Be Hopeful!- Two on the Road to Emmaus! Encounter with the Risen Christ!

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

Why is it that we are so quick to believe the expression, “If something sounds too good to be true, it must not be true?” Have we become so cynical in our own lives that we nay-say our own hope for the future?  Whatever happened to hope? The Bible tells us that the Lord has given us both a future and a hope. Last week we saw that just when all hope for Mary of Magdalene was gone, Jesus brought life back again. It should inspire us to continue to believe through the doubts. Yet we are haunted by our own doubts, moment by moment, because of the physical world we live in. We focus on the temporal instead of the eternal because of our own limitations. We are so stuck. This the subject of this week’s study as we continue on with encounters with the risen Christ, and the two travelers to Emmaus.

 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem.  And they talked together of all these things which had happened. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.  But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him. Luke 24:13-16

It was the day of the resurrection, late in the day, and two of the number of those who had been in the city, of Jesus’ followers, were leaving. They were talking between the two of them about what had gone on. It should be noted that leaving the city after the feast of Passover would not have gotten them noticed, nor would have their conversation, but the fact that they knew of the events of that morning and were leaving the city is of interest. If you had lost someone you loved, or even someone you liked a lot, say a celebrity that you followed, and news reached you that they were still alive in a certain place, would you live that place if there was a chance you would see the person there? Fans flock to locations to get a glimpse of movie star, and that’s just a person. Imagine getting to glimpse a person who was dead and rumor has it he’s back from the dead. Wouldn’t you want to see that? Yet these two guys are heading out. That shows you how much faith they had in the story.

            Before we go condemning them we should understand this was prophesied about. Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, which has eyes to see but does not see, and ears to hear but does not hear; for they are a rebellious house. Ez. 12:2 (See Is. 42:18-20) We sometimes do the same thing. We don’t believe because we don’t want to believe no matter how good the news is. We prefer to stay in the negative because it’s what we’re used to, what we’re comfortable with. Good things bring change, and that means we have to change. The thing about being in a rut is that the view from down in the rut is familiar. Familiarity breeds contentment, not contempt. We are creatures of routine. We like to get out from our routine for a while, but we love our old favorites and are loyal to our hang outs. We don’t like change no matter how good it is for us. We’ll find the bad in it.

Example: If you could win a million dollars your first thought is probably that you won’t actually get the million dollars, but that you’ll only get about 55% because the rest will go to taxes, and by the time the relatives get a hold of what you’ve got left you might get yourself out of debt, so won’t that be nice. You won’t answer the trivia question, even though you know the answer, much less register to play, because then you might actually get selected and then you’d have to miss work. What if that’s the day at work they actually announce the new commission incentives? It would just be better if you’re there. Isn't that they way we're programmed to think. Why take the chance? We be the risk taker? 

These two guys were like that. They were busy talking about the opportunity to have seen the risen Savior instead of actually hanging back to see if it would happen to them. After all, they were not in the inner circle. These were the bench sitters, the second stringers, the seventy, not the twelve, which was now down to eleven, also a topic of discussion. Why shouldn’t they leave Jerusalem? If Jesus was going to talk to someone wouldn’t it be the remaining Varsity team that needed to be sent onto the field? They headed out to Emmaus. An interesting side note here about Emmaus is that it is believed that it was a town in which there were springs for bathing. So, these guys were literally, hitting the showers when this man joins them and listens in. Little did they know they were about to be called onto the field to play in the big game.

And He said to them,:“What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?”

Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?”

And He said to them, “What things?”

So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.  But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.  Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was -alive.  And certain 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.” Luke 24:17-24

Jesus asks them what they’re talking about, not because he doesn’t know, but because he wants to give them the opportunity to explain their understanding of the events that have taken place. It is a very loving and paternal approach to take. It’s like asking your child if he has eaten the cookie when he’s got Oreo crumbs all over his mouth. He can deny it if he wants, but you know, and he knows the answer. He will explain how the cookie was on the plate, then in his hand, and how it entered his mouth, but never will he use the word eaten in his vocabulary. It just does not occur to Cleopas as he explains the events that he is laying out exactly how his hope for the redemption of Israel has come to pass. Let’s look at it:

1.    A prophet mighty in deed and word before God.

2.    Condemned to death.

3.    Hoping to redeem Israel.

4.    The third day

5.    A vision of angels

6.    He is alive!

And yet Cleopas and his friend can’t find hope? He’s just told this man an amazing story. So why wouldn’t they turn around and go back? 

