Easter Walk on the Road to Emmaus

I. Introduction
A. Setting
1. The afternoon of the first Easter
2. The women have visited the tomb and found it empty. They’ve gone back to the others to report that they were told that He is risen. But the men didn’t know what to make of this.
II. Luke 24:13–32
A. Luke 24:13 That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem,
1. One of these is named in v.18: Cleopas. The other name is not mentioned.
2. 7 miles, or about a two hour walk from Jerusalem
a. At least one of them seems to have lived there and they were traveling to his house.
B. Luke 24:14-16 and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
C. Luke 24:17-24 And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” 19 And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. 21 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 happened. 22 Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, 23 and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. 24 Some 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.”
D. Luke 24:25-26 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” 26 “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”
E. Luke 24:27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
F. Luke 24:28-29 So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, 29 but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them.
G. Luke 24:30-31 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight.
H. Luke 24:32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”
III. What can we learn from this story?
A. God never lies, but that doesn’t mean He doesn’t give false impressions. In other words, sometimes God allows it to look like He’s doing A when in fact He’s not doing A. Or, sometimes God allows it to look like He’s doing A when really He’s doing B.
1. We can see this a number of times in this story
a. Jesus made it look like He was just some stranger who happened to be walking on the road.
b. Then He made it look like He was going on when He was planning to stop at the house.
c. And then He made it look like He was staying for dinner and overnight and then He didn’t.
2. The problem is, we make assumptions based on what things look like.
a. It looks like I’ll never get married.
b. It looks like we’ll never be able to have children.
c. It looks like I’ll never have close friends.
d. It looks like I will be sick for the rest of my life.
3. Or we make assumptions based on our own desires or our own sense of what should happen,
B. But we have to base our assumptions on what God says. We have to let the Bible interpret our lives. The Bible helps us to understand what’s going on.
1. There is going to be a similar revelation to us on the last day, when the Lord explains to us all of the circumstances of our lives and how they were designed to point us to Him.
2. But this should also be our habit every day. In fact, this story is a wonderful paradigm for our daily devotional lives. Like Cleopas and the other disciple, we are often walking around burdened, overwhelmed and confused by the struggles and frustrations of life. But when we meet with Jesus, and listen to His interpretation of what has been happening, suddenly we are enabled to see things as they really are. It’s not that the circumstances change. That’s not the key. It is our perception of our circumstances, our interpretation of them that is the key.
3. One man's treasure is another man's trash. Some people would have been bored by this conversation. Their hearts would not have been burning with in them. These two disciples had this experience because they were receptive, they were teachable, they were eager learners, they were hungry for truth.
4. The thing that was so thrilling to the two of them was not Jesus’ delivery but the information He explained to them. Nothing is said of the delivery. It did not stand out. The delivery was not even so distinctively Jesus that it made them begin to suspect who it was (as was the case with the breaking of the bread).
5. It was more than the fact that it was Jesus that they were excited about. It was more than even that He was indeed risen from the dead. It was also that they now understood all this. They now had been shown in the Scriptures that all this was supposed to happen. They now had the correct interpretation of all that had occurred. They now could see the truth.
6. Is this our response when we come to understand more of Christ, more of His truth? When we come to understand what Jesus is doing in our lives? When we realize that the resurrected Christ has the whole thing in control? When we come to understand that one day Jesus will explain everything and it will all make perfect sense?
7. If we have the same teachableness as these two disciples, the same eagerness to learn from Jesus, the same hunger for truth, then we will make a habit of going to the Bible to find out what Jesus is saying to us about our lives.
C. But it’s not just a matter of getting the right information. It is often difficult to accept what the Bible says, isn’t it? .
1. Jesus said that these two were slow to believe (see v.25). They were too surprised when He did what He said He would do.
2. Like us, their problem was that their God was too small. Even when He told them, they didn’t get it. And in the story, they end up looking kind of ridiculous for it.
3. We’re the same way. Some day we’ll look back on our lives and we will look ridiculous in our own eyes for not trusting God to do what He said He would do.
4. God spoke out of heaven and said, “This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him!” (Matt.17:5; Luke 9:35) And yet, so often we don’t listen.
5. How many things has God told us in His word which we don’t believe? We are discouraged. We are confused. And the very thing we need to understand, the very promise we need to find encouragement is right there in His word. But we’re not listening; we’re not paying attention. And we’re searching elsewhere for the clarity and encouragement we need.
D. And the reason it’s hard for us to accept what the Bible says is the same reason the disciples had trouble accepting it.
1. Jesus asks the two,“Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” – Luke 24:26
2. This is the thing they didn’t get. The cross was necessary!
3. This is the great fact that we also miss. God knows the recipe, He knows what is necessary to bring about His glorious purposes in our lives. And the recipe includes suffering.
4. Let me reword Jesus’ question and make it more personal: Is it not necessary that you and I should suffer things in order to enter into glory? The cross is necessary for us too.
5. But we don’t want to wait for our glory, we want it right now.
6. Listen to what Paul says in 2Corinthians 4:17 “This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” It’s not just that affliction precedes glory. Affliction prepares the glory for us, affliction brings about the glory, just as the cross is what led to Christ’s resurrection and exaltation.
7. But in the midst of suffering, it’s hard to remember the glory, isn’t it? That’s why we need the constant input of the word of God.
E. Beloved friends, Christ’s cross looks very different in light of His resurrection. And our crosses look very different in light of our promised resurrection. But, like the disciples, we are so slow to believe. He’s told us what’s going to happen and we don’t always believe it. But Jesus wants to come alongside us and point out things in His word to us, to help us move from worry and fear to peace and trust.
F. I’m a great fan of The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. There is a scene in book 5 which I’m sure was inspired by this story of the road to Emmaus. I’d like to read it to you from The Horse and His Boy (p.161-166 in my version, or the second half of Chapter 11).
1. Nothing changed in Shasta’s circumstances from the beginning of this story to the end. But Aslan (the Christ-figure) had come alongside Shasta and helped him to interpret his circumstances rightly. And it made all the difference in the world.
IV. Communion
A. Luke 24:30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them.
1. Jesus still wants us to recognize Him in the breaking of the bread. This is who He is: He is the One who passes out the bread of life to His friends.
2. Isn’t it clear that Jesus wants to say something to us about the Lord’s Supper by this?
3. Here it is after the resurrection, when Jesus was about to ascend to heaven and not be with them any more in the same way He had been with them. And He reveals Himself in the bread and the wine. And now He’s gone. He’s present with us in spirit through the Holy Spirit, but He’s not present with us in a visible or tangible way – except in the Lord’s Supper, where He reveals Himself and His presence with us in a way our senses can perceive.
B. Let’s invite Him to come in and dine with us. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me.” – Revelation 3:20