Strathalbyn Church of Christ

We are continuing our reflections on the wonderful, great truth of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. In this message let’s reflect on the story as we find it in Luke 24:13-49.

The first part of this story or reading, could perhaps be summarised as : From burdened faces to burning hearts to bounding feet!

Let’s take each in turn.

Burdened faces

Two ordinary disciples are described here as ‘looking sad’ -

‘and they stood still, looking sad.’ v.17

Cheryl and I like to often go for a walk after tea. We walk and talk - and sometimes have a deeper or meaningful conversation as we walk. Well these two disciples of Jesus were walking and talking and having a deep and meaningful. They were walking the 7 mile journey from Jerusalem to the village Emmaus, ‘and talking about all these things that had happened’. vl3,l4

They looked sad. We have all seen someone who is sad - it shows in their face. Why were these two sad, depressed, downcast? Because their leader Jesus had been crucified, and so their hopes for the liberation of Israel were dashed. ‘But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.’ v.21

Perhaps they felt let down - let down by their own nation’s religious leaders who had delivered Jesus up to be crucified; perhaps they even felt Jesus and God had let them down?

Perhaps we might relate to their feelings in some way, feeling our hopes for something we were counting on, hoping for, are dashed; or maybe feeling let down by someone?; or maybe even feel Jesus let us down?

But it was to these two dejected people that Jesus came alongside. ‘While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognising him’ v l5,l6.

Although at this stage of ‘burdened faces’ they did not recognise him, he was there. Jesus doesn’t abandon his followers. ‘I will never fail you nor forsake you.’ Heb l3.5

Jesus is with us in our ‘darker’ or sad times - although we might nor appreciate it at the time. These things - troubles, distress… don’t separate us from the love of Christ. Romans 8: 35,37

There was a funeral I once took, and as the coffin was being taken out to the hearse, a song played - ‘You’ll never walk alone’. And the believer can say this - for Jesus is with you.

Let’s now go on to

‘burning hearts’ -

‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?’ v. 32

Burning hearts. What did Jesus talk about to them and what sort of bible study did he give this couple that led to ‘did not our hearts burn within us?' Let’s see.

Interestingly Jesus begins with a loving rebuke and correction!  Jesus never 'beats around the bush' so to speak!  He addresses the issue.  And he can do that for us as well - but if he does, it is for our good, for our progress, for our growth.  _'Those whom I love, I reprove and chasten...' Rev. 3:19_

What was his loving rebuke and correction to this couple?

‘Oh foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ v. 26

What Jesus was addressing was their inadequate, or faulty, or wrong view, understanding of the Christ, the annointed King of God. In their case their faulty view left out the suffering of the Christ. They believed that the Christ would be the Sovereign, yes, but they didn’t believe that this Sovereign would also need to suffer, ‘stricken for the transgression of my people’ Isa 53:8.

‘It was the will of the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief’. Isa 53:10.

Why was their understanding faulty? According to Jesus they were ‘slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken’.

They had in effect been selective in their reading of the scriptures,believing some things but not all.

What of ourselves? That approach to bible reading may cause us problems too, because it can lead to inadequate, or imbalanced, or faulty understanding of God or Jesus Christ.

Jesus particularly drew their attention to the necessity of the suffering of Christ.

‘Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?'

‘Was it not necessary?'

What might be your answer? Do you see the necessity of Christ’s death on the cross for you, for your salvation?

Can you say with the hymn ‘Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.. naked come to Thee for dress, foul I to the fountain fly. Wash me Saviour, or I die…'?

The cross tells us we cannot save ourselves, that we needed to be cleansed, forgiven, put right with God. Yes, and that includes us all. But, …this is what the cross can do for you!“through Jesus forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you and by him everyone that believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.’ Acts 13.38,39

Jesus went on to give them the interpretation of their Old Testament, that began to fill out their understanding, ‘And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.’ v 27

No wonder they could later say ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures?'

