I don’t know if you did this growing up, but when I was in third grade, about nine years old, we lived in a small mountain community called Fiddletown. The house was on five acres of mountain slopes, was a two story, with two bedrooms, two bath, and a loft. My room was the loft. The kitchen was directly underneath me, and late at night I would make my way down the stairs for a bite to eat, or a drink of water.
My parents’ room was on the second story with me, and I had to pass it by as I made my way down the stairs. In my mind I always thought, if I turn on the light, then they’ll know I’m awake. So, I worked really hard making my way down the stairs without the use of lights. And when your house is out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by trees that are taller than the building, its pitch black.
Navigating down the stairs in complete darkness, remembering which steps made creeks and which ones didn’t was a skill that I developed over time. In fact, during the day, I would close my eyes and make my way down the stairs so that I could practice with the lights on.
But every so often, I’d miss a step and go tumbling down the stairs. Luckily I never got seriously injured, and was never caught. But ever since then, I don’t tend to turn on lights if I don't’ have to. In our church building, in the pitch black of night, I make my way through the hallways and sanctuary, without ever turning on lights. People that walk with me, tend to turn on the flashlight on their phones, but for me, I’ve practiced not seeing so often, that I’ve become accustomed to walking through places that I know, as if I were blind.
It’s this idea of being okay with walking around as if we were blind, that brings us to our final week in our March towards the Resurrection Series. In this final week, we’re going to be jumping ahead in the book of Luke to the 24th chapter, where we’re going to be starting in verse 13. And as we open up to Luke 24:13, let’s bring this series into full focus by looking back on the last four weeks.
In these last several weeks, we’ve been focusing on interactions Jesus had as he made his way to Jerusalem. In the first week we saw parents trying to get their children to Jesus for a blessing. But the disciples were keeping the children and parents away, because they weren’t as important as other people. A person who was important enough, by their standards, to meet with Jesus, was a rich young man with a lot of respect in his town. But Jesus, rebuked the disciples for keeping the children from him, and through Jesus’ teachings, it was the rich young man that left without receiving a blessing from Jesus. We walked away from the first week with the understanding that God is calling us to seek his way humbly, that others may be blessed as we are.
The next interaction Jesus had, was with two men. The first was a blind beggar who sought a physical healing from Jesus. Jesus healed the man, and the crowd who saw it rejoiced at God’s work. The second man, was seeking to simply understand who Jesus was, but when he met Jesus, he realized his sin and gave up the wealth that he had spent his life trying to accumulate. This man received salvation that day, but the crowd had grumbled that Jesus would even interact with such a man. It was here that we understood, that God is calling us to not allow our personal biases to keep us from rejoicing at his work.
Finally, last week, we looked at three sequential events: The triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, Jesus weeping over the city, and Jesus clearing out the temple. These three sequential events showed us what needs to happen in our own lives. We tend to want physical victories, just like the people as they heard Jesus’ coming to Jerusalem and thought he came to overthrow the Roman government. But Jesus wept over them, because they were missing what really needed to happen. Jesus had come to clear out sin from us, so that we may have a spiritual rebirth. And we walked away from last week with the understanding that God is calling all people to be cleansed of their sin, because at his return, there will be no more opportunities to enter his kingdom.
This brings us, as we jump from chapter 19 to chapter 24 of the Gospel of Luke, to the resurrection. The very event we have been marching towards. And just like we’ve done in the weeks prior to today, we are going to look at one more interaction that Jesus after he was crucified and raised in a new glorified body. Let’s start reading in Luke chapter 24, in verse 13.
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.”
Now, I love this. Jesus is raised and one of the first things he does is find some disciples walking along, and kind of messes with them. “What are you discussing?” Jesus asks. “What things?” He asks, continuing playing dumb. As if he has no clue and needs to be told everything. But let’s notice somethings about this whole situation.
First, these two disciples were walking away from Jerusalem. Why? We know that they had heard that Jesus rose from the dead. Why not hang around and see for themselves? Why leave when something amazing could be happening?
Could it be because they had lost hope? In verses 20 and 21 they reply to Jesus’ questions with, “… 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.”
It sounds like they had, past-tense, hoped that Jesus was the king, but when he was crucified they lost that hope. Even when people came and told them he had risen, they still were without hope. Couple this with the fact that they had left Jerusalem, it sounds like they were no longer confident that Jesus was what they had hoped he was, even with the possibly of his resurrection.
