Luke 24:13-35

ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS

Someone once said the longest walk you’ll ever take is the walk away from the grave of someone you loved. For some it is the feeling that the world as they knew it has come to an end. They walk away and think about what used to be, and what might have been. This walk is a lonely walk that few can understand. Tears have been shed until there are no tears left, just the pain. Words like discouragement, disappointment, disillusionment and even depression come to mind. This is the longest walk.

            Two people were walking that walk out of Jerusalem. They were not alone in this walk but had each other. Passover was completed, Sabbath laws no longer binding, so they left the place of pain and loss. The travelers were not quiet but contemplative, talking about what had happened, asking questions but finding few answers.

            “Why did Jesus let them kill him like that? Where is Jesus when we need him so badly? We thought he was the One we were waiting for to make life better? Now what do we do? We need him more than ever. It’s not fair,” they may have said. They ask the questions we would ask. Maybe we still ask them.

            On the road to Emmaus however, we will find an unexpected companion. In this story is declared a living truth for all ages. In this story we will discover not only that Jesus is alive but also how we can recognize him on our own lonely walks down the Emmaus road.

1. An unexpected travel companion

No one today knows where the village of Emmaus was situated. It has long disappeared from the face of the earth. We know that this is where the two disciples of Jesus were going and it was only seven miles from Jerusalem. It was likely a casual walk since the conversation was the focus.

            Along comes a stranger from behind. It is Jesus, “but they were kept from recognizing him.” I find it extremely touching that Jesus should bother to find these two men, one whose name we know, Cleopas, and the other nameless (certainly not of the 12), and make a special effort for them. Jesus is the kind of person to seek out the so-called nobodies.

            Jesus comes up behind them and asks, “So what are you guys talking about?” All nonchalant, Jesus is, acting like he doesn’t know the biggest news to hit Jerusalem.

            Note the reaction of the two: “They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, ‘Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?’” (17b-18). He stopped them in their tracks; he goaded them into reacting; Jesus wanted them to spill their hearts out about the last three days.

            Notice how they respond to his question, “What things?” They tell about Jesus of Nazareth and say “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed…they crucified him…we had hoped that he was the One…didn’t find his body…they did not see Jesus.” What do you notice? Past tense. Jesus was a prophet; was, was was. What’s missing from Cleopas’ speech? Why is it an unfinished creed? There is no resurrection! Jesus was dead. Evil had conquered. God could not overcome it. There was no gospel in Cleopas’ words because Jesus was killed and buried and gone…missing. This is Good Friday without Easter. Without the resurrection, the cross is just a tragedy, an unfinished story.

            Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones tells another unfinished story that found its conclusion.

            “I remember preaching in Wales one Sunday in the early 1930s. I was preaching in a country place at an afternoon and then an evening service. When I finished the service in the afternoon and had come down from the pulpit, two ministers came up to me. They had a request to make. They said, “We wonder whether you’ll do us a kindness.” “If I can,” I said, “I’ll be happy to.” “Well,” they said, “we think you can. There’s a tragic case. It’s the case of our local schoolmaster. He’s a very fine man, and he was one of the best church workers in the district. But he’s got into a very sad condition. He’s given up all his church work. He just manages to keep going in his school. But as for church life and activity, he’s become more or less useless.”

            “What’s the matter with him?” I asked. “Well,” they said, “he’s got into some kind of depressed condition. Complains of headaches and pains in his stomach and so on. Would you be good enough to see him?” I promised I would. So after I had had my tea, this man, the schoolmaster, came to see me. I said to him, “You look depressed.” He was like the men on the road to Emmaus. One glance at this man told me all about him. I saw the typical face and attitude of a man who is depressed and discouraged. I said, “Now tell me, what’s the trouble?” “Well,” he said, “I get these headaches. I’m never free from them. I wake up with one in the morning, and I can’t sleep too well either.” He added that he also suffered from gastric pains and so on.

            “Tell me,” I said, “how long have you been like this?” “Oh,” he said, “it’s been going on for years. As a matter of fact, it’s been going on since 1915.” “I’m interested to hear this,” I said. “How did it begin?” He said, “Well, when the war broke out in 1914, I volunteered very early on and went into the navy. Eventually I was transferred to a submarine, which was sent to the Mediterranean. Now the part of the navy I belonged to was involved in the Gallipoli campaign. I was there in this submarine in the Mediterranean during that campaign. One afternoon we were engaged in action. We were submerged in the sea, and we were all engaged in our duties when suddenly there was a most terrible thud and our submarine shook. We’d been hit by a mine, and down we sank to the bottom of the Mediterranean. You know, since then I’ve never been the same man.”

