JESUS SIGHTINGS

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on April 27, 2022 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: April 27, 2022 from Luke 24:13-35

Theme: The encounter with Jesus on the road to Emmaus proves that we have cause for joy.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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As we come to the particular story in this morning’s passage in Luke, it would be good to remember something that the Lord Jesus told His disciples before He went to the cross. John tells us about it in his Gospel. He wrote about how the Lord had told them—during His last supper with them—that He was about to leave them. They were dreadfully sad at this news. And yet, He said;

“Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you” (John 16:20-22).

Our Lord promised that His resurrection would lead to their joy. And the story before us is a dramatic illustration of that promise from our Lord. It starts off with sorrow over the fact of Jesus’ crucifixion. It tells us of how the hopes of His followers were disappointed. But then, upon encountering the resurrected Lord Jesus—and realizing that they truly had a living hope—the story ends with joy.

And so, without trying to give an analytical outline of this morning’s passage, let’s just read through this wonderful story together—make a few comments here and there—and see that the encounter with Jesus on the road to Emmaus proves that we have cause for joy.

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Now; just before this passage, we were told about the women who came to the tomb of Jesus to find it empty—and of the disciples Peter and John who went in and found the linen cloths that our Lord’s body had been wrapped in lying there empty. Jesus’ body was not there.

And so, this morning’s passage starts off in Luke 24:13-14 with these words:

Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all these things which had happened (Luke 24:13-14).

When Luke speaks of “two of them”, he’s speaking of followers of Jesus, who were still bewildered and confused by the empty tomb, Who were these two disciples? We’re told that one of them is named Cleopas; but who is the other? We’re not told. But the other may possibly be Cleopas’ wife. After all, we’re told later on of the events that happened at supper in what seems to be their home. Perhaps this was a husband and wife who were traveling on that Sunday afternoon from Jerusalem to their home in the town of Emmaus—walking along and talking about the things that they had heard. Perhaps so, anyway. In any case, they were sad disciples.

And then, along came a mysterious Stranger. Luke tells us;

So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him (vv. 15-16).

It shouldn’t be a surprise to us that Jesus—in His resurrected glory—could appear to His followers in a way that they didn’t recognize. We’re told later on in this chapter of Luke’s Gospel that He was able to suddenly appear in a locked room and stand in their midst. He could pass through locked doors, and yet be touched … and could even eat fish. Our Lord’s resurrected body wasn’t subject to the laws of physics that our bodies are subject to in our unglorified condition.

Why would He appear to them like this?—as it were, incognito? Clearly, it was so that He could have the ‘inquisitive’ kind of chat with them that we find in this passage.

And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?” (v. 17).

In some of the other translations, we find it said that these two disciples stopped in their tracks—responding to this Stranger as if He’d asked the most absurd question they’d ever heard.

Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?” And He said to them, “What things?” (vv. 18-19).

It’s almost humorous—in a reverent way—that they said this with Him standing before them. But notice how our Lord engaged them with questions like that. Why? He didn’t ask this question because He didn’t know “what things” they were talking about. Clearly, He knew; because they were things that concerned Him. But He wanted them to articulate the things that had happened; so that He could then respond to those things in a way that opened their hearts.

So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened” (vv. 20-21).

Notice the details of their answer to this Stranger. They said that they were thinking about the things that had happened to “Jesus of Nazareth”. They didn’t simply say, “Jesus” … as if this Stranger—as they understood Him—would have known who they were talking about; but “Jesus of Nazareth” … as if to specify who He was. They explained that He was “a Prophet”; and indeed He was a Prophet … but much more than that. They explained how the chief priests and rulers handed Him over to be crucified … not mentioning the Romans. This was, perhaps, to underscore the guilt of their own people. And notice especially that their sorrow wasn’t just grief over the loss of Jesus, but also disappointment. They had been hoping that He would be the Messiah who would deliver His people from the political oppression they were under. They, like so many others at that time, didn’t understand that the Messiah must first die for the sins of His people. And finally, they observed that this was the third day since all this had happened. It would have seemed to them that their hopes had been dashed permanently.

Now; do you remember that in our last study of Luke’s Gospel, we considered how the ‘encounter’ stories in Luke 24 show us that the resurrection was ‘unexpected’? This is really highlighted by what these two disciples say next:

They did not yet understand that He had been raised. So; you see that the sorrow of the disciples was a profound one. It was certainly sorrow over what had happened to their Lord; but it was also sorrow that came from disappointed hopes and expectations. And more; it was even a sorrow that was made all the worse by the profound confusion and mystery of it all.

Perhaps they would have thought that this Stranger would have been sympathetic to their sorrow. But His response to them must have been a little shocking.

Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!” (v. 25).

Our Lord was not being cruel and insulting in saying this. The word He used for “foolish” in the original Greek was not the usual word. To be “foolish”, in that usual sense of the word would be a kind of sinful and rebellious rejection of truth. Instead, He used a word that meant that they were not grasping things as they should. And so, in love and tender mercy to them, this Stranger reminded them what they should have understood and known all along. He said,

“Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (vv. 26-27).

This would be very much like what the Lord Jesus would tell the disciples a little later—in verse 44—when we read; “Then He said to them, ‘These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me’” (v. 44). Wouldn’t you have loved to hear what He taught these two disciples along the road? And yet, the Holy Spirit hasn’t seen fit to preserve those words for us. Perhaps it’s because we—on this side of His resurrection appearances—are meant to search those things out for ourselves in the Scriptures.

Well; what a journey they were having with this Stranger! They were receptive to His rebuke. And as sad as they may have been, they didn’t want this encounter to end. Luke tells us;

Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them (vv. 28-29).

Sometimes in the stories of the Gospels, we read of how the Lord appeared as if He was going to go on further—in order to see if His followers will ask Him to stay. And this Stranger graciously stayed with these two disciples at their request. After all, the sun was beginning to go down on that Sunday afternoon. And so, they had supper. And yet, He behaved as their Host.

Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight (vv. 30-31).

How was it that they recognized Him? It may have been that the way that He broke the bread reminded them of Him. It may even be that they saw the nail prints in His hands. After all, He would later appear and show those same hands to the disciples gathered in the locked room. But the clearest explanation is what we find in verse 31: “Then their eyes were opened …” By God’s grace, those whose eyes had been ‘restrained’ from knowing Him were now permitted to see and recognize Him. And no sooner did they do so than He vanished from their sight.

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Now; notice carefully that the encounter with the mysterious Stranger—who was Jesus Himself—had ended; but the impact of that encounter hadn’t. We’re told;

And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” (v. 32).

Clearly, the Holy Spirit had illuminated their hearts to the promises of Scripture. They now understood and remembered what they should have known. What a grace from God this was! And what’s more, they couldn’t keep it to themselves. If dinner had begun at around 6 pm, and Jerusalem was seven miles away, it may be close to 9 pm by the time they were able to arrive to report what had happened. We’re told

So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread (vv. 33-35).

Their encounter was confirmed to them by the reports of others. And joy was the result.

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We live two thousand years after those two disciples encountered the resurrected Lord Jesus … and experienced the joy of discovering that He is alive. And our joy today can be just as strong and prevailing as theirs. In fact, it should be. Our joy should be overwhelming and prevailing—even in the most difficult of circumstances.

As the apostle Peter, who also encountered Him that day, would later write;

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1:3-9).

AE