Now in verse 16, we get an interesting sentence. It says, “ But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.”
Now, I have read other people’s interpretation of this verse, and most people think that God is keeping them from seeing that it’s Jesus. But I don’t think that’s the case. From what we have just talked about, how they have lost their hope of Jesus becoming king, I think it’s their hopelessness that is keeping them from recognizing Jesus, and not God.
I mean listen to what Jesus tells them, starting in verse 25, “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.”
Jesus gets on them for their loss of hope, and he points out how they have not believed what God had spoken through the prophets. It’s because of their own hopelessness that they are unable to recognize Jesus standing before them. But it doesn’t end there. Let’s pick it back up in verse 28.
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.
Did you catch that? It wasn’t until Jesus shared a meal with them, blessing it like he always did, that they woke up to this man sitting with them, who was indeed the risen Jesus! Notice what they say in verse 32, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”
I think this is something that we really need to recognize. As Jesus opened up the Scriptures to these two disciples, the hope rekindled inside of them, but they still did not recognize him. It’s almost as if they were wanting to recognize Jesus, but were fighting the thought of it. They allowed their loss of hope to be greater, than the Jesus in front of them.
It’s almost as if they were so used to being blind in hopelessness since Jesus’ crucifixion, that when they had an opportunity to see clearly, they couldn’t. Even when Jesus spoke hope to them through the Scriptures, they still couldn’t let go of their blindness, of their hopelessness.
Yet, at the moment they sat down for dinner with Jesus, the breaking of bread, the blinders came off. They were able to see and everything changed. They had spent the better part of the day walking away from Jerusalem, away from hope. They had reached their destination as the Sun set. But at the realization that Jesus was indeed resurrected, they left in the dark to return to Jerusalem, and back to their hope in Jesus.
And this is what God is calling us today, a return to hope. A return to him. With everything going on in our world, God is hope in troubled times. He is the only solid footing in times of great strife. God is the constant when everything is shifting around us and we don’t know what the next day will bring.
God is calling all of us back to hope, and that hope can only be experienced through the risen Jesus. Who, even now, stands with us waiting for us to recognize him in our midst. We must dive into his word, the Bible. We must take time and enter communion with him, which we are going to do today. We must seek to recognize what he’s doing right now, and not allow the hopelessness of the world to send us away from the God of hope.
Today, if you do not know the hope that is in Jesus, I want to invite you into a personal relationship with him right now. And that personal hope-filled relationship starts with being honest. You and I are not perfect. We fail at a lot of things. One of the greatest failures we have done is to think we can do life on our own. God never made us to be like that. To stumble around in the dark, becoming accustomed to it. No, he created us to live our lives in tandem with him. Everyday at every moment, drawing our strength from him.
But we have gone our own way, indulging in what the Bible calls sin. Giving into anger, lying, gossip, breaking down others, sexual sin, and so much more. But this is the hope found in Jesus, God doesn’t leave us where we’re at, but provides a way to break loose from that sin which leads to hopelessness and death. Instead of a dead end in this life, he opens the path to a new destination that ends with his hope and life.
And all we have to do is go before God, and admit we sin, recognizing Jesus’ death on the cross on our behalf, and accepting him as our Lord and Savior. If you hear the voice of God today and desire to move from hopelessness of this world, to the hope that is only found in Jesus, then repeat this prayer after me, “Jesus, I have sinned, and because of that I am hopeless, but you say you have given me hope through the cross and through your empty tomb. I accept that gift of hope, please be my Savior and my Lord that I may trust and follow you all the days of my life. Amen.”
My challenge for this week is write down those things you have which draw you to hopelessness, and bring them to the communion table. We’re goin to do something different today with communion. Instead of passing the bread and cup, we are goin to walk to the table, taking the piece of paper that contains those hopeless things, cast them before the cross and embrace the hope that is through Jesus.
The bread represents his body, broken for the hopeless of sin, that we might not be broken for our own sin. The cup represents the blood of Jesus, which covers us in his forgiveness, and leviers us into his hope.
Join me at the communion table, that we would be in relationship with Jesus, the only hope of the world.
Let us celebrate today, that Jesus is alive, and is one day coming back, and that we may be found on our own road recognizing him as Savior. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment