Life After Easter - Luke 24:13-49 - Mark Ralf

Life after Easter – Luke 24v13-49

OPENING ONE

What’s happening today?

Today is the day of the London marathon. Tens of thousands of people running miles around London sharing a common bond of endurance, pain and determination. Often they don’t know the person they are running next to. What if they were running next to someone famous or special? Would they notice them? Maybe not straight away – people look different in running kit. Maybe the runners are concentrating on their own pain that they are not fully aware of the others around them.

OPENING TWO

What if the person you sat beside today – the one you have chatted to and shared pleasantries – was in fact the king or queen?

Wouldn’t you feel excited? Proud or happy?

Would you think “How didn’t I recognise them?” or “What have I said?”

We are going to focus on the Emmaus Road story.

From our reading today, why didn’t the disciples recognise Jesus on the Emmaus Road?

· Sorrow – made them unobservant

· They couldn’t see outward because their eyes were looking inward

· Jesus helped them to see what had happened to them so then they could see the world in its true perspective – and then they recognised Jesus!

· Jesus set their minds at ease – he didn’t berate them or tell them to pull themselves together (One of my favourite – “Doctor, doctor I feel like a pair of curtains”– “Well pull yourself together!”).

· Jesus started where they were and gradually revealed more and more of himself to them. As he did this they moved from sorrow to joy.

So what about THE EMMAUS ROAD story?

Apart from a brief reference to the story in Mark 16:12-13 the Emmaus Road story is only found in Luke. (Afterwards Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while walking in the country. These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either. Mark 16:12-13)

It is in a special place in Luke’s gospel.

· It is between the puzzled and perplexed disciples meeting together and the disciples finally understanding and believing going out with great joy, worshipping Jesus and praising God.

He did everything that he did on the Emmaus Road again for the disciples.

So why did he take the walk down the road?

· To collect the two disciples who had lost heart and were walking home.

· Jesus goes out of his way to pick up the waifs and strays like us

· Jesus wanted them back in Jerusalem – for the briefing for worldwide mission

Emmaus is seven miles from Jerusalem – no small distance when you are walking

But immediately they saw it was Jesus they returned at once to Jerusalem.

They rushed back to Jerusalem - another seven miles – seven dangerous miles because it would be dark by then. We know because they had urged Jesus to stay with them because it is nearly evening.

So let’s look at what happened….

• Meeting when & why
• Talking why & what
• Explaining what
• Revealing who
• Celebrating how

We start with the MEETING

v13-16

What were the two followers talking about?

· Look at v15. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them.

· So how often are we talking and thinking about Jesus, so that he can come alongside us to guide, instruct and encourage us?

A big question has to be….”Why didn’t they recognise Jesus?”

1. They weren’t expecting to see him
2. Jesus had a resurrection body – the same but different (v31)
3. They were spiritually blind (v16)

Why was there this meeting? They were meeting with Jesus again

So what were they TALKING about

Look at v17-24. How did the 2 disciples feel?

Put yourself in their shoes as they walked away from Jerusalem.

· Jesus had predicted his resurrection at least five times.

· They were honest doubters

· They wanted to believe but they had seen the shameful crucifixion of Jesus in whom they had put all their hopes – they had suffered a stunning reversal.

· For them the crucifixion had proved that Jesus wasn’t the King after all

How great their hopes must have been.

So what’s not right in Cleopas’ version of events? V19

• They assumed that the chief priests and rulers were in control
• V23 “They didn’t find his body”. They are looking for the body that is walking beside them!

What did these two misunderstood about Jesus’ death v20-21

• They expected a King to save Israel and kick out the Romans

This is where Jesus starts the EXPLAINING

What’s Jesus’ verdict of the two disciples?

V25. “How foolish you are and slow of heart to believe”

• The foolish here is not STUPID but the way a parent is disappointed by how slow their child gets the idea
• … slow to believe in Jesus
• … slow to believe the Moses and the Prophets.

Jesus explains why the two disciples feel downcast – they’d misunderstood their Bible and what it meant for them (is there a lesson here for us in Ewell – are we missing the point or being sidetracked away from the main purpose of telling people the good news and worshipping God?)

We all know that UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE isn’t easy

We all have difficulty understanding the word of God sometimes?

We are not alone.

· The disciples on the Emmaus Road were called “fools and slow of heart to believe v24-25)” by Jesus who had to explain to them about himself.

