20 Sep Stranger no more

Luke 24:13-35

¹³ That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁴ and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. ¹⁵ While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. ¹⁶ But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. ¹⁷ And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. ¹⁸ Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” ¹⁹ And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰ and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. ²¹ But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. ²² Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, ²³ and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. ²⁴ Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”

There’s so much we can learn from these 2 disciples on the road to Emmaus, but before we unravel the story and go on this journey together, can I just say I am beyond grateful and honoured to be preaching tonight with one of my best friends, Stacey.  Although, she calls herself a Melbournian now (Boo!), she’s still very much part of our RSI family and this will be her first time preaching to RSI so PLEAAAAASEEEEEE cheer, encourage and give her some love!

Do we have any Sherlock Holmes fans in the room? Who here just can’t wait for the next season of Sherlock, and I mean the real version which is the BBC version with Benedict Cumberbatch? I for one love the crime fiction genre.  So much so that one of the reasons why I took extension English for my HSC (the certificate before University), was because I could study, read and watch crime fiction movies.  But the more I studied, read crime novels and watched those detective movies, the more I realised what was so interesting to me was the ‘denouement’ moment, the French word to describe the pinnacle moment where all the pieces of the puzzle fit together, where characters find out who the culprit is, the moment everyone scrambles to break the news to well … everyone! 

Now, the passage that we just read contains one of the most notable ‘denouement’ moments in history! A recount of the moment two disciples finally understand how all the pieces of Scripture come together to reveal the greatest redemption story of all time and see Jesus for who he truly is.   As their despair turns to joy, they just can’t wait to tell everyone about Jesus!  Like the disciples, once we see what has been done for us and understand the message of the Scriptures, the good news of the Gospel, it transforms and burns our hearts to want more of Jesus, to testify and bare witness. 

So tonight we’ll talk about the hope we have in Christ and the response to that hope.

Hope in Christ

For most of us tonight, 2020 has been a very challenging year full of unpleasant and devastating news.  You may have planned or hoped for a great year but have since then either lost your job, took a massive pay cut or perhaps you may have lost a loved one.  You’ve tried to look for God or feel his presence, you regularly come to church or MC but you still feel quite hopeless and distant from God.  This heart sinking feeling is something that 2 of Jesus’ disciples (who weren’t part of the original 12) felt on the Sunday, 3 days after Jesus’ crucifixion.  They would have seen him crucified and die on the cross, and with it all their hopes of a saviour.  They were depressed, heartbroken and confused.  The story begins on the road “¹³ That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁴ and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. ¹⁵ While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.  ¹⁶ But their eyes were kept from recognizing him”. For those of you who have experienced heartbreak before, especially at the loss of a loved one, you know that you just can’t help but think about the memories of that person or what’s happened.  I know for those of us part of the RSI family we’ve been through this as a church before.  But what these amazing verses are telling us is that in your misery and sadness, when you can’t see Jesus walking beside you, Jesus is there with you.  We don’t know how Jesus came up to the disciples but we know it was Jesus who drew near to them.  How encouraging and assuring is that!  This is the first time Luke introduces a living and breathing Jesus since the crucifixion and the first thing we learn is that Jesus intercepts his grieving followers to walk with them even when they didn’t recognise him.  So even if we don’t see him or feel like we’re alone in our suffering, we have the confidence that Jesus knows our heartbeat and seeks us out on our journey of grief.

Now it’s important to understand that the disciples couldn’t recognise Jesus not because the sun was in their eyes as they were travelling west in the afternoon or that they were too depressed to see Jesus, but it was God who had prevented them from recognising Jesus.  The original word for “kept” in Greek is “Ekratounto” which means “prevented” or “restrained”.  But why did God prevent them from recognising Jesus? Well it is simply because God wants them, and us today, to see Jesus not yet with our eyes but through a different way, and that way is to see Jesus through the lens of the Gospel, through Scripture.

Like any good doctor in treating their patients, Jesus doesn’t throw the Scriptures at them and expect they will understand on their own.  He converses with them and makes the disciples come to terms with the state of their heart ¹⁷ And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. ¹⁸ Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”. The disciples are so devastated to the point they are so ‘bummed’ they actually stop in their tracks when asked by Jesus what they’re talking about, we read “they stood still, looking sad”.  Can you imagine their posture in their frustration? But it is in this moment of frustration that we can see the spiritual health of the disciples.  In their seemingly sarcastic response, they’ve accused Jesus of not knowing what’s happened and for being out of touch. Perhaps this is reflective of some of us tonight? Are you frustrated and have also accused Jesus of not knowing your circumstances?  Yet despite their short-sightedness Jesus was all the more gracious to his two confused disciples.  Rather than be offended, rejecting them or leaving them, he engages and invites them to tell him exactly what’s weighing down their hearts.  Likewise, we can be sure that in our time of grief, sorrow, confusion and hopelessness Jesus invites us to talk to him as well and will take the time to listen to our problems.     

