Good morning. Thank you for reading. May the risen Christ, the Son of the living God, reign in your heart.
Today our journey with Jesus to the cross transitions to Jesus’ journey away from the cross. And the portion of scripture that allows for this transition is fittingly known as the Walk to Emmaus.
Now all of us have been on a walk. Kristi and I are fortunate to be in a neighborhood close to Vietnam Veterans’ Park, a park with nice paved paths for walking and biking. Most of you know that we love to walk, and try to walk daily. I know that many of you enjoy walking also.
In Jesus’ time on earth, everyone walked. All the time. It was how you traveled. If you wanted to go from Jerusalem to Emmaus, a distance of seven miles, you just walked. My guess would be that it would take you a couple to three hours, maybe four, depending on your condition.
I have seen many different things on my walks. Lots of people, a few snakes, a fair number of deer, I was almost knocked down by a deer at a high speed one time. I have even seen wild turkeys.
Well our two travelers today, identified in scripture as Cleopas and his friend, have a special guest join their walk to Emmaus. It is the resurrected and glorified Jesus Christ. The time frame is Sunday late morning or early in the afternoon, after Mary had discovered the tomb was empty. We will begin in Luke 24:13-16,
“Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him.”
Now this is interesting. As these two men were walking, another man, who just happens to be the risen Savior begins walking along with them. My guess, he just caught up to them, and then joined their company. Or, maybe he just appeared.
Now, I have been walking on sidewalks and park paths for a couple decades or so, and no one ever joined me in my walk. Except, except in those instances when I knew the individual. Which is the situation here with Jesus and these two men. He knew these two.
Verse 16 confirms this, because it tells us that they were kept from recognizing him. Which means they knew Jesus.
Now this is interesting. The Bible does not tell us how or why, but these two men were somehow supernaturally prevented from being able to recognize Jesus. So they had to have known Jesus. But as to the how and why they were unable to recognize Jesus, the Bible does not say. Being a Star Trek and Star Wars guy, I assume that it is some form of cloaking device.
But it goes without saying that Jesus recognizes them, and even knows them, starts walking with them, and then picks up a conversation with them. Luke 24:17-19a,
“He asked them, ‘What are you discussing together as you walk along?’ They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, ‘Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?’ ‘What things?’ he asked.”
Now Jesus has his cloaking device on, whatever that is, however that works, and he is being coy somewhat, because obviously to us as the readers, he wants to see what they are thinking. Maybe trying to understand what they think of all that has just happened in Jerusalem. What do they think of him? Or, more precisely, who do they think he is?
Remember back in Matthew 16:15-16, Jesus asked Peter this very same question.
“‘But what about you?’ He asked. ‘Who do you say I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’”
This was the time, after Peter’s declaration of Jesus as the Christ that Jesus stopped his teaching in parables, and began explaining to the disciples his foundational good news story. The fact that Jesus was going to suffer and die, and then on the third day rise.
Now, besides having this cloaking device, we know that Jesus knows what we are thinking. Jesus is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent.
Which means that Jesus is all-powerful, all -knowing, and everywhere at once. Somewhere in there is that cloaking device thingy dingy.
Now I have read a fair amount of scripture, and I would guess that Jesus is getting ready to teach stuff. And, everything that Jesus teaches, is not just in the real time of the original moment in history. Every time Jesus is teaching, he knows which of those teachings will be recorded in scripture, so that, in reality, he is teaching for eternity, in the Word, because Jesus Is The Word. Think about this. Back to our passage, Luke 24:19-24,
“What things?’ he asked. ‘About Jesus of Nazareth,’ they replied. ‘He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”
Now in this passage I heard something in the tone of Cleopas and his friend. I hear hope. Do you hear it? Hope that Jesus is alive. Hope that the tomb is really empty, and that the angels were really there; and what the angels supposedly had said, that Jesus was alive, was all true. For Christians today, hope and faith are linked together and woven by God’s Holy Spirit into our hearts and souls. But the Spirit had not come yet while these three were walking to Emmaus. So, what was Jesus doing?
Just goofing around and playing a joke on these two? Nah, I don’t believe this. Jesus’ time on earth was limited, he had many things that he still had to do, in a limited time. What was he doing here with these two followers?
To help us figure this out, let’s play “What If”.
