Too Good To Be True Series

Luke 24:36-48

Close Encounters: Too good to be true

In the movie “It could happen to you” A New York cop named Charley is having coffee in a little diner. He finishes up and starts to pay and discovers he only has enough for the coffee and nothing for a tip. So he offers the waitress a choice he will return the next day with double the tip or, he will split the winnings, if any, of the lottery ticket that he just bought.

Well, Yvonne wasn’t really wanting to hear none of that junk, her day had been bad enough already and she wasn’t real thrilled of losing tips no matter how small they might be. Her life is terrible, she hates her job as a waitress, her runaway husband has run up her MasterCard balance so high that just that very day she had been in court to declare bankruptcy and she wondered, could things get any worse? She smiles helplessly at her bad luck and tells Charlie not to worry about that pocket change pocket change, and she takes Charlie up on his offer of half the lottery ticket's potential winnings.

Well, Surprise, Surprise, Surprise! The ticket beats the odds, and wins $4 million. Charley comes to the diner the next morning to give Yvonne the good news. Her tip for serving a cup of coffee is not a little bit of change, but two million dollars.

Can you imagine Yvonne's reaction to this good news? At first, utter disbelief covers Yvonne's face. She wonders is this some sort of prank or cruel joke, nothing like this could ever happen to me.

Charley insists that he is not joking, and a tiny flicker of hope registers deep inside Yvonne. Does she dare to believe this incredibly good news is true? "Yes? Yes?" she asks as her eyes widen and her face begins to light up. "CAN IT REALLY BE TRUE?"

Then disbelief returns, just yesterday she had accepted her fate of bankruptcy. "No! No!' she says, coming back to reality. Her emotions are a mix of belief and disbelief. But facts are facts and Charley's gift was a reality, half of the winnings were hers.

Yvonne's glimmer of belief grew stronger as Charley's excitement gradually increased and thawed her skepticism. Charley's smile was saying, "It could happen. His enthusiasm was saying, it has happened and it has happened TO YOU."

"Yes?" Yvonne asked again. "Yes!" Charley exclaimed.

"YES!" Doubts cast away, her question now turns into cheerful exclamation. "YES!!!" As she comes to terms with the largeness of Charley's gift, she suddenly finds herself dancing and swirling through the tables of customers, contemplating her new life, a life forever changed by Charley's free gift. The little New York diner is the scene of unexpected, overwhelming, hard-to-believe joy.

Now I want you to imagine another place and time, a place where a ragtag group of people huddled together behind locked doors not knowing what would happen next.

This place is where we find the disciples and others who had been following Jesus. They were all telling about where and how they had encountered their friend from Nazareth. They were talking about going to the tomb and finding it empty, they were talking about when He came into the room and talked with them. Cleopus and his wife Mary were telling the story about their journey to Emmaus and the stranger that had walked with them all the way to town, but when He sat down at the table with them and broke some bread their eyes were opened and they saw their friend Jesus sitting there with them. All of them were talking about the close encounters that they had experienced. Maybe they thought that they were seeing a ghost, or maybe there minds were just playing tricks on them, but whatever the case Jesus was about to erase their doubts and fears.

The scripture tells us that Jesus stands up in their mist and says Peace be to you. Then He asked them, why are you so troubled? Why do you have these doubts in your heart? I’m here touch me and see that I am alive. I’m not a ghost I’m real and I’m here just like you, a ghost isn’t made of flesh and blood and then it says he showed them His hands and feet.

The scripture goes on to say that even in their joy they were disbelieving and unsure. They were amazed and awestruck but still had trouble believing. Then Jesus still trying to prove that He was the real deal said give me something to eat and he ate some fish, Jesus was trying to cure their unbelief and prove to them that this was happening.

Then Jesus says look , “I told you so” I told you that it would be just like the scripture said , I was gonna suffer, I was gonna die, and then on the third day I was gonna rise up from the grave, on the third day I was gonna defeat death, and that I was gonna see you again. I told you it wasn’t gonna be good bye that it was gonna be I’ll see you soon.