Well, I have a question for you. Have you ever been so angry, so despairing that you just walked away? When I was four years old, I left home. I walked in the exact opposite direction of my parents. My safety and security and my home. You see, I couldn’t see the love that was literally right in front of me. I was blinded by a four year old’s temper, and my eyes and my ears were closed to the truth. I only saw and heard was I was convinced was the truth, instead of actually hearing the truth. Today we’re gonna hear about two men, and they have also lost their hope, their sense of peace, and actually their faith. And therefore they were unable to see the risen Jesus who was literally right in front of them. We’re gonna open up our Bibles and we’re going to look at Luke. Chapter 24, and we’re gonna read a lot. We’re gonna read verses 13 through 35. But this is important because Lucas the only one who writes down this account, and this story takes place on Resurrection Sunday. The women have gone to the tomb, it’s empty. Angels tell them that Jesus has risen from the dead. The women run to tell the men. And the men don’t believe them, and that’s where our story begins. Now, that same day, two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened as they talked and discussed these things with each other. Jesus himself came up and walked along with them, but they were kept from recognizing him. He asked them, what are you discussing together as you walk along? They stood still, their faces downcast. 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? What things he asked? About Jesus of Nazareth. They replied he was a prophet, powerful and word indeed before God. And all the people and the chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death and they crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what’s more? It is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body, and they came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus. He said to them how foolish you are and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory. In beginning with Moses and the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all scripture concerning himself. As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going further, but they urged him strongly, stay with us for its nearly evening, and the day is almost over. So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, we’re not our hearts burning within us. While he talked with us on the road and opened the scriptures to us, they got up and returned at once to Jerusalem.

There they found the 11 and those with them assembled together and saying. It’s true. The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon. Then the two told what had happened on the way and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread, the gospel of our Lord. Praise. Let us pray. Dear Jesus, you are right in front of us. You pursue us. You track us down. Give us the ears to hear your saving word. Give us the eyes to see a hurting world, and give us the boldness to proclaim to all who need to hear that you have risen. You have risen deed. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. What happened on the road to Emmaus? Well first, these men were walking in the wrong direction. Think about that for a moment. These men were walking away from their friends. They were walking away from their faith community. They were walking away from their beloved Jerusalem. They were withdrawing from the very strength they could have garnered by being in community with others, and instead they were retreating. In essence, they were running away because they didn’t believe the eye witness accounts pertaining to a risen Jesus, because what they heard didn’t make sense to them. But before we’re too harsh, I ask. Have you ever walked away from church, from your faith, from your friends or your family because things didn’t turn out the way you wanted, or things just didn’t make sense to you? Or maybe you’ve been so focused on your own problems that you failed to see Jesus right in front of you. You see, when we withdraw and become preoccupied with dashed hopes, spoiled plans, just like the men on the road to Emmaus, we’re likely to miss Jesus and not hear his word of truth. Why? It’s because we become so focused on our own understanding of what’s happening. The men on the road to Emmaus were retreating because they honestly felt Jesus had let them down. They could not understand what had happened. They were wrestling with disappointment that after all this time, Jesus wasn’t the long awaited military messiah that was going to free them from the oppression of Roman rule. With Jesus dead on the cross, they lost all hope. Now, these disciples still see Jesus as a prophetic leader. It’s just they didn’t see him as the Messiah or the king of kings. They had hoped that Jesus would be the one to return the throne to Jerusalem. See, they were holding onto their vision. Of God’s plan instead of Jesus’s vision of his plan. They didn’t understand that Jesus’s death on the cross was the greatest hope ever. They didn’t understand that through his death, he was conquering death for all of us. The man had heard that the tomb was empty. They didn’t know why and they didn’t know what had happened to Jesus’s body. Despite the women’s testimony, despite biblical prophecies of this very event, they still didn’t believe. Now, Luke’s gospel says that one of the men on this road, his name was Cleopas. And church historians actually tell us that Cleopas was Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father’s brother, and many years later, he’s actually martyred for saying that his nephew Jesus was the Messiah. Church historians also tell us that the other man. Was Simon Cleopas youngest son, and that Cleopas goes on and leaves the church in Palestine for 43 years before he’s martyred, but that’s much later. How did these men not recognize Jesus? Martin Luther actually wrestled with this question. And he said that these men were literally consumed by grief, despair, and the unbelief, and so they weren’t able to handle the truth that Jesus himself was standing right in front of them.