· The Ethiopian Eunuch confessed to Philip that he didn’t understand what he was reading in the book of Isaiah (Acts 8:30-31) [Trevor Fletcher]

· Even Peter admitted that some of the letters written by Paul were weighty and difficult to understand (2 Peter 3:15-16)

So how can we understand the word of God?

· On our part - diligent reading and study of scripture

· On God’s part – the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit, providing spiritual insight and understanding (John 16:13-15)

God has promised to do his part – will we do ours?

Maybe we need to restart daily bible reading to get us focussed on God

· Recently our boys have had “Breakfast with God” at the breakfast table and have read out the thoughts and we have listened and talked about it as a family

Look at v26 “Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Why didn’t they know and expect it. It’s in the Bible….

· They had no way to accept his words at face value – he has to show them that what happened was predicted, he would die and rise again. He is the fulfilment of what was written about him in the law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms (v44 – all 3 divisions of the Hebrew scriptures

· It’s God’s great plan. He has redeemed Israel v21 as Cleopas wanted

· But he’s rescued people not from Roman rule but from sin and God’s judgement

REVEALING

What made them recognise Jesus? V30-31

Any impostor could say “I am Jesus back from the dead”

So what did Jesus do? He did something they would all recognise that no impostor would have known about. They had seen it at the feeding of the five thousand. They had seen it at the last supper. Cleopas wasn’t present at the last supper and may not have been at the feeding of the five thousand but he would certainly have heard about them.

Seated at a table, he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it and gave it to them.

That inevitably called attention to his hands and maybe they would have seen the marks of the nails on his hands.

How could they remember that journey? Why v32

The memory was etched into their hearts “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the scriptures to us?”

Wouldn’t it be been great to listen to the tape of Jesus’ conversation as he explained it all to the two of them and then to the disciples later on? v44-49

That’s what the Bible is for… taking the journey, letting Jesus come alongside us and let him reveal what he wants to say to us through the Bible. If we spend time with Jesus and God’s word we will get to know more of what he wants for our lives.

CELEBRATING

V33-35

Suddenly the facts came alive because Jesus is alive

They rush back to Jerusalem the seven miles

Last time they went up to Jerusalem they were hoping (in v21) that Jesus would prove to be King and redeem Israel. Now they knew he was King and the redemption was much bigger than what they had originally hoped for – it was something that not even death could overthrow.

The two men join the disciples and tell them everything that has gone on.

“It’s true” they shouted.

Christianity isn’t just good – it’s true v34

It’s an important difference today… lots of people think it’s good but few think it’s true

Ever heard people say “Well it might be true for you but it’s not for me…”

This is truth for everyone

This is the good news we have to share with others

That’s life after Easter – telling people the good news in every way we can.

In church, in Tescos, at work, at school and in the pub.

Not just with words but with everything we do.

That’s life after Easter

On the Emmaus road he came alongside them.

With the disciples in Jerusalem, he suddenly appears – they were terrified.

They thought it was a ghost or a spirit not a man.

• Jesus has a resurrection body but it is not dematerialised (like Star Trek) or disembodied (like a voice off stage or from the clouds)
• Jesus can be touched, the scars of the nails can be seen (“look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself v39)
• He speaks of himself as having “flesh and bones” v39
• He eats some food in the presence of his disciples v42-43

Jesus calms their fears by showing what resurrection means:

1. His essential identity It is I myself v.39
2. Physical level See my hands and my feet (they bear the marks that you recognise)
3. Use your senses Touch me – check it out
4. Eating He was the same Jesus as well as different

So when we hear Jesus promise (v22:30) that we will eat and drink with him at his table in his kingdom, we can expect that is quite tangible – not just a metaphor

It will be different but not completely different – just like resurrection bodies.

So why is the Emmaus Road story so important

• Meeting with Jesus again
• Talking honestly about our hopes and fears
• Explaining the Bible as we read it
• Revealing “didn’t his words burn on our hearts?”
• Celebrating the truth with others

DIDN’T HIS WORDS BURN ON OUR HEARTS?

Life after Easter is capturing the same burning desire to seven miles back to Jerusalem to tell everyone the good news.

Life after Easter is deciding to

Meet with Jesus again and again

Talk with Jesus honestly

Get God’s help to explain what the Bible means for us

Revealing just who Jesus really is

Celebrating by sharing the truth with others

That’s life after Easter!