            “Well,” I said, “please tell me the rest of your story.” “But,” he said, “there’s really nothing more to say. I’m just telling you that’s how I’ve been ever since that happened to me in the Mediterranean.” “But, my dear friend,” I said, “I really would be interested to know the remainder of the story.” “But I’ve told you the whole story.” This went on for some considerable time. It was a part of my treatment. I said again, “Now I really would like to know the whole story. Start at the beginning again.” And he told me how he had volunteered, joined the navy, was posted to a submarine that went to the Mediterranean, and everything was all right until the afternoon they were engaged in the action, the sudden thud and the shaking. “Down we went to the bottom of the Mediterranean. And I have been like this ever since.”

            Again I said, “Tell me the rest of the story.” And I took him over it step by step. We came to that dramatic afternoon—the thud, the shaking of the submarine. “Down we went to the bottom of the Mediterranean.” “Go on!” I said. He said, “There’s nothing more to be said.” I said, “Are you still at the bottom of the Mediterranean?” You see, physically he was not, but mentally he was. He had remained at the bottom of the Mediterranean ever since. So I went on to say to him, “That’s your whole trouble. All your troubles are due to the fact that in your own mind you are still at the bottom of the Mediterranean. Why didn’t you tell me that somehow or another you came up to the surface, that someone on another ship saw you, got hold of you and got you on board his ship, that you were treated there and eventually brought you back to Wales and put into a hospital?” Then I got all the facts out of him. I said, “Why didn’t you tell me all that? You stopped down at the bottom of the Mediterranean.” It was because this man was dammed up in his mind that he had suffered from this terrible depression during all those years. I am happy to be able to tell you that as the result of this explanation that man was perfectly restored.”

2. What the Prophets said about Jesus

When the two men finished telling their sad story with its poor ending, Jesus replied, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself,” (25-27).

            The rebuke is strong but loving. It is foolish to be confronted with such a situation and respond with a dull mindedness. This is a laziness where we fail to apply our understanding of scripture to life. Everything we know about the Bible is forgotten in the face of a crisis.

            Jesus said they were “slow of heart” too. More than affections, the heart is representative of one’s spiritual condition. The heart is a muscle in this sense and one that needs to be exercised to remain healthy. Slowness of heart is a spiritual disease whereby the mind grows dull. We read our Bibles and our minds wander after a few verses; we try to pray but our imagination travels all over the place. Lethargy about the Christian walk creeps over you; a deadness in these things arises that you cannot blame on the church. It is a slowness of heart.

            For these two disciples, the foolishness and slowness of heart kept them from discerning the scriptures concerning Jesus. They rejected the suffering of Jesus as being stumbling block to the plan. His death, to them, was a disaster. But the prophets accepted God’s word as it was revealed, even though they did not understand how a suffering Messiah could save them. The prophets could see a Triumphant King and a Suffering Servant.

            Peter testified later, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow,” (1 Peter 1:10-11).

            Since the two men didn’t have a clue as to why Jesus had to die, Jesus took them through the prophets and showed them. He showed them that his death was not a wrench in the plan but was the plan itself. Jesus did not have his life taken from him, he had the power to lay it down and take it up again. He showed them how his suffering was foretold in Genesis 3 and 22, in 2 Samuel 7, Psalms 16, 22, 69, 110 and 118, in Isaiah 7, 9, and 53, and in Zechariah 12-14. He showed them the whole story from Genesis to Malachi. He showed them how a loving God had to take his own Son and make him suffer for the sins of humankind for all ages.

            The whole Bible testifies to Jesus. Every page is full of him, including the OT. As Geoff Thomas said, “He is the true theme of the OT – by type, by teaching, by sacrifice and by prophecy. He is the prophet greater than Moses. He is the priest greater than Aaron. He is the king greater than David. He is the captain greater than Joshua. He is the seed of the woman, the fulfillment of the brass serpent, the goal of all the sacrifices, and the true meaning of the tabernacle. He is the Kinsman Redeemer, the Scapegoat and the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. He is the great high priest who lives forever to intercede for us. He is the lion of the tribe of Judah and the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. He is the Judge who will pass judgment on all mankind in the latter day.”[i] If you want to find Jesus just open your Bible.