When we come to a clearer understanding of Jesus and what he has done for us our hearts begin to burn too! This is the work of the Holy Spirit.

Now Jesus took this couple through what Moses and all the prophets in the Old Testament scriptures had written about himself. Let’s just take two things :God said he would give the annointed King from the family line of David king of Israel, to be King of an everlasting kingdom, and that he would suffer for us.

In 2Samuel 7:12 we read ‘I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom… and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.'

This promise was eventually fulfilled in Jesus, as Mary was told - ‘He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ Luke 1:32,33

But this great King, Sovereign, would suffer. ‘But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.’ Isa 53:5.

The apostle Paul later could teach that the Lord Jesus Christ ‘gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age.' And this was ‘according to the will of our God and Father… ' Gal. 1: 4,5.

Let’s go on now from burning hearts, to -

bounding feet.

‘So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He appeared to be going further, but they constrained him, saying, ‘Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.’ So he went in to stay with them.’ V 28,29.

These two had had their minds instructed from the Scriptures, and their hearts were moved, but something more was needed. What? - that their will should act.

‘Stay with us’.

Jesus ‘appeared to be going further’, but they invited him to stay with them. He didn’t force himself in - and he doesn’t today either.

If a person today is really going to know the Lord Jesus personally, the person needs to come to the place of saying to Jesus - ‘Come on in’, ‘come to me, save me’. Is that why some don’t meet Jesus and he’s not real to them, because they never get to the point of inviting him in? If we open our hearts to Jesus he will make himself known to us.

It’s interesting to notice the point when these two actually recognised him - ‘when he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognised him, and he vanished out of their sight’. v 30, 31.

Our custom today is to pass sandwiches first to a guest so he/she can help himself. But in Jesus’ day their custom was to allow the guest to break the large, round, flatbread, so he could have the biggest piece for himself. Then the guest was asked to say grace, to give thanks for the bread.

Did they know it was Jesus because they saw his hands when he was handling their food? Later they told the others back at Jerusalem, ‘how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.’ v. 35.

Jesus left his church with an instruction to break bread in remembrance of him. We call this Communion or the Lord’s Supper. When we partake, Jesus is made known afresh to us in his grace, mercy, love in dying for us on that cross. ‘The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. ' Gal. 2;20

After Jesus was made known to them this couple had ‘bounding feet’. They couldn’t keep this good news to themselves! ‘And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem’… ‘Then they told what had happened…’ v 33,35

And so, they had come from where they couldn’t recognise Jesus - their burdened faces - to having their hearts burning within them - to where they just longed to go and tell - their bounding feet!

Where on this journey do you think you are?

The second part of this story or reading v 36-49 could be summarised as :

Jesus showed them his body;

Jesus taught them his book;

and Jesus promised them his backing.

Again, let’s take each of these in turn.

Jesus showed them his body.

As these two were telling of their encounter with the risen Lord, ‘Jesus himself stood among them. But they were startled and frightened, and supposed they saw a spirit.'

To show them he wasn’t a spirit or ghost, he said ‘see my hands and my feet, that it is I myself, handle me and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ v. 39.

To ‘top it off’ he then shared in their fish supper! ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them’ !

What is our future as believers? - to float around as spirits for eternity? No, our future is a bodily future too, like our Lord - but

bodies that are free from the limitations we know here, but real nonetheless - indeed, ‘for this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality.’ 1Cor. 15:53

Back in 1967 a 17 year old athletic girl called Joni Eareckson had an accident and was left a quadriplegic, paralysed from the neck down. She felt overwhelmed with bitterness, frustration, resentment, anger and even suicidal depression.

With the support of family and friends and rehabilitation she gradually ‘climbed out’ of her deep hole. She also began to trust God. She learned to paint with her mouth and became a popular public speaker and writer. She developed JAF ministries (Joni and Friends) for the support of people with disabilities.

