Jesus on the Journey to Emmaus Luke 24:13-34 (Easter Day) Duncan Leake 23/03/08
1. Jesus often did things that other people didn't expect him to do... he welcomed little children to him when even his disciples thought he shouldn't waste his time with them. ... he mixed with the sort of people that the religious leaders of his day would never expect a respectable teacher to associate with...
He said the most surprising things about God, He described God like a perfect parent who loved every one of his children, and welcomed back home even the most badly behaved ones.
The followers of Jesus had never expected Jesus to be crucified… and they certainly didn’t expect him to give himself to die on the cross - for people who hated him… And on that Friday, Jesus must have surprised the people who heard him when he prayed “father forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.”
Jesus was full of surprises.. and he surprised people again on Easter day when he was raised from the dead.
Jesus was dead… but now Jesus is alive. (alleluia!)
People didn’t expect that to happen!
2. But on that first Easter Day… there were a couple of people who met Jesus but who weren’t surprised.
Not at first anyway. You see the reason they weren’t surprised is that these two friends didn’t recognise Jesus when they met him.
A man called Cleopas, and his friend, were walking from Jerusalem to a little village called Emmaus. And they were sad. Really sad.. the bible says “Sadness was written across their faces.” They were sad because they had been friends of Jesus - his death wasn’t at all what they had expected. And even when they heard reports that his tomb was empty they still didn’t feel any happier. They loved Jesus but after his death they never expected to see him again. As far as they were concerned he was dead – and that was that.
3. Jesus came alongside them as they were on their journey… and started to walk with them. Now Jesus could have done what I would have expected him to do... he could have said,
Look, it's me... I'm alive... cheer up.
But He didn't... instead Jesus started to teach them. They didn’t recognise him, it was as if they were prevented from seeing his face until they were ready to Jesus said to them “you two need to understand what the bible says…” and he went through explaining what all the Scriptures said about himself. (vs. 27)
4. Jesus could said... “Do you remember what the prophet Isaiah wrote... hundreds of years ago… read Is. 53:4-5
he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed! All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the guilt and sins of us all.
“That's what I've done for you “- Jesus could have said.
There are lots of things he might have told them about, because in the Old Testament, (that’s the part of the bible that was written BEFORE Jesus was born) … all through the history of the people of Israel, there are there are things that happened, and there are words spoken by the prophets, which are like SIGNPOSTS pointing towards Jesus. Jesus explained that parts of the bible were there to help the followers of Jesus understand why Jesus had died, and why God had raised him to new life.
5. After about two hours walking, Cleopas and his friend arrived at Emmaus.. and asked Jesus to stay… And as he gave thanks to break the bread at the meal… then they recognised him. At last they could see it was Jesus. And just at that moment…
Jesus disappeared from sight.
I wonder if they said.. “Well fancy us not realising it was Jesus with us on the road.” All the time they had been talking on that long journey… Jesus had been with them, teaching them, helping them to understand what had happened. They said to one another.. now you think about it… didn’t we start to feel better as he talked to us. The bible says that they said.. “Didn’t our hearts feel strangely warm as he talked with us on the road?”
Of course they started to feel better… wouldn’t anybody start to feel better in the presence of the Risen Jesus?
And they must have eaten the rest of their meal as quick as they could and then rushed back down the road all the way to Jerusalem to tell the other friends of Jesus what they had seen.
6. Now here is a thought for you this Easter day…
Sometimes, just like Cleopas and his friend making their journey to Emmaus, we don’t recognise that Jesus is walking alongside us.
Sometimes when we are happy, and lovely things are happening.. we don’t recognise that Jesus is with us, giving us good gifts, moments of joy and laughter and happiness.
Sometimes when we are sad, and life is really difficult we don’t realise that Jesus is still with us on the journey, walking in step, supporting us helping us. Sometimes when they are talking about how they coped at a difficult time, people say to me I just don’t know where I got the strength from ...
I do…it was Jesus all along.
Sometimes we don’t realise that Jesus is teaching us, little by little getting us ready to recognise him for who he is - God’s only Son who loved us so much that he gave his life for us, so that we can be forgiven, so that we can live as his friends now and forever.
7. Jesus is on the journey with you. Have you recognised him yet? I know there are people here who have. But if you haven’t yet seen Jesus for who he is.. then just think about your journey through life so far.. the times of happiness, the times of difficulty as well, and know that he has been with you all along.
Say thank you Jesus for making my journey with me... now please help me to walk in step with you from now, and to know you as my friend forever.