Grace to you
and peace from God our father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
The text for
this meditation is written in the 24th Chapter of the Gospel
according to St Luke: Verses 13 – 35:
13 That very day two
of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 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. 17 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.” 25 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?” 27 And beginning
with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to
them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
28 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. 30 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. 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?” 33 And they rose that same hour and returned
to Jerusalem. And they found the
eleven and those who were with
them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then
they told what had happened on the road, and how
he was known to them in the
breaking of the bread.
In Paul’s
first letter to the church in Corinth, the Holy Spirit inspired him to create a
short list of the people who saw Jesus alive after He died on the cross. He said, [1
Corinthians 15:3–8] “I delivered to you as of first importance what I
also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third
day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared
to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to
more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive,
though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to
James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to
one untimely born, he appeared also to me.”
These words remind us that there were hundreds, perhaps even thousands
of people who saw Jesus alive after He died on the cross.
These
accounts were not like modern day sightings of ghostly apparitions, or UFO’s,
or Elvis … you know those shadowy, grainy, out of focus images that could be
almost anything. These are accounts of
people who had conversations with Jesus … who touched Jesus … who ate with
Jesus. These are not the accounts of
people who saw things out of the corner of their eye. These are not the results of wishful
thinking.
With this
in mind, a frequently asked question is: “Why is this particular account
included while another account was left out?”
The Apostle Paul indicates that there were many accounts of the risen
Lord and logically recording them all would be impossible – So, why did the
Holy Spirit inspire the Evangelists to include these particular accounts?
Luke’s
Gospel accounts of the resurrection begin early in the day with the witness of
the women at the empty tomb. Then there
is the account that we heard earlier of the two disciples travelling to
Emmaus. There is an account of Jesus
appearing to the disciples as they gather together in Jerusalem. Finally there is the account of Jesus
appearing to the disciples as He ascended into heaven.
There is
a common thread to many of these narratives.
The women encountered the angels at the empty tomb and the angel said, [Luke 24:6–8] “Remember how
he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the
Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and
on the third day rise.” 8 And [the women] remembered his
words. In today’s Gospel, we heard
Jesus speak to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and say, [Luke 24:25–27] “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?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the
Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning
himself. Then, in the third
resurrection account, Jesus appeared to a gathering of the disciples and [Luke 24:44–47] said to
them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that
everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms
must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to
understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it
is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the
dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins
should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. In each instance there is a focus on the word
of God. The angels direct the women to
the Word of God directly from the mouth of Jesus. Jesus directs the disciples to the Word of
God written in Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms.
Today’s
Gospel even tells us that Jesus hid His own identity while He explained the
Scriptures. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew
near and went with them. 16 But
their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
Jesus hid His own identity, but He explained the Scriptures. As far as Jesus was concerned, it was more
important for these disciples to understand the resurrection based on the Word
of God than it was for them to understand the resurrection simply by seeing
Jesus in the flesh.
The Word
of God is very important to Jesus. Jesus
scolded these two disciples for failure to believe the Word of God. 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?” Jesus understood that the
Bible is not hard to understand because it uses difficult language. It is hard to understand because it says
things that we do not want to believe.
It is reported that Mark Twain said, “It
ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is
the parts that I do understand.”
Consider
our reaction if Jesus walked and He talked with us individually. Would He say the same thing to each of us? “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to
believe all that the prophets have spoken!”
I personally consider this well deserved criticism – I think we all
should.
Why is
Jesus so stern? Why is He so insistent
that we believe the Word of God? Why
does He label those who are slow to believe as foolish? Jesus knows that the Word of God is the Power
of God. After all, when we look at
creation, we know that it is God’s Word that created it all and continues to
make it all work together. In the same
way, it is also God’s Word that delivers salvation to us.
God’s
Word is not about self discipline! Jesus
is insistent about God’s word because it is the power of God unto salvation. The Word of God is how God gives His
gifts. In fact, Jesus Christ Himself is
the Word made flesh (John 1:14). It is
through the Word of God by the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus Himself
still comes to us today.
It is
very natural for us to ignore God’s Word or hear it improperly. When we hear that we broke the universe with
our sin, it is natural for us to think we need to fix it by not sinning. Our human nature desperately desires a way
for us set things right … to make our own way back to paradise. It makes sense to us that good, loving people
go to heaven and cruel, evil people go to hell.
It makes sense to us that we should be able to improve our own moral character
so that we can make ourselves worthy of heaven.
Therefore, when God’s Word tells us that we are all cruel and evil …
that we cannot save ourselves, we ignore it and then complain that it is too
hard to understand. When God’s Word
tells us that Jesus took the blame and punishment for our cruelty and evil, we
judge that it is too good to be true and insist that there is something that we
must do in order to earn our own salvation.
Jesus
will not let us get away with that kind of thinking. He taught the Emmaus disciples that the
entire Old Testament is about Him. He
began with Moses and all the Prophets, and He interpreted to them in all the
Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
He showed them how the Old Testament proclaimed the suffering, death,
and resurrection of the Christ.
Jesus
teaches that there is a single dynamic enabler present through all the passages
of Scripture. That enabler is Jesus
Himself. He teaches us that we have not
learned the full meaning of any passage in Scripture until that passage teaches
us something about Christ crucified and risen for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus said that the Emmaus disciples were
foolish and slow of heart because they did not believe in the enabling power of
Jesus in all of Scripture. Our poor
sinful human nature raises doubt about the true nature of God’s written Word
and we must confess beig foolish and slow of heart!
Jesus criticises
the Disciples and us in love! He says this so that we will know about the
salvation that He earned for us with His suffering and death on the cross. He says this so that we will believe in Him
and live with Him forever. He wants us
to know the Word because it is through the Word that we know Him and it is
through Him that we have salvation.
Eventually,
Jesus revealed Himself to the Emmaus disciples.
They arrived at their home and they invited Jesus to spend the
night. As they reclined for the evening
meal, Jesus took the role of host. He
broke the bread and gave it to them. It
was only then that they realised that this was none other than Jesus risen from
the dead.
It is
interesting that they recognised Jesus in the breaking of the bread for we also
break bread. Jesus has given us a
special meal using bread and wine. He
promised that when we celebrate this meal according to His instructions, He
will take up residence in the bread and the wine. He will come to us in His very body and
blood. In a way that is similar to the Emmaus
disciples we also recognise Jesus in the breaking of the bread.
Jesus
comes to us in His Word. He comes to us
as His Word falls on our ears; He comes to us as the Word combines with water
in Holy Baptism; He comes to us in the bread and wine of the Lord’s
Supper. In each case Jesus reveals
Himself to us. He is with us just as He
was with the Emmaus disciples. We have
His promise and by His promise He gives us forgiveness, life, and
salvation. Amen
The love
and peace of our Great Triune God that is beyond all human understanding, keep
your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
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