Today we meet two people who go on a journey
A physical journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus, but also another
kind of journey
At the beginning, when Jesus, who had risen from the dead, meets the two disciples, they do not recognize him. He asks them what they are discussing, and we are told, ‘They stood still, looking sad’.
But then, as they continue with their journey, and as
Jesus explains the bible to them, we are told that ‘their hearts burnt within
[them]’.
I love that. I hope you have experienced something like that
– it does not necessarily need to be things about God – but when what you are hearing
makes such sense, clarifies so many confusions, and brings you such joy – that
you are alive, you are on fire. Your heart is burning within you.
And then when they come to the end of their journey, and they invite the stranger in, and he breaks bread – they recognize that it is Jesus.
Forgive me for making Luke say something that he is not saying, but that I think is true.
Many of us ‘stand still’ in our faith; we get stuck. And
rather than bringing us joy, our faith instead makes us sad.
Please do not stop where you are. Please do not get stuck.
I remember hearing of one older man who stopped coming to church. When they asked him why, he said, ‘I don’t need to. I’ve heard it all before’.
First, that is a challenge that those of us who preach need to hear. We need to work at keeping the message fresh both for ourselves and for those who listen. Kierkegaard said, ‘Jesus turned water into wine. The Church [and in this context I would say ‘preachers’] have done something much more miraculous. They have turned the new wine of the Kingdom into water’. People ask if I reuse sermons. The answer is very rarely. Because then I was looking at them with last year’s eyes, facing last year’s issues, to last year’s people. I’ve been preaching now for just over 40 years, and I have found that if I look, there is always something new in a bible passage, something that the Holy Spirit highlights for us in a fresh way for today.
Second, even if you have ‘heard it all before’, that is no reason to stop coming to church. It is not just about coming to hear and to learn – although that is important. It is also about what we can give and – even more vital – about being together with other believers.
And third, how can we have heard it all before? We can never exhaust the limits of the wonders and love of God.
Don’t get stuck.
These two disciples had got stuck. They could not get over their conviction that the Messiah would come with a great army, as a political leader to liberate the Israelite people from their Roman occupiers. And so they could not work out how Jesus, if he really was the Messiah, ended up crucified by those Roman occupiers, on a cross. “We had hoped”, they said – with obvious despair - “that he was the one to redeem Israel”. Luke 24:21
It is not an unusual thing for people to get stuck on. We think that if we belong to God, if we have committed our life to him, he should bless us. And we do not understand why bad things happen to us, and the people who we love.
But if these followers were stuck, they become unstuck!
And that is because they spend time with Jesus and the bible.
He explains to them that the Bible teaches that the Messiah
had to suffer before he came into his kingdom; that the Messiah had to die, but
then rise from the dead.
“Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these
things and then enter into his glory?” Luke 24:26
Maybe he told them about Moses (as a fugitive in the desert
looking after sheep), about Joseph (forgotten in prison), about David (hunted
as an outcast in the wilderness), about the servant of God of Isaiah 53 who
suffers before he is exalted, about this mysterious ‘son of man’ of Daniel 7
who is crushed before he is vindicated, about Jeremiah (dropped into a well
because he was faithful to the message God gave him), about the many men and
women of faith who, for the sake of the promises of God of a coming kingdom, of
glory, were willing to suffer and die.
And suddenly for them, it all makes sense.
We usually don’t have the risen Jesus coming alongside us bodily
and helping us to understand the Bible.
But we believe in the power of the Holy Spirit, who does help
us to understand – both as we pray and think things through ourselves, and through
others.
There is the story told of an Ethiopian in Acts 8. He was also
on a journey, from Jerusalem to Ethiopia. He is reading Isaiah 53. And the Holy
Spirit sends Philip, and Philip approaches him and asks, ‘Do you understand
what you are reading?’
And he replies, ‘How can I unless someone explains it to me?’
And so Philip tells him about Jesus.
Don’t get stuck and sad!
If there are things that you do not understand in the Bible, don’t dismiss the bible, but hold them and work on them. Talk with some of our people here; ask in your bible study; talk with youth group, your friends.
You may not be wrong – but you might just have missed something out.
The two travellers on the road to Emmaus were not wrong to put their hope in Jesus. They had just missed out a huge part – about suffering – which made all the difference.
And I pray that as we read the Bible, as we study the Bible and listen to those who explain it (whether in books, online or in person), it will make sense, it will clarify our confusion, it will bring peace and hope and joy – and our hearts will burn within us.
But that is not the end of the journey.
We are not people who are simply called to know the word of God.
We are people who are called to know the person who the Bible
is all about: Jesus Christ
Notice how it says, “Then beginning with Moses and all the
prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the
scriptures.” Luke 24:27
The end of the journey is not a head full of knowledge, but a seeing of the glory of Jesus
And the two followers see Jesus as he breaks bread.
We’re not sure what God used to open their eyes: but I notice
it is God who does it.
V16: ‘their eyes were kept from recognising him’
V31: ‘Then their eyes were opened and they recognised him’
Maybe it was when he took the bread, his sleeve dropped, and
they saw the marks in his hands.
Maybe it was the way that he blessed the bread – the way only
Jesus did.
But I wonder whether it was when he broke the bread
that they suddenly realised that it was Jesus
The breaking of the bread is not just to share the bread
It is a picture of what happened to the body of Jesus. It is an
illustration of everything that Jesus had been telling them. The Messiah, the
King, had to be broken on the cross.
This was the bit that they had missed.
They had seen how Jesus took the bread and blessed it, gave
thanks for it.
They had seen how Jesus had shared the bread.
But they had missed the breaking bit:
They thought that Jesus had come to lead them from success to success and victory to victory.
But before the resurrection, before the ascension, before the returning again in glory – there had to be the breaking.
So as Jesus took the bread, blessed it, and broke it, their eyes were opened. They saw him.
I pray that today, as we bless the bread and then break it – we will begin to glimpse the broken, the crucified and the risen and ascended Lord Jesus.