Now, this is important for you to know. Scripture doesn’t say that Jesus hid his identity. It doesn’t say that he blinded them. They were just blinded to the truth. You can actually hear the disappointment in their voice. We had hoped he was the one to redeem Israel. In other words, the men were saying. We had hoped that he was gonna be the one that was talked about in Genesis three 15, that he would be the one to crushed the head of the serpent. That he would be the one that Moses had spoken about. These men knew their scripture. They’d been taught it since they were children. They probably, over these three years, had mentally been checking boxes like, yep, he fulfilled that one. Yep. He fulfilled that one. And then he died. They had such deep set unbelief and despair. They had to leave town because if Jesus was God, well then he died and that wasn’t possible. What is coming out of their mouths is where their heart is and it’s unbelief. But here’s what I find most remarkable about this story. It’s the day of the resurrection, and you would assume that Jesus kind of has a lot to do. It’s kind of a big day for him. His first day resurrected, and what does he choose to do? Out of all the things he could have done, he chases down these two men that. It is incredible. So here’s our first biblical truth. Jesus is relentless in pursuing doubters. We heard last week in Pastor Todd’s sermon where we talked about Thomas and Jesus was relentless in pursuing him because Jesus wants to turn our unbelief into belief. Jesus knows that what he’s hearing from these two men is unbelief, which is why he chased them down. Jesus teaches them the scriptures. Again, Luke tells us, did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets he explained to them. What was said in all the scriptures concerning himself. Jesus explained to the man that everything you have read is about me. The Messiah will have to die. You may say it isn’t so, but it is. He died. He had to, the Messiah was not the deliverer of Israel from Rome. The Messiah was the deliverer of death for all of you. Jesus is teaching them the scriptures again because in their doubt, they’ve lost their faith. We are them. And this brings us to our next biblical truth. We need to hear the gospel again and again because we know it and then we forget it, and so does everyone else too. And just like Jesus chase down those two men on the road to Emmaus, we get to chase down unbelievers with the word. The Bible tells us that Jesus did this like ginormous data dump on them explaining all the scripture to them, and I imagine that Jesus probably said something like, what’s recorded in John 5 35? You study the scriptures diligently because you think in them you have eternal life. These are the very scriptures that testify about me. So now the men have cognitive knowledge of the scriptures, but they still don’t get it. It wasn’t until they arrived in Emmaus and asked Jesus to dine with them and they see Jesus blessing and breaking the bread, that’s when they actually got it.

That’s when they actually understood that the man standing before them was the risen Lord. That’s why communion is so important to us. The breaking of the bread reminds us of Christ’s broken body for us, for the forgiveness of all of our sins. Luke tells us when he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him and he disappeared from their sight to the men. This was enough of an echo of what had just happened a couple of nights before that we refer to as the Last Supper. That now they finally recognize Jesus once their eyes were opened. Now they had faith in the risen Jesus. See, Jesus named their unbelief. He pursued them. He explained the scriptures. He spoke truth to them about the scriptures, and once they had faith, he left. Jesus came and did what he came to do. His word creates faith, and these men now know it deeply. This is what Jesus came to do. And this brings us to our final biblical truth, and this was what Andrew read to us in Romans chapter 10, verse 17. Faith comes from hearing the message. And the message is heard through the word about Christ. The scriptures tell us that Jesus stayed with them until they knew the word no. Here in Greek is sco. That’s a really powerful word, epic means to know in the deepest part of your soul is to know him in your heart. Jesus chased down these unbelievers and now that they know they become preachers and deliver God’s word of promise to others. Luke tells us they got up and returned at once to Jerusalem, and there they found the 11 and those with them assembled together and saying, it is true. The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon. We’re like them. You see, Jesus has pursued us since the beginning. Think back to Adam and Eve. Well, when they sin, they did not run towards God. They actually ran in the exact opposite direction, hiding among the trees of the garden, but God pursued them. Genesis tells us, then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man. Where are you from the beginning? Our creator, God has sought after his lost creatures. God always has a heart of reconciliation. God’s passionate pursuit of us involves sending his beloved son to die in our place. Because we couldn’t reach up to him. He came down to us.

He pursues us even when we’re obstinate. Isaiah said I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me. I was found by those who did not seek me to a nation that did not call on my name. I said, here, am I here? Am I all day long? I held out my hands to an obstinate. People who walk in ways not good pursuing their own imaginations. This story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, it’s important to us for many reasons. It provides an emphasis on the Old Testament prophecies about Jesus, and it makes a connection with other eyewitness accounts of the risen Jesus. But Luke 24 is often seen as a model of a journey that Jesus makes with us. He opens our eyes, he points to the word that creates faith. And he reveals himself to us a long life’s walk. Jesus continues to pursue men and women of every era, tribe, race, creed, to turn their unbelief into belief through his word. Remember Jesus’s last words to his disciples were instructions to actually carry out the work that he had begun. You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. Jesus is now handing this text to us. This is what we’re called to do. Just like the men who are on the road to Emmaus until they met the risen Jesus, we are called to be witnesses and proclaim the risen Christ. Will you pray with me? Lord Jesus, you have risen. Indeed we have the gift of the scriptures, which Martin Luther called the cradle that holds the Christ child. We know that faith comes from hearing your word. You died for us. Our sins are forgiven. Thank you, Jesus, and through the Holy Spirit empower us to share this good news with others. Amen.