Preached in Markham Baptist Church, April 20, 2003.

Text: Luke 24:13-35

TWO DISCIPLES MEET THE MASTER

Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles£ from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth,£ who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 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 took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.” Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah£ should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.   (Luke 24:13-35) (NRSV)

They were heading home.  The last couple of days had been exhausting and heartbreaking.  Everything was over now.  Their friends were scattered, their best friend accused and killed.  The Passover was over and it was okay for them to travel now.  So they did, they were heading home to Emmaus.  It wasn't an easy walk, to be sure, they were healthy and able.  There wasn't anything wrong with them physically, really.  But emotionally, psychologically, spiritually they were drained.  And all of this was reflected physically.  Their shoulders sagged, because their hearts were heavy.  Their feet dragged because their dreams and hopes had been dashed.  Their heavy sighs were a reflection of their disappointment and bewilderment.  It was only a seven-mile walk to Emmaus, but it seemed so much longer on this day.  These are the two disciples on the Emmaus road.

Now skip ahead a number of hours.  Here are the same two disciples walking the very same road, only this time they are going back to Jerusalem.  And this time they are walking very differently.  In fact you hardly call what they were doing a walk at all.  They were running, no they were dancing, well, leaping!  And look at their eyes - look at the light that is there; look at their entire expression. It is full of life and joy and energy.  There is no stopping these two they are walking with vim, and vitality and vigour. 

Now the question is what has happened to these two?  What has brought about this change?  What was it? 

It was that they had experienced the greatest of all miracles.  They have witnessed the Risen Lord.  They had stood in the very presence of God Himself, the victor over sin and death.  

It is one of the great proofs of the resurrection - that this rag-tag group of scarred, disheartened believers became a mighty force in the world, giving their very lives for the truth that the Son of God rose from the dead.  In the words of Max Lucado, "The disciples became an infectious fever.  They were a moving organism.  They refused to be stopped.  Uneducated drifters who shook history like a housewife shakes a rug."¹

Nothing can explain this change in the disciples except the reality of the living Lord.  They had seen the Lord and they went out in obedience to Him to tell the world - He is risen. 

I wonder where does life find you on that Emmaus Road?  Are you walking toward Emmaus with shoulders down and feet dragging?  Or are you walking toward Jerusalem? Having seen the Lord?  Are you walking with steadfast and sure tread knowing that you serve a risen Lord?  Are you walking through life sure that the one you call Saviour is a living Master and not a dead martyr? Do you know that you serve a victor and not a victim?  Do you know that because He lives, all His promises can be trusted, all His claims about Himself are proved sure?

Now don't misunderstand I'm not looking for a false happy, happy smile from you.  But listen - there is a living hope, a vibrant faith, a certain peace, an overflowing joy, a willingness to risk all for Christ when a man or a woman has the assurance that they serve a risen Saviour, a victorious master, a reigning King, a loving Heavenly Father who has not been defeated by the all the power and principalities of this world. 

So, where does life find you today on that Emmaus road?  Perhaps you are walking toward Emmaus with the disciples.  And even though Jesus walks with you on that road you, like the disciples are kept from recognizing Him in your life.  And it is easy enough - I've done it a thousand times.  How often I have been blind to God's presence in my life.  How often have I failed to see Him at work.

The text says that the disciples' eyes were kept from recognizing Him. I don't think this is a mystical event - I don't think that it was God who kept them from perceiving who Christ was.  He sent a fog into their heads? No, I think they were in a natural fog.  It was a fog of dashed hopes.

As Jesus comes alongside the two He asks them what they were talking about as they walked.  And after showing their disbelief - "Are you the only one in Jerusalem who hasn't heard about the events of the last number of days?"

"What events?"

The two go on to tell the risen Jesus about their experience of the earthly Jesus - how He was mighty in word and deed before God and all the people but how He was still condemned to death.  And then in verse 21 they say, "We had hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel."

Their hopes were dashed.  There was a time when their hope shone brightly.  There was a time when following Jesus and experiencing His miracles and hearing His words gave them a sense of hope that this was the one who would free them from their Roman oppressors.  But now He is dead.  Their hopes were crushed.  Even though the women had reported an empty tomb and of seeing some mysterious shapes they took for angels, no one had actually seen the Lord Himself.  He was dead and they would never see Him again, or hear His words.  They had lost their Lord and they had lost their hopes.