Joni says she rediscovered the bible and that what helped her most was the resurrection of Christ, and the promise of our bodies being raised. She said she now had hope for the future. And we too, in this Corona virus pandemic also have hope for the future.

We are assured ‘From heaven we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ who will change our lowly body, to be like his glorious body, by the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself.’ Philips.3:21

The redemption of our body is part of our salvation. ‘we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were save.” Rom. 8:23,24. God is concerned with the whole of man and wants to save your body as well as your spirit.

Not only did Jesus show them his body, he proceeded to -

teach them his book.

‘These are my words which 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. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.’ v 44,45.

And so, the Old Testament foreshadowed and foretold of Jesus; and it had to be fulfilled in him, and in particular in his death for our sins, and him being raised.

So the apostles quote from the Old Testament to substantiate their message. Peter did in that first Christian sermon on the day of Pentecost - ‘For David says concerning him (i.e. Jesus), “For thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades, nor let thy Holy One see corruption…” (Psalm l6: 8-11).

Then Peter interpreted that by saying " David foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption This Jesus God raised up,and of that we all are witnesses. ' Acts 2: 25-32.

Again, some days later Peter told the rulers, elders and scribes “This is the stone (i.e Jesus) which was rejected by you builders, but which has become the head of the corner."

This is a quote from Psalm 118: 22 and Peter applies it to Jesus.

And so we could go on seeing how the apostles applied the Old Testament to Jesus.

Perhaps when you read the New Testament you could be alert to noticing when the Old Testament is quoted and applied to Jesus.

‘Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures’ - so our minds too can now be opened to understand as we read and see what Jesus and the apostles teach. Do you have some method of regular bible study?

How important and helpful to our faith it is to understand the scriptures! - both the Old and New testaments.

‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead…' Again, we see what is of central or of first importance - Christ died for our sins and was raised. This is still the gospel the church is to preach - ‘to all nations’. v. 47.

This is what will make disciples, Christians, change people, lead to new life, to having a relationship with God and a living hope for the future - nothing else will, no philosophy or cleverness of man; but what God has done does go to the root of mankind’s ill.

This gospel requires a response. Jesus says ‘Repentance and remission of sins should be preach in his name to all nations’. v 47. ‘in his name’, that is, in the name of Jesus, for it is Jesus, the Son of God, who died for our sins and was raised. Forgiveness of sins is because of that - and received by any who repent, no matter which nation they belong to.

So what is repentance?

Repentance is not remorse or regret, although we may feel these. Repentance is essentially a rethink and a return.

A re-think - realising I have been wrong with God.

A return - and so I return to God.

Paul once told King Agrippa that he declared ‘throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God and perform deeds worthy of their repentance’. Acts 26:20.

In other words, when a person truly repents there will be evidence of that, it will be seen in actions of some sort or a change of behaviour.

But not only turn - turn to God, but also trust - trust in Jesus.

Again, let’s listen to the apostle Paul. He spoke to some church elders from Ephesus, ‘I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, - and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks, of repentance to God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ’.

Acts 20: 20-21

And so, ‘repentance to God’ and ‘faith in our Lord Jesus Christ’ go together - turn and trust.

Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ who died for our sins and is raised. What he did on the cross gives you cleansing, remission of sins, and right standing with, and peace with God.

“God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.'

Rom 5: 8,9.

‘And not only so, but we also rejoice inGod through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received our reconciliation.” Rom 5.11

Jesus gives his backing

“And behold,I send the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high." Lk. 24.49.

And on the day of Pentecost they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Peter preached to the crowd and interpreted to them what had happened. He told them that this was in fulfilment of what God had spoken through the prophet Joel of old - ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh….And it shall be that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ Acts 2: l7,21.

The church is still involved in this evangelism, this making known of the Lord Jesus, his dying for us and rising, so that people today too may ‘call on the name of the Lord Jesus and be saved.'

We too need Jesus’ ‘backing’!

We too need the power of the Holy Spirit.

Series: Luke

Topics: #Luke , #Easter