[Machine transcription]
Jesus is risen. Hallelujah. What did they see? What did they see? There they were, these two men walking on the road to the village of Emmaus, engulfed in a deep conversation about the things that had happened. Now, with each step, they were putting more distance between themselves and Jerusalem. While they were talking and discussing these things with each other, Jesus drew near and he joined them as they walked.
At this time, along the roadways, it was not uncommon for an individual to join with a group, for there was always safety in numbers against the robbers who were waiting to ambush. But what did they see? They saw a man. They saw a man that was walking alone in the same direction as they were traveling, maybe possibly in Jerusalem. He was there celebrating the Passover like so many other people, and now he was heading to his home to go to work again.
So the text states that their eyes were kept from recognizing him. Jesus interjected at this point with them, “What’s this conversation that you’re holding with each other as you walk? What’s the focus of this deep, intense conversation that you’re having with one another?” They stopped. They stopped; their emotions were obviously seen on their face—sheer sadness.
What did they see? They were shocked that they saw a man that had no knowledge of all the things that had happened in Jerusalem these past days. These two men assumed that every person in the region knew what had happened that shattered so many lives, thus Cleopas’ questions because of the man’s state of not knowing. This opened the door for Jesus to ask, “What things?”
So many times in His ministry, Jesus would answer a question with a question for the purpose of leading that person who was asking the question to a greater knowledge of the truth. With Jesus’ question of “What things?”, I can see them verbally responding at the same time, trying to talk over one another. Their intense discussion all along the road was all about the things that happened. It was about Jesus of Nazareth. They were like a floodgate. A floodgate that opened as they described all the things that happened to Jesus—from His arrest in the garden all the way to His death by crucifixion on a hill outside of Jerusalem called Golgotha.
But the words changed. They changed from being descriptive to their desires. Jesus was to be the one who they had been waiting for to redeem Israel, the promised Messiah, the Christ. They even heard that the tomb was empty and that there was a vision given to a couple of disciples proclaiming that He was alive, but it was now the third day. It had passed, and they had not seen Jesus. In other words, their hopes had been shattered. Their hopes had been shattered by a cross and three spikes.
This was their hermeneutics. This was their interpretation of the events in correlation to the sacred Scriptures. Their conclusion of their hermeneutics led them to despair, hopelessness, and unbelief. Jesus was not the one. But you need to understand that their theology was piecemealed with only portions of the Holy Scriptures.
But this is nothing new. It happens today. Whether it be intentionally or accidentally, you have this thing that happens where people will pick portions of the Bible and they develop their own hermeneutics, their own interpretation of God, creation, life, sin, salvation, marriage, heaven, gender, Jesus. And the list goes on and on to include or exclude things that fit into their end game.
These two men on the road wanted a Savior to overthrow Rome and its rule over Israel and for this one to sit on the throne of David and to be an earthly king. This past week, I went into a convenience store to get a cup of coffee. As usual, I was wearing a clerical collar, and as the coffee was filling my cup, a man approached me. He was seeking counsel about his girlfriend. I asked, “Are you a believer? Are you a Christian? Are you a disciple of Jesus?”
His response was, “Well, I see him as a good man, but I don’t believe at all. I guess I am more of what you would call spiritual.” Taking pieces of the Bible and mixing it all up with all other stuff, he professed a belief that was empty of God’s grace and mercy, which would only lead him into despair and hopelessness.
For the next 20-plus minutes, we stood there in the middle of the store and we talked. We talked about the Bible. We talked about who Jesus is. We talked about the gifts of God. And this whole entire time, people were coming and going to the coffee bar. We concluded our conversation with the conversation about his girlfriend—his question, exchanging names and phone numbers, and even agreed to take a picture with me before we separated and went our separate ways. When I went to pick up my cup from the machine, 30 minutes later, the coffee was still hot.
What happens next in our text may cause these two men to burn. It is at this point Jesus will reveal Himself to them, but not by opening their eyes to recognize Him. He goes to where they are, and it is there He tells them that their hermeneutics are incomplete for the lack of resource materials. The complete source and norm for faith and life, “O foolish ones, and so slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken.”
He takes them into the Word of God and points to them the full ministry of Christ who was to come into the world. “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter His glory?” The cross and the three spikes that had shattered their hopes—the hopes of these two men and so many others—is actually the means by which God would shatter the hold of sin, death, and the power of the devil upon the world.
This is the only place in the Gospel of Saint Luke where Jesus refers to Himself as the Christ. You had the Word talking about the Word by taking these two men into the Word. When I see Jesus engage these two men at this point the way He does, I often recall the words that He would speak to Thomas one week later behind closed doors: “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, Jesus interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. From the beginning to the end, He pointed them to the prophecies about the promised Messiah, and He showed them how and when Jesus fulfilled them all, including His suffering, His death, and His resurrection.
What did these two men see? They saw a man well-versed in the sacred Scriptures. They heard the fullness of God, and they saw the errors of their own hermeneutics and their own interpretation, their own confession of faith about the promised Messiah in contrast to the truth and purity of the unpacking of the sacred Scriptures given by this man. By the power of the Word and the working of the Holy Spirit that was witnessed to by Jesus concealed, these men believed in Jesus revealed—who hung on the cross with spikes through His hands and His feet—to be the Christ, the promised Messiah, the Savior of the world.
Even though they had not seen Him with their own eyes, they believed in Him through the eyes of faith. Through the blood shed on the cross, they have the forgiveness of their sins. Salvation from God’s wrath, life now and into eternity. They arrived at their destination. After an invitation, Jesus accepted their hospitality.
So often after preaching and teaching, Jesus would perform a miracle. They were the exclamation marks. Everything that He had spoken to the hearer is true, and the miracle was to point them back to His words as a confirmation. This night would be no different. Sitting at the table, the visitor becomes the host over the meal. Jesus takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it to them.
In the same way that Jesus kept their eyes from recognizing Him earlier on the road, He now opens their eyes and they recognize Him, and then He vanishes. Where Jesus had initially called them “foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken,” they were now saying, “Did not our hearts burn within us while He was talking to us on the road and while He opened to us the Scriptures?”
What did they see? They saw Jesus, the Son of God, the Savior of the world, and they could not keep this news to themselves. In the darkness of the night, they journeyed back to Jerusalem. On the same road that Jesus had witnessed to them, they were traveling to witness the good news to the eleven and to the others who had gathered with them. These two disciples proclaimed, “The Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon.”
They proceeded to tell all that had happened on the road and how He was made known to them in the breaking of the bread. The same word, the same truth is revealed to us as it is connected to the waters of holy baptism that gives life and the gift of salvation. It is unpacked and proclaimed to us each and every Sunday. It is connected to bread and wine, becoming the true body and blood of Christ, given to you for the forgiveness of your sins.
In our daily lives, when we read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the Bible, the sacred Scriptures, the Word is revealed to us. He too is working in our lives. What do you see? Jesus is coming to you. He has, He is, and He will. The peace that passes all understanding, keep your hearts burning and your minds full of His truth. Amen. Jesus is risen! Amen.