Who Is Jesus To You?

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.