We do this too. We all stick to what we’re doing instead of embracing what we know God is doing in us. It is frightening at times to give over all control to God. Think of the Israelites in the wilderness complaining and asking to return to Egypt where they had leeks and onions a-plenty. Sometimes the leeks and the onions, which while they are bitter, seem much more of a sure thing to us than the manna and the pheasant, because the manna goes bad by night, and pheasant must be snared, but the onion and the leeks are right there, easily pulled up. It’s the trust that is hard to muster. Trusting means not worrying. It also requires effort on our part. For Peter it meant stepping out of the boat. For Moses, it meant returning to Egypt for God’s people. For Abram, it meant going west to become a nation. What is it for you? What is it God is asking you to trust Him in doing? Are you going to pull up onions or eat bread and meat?

 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!  Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?”  And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Luke 24:25-27

Jesus reproves them for their failure to understand. He had to explain things to them before, and He had thoroughly covered the plan of redemption, from creation, to the fall, to restoration by His ransom through His death on the cross with them before, and now that it had come to pass they still were not getting it because He wasn’t speaking in first person. He had to lay it all out to them beginning at Genesis until the moment of the resurrection. Can you imagine Jesus explaining, “In the beginning, I was there, and through me all things were made? There was nothing, and then there was something. But you all blew it so… out of our great love for you, I laid aside My dignity and cast aside my supremacy, so I could do this, for you, because I love you.” What an amazing thing to hear Jesus teach on His own word, because He is the Word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” John 1:1-4

Instead just made it much more relevant to them by explaining it third person as he had in the past. Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, that He said to His disciples, “You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.” Matt. 26:1-2 How quickly they’d forgotten what He’s said.

Isn’t it just like us to only hear what we want to hear? We don’t want to hear the bad news so we choose not. We don’t want to hear that someone is going to die so when the prognosis is bad we say, “you’ll fight it and win,” instead of realizing the can be just as valiantly in fighting and still die. It doesn’t mean they lost, only that they died. Maybe the winning was in dying, while fighting to live. Maybe it was in accepting the dying. How do we know what the winning is? Jesus defeated the grave through His resurrection, so therefore, life wins, even in the grave, for the believer in Jesus Christ. The concept of a victory over death had to be explained to these two travelers too. It had to be quite an interesting take a subject that was fresh in their minds.

 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them. Luke 24:28-29

Cleopas and his friend wanted to continue the conversation with this learned man who was obviously knowledgeable in scripture and had an insider’s viewpoint on Jesus of Nazareth. Still, they didn’t know why he knew so much about their Lord. They ‘constrained’ Him, meaning literally begged Him to stay with them, so He agrees.

Have you ever been so drawn to someone you didn’t want the conversation to end? This wasn’t an argument they were wanting to win. This was learning in its purest form. We are so full of ourselves these days we think we know everything so to be in the position of learning in this manner is something foreign to us. Perhaps it’s something we need to humble ourselves into understanding again. To sit and listen, for the sake of learning, because we don’t know something takes humility of heart. (Prov.2:1-5)

 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.  Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. Luke 24:30-31

They finally recognize Him! Why? Why at this moment? Some speculate that it was because they were at the Last Supper and He re-enacted it for them. I don’t think that was it. I think it was because of the scars on his hands. It would be a little difficult to miss those when you’re passing someone the bread to miss those deep gashes on the center of the hands or feet if you’re at the table with Him.  He would have had to have his feet washed when entering the house to eat.  He would have broken bread with those hands. Cleopas could have said, “What happened to your hands?” 

Jesus could have said, “You know, Cleopas, you know what happened, you just told me what happened to my hands.” Then the tears would have flowed, and by the time Cleopas looked up to say something back Jesus was gone.

And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”  So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together  saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”  And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread. Luke 24:32-35

These two men, who were headed in the opposite direction from where God would have them go, turned on their heels, and went back to Jerusalem, where God would have them testify to the greatest miracle of all time, the victory over death for all mankind. This is really something. To risk their lives, traveling by night, during a holiday season when they were easy pickings, and could be identified as the disciples of someone who was marked as an enemy of the governing authority, demonstrates just how ignited for the cause of Christ they were by this experience. These two witnesses had seen the risen Jesus! He was indeed alive! God appointed two who left the scene to become two would be set on fire for His purposes, to return and give confirmation to group of scared doubting disciples, that indeed their Messiah was alive! Hope was given back to them and had seeded and bore fruit. This is not the end of the story. Next week we’ll see where we go next in Encounters with a Risen Christ!

“The  LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefor I hope in Him!” Lam. 3:24