Stay On The Journey

This section of scripture may seem benign enough with a casual reading, but as we will see, this little story confronts us with a number of issues from our past

Luke 24:13-35 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem.

 Probably a husband and wife as they later asked Jesus in to their home for dinner

 What day was it? Sunday

 Luke 24:1Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning

14 happened. 15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.

 Here they were down in the dumps about the events that had happened

 The thought here isn’t that these two disciples were simply geographically distant, but that their faith was distant as well

 Jesus however, responds to their need and so He DREW NEAR to them

 They may have given up on Jesus … but He hadn’t given up on 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?”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?”

 This is like a New Yorker not knowing what happened on Sept 11

 What rock have you been hiding under for the last few days

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.

 No mention of the Romans. They attributed responsibility for Jesus’ death to the religious leaders

21 “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.

 Notice this sad statement.

 Their expectations of Jesus and His mission was totally different from the way things had in reality turned out

 They were not in tune with God’s agenda

 We can make the same mistake as these disciples.

 We too can misunderstand the direction the head of our church, Jesus Christ is taking us

 Our evaluation of where God’s Work today is going may not be meeting our expectation

 Or maybe where the local church is heading

 What we have to realise is that our Christian walk is not a destination, it’s a journey

 We are sojourners. Never in this life are we ever going to going to feel like we’ve arrived

 God has designed things that way, so we, like Abraham, look forward to the real destination, a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God

 Hebrews 11:8-10 It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. 9 And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in a tent. And so did Isaac and Jacob, to whom God gave the same promise. 10 Abraham did this because he was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.

 We need to view our Christian walk as being like a trainride. We go for a while and stop at various stations along the way

 People get off the train at the station to stretch their legs, go for a walk, buy an ice-cream

 But every time you stop, there is a risk isn’t there. You may decide to stay where you are

 You like the town, you like the climate, the people are friendly, the real estate is cheap

 A Christian does not have that option. He needs to get back on the train because that station is not his destination

 His destination is the Holy City

 We continue to hop back on the train because like Abraham, we trust the Lord to lead us on the next part of our journey.

 And that journey takes us in exactly the direction we need, individually and as a church.

 When we get off the train, and stay put, we are missing out on the next exciting installment in the journey, a journey that takes us closer to our ultimate destination, and one that promises exciting spiritual growth.