Luke 24:13-35
Third Sunday of Easterย -ย 30 April 2017
Rev. John Derme
If you could have been there to witness and experience personally one event that is recorded in the Bible, which event would you choose? Would you want to witness God's power at the creation of the world? Would you want to be at Mt. Sinai to hear God's voice when he spoke the Ten Commandments? Would you want to be in the stable at the birth of Jesus? Would you want to be with the women, who saw the empty tomb and met Jesus on Easter? Would you want to see the Holy Spirit changing lives on Pentecost? There are so many amazing events from which to choose, that it is hard to pick just one.
If I could choose to experience any one event, though, I would love to walk with Jesus on the road to Emmaus. Emmaus was a small village located about seven miles northwest of Jerusalem. For some reason, two of Jesus' disciples needed to get there on the first Easter Sunday. I imagine that their business there must have been important. After all, they had heard the report of the women, that the angels had told them Jesus was alive. And they knew that Peter and John had gone out to the tomb and found it empty. But for some reason they had to leave for Emmaus, even though they must have wanted to stay in Jerusalem and find out what was going on.
What had happened with Jesus was all they could think and talk about as they walked along the road. While they were walking, another gentleman came and walked with them. We know that this was Jesus, but at the time, they didn't. The gospel writer tells us that they were kept from recognizing him. Jesus had a good purpose talking to them before they realized who he was.
He asked them what they were discussing. Of course, Jesus knew what they talking about. But before he spoke, he gave them an opportunity to express their grief and confusion to him. One of the men said, "You must be new to Jerusalem if you don't know what has been happening the past few days!" I bet he felt silly for making that comment when he later realized to whom he had been speaking!
They went ahead and told Jesus all about what had happened to Jesus and what they believed about him. They called him a man and a prophet. They said that he did powerful works and spoke powerful words. They had hoped that he would redeem Israel. But he was killed on a cross. These disciples clearly did not expect Jesus to rise from the dead. They said that the news that the angels spoke to the women amazed them.
Then Jesus began to speak, and he explained that this news should not have amazed them. These words must have taken them completely off guard: "How foolish you are and slow to believe! The Old Testament prophets said that the Christ had to suffer and be glorified, just as you are saying he has!" But as harsh as these words sound, Jesus didn't only rebuke them for their lack of faith. He also explained to them exactly what they should have understood. He started with the beginning of the Old Testament and explained how all the way to the end it was all about him and what he had done.
The two men finally arrived at the village of Emmaus. Jesus acted as though he were about to carry on to another town. He wasn't being deceptive; he was giving them the opportunity to invite him in. Yes, they wanted to spend more time with him, to hear him speak further. So they invited him into their home. When they sat down to eat, Jesus took the bread, gave thanks to God the Father, broke the bread, and gave it to them. They had seen him do this before! And at this moment, Jesus allowed them to recognize him. But when they did, he vanished from their sight. Apparently, once they recognized him, they were not surprised that he was Jesus. They said, "Our hearts were burning within us as he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us!"
Although it was now too late to travel on the roads, nothing could stop these two disciples from proclaiming this good news to others. They ran seven miles back to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples what had happened.
Can you see why I wish I could have walked with him on the road? I would love to hear Jesus explain how the entire Old Testament was all about him. I would love to experience my heart burning within me as he opened the Scriptures to me. Wouldn't you? I suppose that I am like those disciples. I don't understand my Old Testament Scriptures as well as I should, and I am slow to believe the Lord's promises.
I know that I am not alone. There are many people who think that the Bible is confusing. Do you ever open up your Bible to the Old Testament and read the accounts and prophecies there? What does it all mean? The disciples on the road didn't yet have the books of the New Testament, but we do. Some sections of the New Testament are crystal clear, but others can be hard to understand!
Even if you don't understand absolutely every passage of the Bible, you can certainly understand its main message right? That is the promise of life and salvation that Jesus has accomplished for us. Yet even if we know that promise, we are sometimes slow to believe it. When bad things happen to us, we may say things like, "I had hoped that the Lord was going to take care of me." We're quick to stop trusting in his promises. When good things happen to us, we are often amazed at them. We're slow to believe in his promises.
You can study the Scriptures every day of your life. But if you don't believe his promises that he speaks to you there, the Bible will always remain a closed book. If you don't trust his promises, the Scriptures can only confuse you. Never stop trusting God's promises. If you do, you will suffer sadness in this life and despair forever.
The Lord has not given you his Scriptures to confuse you. He speaks to you in the Bible, so that you will understand. He makes promises to you so that you will believe. And Jesus comes to you to open the Scriptures to you.
I wish that I could walk the road to Emmaus. I wish I could experience my heart burning within me as he opens the Scriptures to me. I would choose to experience that one event over any other in the Bible. And yet, I do experience that one event. And you also experience that one event. We have experienced, we are experiencing, we will experience what the disciples on the road to Emmaus experienced.
As much as I wish I could hear what Jesus said on that road, I already know. In the earliest chapters of the Bible, the Lord teaches us how he created this world perfect and holy, but human beings ruined this perfect creation by not believing and trusting in him. Then, rather than destroying them, he promised people that a Savior would be born to be perfect and to suffer in order to redeem them. He repeated and expanded on this promise again and again in many times and ways throughout the thousands of years leading up to Jesus' birth. There are way too many promises of Jesus' coming in the Old Testament for us to cover them here. If you keep coming to church services and Bible study, though, eventually we'll cover most or maybe even all of them!
Finally, Jesus came to fulfill every promise that God the Father made. He was perfect, just as the Old Testament promised. Also, just as promised, he suffered and he died. But he also rose again from the dead, as the Scriptures promised. And because he rose we know that he redeemed us by his life and death, that he has paid for all of our false beliefs and despair and makes us perfect in God's sight. This is the main message of Scripture from beginning to end! It is so simple that anybody can come to understand it. More importantly, Jesus is at work in us by the Holy Spirit so that we believe this good news. When we trust his promises, then we have true understanding.
Jesus continues the teaching that he began on the road to Emmaus every time you come to church and hear his Word, every time you study the Bible, every time you return to the promises he made to you in Baptism by confessing your sin and trusting his forgiveness, and every time you receive his body and blood in Communion. Through his Word and sacrament, he comes along side of you in your walk through life to teach you about his love for you.
If we didn't have Jesus to teach us, the Scriptures would always be a closed book to us. We would remain confused about them forever. But now we understand what the Scriptures are all about: Jesus lived, died, and rose again to redeem you. Trust his promise. He opens the Scriptures to us.