Luke 24:13-35

¹³ Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles^[a] from Jerusalem. ¹⁴ They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. ¹⁵ As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; ¹⁶ but they were kept from recognizing him.¹⁷ He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”They stood still, their faces downcast. ¹⁸ One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”¹⁹ “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. ²⁰ The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; ²¹ 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 all this took place. ²² In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning ²³ but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. ²⁴ Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”²⁵ He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.²⁸ As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. ²⁹ 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.³⁰ When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. ³¹ Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. ³² 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?”³³ They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together ³⁴ and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” ³⁵ Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

As we continue to journey with Jesus and His two despondent disciples we see how Jesus ministers to them in the midst of their misery. If I had been Jesus I would have let them have it, but do you see the compassion of Christ who, calmly keeps the conversation going by asking a second question in verse 19: “What things?”The two then summarize what they know about Jesus and notice how quickly and naturally they’re ready to talk about Jesus to a complete stranger. They are willing to talk about Jesus they are just unwilling to believe in Jesus. How like us, we talk about Him, but do we really trust Him? And while they get a lot of the details right, their understanding is limited by their own perspective. They speak in the past tense, “Jesus was a prophet”, and because they think that it is over they believe that there is nothing that Jesus can do in the present. They are disappointed: “but we had hoped.”And because their hope has disappeared, their hearts are broken. We haven’t changed much, have we? We want a Savior who will make life a bed of roses, who will take away all our problems and worries. They had heard the amazing witness of the women, about what the angels had said in Luke 24:6, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? ⁶ He isn’t here!He is risen from the dead!”Yet they chose to live in the worry and the wondering instead of the wonder. They heard about the empty tomb, but they didn’t stick around to investigate. Instead of believing they were blind because they walked by feelings and not by faith. Their problem wasn’t with their heads; it was with their hearts. They missed the Messiah because they missed the message of the prophets and what they had said about the suffering servant. They missed the resurrection because they were focused on a Redeemer who would reign. They saw the crown but not the cross. They got His second coming confused with His first. The scriptures make it clear that He had to suffer before He could enter His glory, that suffering always comes before the celebration. The disciples missed out because they left the Scriptures out. As believers our belief should be based on the Bible, and because of that it’s time to start standing on scripture and stop living according to our situation. Are you going to live in the worry or lean on the Word? Jesus listens to their worry but He doesn’t leave them there, He confronts their worry with the Word. Jesus gives them a Bible lesson because it’s the Bible that bolsters our belief. He starts with the first five books of the Bible and concludes with what the prophets said about Him. Jesus didn’t just share scripture He showed them the Savior in the scripture. Many of us read scripture but do we study scripture to see the Savior? When it comes to God’s Word are you skimming the surface or diving in deep? The Greek verb used here for “explain” is where we get the word “hermeneutics,” or Bible interpretation. If Jesus took time to explain and exegete Scripture, then so should we. Mile after mile he showed and shared the message. It’s here that we discover that the Journey is really all about Jesus, it’s about the Savior not our situation. No matter what our circumstance we need to keep coming back to Christ. Many of us have lost our joy because we have gotten caught up in the journey instead of Jesus. Christ purifies their polluted perspective with the Word, God’s Word doesn’t just correct faulty thinking it changes fearful living. Notice that Jesus took time to teach two, don’t underestimate the power of a small group. Do you have a tainted Theology, are you like these men trapped in the tragedy, then turn to the truth of God’s Word. Don’t just get into the Word let the Word get into you.