3. “Then their eyes were opened”

Why did Jesus not just tell them who he was from the start? Why play this prank and then get all serious about the OT?

            What Luke reveals to us in these two men is a desperate need for the Word of God. We all need it. We need the divine revelation to understand the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross. God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts and so he revealed his thoughts to us in His Word. The reason these two men despaired is because they did not see this event from God’s perspective.

            Luke wrote about this earlier when he retold Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). The rich man requested that Lazarus be sent to his father’s house, to his five brothers, so that they can be warned (27-28). Jesus replied that they had Moses and the Prophets (29), to which the man protested that a warning from one who had risen from the grave would be more forceful, more convincing. To which Jesus replied, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead,” (31).

            So the principle here is this: “THOSE WHO REJECT THE WORD OF GOD WILL NOT BE CONVINCED BY HIS WORKS.”[ii]

            Luke plainly connects the Word of God to understanding the resurrection. When the women go to the tomb on the first day of the week they are met by angels who say to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!” (24:5-6). Luke records, “Then they remembered his words,” (24:8).

            Later when Jesus appears to the disciples behind locked doors they thought he was a ghost. But he presents himself to them as a flesh and bones man who clearly bore the scars of crucifixion. Jesus said, “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms,” (24:44). Luke then narrates, “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures,” (24:45).

            So here too in our text when Cleopas and his friend are sitting down to a meal with Jesus and Jesus breaks the bread, something else breaks. Luke uses the same expression in these other two incidents: “Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him,” (24:31). In each case it was following a revelation of the Word of the Lord that the light went on. In the Word of God we find the understanding we need to see Jesus.

            When we open the Word to find Jesus and, like Cleopas and his friend, invite Jesus to stay with us and share this moment, then we will recognize Jesus as the crucified and resurrected Lord. Apart from the Bible we cannot recognize him.

This is not some feel-good story written to gladden our hearts. Luke is telling us something very important. Jesus comes seeking for us. Just like he went out of the city to look for two obscure disciples who we know nothing about but whom Jesus obviously cared very much about, he comes looking for you. He wants to show you something about himself in his Word. Then he wants you to recognize that he is Jesus, your Savior and your Lord.

            Jesus is not here physically, but he is here. You need his personal presence in your life. In the darkest moments of your lonely walk, you need Jesus to come alongside and ask, “What are you thinking about?” And he does. He went to sit at the right hand of God so that he could send his Spirit to do exactly that. To be with you. To walk with you. To fill you with the recognition of Jesus Christ.

            In those moments when we sit down with Jesus and His Word we set aside time for Him to show us. Those times are so good we apt to say, “Lord, it would be wonderful if you stayed longer.” Jesus replies, “I will never leave you.”

            Jesus is alive! Jesus is risen! And he is with us!

                                                AMEN

---

[i] Geoff Thomas, The Road to Recovery (sermon), May 26, 2013.

[ii] Bob Deffinbaugh

Luke 22:63-71

THE DECISION

Who is Jesus?

            We get a little nervous when we see specials on TV that declare they are going to explore the historical Jesus. A&E or History Television, from time to time, will present some radical or controversial aspect of Christ’s life. Underlying these documentaries is the intention to get at the real life of Jesus, who he was, what he did, while stripping him of the evangelical clothes or the Christian legend. That’s where we grow nervous; what kind of Jesus will they present?

            History cannot get away from the fact that Jesus impacted the world in a profound and unforgettable way. Even H. G. Wells declared, “I am an historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.”

            However, simply being the greatest figure in history is not enough to describe Jesus. He was much more than that; he presented himself as more than that. Thomas Shultz said, “Not one recognized religious leader, not Moses, Paul, Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius, etc., has ever claimed to be God; that is, with the exception of Jesus Christ. Christ is the only religious leader who has ever claimed to be deity and the only individual ever who has convinced a great portion of the world that He is God.”

