?’
Well, the beginning of any relationship is the meeting of strangers.
Who is Jesus to you? Is He:
1. A STRANGER
You wouldn’t recognise Him if you saw Him. There are tens of thousands of good people to whom Jesus is no more than a stranger. They know something about Him, they can talk about Him, but they do not know Him. They are in the same position as these 2 travellers recorded here in Luke 24.
Lets look at verses 13-18 "13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.
14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.
15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them;
16 but they were kept from recognising him.
17 He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?" They stood still, their faces downcast.
18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, "Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?""
This encounter took place just a few days after Jesus was crucified (see v.21) – an event that was the talk of the entire city. Everybody knew about it! It was common knowledge.
Look at verse 18 again
"”Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?""
Or, as another translation puts it
""Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?"" (NRSV)
Not only are you a stranger to us, you must be a stranger to this whole place – you don’t know anything about what has gone on over the last few days – do you?.
There He was, the risen Lord Jesus, but they did not know Him, they were unable to recognise Him. He was seen as a stranger to them.
If He is only a stranger to you, He wants to become much more!
Listen as we continue -
As we read on in the story we discover how the Lord revealed Himself to these two disciples. And how He will reveal Himself to us if we let Him.
Who is Jesus to you?
At first He was a stranger, but now perhaps He is:
2. YOUR FRIEND
Jill, the woman I mentioned a little earlier, is becoming my friend. As we converse we begin to understand each other & discover our likes & dislikes, our needs, our dreams, our joys, our disappointments etc.
Here on the Emmaus Road, Cleopas and his friend made another friend. It wasn’t long before they were treating this stranger as an intimate friend and confiding in Him.
They began by talking about ‘common knowledge’ things – things that everybody was talking about. You know, ‘the latest news headline’ type conversation. "19 "What things?" he asked. "About Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. "He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.
20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him;” But then from verse 21 on, they revealed something of themselves - their feelings, beliefs, disappointments & even that they belonged to the group that had had grand hopes in Jesus. 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.
22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning
23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive.
24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.""
Jesus had gone from being a stranger to their intimate friend. Is He your friend?
Is Jesus your friend? He needs to be more!
Who is Jesus to you?
Is He also:
3. YOUR TEACHER
Initially it seemed as though Jesus was the one who needed to be taught, but soon they discovered that He was their teacher. He was the one who could tell them all that they needed to know. Can you imagine teaching Jesus about Himself – that is what these two were unknowingly doing. Can you imagine telling Jesus, as if He didn’t know, the events of which He actually had just been the centre – that is what these two were in effect doing. Jesus responded in verses 25-27 in this way - “25 He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
26 Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?"
27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. “
What a Bible study, that pair had! “They asked each other, (verse 32) "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"” He pointed out the inadequacies that they had in their understanding of Scripture & then taught them the full truth from Scripture. It is interesting to note that here, once again, Jesus testifies to the fact that the old testament bears witness to Himself.
Is Jesus your teacher? From what or from whom do you take your standard for living? When you want to decide the kind of person you should be, the kind of way in which you should live, the kind of pleasures you should engage in, the kind of intimate friendships you should make … to whom do you go? Do you go to the newspaper, the Internet, the television, the psychologist, the scientist, the preacher, your respected friends, the contemporary writer, the world renown expert in the field or to Jesus Christ? Don’t get me wrong, He can use all these things & it is good to have as big a circle as possible to draw information from, but the ‘buck stops with Jesus’. All these things are to be weighed in the light of Christ Himself. He is the Way the Truth & the Life. He has the answer for all your questions. And we get to know His answers by getting to know Him through prayer, fellowship & soaking ourselves in His word, the Bible.
Is He our Teacher, and if so, do we submit to and obey His will? In other words, are we true disciples of Christ?
Is Jesus your Friend & Teacher? He needs to be more!
Who is Jesus to you?
He wants to be:
4. YOUR MASTER
Have a careful look at verse 28-31 – “ 28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted 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.
30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.
31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognised him, and he disappeared from their sight.’’
Notice verse 28 – Jesus never forces Himself upon us, but He longs to have us invite Him to draw near. They invited Him to be their guest, but, as verse 30 tells us, He soon became the host. “…he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.”
It was His prerogative to preside over them and He did just that. And that is how it should be with us.
We need to allow Him to ‘call the shots’. We need to ‘… confess with our mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, so that we will be saved.’ (Rom 10:9) We need to worship Him as our Lord & Master.
Is Jesus your Friend, Teacher & Master? He needs to be more!
Who is Jesus to you?
He must be:
5. YOUR REDEEMER
21 “ but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel…” They thought that Jesus was going to redeem the nation of Israel. Part of the concept of redemption is deliverance, and these two hoped that Jesus was the promised ‘anointed one’, the Messiah who would deliver their nation from oppression.
But their understanding was far short of God’s – For Jesus was and is the Redeemer, but not just of the nation of Israel, but the whole world. And the redemption that He would bring was to come through the suffering of the cross as had just taken place “25 He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
26 Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?"” (Lk 24:25&26)
He is your redeemer & my redeemer through His shed blood. “18 For you know (as Peter tells us) that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” (1 Pet 1:18-19)
The thought of redemption in Scripture carries with it the dual aspects of deliverance and the paying of payment due. Hence Christ has redeemed us from the guilt & penalty of sin “14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col 1:14)
“14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” (Titus 2:14)
No word applied to Jesus deserves to be held more precious than Redeemer, for it reminds us that He has purchased salvation at great & personal cost – the Lord gave Himself for our sins in order to deliver us from them. The deliverance could not have occurred without the sacrifice.
CONCLUSION
Who is Jesus to you? A stranger? – or, your Friend, Teacher, Master & Redeemer?
I want to introduce you to Jesus – my friend, my teacher, my master & my redeemer. I don’t want to merely teach you about Him, I want to introduce you to Him. He is here this morning! He is alive. The one that came alongside and walked with those 2 travellers on that road to Emmaus wants to come and walk with you.
If you want to know this Jesus, please see me after the service this morning. Don’t put it of – today is the day of salvation. Put your trust in Him.