What if it was you walking, and all of a sudden, Jesus appeared, and began asking you questions about his crucifixion and resurrection? Remember, you don’t recognize him. Maybe this has already happened to us? What would you be able to say? Anything good about Jesus? Would you be disappointed yet hopeful as these two seem to be?
Or, maybe, would you gush about Jesus and what he has meant to you? Or, would you be all hang dawg-daddy about how Jesus has let you down and left you sorry you ever put your hope and faith in him?
I believe that Jesus was doing a faith check on Cleopas and his friend. Not that Jesus needed to know, because he already knew where they were spiritually. Jesus was doing this for them and us (historically) so as to provide a teachable moment.
For these two, as with Simon Peter, and all of us, Jesus is wanting to know this: Who do you say that I am?
Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Cleopas and his friend were not so on the mark. They described all the actions of Christ’s death and resurrection, without reaching the most important conclusion of their lives. Yet, still they were hopeful in their faith. They had that mustard seed of faith.
Today, how about you, what is your answer to Jesus’ question: Who do you say that I am?
As a believer, prayerfully, your answer should be immediate. Personally, in my thirty-seven years of belief I have experienced too many miracles and I have witnessed too many miracles to ever say anything other than that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
I am not special for partaking in these miracles.
Because all of us as believers in Christ are a party to all the miracles that take place within the body of Christ all around the world, and from Alpha to Omega. As believers we are a people of miracles.
Jesus’ death and resurrection are the foundational miracles of our faith, but just the beginning for all the miracles that take place in and around our lives.
So, who do you say that Jesus is?
Let’s get back to Cleopas and his friend. They had just described the previous three days’ activities, hopeful that Jesus was somehow alive. Luke 24:25-26,
“He said to them, ‘How foolish you are, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ (Messiah) have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’”
This is where all of this has been set up to be a teachable moment for mankind. Christ has evaluated these two, and from their mustard seed of hopeful faith, he now, will go deep into the scriptures to enhance Cleopas and his friend’s understanding.
When Peter made his declaration that Jesus was the Christ, Jesus stopped teaching in parables, and instead began teaching of his death and suffering, and his resurrection. Luke 24:27,
“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”
So here, Cleopas and his unnamed friend, will be the first to have ‘their minds opened so they could understand the Scriptures’. How cool is this? A personal devotion of the truth contained in the Old Testament, by someone who is not only the author of truth, but the source of truth. Jesus is truth.
It is important for us to remember that only the Old Testament had been written at this time, for they were all living out the New Testament, it had yet to be written.
Now, Jesus has not turned off his cloaking device yet. So I would believe that Cleopas and his friend are rather impressed with their new acquaintances’ knowledge of the Scriptures. Which would explain why they were so insistent upon Jesus staying with them. Luke 24:28-32,
“As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, ‘Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.’ So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?’”
So, finally, these two recognize Jesus for who he is, The Christ, The Messiah, Son of the living God.
Maybe, Jesus didn’t have a cloaking device at all, maybe the reason that Cleopas and his friend did not recognize Jesus was some failure on their part. They just needed Jesus to connect the scriptural dots and break bread with him, and then they understood. I don’t know for sure, and the Bible leaves this open ended.
But I do know this: From now on, Jesus spends his final days on earth, resurrected and glorified, opening the minds of the faithful to the awareness of Jesus as the Christ in the Old Testament. This is an exciting message for all of us. That the Old Testament is all about Jesus.
Everything in the Old Testament points to the need for and the coming of Christ. Cleopas and his friend are so excited that they leave immediately, in the evening, and head straight back to Jerusalem, the seven miles that they had just traveled. Luke 24:33-35,
“They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, ‘It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon’. Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.”
Have your eyes been opened to Christ, the Son of the living God? Whether you answer this question yes or no, please agree with this prayer as you read it.
Father, thank you for Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. I believe that Jesus is the Christ. Thank you for Jesus’ sacrifice for my sins on the cross. Thank you for your forgiveness for I am a sinner.
Thank you for my salvation through my faith in Jesus as my Savior and Lord of all. Thank you also, for your promise of eternal life with you and Jesus in your kingdom.
I pray that your Holy Spirit will continue to “open my eyes” to Jesus.
Thank you for hearing my prayer, in Jesus name I pray. Amen.