Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Please bow your heads for the prayer of illumination.
Blessed Lord, who caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning, grant us so to hear them read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life which you have given us in our savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today's scripture is from the 24th chapter of Luke, verses 13 through 35.
Now, on that same day, two of them were going to a village called Emanis, about 7 miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened.
While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
And he said to them, what are you discussing with each other as you walk along?
They stood still, looking sad.
Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?
He asked them, what things?
They replied, the things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word, before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him.
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 took place.
Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive.
Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it, just as the women had said.
But they did not see him.
Then he said to them, oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared.
Was it not necessary that the messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?
Then, beginning with Moses and all the. The prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.
As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on.
But they urged him strongly, saying, stay with us, because it is almost evening, and the day is now nearly over.
So he. He went in to stay with them.
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed, and broke it and gave it to them.
Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight.
They said to each other, were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us.
That same hour, they got up and returned to Jerusalem.
And they found the eleven and their companions gathered together.
They were saying, the Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon.
Then they told what had happened on the road and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
[00:04:30] Speaker B: Thanks, Toby.
Happy Easter, everyone.
Ashley is right. We are still celebrating Easter here at Knox. He is still risen. Last week, we had a wonderful Easter service with the choir and Carrie and Joel playing violin, and a pancake breakfast and an Easter egg hunt right here in this room. So if you find any eggs, you can turn those in. It was Luke's first Easter, which was exciting for my little family. He's three months old now, and he has doubled in weight since his birth. So I did the math. He keeps this pace of growth up. When he's three years old, he is going to be 28,672 pounds, keeps doubling Caltech scientists. You can check me on that.
It's been really fun seeing him grow up and develop already. He found his feet the other day and he rolled over a couple weeks ago, which freaked us out because we are not ready for him to be mobile yet. But the most beautiful developmental jump to watch happened in that first month when we noticed he really started focusing in and recognizing us. You can see his eyes, like, lock on, and there's almost this glow. It's hard to describe, but you know that he knows who he's looking at, whether it's me or Lynette or his big sister Addie. It became even more obvious when he really started smiling. And you can hear him now, when he really started smiling.
Now my favorite thing in the world is. Is coming to greet him right after a nap and seeing him just light up. Lynette caught this moment just the other day. So here's before.
Sorry for the blurry photo, but she's walking into the bedroom and he hasn't seen her yet. And then here is after all of a sudden, when the smile breaks out. I know I'm biased. That's a cute kid. Come on. Thank you for humoring me with the baby photos. I promise, no more for this sermon.
So I've been reflecting on this moment of recognition, that moment when everything lights up, that quick intake of air. I know you. I know who that is.
It's one of the most significant parts of that scripture we just heard from Luke 24, when the travelers recognize who they've been walking with all along.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves, because this is a rich text, and there's so much to unpack here. This is the evening of that first Easter Sunday, two travelers walking along a road. They're heading from Jerusalem to Emmaus. There's a lot of debate about where Emmaus is or how far it is from Jerusalem. Your Bible might say 7 miles. Other manuscripts say closer to 18 miles. We don't really know. What's significant might be the simple fact that these travelers are walking away from Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the city where Jesus was killed, where all the action is taking place, where the other disciples are still huddled together, trying to make sense of what's going on. Jesus entire mission was kind of this long march towards Jerusalem, but now these travelers are walking away from it all.
These travelers are followers of Jesus, or at least they used to be a few days ago. I imagine they're not quite sure what to call call themselves now. They weren't among the twelve disciples, but among the larger group of followers, maybe those 72 who Jesus sent out earlier in Luke's gospel.
We get one of their names later, Cleopas, but the other one is never even named. Some people think it could be Cleopas wife, but again, we really have no idea what's significant.
Maybe they point out that this resurrection story takes place, place with people we might not expect.
It's not Peter and John walking along the road. These are not the all star players among the disciples. They're not even in the starting lineup. This is like the third string tied in and the water boy. Okay, but maybe that gives some hope to some of us who might not be starting players in our own minds. And this is where Jesus decides to appear in Luke's gospel, this is the first time time Jesus appears in person after the resurrection.
There's something playful about the way Jesus starts popping up in these resurrection stories and who he chooses to pop up to. It's like a little cat and mouse game. It's made all the more mysterious by the fact that when he appears, the travelers don't realize they're talking with Jesus until the last minute.
The text says their eyes were kept from recognizing him. How does this happen? What does that even mean? Personally, I like to imagine Jesus showed up with glasses and a little fake mustache or something, but no, clearly, something spiritual is going on here. So the travelers are on this road talking while they walk. This isn't just a casual conversation. The greek word here has some strong connotations. They were debating. Questioning. It might have been a lively, intense discussion they're trying to make sense of everything that's happened in the last few days, much less that morning.