¹⁹ And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰ and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. ²¹ But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.   ²² Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, ²³ and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. ²⁴ Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”  What we can see from the disciples’ response is that they are full of doubt.  Try think back to a time where you were comforting a friend or sibling that is going through a period of heartbreak.  Almost always, they’ll see the downside or the negative side of the things that have happened.  Here the disciples have been looking forward to their freedom and redemption by a mighty saviour, the Messiah who would come in strength to defeat the Romans.  But after what has happened, in their view Jesus was no Messiah but another prophet who suffered and was given up to die by their “chief priests and rulers”.  They don’t even call Jesus “Lord” anymore, they’ve lost all hope.  As a consequence of their doubt, they failed to see the true purpose of the events that took place.  But this isn’t a lesson about not doubting, the issue is deeper than that.  In fact, what we can learn from their response is what the disciples said about Jesus is not wrong at all.  They had all the ingredients of the Gospel, in that Jesus came to earth, he taught and performed mighty deeds, was arrested, condemned to die and his tomb was empty.  Yet for them this was a tragedy rather than Good News.  Church, you can have all the facts about the Gospel, you can know everything that Jesus did, yet still not know him for who he truly is.  The hopes of the disciples were pinned on seeing Jesus winning the fight against the Romans and surely by staying alive, not by suffering and being crucified on a tree! Like the verses we read a couple weeks ago in Matthew 7:26-27 ²⁶ And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. ²⁷ And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.  The disciples had built their hope of redemption based on their own narrative, on sandy ground and when that failed, they were broken and full of doubt.  On top of this, the events that took place that morning only added further to their doubts. They heard the news that Jesus is alive, yet because no one saw Jesus they couldn’t be sure what to believe.  We need to ask ourselves tonight, what foundation is our hope built on? Do we often find ourselves disappointed by things not going our way or as we planned? Is our hope built on our own narrative in God doing something that we can see in our lives? Perhaps for many of us who regularly attend RSI who hear the Gospel every week, we’re asking why aren’t we excited about sharing the Gospel? Why is my heart not burning for Jesus?

As the disciples come to a dead end in their understanding, Jesus takes the opportunity to rebuke them not to belittle them, but to teach and enlighten them of the true meaning of the events that took place that weekend.  ²⁵ And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.  What the disciples had done was read and believe only the parts of Scripture that they wanted to believe, the promise of a Messiah, that a saviour will come and reign over all.  They were otherwise slow to believe the parts that spoke of his suffering.  But Jesus turns their world upside down and provides a renewed hope when he preaches to them that he didn’t come to be victorious like that of a military leader or conventional hero, but to achieve victory through his suffering as a sacrificial lamb as prophesied in the Scriptures.  Not only do all Scriptures point to Christ, all Scriptures are fulfilled by Christ.  Some passages that point to Jesus’ suffering can be seen in Genesis where we read that Eve’s offspring, a human will be bruised by the devil but will in return crush the devil.  In Exodus, the Israelites were saved from the angel of death because of the blood of the Passover lamb and in Leviticus, we read that atonement can only be made through an offering of sacrificial blood.  Other notable passages include Isaiah 53, that sets out that the saviour will be wounded for our iniquities and pierced for our transgressions.  How amazing is it that Jesus uses Scripture to his disciples who can’t see him and are going through heartbreak. Just like Jesus has suffered, we too as believers will suffer in this lifetime.  But we are a forgetful people and often times get carried away by our circumstances that we forget who Jesus is and what he has done for us.  Yes, we will go through pain, confusion, trials and will often feel like we’re alone.  But when you can’t see or feel Jesus, or when you can’t hear him speaking to you, come back to the Word, open your bible and look to the Scriptures.  He is there.  He is the Word.  He is victorious.

 

 

The Response

Now we will see how these disciples responded to Jesus and how we as disciples of Christ respond to this as well. Let’s read from verse 28-35:

 

28 So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, 29 but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them.

30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight.

32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” 33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

First thing, the request, the disciples requested Jesus to stay. so they finally reached Emmaus and Jesus acted as if he were going farther and these two disciples urged him strongly to stay. Can we see how different the posture of these two disciples compare to when they first started the journey? Earlier in the journey when Jesus asked them about what they were talking about, they were sad, depressed and frustrated. But after spending time with Jesus and learning about the scripture, they wanted to know more so they asked Jesus to stay. Jesus is no longer a stranger to them. We can also see that it takes humility on their part to ask Jesus to stay.