And yet… and yet, isn't God great?  Do you understand why the disciples walked back to Jerusalem with a jump in their step and their hearts pounding?  Do you understand why we Christians celebrate Easter every Sunday?  It is because, thank God, our ways are not His ways.  Our thoughts are not His thoughts. 

For while they had lost their hopes for the redemption of Israel, God was making that very thing possible but in a way they never thought of in a way that so much better! 

Redeem - that word means to bring out of slavery, to be set free.  And God in Jesus Christ was making it possible for that to happen.  Of course the disciples were hoping for a temporal, material redemption.  But God was doing something greater - a spiritual redemption, an eternal redemption.  He was making it possible for all of Israel, indeed any who would believe in Him to be set free from their slavery to selfishness. 

We are set free from living for ourselves now as we realize that we don't have to strive for self preservation any longer.  We've been saved from that.  

We are set free from a life of that always falls short of God's standards of holiness.  For Jesus went to the cross on our behalf as the perfect sacrifice He took our place and paid the price for us.  And now through Him we are seen as holy in God's sight.  Not because of anything we have done but because of what God has done through Christ on the cross. 

Sometimes when our hopes are dashed we fail to recognize God's presence in our lives.  My friends, let us never lose hope in God.  For those who hope in the Lord will not be disappointed.  Sometimes our hopes, while admirable are not always the best - and when they are not realized we need not despair but ask God rather - "what is it that You have planned for me  - because You always have the best planned.  Even though I cannot see it I will trust that You have the best planned for Your glory and praise."

The two on the Emmaus road failed to recognize Jesus Christ because of dashed hopes, but there is also this.  They failed to recognize Jesus Christ because of limited expectations.

I don't think that these two expected to see Jesus in the flesh.  To be sure they were probably present when Jesus said "destroy this temple and I will raise it up again in 3 days."  But they didn't get it.  They didn't take Him literally, and they certainly didn't think He was talking about Himself.  And to be sure they had heard the women and Peter tell of how the tomb was empty.  But they really weren't expecting Jesus to come and walk along side them.  They thought He was dead and that was that. 

The reality of His death was at the forefront of their minds.  There are some scholars who believe that these two were husband and wife.  The husband being Cleopas and the wife, being nameless here but named as "Mary the wife of Cleopas" in John 19:25.  And Mary the wife of Clopas, a slight variation in the spelling was one of the women present at the foot of the cross.²

Regardless, they are aware of Jesus' death and that is in the forefront of their mind. They didn't expect Jesus to actually rise from the dead.

And it this lack of expectation that continues to blind us to God's work and presence in our life today.  We look at things as they are and fail to see things as they may be.  We look at the state of this world.  We look at the economy, the disease, the wars, the injustice, the persecution, and we think God is stymied here.    Or we look at our own meager lives, our small talents and resources and we think God can't do too much here. 

We fail to remember that our God is able to do immeasurable more than all we ask or imagine.  I wonder if our expectations of God are too small.  We often come asking according to what we can do and what we have.  But not according to what He can do and what He possesses.  And so we don't dare, we don't risk, we don't venture beyond the expected. 

We don't really believe that Jesus Christ will never leave us or forsake us and that He is with us to the end of the age, - we don't expect Him to be there always.  I mean, He must be busy and who am I?

We don't really believe that the prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective - we don't expect our prayers to be answered - just the odd one to keep us in the game. 

We don't really believe that there are lots of people in our world ready to accept Jesus Christ as Saviour (for that's what Jesus says, He says that the harvest is ready) - we don't expect people to be ready and willing to listen when we speak of the forgiveness that is in Jesus Christ.

We have such low expectations of our Lord.  Hudson Taylor that great missionary to China often spoke of the fathomless wealth of Christ and wrote, "If God should place me in perplexity, must he not give me much guidance? If God should place me in positions of great difficulty must he not give me much grace? If God should place me in circumstances of great pressure and trial must he not give me much strength? There is no fear that his resources will be unequal to the emergency, and his resources are mine for he is mine and is with me and dwells with me."