And that's when Jesus appears, walking alongside, just another traveler on the road as far as they're concerned. And Jesus asks, what are you discussing together as you walk along?
Please. See the irony in this? As Cleopatra basically says, you must be the one guy in Jerusalem who hasn't heard what's going on.
And Jesus goes, what's going on? Tell me more. I wonder if he had to hide his smile. They have no idea who they're talking to. So the travelers give Jesus their breakdown, their version of events. Notice they called Jesus a prophet. That's all.
I'm sure they didn't mean it as an insult, but they admit they had hoped that he was going to be the one to redeem Israel. They'd hoped maybe he'd be more than just another prophet.
Remember back in Luke nine, when Jesus asked his disciples, who did the crowd say, I am? The disciples had answered, some say John the Baptist or Elijah or one of the prophets of long ago.
It had been Peter who had boldly proclaimed, no, you are the Christ, the messiah.
Now it looks like Jesus might be back to prophet status, because it's common for prophets to be killed, not the messiah.
The travelers tell Jesus all about how the women had found the empty tomb that morning and how they saw angels. And then some of the other disciples went to confirm, and they found the empty tomb as well. And yet you have to wonder if these travelers even really believe it, because remember, they're walking the wrong way.
They're leaving Jerusalem even as they speak.
It says they stood still, looking sad, or their faces were downcast. Whatever is going on, whatever explanation for these events you can come up with, clearly resurrection is not really on the table for these travelers. They seem to have already given up on Jesus being the Christian. It's almost like they're afraid to start hoping again.
Jesus says, oh, how foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared. Was it not necessary the messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?
Not only does his suffering not exclude him from being the messiah, his suffering might be the thing that points to him as, that's the messiah.
That's what this mysterious stranger on the road says, at least.
And it says then, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.
You guys know that famous icebreaker question about if you could have dinner with one person, living or dead, who would you choose? I always have to tell the students in youth group, you can't say Jesus, okay? It's too obvious. We want some variety in our answers. But come on. I mean, the answer is Jesus. I think about this moment like, this is when I realized I would do anything to have been a third traveler, walking alongside them, listening to this conversation. What did jesus talk about here? What exactly did he say? It doesn't tell us. But somehow he sees all of scripture as pointing to and leading to himself.
He sees the Bible as one cohesive story of God's redemption plan for all of creation. And the son of God, the messiah, is right there at the heart of it all.
Whatever you think about the Bible, however, you've maybe struggled with the Old Testament and the violence and some of those disturbing stories. Listen, I can sympathize.
But the thing that keeps bringing me back to scripture is the fact that Jesus studied it so closely and memorized it and saw himself in it.
And if jesus finds it worthwhile and good and pointing to himself, then I want to know it the way he does.
I wondered as jesus walked along the road to Emmaus with these travelers, if you talk to them about how in Genesis three when God curses the serpent, he says, the offspring of the woman will crush the head of the serpent, but the serpent will strike his heel. Did he tell them the Christ is the snake crusher who was struck but conquered? Did he point to the story of Abraham and Isaac when God stops Abraham from sacrificing his son and provides a ram instead? Did he tell him, the Christ is the ram? The Christ is God providing the sacrifice? Did you point to the passover in Exodus and say, the Christ is the passover land? Did you point to psalm 22 when it says, they've pierced my hands and my feet, they divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing and say, that's the Christ?
And he point to psalm 110 where it says, the Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet? And did you say, but that's the cross, Christ too? Did he say, the Christ is the stone the builders rejected in psalm 118? That's become the capstone. Did he say, the Christ is the suffering servant? In Isaiah 53, the Christ is the one with the spirit of the Lord to preach the good news in Isaiah 61, the Christ is the son of man. The Christ is the fulfillment of everything. You didn't understand what scripture was telling you before, but God has been at work all along. Through all of history, God has been working towards the redemption of all of creation. Even in those moments where God seemed far away and everything seemed dark, God was moving at work, bringing all things towards redemption. Can't you see the fact that these travelers were blind? Who Jesus really was was really just a symptom to their blindness, to the ways God had been at work all along? They've been blind all morning, even before Jesus showed up to what these signs of the empty tomb, the angels and the women's testimony really meant.
I think it's kind of easy knowing the full story, to look back and judge these children travelers. They just didn't get it. How could they not recognize Jesus right there in front of their faces?
And yet I wonder how many times we have missed the face of Christ because we've been too caught up in our own narratives of our own lives.
Like these travelers, we have our own versions of events, and it's too risky, maybe too painful, to believe that there could be hope breaking through.
We think we're stuck in this dead end job because we have to pay the bills. We think our family is falling apart and is dysfunctional beyond repair.
We think our identity is defined by this terrible thing that happened to us in the past. We think that diagnosis is the end of the story. What if there's more to the story than that? What if Jesus is walking alongside us, showing us a better ending? We don't even recognize it.
What if God has been at work in your life from the very beginning, even through the darkest times, bringing all things towards redemption? If we could just see it.
Let me be clear in what I'm not saying. I'm not saying life isn't full of things, tragedy and real hardships. I'm not saying we can't mourn and grieve those things and be saddened by them. I think God is saddened by them. I think we should be, too.
What I am saying is that our God is the master of taking tragedy and transforming it into beauty. Our God is the ultimate storyteller who never gets written into a corner. God always has. As a way of bringing the story back to hope, our God has perfected the art of taking ashes and bringing them to life. Do you see it? Will you allow yourself to see what God is doing in your life?
In the beginning, way back in the book of Genesis, we get this famous story of Adam and Eve. We know the story. Adam and Eve take the forbidden fruit. They eat it, and the text tells us, then the eyes of both were opened and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
There's something that happened in that moment, a breaking of heaven and earth, a fracture of humankind's relationship with God. Soon God is walking in the garden in the cool of the day, in the evening, and Adam and Eve hide from them, too ashamed, too afraid of their own creator.
Now flash forward back to Luke 24. The travelers are walking with Jesus in the evening, in the cool of the day, but they don't realize it. When they get to Emmaus, they urge Jesus to come inside, stay with them, and enjoy a meal. This good jewish hospitality. And when he's at the table, it says, Jesus took bread, blessed, and broke it and gave it to them. The formula of these four verbs are the exact same. You'll see in the feeding of the 5000 in Luke nine and the Lord's supper in Luke 22. Took, blessed, broke, gave.
This is a communion story. Even if the travelers didn't realize it, they'd been communing with Jesus all along.
I realize it now.
At that moment, it says their eyes were opened and they recognized him and he vanished from their sight.
First their eyes were kept from recognizing him. Now their eyes were opened just as Adam and Eve's eyes were opened to their sin and to their shame. Now these travelers eyes are opened to the reality of Jesus Christ, the one who was redeeming all things to himself.
This isn't just a cute literary coincidence. This is an intentional reference by the author Luke, to show that what Christ has accomplished through his death and resurrection is a reversal of what happened in Genesis three. It is undoing our shame and our separation from God and from each other and from ourselves.
What Christ did is somehow putting everything back together in this beautiful new way, better than ever.
Travelers are struck by that moment of recognition.
I wonder if, after the shock subsided a bit, if they lit up with joy and delight like a child recognizing their mother, or if they were too dumbfounded, too afraid and just sat there with their jaws on the floor.
They have seen the Lord Jesus, the Christ, the resurrected one. They've seen him in the flesh. And now everything they see, everywhere they look, it looks different with their eyes open. The travelers cannot wait till morning. They cannot wait another second. They immediately get up and hurry the seven to 18 miles back the way they came back to Jerusalem to go tell the other disciples. They literally repent. They turn back. They turn the direction they had been going because this news is too good and the story is so much better church.
Are we living in the resurrection with our eyes open?
Are we recognizing the way God is at work around us even now? Are we too distracted by the horrors and the news and the infighting and the violence to recognize that now, even still, Jesus may be walking right alongside us? If we just have the eyes to see, are we allowing Jesus to redefine the story of our life?
Listen, if Jesus is risen, there is still hope, even when things seem hopeless. If Jesus is risen, then we can still believe in reconciliation, even where it seems impossible. If Jesus is risen, then death is not the final word. Life is. Life wins through Jesus Christ our lord.
That's the reality of the world we're living in. Even if it's sometimes hard to see, don't let anyone tell you different.
If your eyes are downcast and you're walking the wrong way, please open your eyes.
Turn back.
Recognize the risen Lord at work right now.
Don't let the world blind you anymore.
Our savior is inviting us to the table with him to be in communion with him. We're going to celebrate communion in just a little while. But he's celebrating this communion with us all the time. Not just with the bread and the juice, but every day in constant companionship, walking with Jesus and letting him. Let him redefine the world.
Let's not miss it.
Let's pray together.
Dear Lord God, thank you for the resurrection.
Thank you for life.
Thank you for redemption.
Thank you for this story that you're telling with all of history, through all of scripture, and even in our own lives.
God, there are parts of this story where it is hard to see where hope could come through. It is hard to see the ending of this story being anything but terrible. But, God, you are so good that you can make any ending good.
God, resurrect us.
Let us see this world with resurrected eyes. Let us be a part of what you're doing in resurrecting this, the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.