They understood now that the death of Jesus and the empty tomb are good, they are part of God’s grand plan and it is all written in the scripture.The cross did not negate his identity as Messiah, but confirmed it.  The death of Jesus did not take God by surprise, it is all planned. When we see the cross in the light of the resurrection, it all makes sense. The cross is necessary for it is the very thing that secures our salvation. Jesus had to go through suffering in order to enter His glory. Understanding this makes they want to know more about the scripture and Jesus. Tim Keller says “The resurrection, (when) paired with the cross, makes the cross make sense and opens all of scripture.”

Friends, how about us today? Do we know that Jesus came down to earth, lived a perfect life, died on the cross and resurrected on the cross so that you and I can have eternal life with Him? Have we asked Jesus to stay with us? Have we humble ourselves and said that we want to know Him more, the one who has given us absolutely everything? When Jesus is no longer a stranger to us, we will respond to Him differently. We will humble ourselves and ask Him to stay. We are no longer rejecting Him, but we will long to know Him better.

 

Let’s continue reading verse 29B to 31 to see how Jesus responded to the disciples request for him to stay

So he went in to stay with them.  30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight.

 

This was the denouement moment that Josh talked about earlier! You could almost imagine their faces at this point.  They’ve had a long day, with the empty tomb still fresh in their minds, they had spent most of the afternoon travelling and being taught everything about Jesus in the Word by a stranger only for them to realise that this person is no stranger after all, but Jesus himself.  He is alive!  And then He disappeared. Let’s see these verses a bit closer.

Jesus stays. Jesus does not have to stay, but the fact that He stays with these two disciples gives us comfort and hope. Jesus is more than willing to stay with us. Oftentimes, we think that we don’t deserve Him, but this story tells us otherwise. How many times we think that we are too ridiculous for God, that we are not good enough, that there is no way Jesus wants to be with us. Friends, this story tells us otherwise. Jesus stays.

Jesus breaks the bread. Some people believed that the action of the breaking of the bread is what caused their eyes to open, some people believed that when Jesus broke the bread, the disciples saw the nail pierced hands. It could be either, but one thing we know for sure, the bible mentions that the opening of their eyes is a passive verb. ‘Their eyes were opened’ – they did not open their eyes because they tried too, but someone has caused their eyes to open. Just as earlier in the passage their eyes were kept from recognising Jesus, now their eyes were opened.

These two disciples went to Jerusalem to look for a Messiah that would redeem them from the oppression, they were looking for a King who would change their circumstances right at that point in time and they were frustrated when they did not see what they expected, but our God is a good God. He does not give what they want because He has something better. They desired for a change in circumstances, but God changed their heart instead. God opened their hearts and eyes to see the beauty of Jesus through the scripture.

Friends, most of the time God’s answers are quite different from our expectation, but we can rest assured that He does not mean evil against us. Quite the opposite, God wants good for us, maybe just maybe when God does not give us what we want, He wants to work on our heart more than our circumstances.

Second thing, the response. Let’s read verse 32-35.

32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” 33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

I love verse 32. This was the disciples’ response after Jesus vanished in front of their eyes, but they did fixate on that or how their hearts burned after recognising Jesus, BUT their response was to talk about how their hearts burned on the road when they opened the scripture. And when their hearts burned with fire, they did not sit still, they went back to Jerusalem and told others about what happened.

For us, there is only one way to know the truth, we need to read our bible. The more we dive deep in our bible, the more we find about Jesus, the more we love Him. Understanding the bible fulfills our deepest longing because we know our faith is anchored and secured in Christ’s perfect work. And for us today, we have the Holy Spirit who will help to illuminate the Word and burn our hearts. And when the word burns our hearts, we will want to share this with others.

When you love something so much, it is only natural to keep talking about it, you want to share it with others, be it your family, your friends, or strangers that you just meet. You just want to say something so others know about it. It is the same with our christian faith. When God opens our eyes to see His beauty and glory, it burns our heart and our natural reaction is to shout it out. Imagine this. You find something so awesome, say it’s a super duper delicious food, or a magnificent landscape, or some it is a very fun game. And you enjoy that very thing so much, BUT you can not say anything, let alone let others know. You just have to enjoy that awesome thing silently. How would you feel? Do you feel weird? Or you feel oh yeh this is normal? I think we can agree that something is missing when we can not utter our enjoyment with words because it is only natural that when you enjoy something, you have to praise them. CS Lewis said that ‘Praise completes our enjoyment.’ and we completely enjoy Jesus and His beauty, we will praise Him.

Friends, we can praise Jesus because He has proven Himself to be worthy of our praise. Because of his death and resurrection, our future is guaranteed. Because of Jesus’ blood our sins are forgiven and we are now counted righteous in front of God. We who were once God’s enemies are now reconciled with God, we are now heirs of His kingdom. This is the good news. When we know how much we have been forgiven and what Christ has done for us, it will burn our hearts. And He did not stay in that tomb, He resurrected on the third day so that when the time comes, we too will be raised with Him. And this is our testimony, that we were once dead but God in His mercy and grace, raises us up with Jesus. Now have hope that does not depend on circumstances, but one that is anchored in Jesus’ perfect work.

Last one, the road.  Verse 33 says ‘and they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem.’. We know that in the previous verses, they told Jesus that it was already late in the day and they urged him to stay with them because at that time, it was dangerous to travel at night because of the robbers. So going back to Jerusalem was not a safe journey and they knew it yet it didn’t stop them. They didn’t care about the cost, they just knew they were on fire and they had to tell others about this.

Earlier that day, these 2 disciples were walking that road from Jerusalem to Emmaus and  they were sad and depressed, they didn’t know what to do, they couldn’t see Jesus, but once they knew the truth, they went back to the same road from Emmaus to Jerusalem burning with fire! Can we see the contrast here? Their heart and their attitude were so different. Same road, different attitude.

So the practical application from this is when you come to know Christ and become his disciples, I don’t think your life will change upside down in terms of what you do or your job. Yes, in some cases, God can call you to serve full time, but for most of us, it means to go back to that same road with a different heart and attitude even when we know the cost.

So if you are a student, continue to study but with a burning passion that you will glorify God with your study. If you used to drag your feet to go to classes, now you will do it joyfully. If you used to hate explaining things to your friends, you will now do it joyfully because you know that Jesus has shown you kindness like never before.

If you are a worker that means continue to work but with a burning passion to glorify God in your work. If you used to be sad that it’s Monday again, you will be joyful now because Monday means you can finally share Christ again with your co-workers. If you used to be ignorant to your colleagues’ problems, you will care for them because Jesus cares for you.

Friends, we can be generous to others because Jesus has been generous to us even to the point of death. Instead of praising ourselves, now we can praise Jesus. We can humble ourselves before God because Jesus has humbled himself to come down to earth. When we feel unworthy, Jesus said my blood has covered you now you are worthy. When we think of what we can do for God, we look to Jesus because Jesus has done it first. He has walked the walk before us so now we can confidently walk in Him.

I am going to close with this story.

This story comes from Austin Stone Church. I came across this church when I attended the Saturate The City event 2 years ago. I love Austin Stone Church particularly because of their missional community, they encourage their congregation to be missional in their community in the day to day life to share the gospel with others. Such as inviting your neighbour for dinner or cooking for them, lending a hand to babysit your neighbour’s baby or helping to tutor the kids in the neighbourhood. But this particular story happens in the office setting. One of the girls, she just moved to Austin to work for a big tech company where the employee turnover is high and she felt that the office culture was a bit dark and thinking that if she could find other believers in the office and pray for their coworkers, it would make the office brighter. So she found another colleague who is a christian, and they started praying for their office and colleagues before work, and soon the group grew to eight people. And three years later, the group keeps growing and they start doing bible study as well.

There are a lot of good stories from this group. To name a few: they recall a guy who showed up because he has questions about God, and the next day shares that he had ordered a Bible overnight and read all of Matthew, a month later he claimed that Christ was his saviour. There was a girl who left the company for a job at another tech company and started a prayer group there. A man who has never prayed out loud in his life now leads the group’s prayer ministry and the story goes on.

One of the guys says this ‘Most of the people in your city spend most of their time in the workplace, 40+ hours a week and it needs  faithful men and women to preach the gospel to them. My placement in the workplace is intentional and there is a purpose for it. There is a greater mission here to be a light and bear witness of who Jesus is. It is the Lord’s plan to have me in this office in this city at this time to fulfil the great commission. The only thing that I have to do is be faithful.’

Friends, I am not telling you to start a bible study in your office, but we need to realise that wherever we go, in whatever stage life we are in, we are called to be God’s witness. I pray that we will not be a christian only on Sunday, but understanding the bible and who Jesus is, it changes our life and our perspective of things. It stirs our heart to live our life for the One who has given us His absolute best. Now we can do our Monday to Saturday with this one thing in mind, in whatever we do, we will glorify God.

Discussion questions:

1. What are some of the reasons why these two disciples are disappointed with Jesus? Can you relate? Share.

2. According to Jesus, what are the fundamental reason behind our disappointments and what is the solution?

3. Look at the two response of Jesus: Jesus stays and Jesus breaks the bread. What does it teach us about Jesus?

4. What does it mean for the gospel to burn our hearts?

5. List out some of the creative ways you can share the gospel with others in your context.