My friends don't let limited expectations blind you to the presence of Jesus Christ in your life.  When was the last time you expected God to do something in you and through you.  When was the last time you expected our church to win this whole city for Christ?  When was the last time you dreamed and expected God to win the whole world?  When was the last time you actually believed that your prayers were powerful and effective because he has made your righteous through faith in Christ Jesus?  It was William Carey who said, "Attempt great things for God, expect Great things from God." 

Why did they fail to see?  Because of dashed hopes and limited expectations.  And notice the wonderful grace of our Lord Jesus Christ He patiently guides them through all Scripture showing them the truth about Himself.  He opens the Scriptures beginning with the first books of the Old Testament written by Moses so that their hearts burn within them - certainly it was a burning caused by renewed hope, and greater expectations. 

And they recognize Jesus - As they share supper with him they come to understand that they are part of something so much better than their dashed hopes, that they are belong to someone so much greater than their little expectations.  They follow the risen Saviour and belong to the living Lord they must go and tell the others. 

Where are you on that road?  Are you traveling toward Emmaus with dashed hopes and limited expectations?  OR are you travelling toward Jerusalem with a firm tread, with hopes firmly rooted in the risen Lord, and with expectations larger than sometimes you think you dare but because he is the Victorious Saviour you will risk it.  Where are you on that road?

Tony Campolo tells of how at his church, a church he calls a "black church", about once a year they have a preaching festival.  It was his turn to preach and while he doesn't like to brag, he was good.  You know how I told you, the deacons are shouting, "Preach it brother, preach it brother." And the women are saying, "Well, well," and the people are shouting, "Keep going, keep going." 

He feeds on that stuff and he kept getting better and better. In fact, he got so good, he says that he wanted to take notes on himself.  "And I came to the end and that place exploded and there was shouting and screaming and cheering I sat down and my pastor hit my knee and said, 'You did alright boy.' "  And Campolo says, "I hate it when he calls me boy."

Tony said, "Pastor you're next.  Are you going to be able to top that?"  He said, "Son, sit back.  Sit back - the old man is going to do you in."

Tony had been so hot that day that he didn't think he could do it.  But for the next hour and half he did Tony in.  And he did with just one line, over and over and over again.  You ask what was the line?  Here it is, "It's Friday… but Sunday's coming."

It doesn't sound like much, but you weren't there.  He picked up this theme we've been talking about.  The theme of Christ's victory, and because of that we do not need to be victims of dashed hopes or limited expectations. 

"It was Friday.  It was Friday and my Jesus was dead on the cross.  But that was Friday.  Friday.  Sunday's coming. "

Somebody yelled, "Keep going, keep going."  That's all he needed, he took off.

"Friday. Friday, people are saying as things have been so shall they be you can change nothing in this world.  But they didn't know it was only Friday.  Sunday's coming."

Somebody yelled, "Preach it, brother; preach it, brother."

"Friday, Friday… darkness rules. Friday they are making fun of Him on the cross.  They are saying He can save others but He cannot save Himself.  But they don't know that it's only Friday.  Friday and Sunday's coming."

"It's Friday, Friday, Friday - and they say that a small group of people in a Baptist Church cannot change the world but they don't know it's only Friday.  Sunday's coming. "

"Friday, Friday, they're saying this secular town cannot be impacted by the gospel, their hearts are too hard, materialism, and secularism is too strong.  But they don't know it's only Friday.  Sunday's coming. "

"Friday, Friday, and people's hearts are filled with dashed hopes and they are weighed down with sorrow and distress.  But that was Friday.  Sunday's coming."

He did that for an hour and a half!

And at the end of that message Tony Campolo said he will never forget how it ended.  He just screamed at the top of his lungs, "FRIDAY!!"

And with one voice, with one voice that congregation yelled back "SUNDAY'S COMING!!"³ 

My friends Sunday has arrived, go out into his world with your hopes rooted in Him and your expectations based on the fact that we serve a risen, victorious, reigning King.

Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - April 2003