            Jesus is presently on trial. He is being judged by the world and found to be a fraud, a charlatan, a con-artist, a lunatic, a menace, impossible to live up to, and a host of other descriptions. Some of you here today may still have Jesus on the examining table. You have believed in him but are still testing him to see if he is reliable. Some of you believe without a doubt that Jesus is the most significant person in your life. Jesus is being judged by humankind, yet one day he will come to judge humankind on the basis of what they thought of him. Who is Jesus?

1. Jesus is abused by men

In our text today (Luke 22:63-71), we are introduced to the cruel fury of humankind. It is inexplicable that the men, the police as it were, who were guarding Jesus after his arrest in the garden, would begin beating and mocking him. Why? What caused these men to unleash their crudest feelings on Jesus? “They blindfolded him and demanded, ‘Prophesy! Who hit you?’” (64). Then they insulted him.

            When we look back to how Jesus entered Jerusalem a few days prior, we see Jesus throwing tables around in the temple. But we also see a meek and mild Jesus taking the time to care for people. The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. He spoke powerful and loving words to the people that set them free.

            Oddly enough, this did not sit well with everyone. Matthew tells us, “But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ they were indignant,” (Mt 21:14). Yes the table turning and the claim of royalty were upsetting, but it wasn’t that which upset the priests. Something about Jesus created controversy.

            If a man came into our foyer during this service and healed a few people and they started shouting “hallelujah” and praising God, we might find that disrupting and upsetting, and we might ask that healer to leave. Can you imagine? Jesus was kind of doing that in the temple.

            On the other hand, I was at a Jets game the other night and heard Christ’s name being thrown about as a curse. I don’t know what Christ’s name had to do with the temperature of beer but even his name is abused in our public places. We don’t hear, “O for Buddha’s sake.”

            Jesus draws either the praise of men and women or the abuse. He is a polarizing character. The guards abused him, mocked him, spit on him, played games at his expense, and mimicked him. Why would a gentle man like this draw abuse?

2. Jesus is judged by the elders

The trial of Jesus began in the dark of night. What is not immediately apparent to us is that midnight trials are illegal. This is why we read, “At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and the teachers of the law, met together…” (66). With the sun up the real trial, if it can be called that, began.

            This is the Sanhedrin, a council of 71 members with the high priest serving as its leader. It was made up of Sadducees, Pharisees, middle-class laymen and wealthy men. Jesus was not being tried by a mob or by revolutionary upstarts. Behind this court lay a tradition of righteousness superior to anything the world had ever seen. Behind this court lay the prophets God had sent, the covenants, the Holy Scriptures, the sacrifices and offerings. Behind it lay the Ten Commandments. Behind it lay all the examples of case law and grieved over prophets whom God had sent, whom their fathers had murdered. These were top lawyers of Israel, skillful, learned and discerning.

            And yet, for all their experience and learning, they could not see who was sitting before them. Earlier, Jesus had said, “though seeing, they may not see; though hearing they may not understand,” (Lk 8:10). That describes even today why some do not recognize Jesus. They just can’t see him.

            So they ask him, “If you are the Messiah, tell us,” (67). This is not a query for faith’s sake; they want to know so as to convict him.

            Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I asked you, you would not answer.” This is a similar situation as back in ch. 20:1-8 where they ask Jesus how he got his authority. Jesus turned this question on them and said, “Where did John’s baptism come from?” It doesn’t matter how Jesus answers the question, they won’t believe it. So why bother answering? Some people don’t want to know the truth.

            However, Jesus goes on, and what he says next seals his fate. “But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God,” (69). As Jesus is being judged, he declares that he will be at the right hand of the power of God judging them. He refers to the Daniel 7 image of the Son of Man which is pregnant with meaning. It was not a crime to claim to be the Messiah; history reveals plenty of those that didn’t get convicted. Jesus is claiming here that he is able to go directly into God’s presence and rule at the divinity’s side from heaven. This is worse than defiling the Holy of Holies. Jesus is offending their sense of God’s holiness. He is claiming something no man has ever claimed.[i]

3. Jesus is accused of heresy

Luke records the question simply, “Are you then the Son of God?” (70). Matthew adds a detail, “The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God,” (Mt 26:63). 

            Witnesses proved useless. Jesus won’t talk. Finally, Caiaphas, the high priest, forces Jesus under oath to tell the truth. This is pretty humiliating. Imagine that a man who has dated a woman for two years decides it’s time to marry. He declares his love for her and proposes. She says, “I don’t believe you. Put your hand on a Bible and swear to me that you love me.” That is distrust. That is suspicion. That’s how Caiaphas treated Jesus. Caiaphas was saying, “I don’t believe that throughout your life you and your Father have been one. I don’t believe that you are the Messiah of truth sent by the God of light into the world.”[ii] He doesn’t want to know the truth. Caiaphas just wants to condemn him.

            But Caiaphas asks the most important question ever asked. Feminists ask why Jesus only chose men for his twelve. The gay community asks if homosexuality is really a sin. Post-modernists question the absolutism of the Scriptures. Evolutionists question the origin of creation. But the more fundamental question that supersedes all questions is this: Is Jesus the Son of God? Did God the Creator, the One and true living God, send Jesus into the world to bring his children out of darkness and into the light? If you answer “yes” you have found the starting point for the answer to all those other questions. We must always come back to Jesus.

            Jesus answers Caiaphas, “You are right in saying I am,” (70b). This is a roundabout way of saying “yes.” In effect, Jesus really says, “I will not deny it, but I would mean it a little differently from the way you mean it.” Jesus has admitted to claiming to be the Son of God. Ghandi revered Jesus as a great moral teacher; many admire him for his way of life; Jesus has changed history. But you cannot stop there; the claim of Jesus to be the Son of God will not let you. Either Jesus is the Son of God or some kind of mad man and deceiver. You can spit at him, or you can fall down before him and call him Lord and God. But he is not just some teacher.

4. Jesus is condemned for being Jesus

Following Jesus’ admission to being the Son of God, the elders said, “Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard from his own lips,” (71). Matthew’s gospel adds details again. The high priest, Caiaphas, tore his clothes and cried out, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?” (Mt 26:65-68).

            The answer from the council? “He is worthy of death.” Oddly again, they start hitting him again. Yes, he is confessing to be the Son of God. You call it blasphemy. But why hit him and spit on him and mock him again. Put him away in an asylum. But why lose control of all senses and logic? Why do they act like animals?

            Remember what Jesus prayed in the garden? “Father, not my will but yours be done.” This is it. This is the Father’s will. The Father’s will is that Jesus be handed over to the insanity of men controlled by their sinful natures and to be treated like the prophets of old. Jesus has identified with the prophets who were before him. He had to be rejected and be killed. This is the Father’s will. It goes against all human logic, but there it is.

            The high priest tore his robes. This is a sign of despair before the Lord, a sin actually, because the priest’s robe was designed never to tear. A priest must never despair before the Lord and tear his clothes (Ex 28:31-32).

            We see this despair in the lives of our friends and family who just can’t seem to grasp Jesus. We grieve their rejection of Christ and wonder why their eyes are blind to the Savior. But as Paul says, we were once like them (Eph 2).

            Even now we are guilty of taking our eyes off of Jesus and fail to see him. I read this week that we tend to look at our sins and mourn the long list of transgressions we have committed. The writer says it is not the sins we ought to grieve but the fact that we have offended a holy God. Our God is the focus, not our sins. And when we grasp who Jesus is, we find the One who died for our sins and cancelled them.

            Jesus is condemned for being Jesus. If Jesus is who he says he is, then we have to confess our sins and call him Lord and God.

Conclusion

“But what about you?” Jesus asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:15-16).

            You must also answer the question: Who do you think Jesus is?

            Jesus is not merely a good teacher.

            Jesus is not an insurance policy against hell. Salvation is sometimes viewed as a reservation in heaven. If believing in Jesus is only about heaven and eternal life when we die, then living as a Christian in the present is futile.

            If Jesus is the Son of God, then a decision needs to be made. You and I must give him the space in our lives to be the Lord of all we do and think and say. All we plan and work at are under his authority then. If Jesus is the Son of God and you choose to believe this and confess this, He will change your whole way of life. This is called discipleship.

            Philip Yancey, in his book The Jesus I Never Knew, wrote “It occurs to me that all the contorted theories about Jesus that have been spontaneously generating since the day of his death merely confirm the awesome risk God took when he stretched himself out on the dissection table—a risk he seemed to welcome. Examine me. Test me. You decide” (JNK, 21).

Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me," (Luke 9:23). That means a daily decision to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. When you wake up each morning - Jesus is Lord.

                                                            AMEN

---

[i] Darrell Bock, adapted.

[ii] Geoff Thomas, adapted.