Scripture: Luke 24:13-35
It is always interesting to me to note that the resurrected Jesus is always difficult to recognize. On Easter morning, we had Mary at the tomb, not seeing Jesus immediately for who he was, but instead thinking he was the gardener. It wasn’t until he spoke her name, when he named her – recognition finally dawned.
The story in Luke regarding the road to Emmaus isn’t much different. Here are some disciples and followers of Jesus who knew him, had spent time with him, and were even waiting and expecting him to come to them after the prophesied three days.
But… still… they did not recognize him and had seemingly given up hope that Jesus would come to them, even though the third day was not yet at an end! And people call ME impatient! They’re already leaving Jerusalem. They had begun the journey down the road of disappointment. So they did not see Him as he walked along beside them, talked with them, even discussed the scriptures that pointed to Him with them.
This of course raises the question – how often do we miss the resurrected Jesus as we walk down the road of life? How often in the midst of our own disappointment do we not see Him? There are two disciples on that road – one is named… the other is not. I think it’s because that other disciple – is supposed to represent us.
As we walk down the road of life, we’re very much like these disciples: they had expectations. They were having an intense discussion about the scriptures. They were so consumed with their own ideas and thoughts they failed to see and recognize Jesus when he happened upon them.
It’s really not hard to do. When I moved to Los Angeles, I left Lincoln as a blond. When I returned several months later to visit my parents, I was a red-head.
Getting off the plane, I was standing about three feet away from my mother. She kept going, “Where is she? I don’t see her?” While my dad was going, “Umm… she’s right in front of you.”
Took her a moment, but she finally saw me. I was astounded, of course. I was her daughter. Wouldn’t she know me anywhere, wearing any hair color?
But it takes just that little change to throw someone off, to cause someone to miss what they were looking for. Even someone who loves you and knows you best.
I always make fun of the fact that those closest to Superman didn’t recognize him when he put on a pair of glasses and changed his posture and clothing. I was always the first to go – “How stupid can Lois Lane really be?” But sometimes – it really is just those little changes that make us oblivious.
And Jesus doesn’t act surprised that they don’t recognize him. He gets a little irritated that they seem to have forgotten the fact that the prophecies say all these things must happen, and that they don’t understand their scriptures… but he never once says, “Ummm… scuse me! I’m right HERE!!!” In fact - the text says Jesus' identity was purposely hidden from them.
Instead… he walks with them and talks with them. He patiently listens to their story. Listens to their pain and their grief. Their disappointment. And then enters the conversation by showing them what they were missing in their understandings.
But still – throughout all that – he does not reveal who he is.
He waits. And when he is invited to stay and eat, that is when his identity is made known. Their eyes were “opened” by the breaking and giving of the bread.
You can have all the theological discussions in the world, but it is in this simple act of communion, this simple act of the breaking and giving of bread that Jesus is made known most fully to those who follow Him.
Now I think it’s important to note – these disciples - they were neither faithless nor uninformed. They were busy trying to make sense of what had happened – they were people who both knew the need for and had hope for the coming of a Messiah who could redeem God's people.
They also were people who were concerned for others--or at least for this traveling companion of theirs who thought he'd press on in the evening. Cleopas and his friend knew how unsafe the roads were. They were following Jesus’ command to love their neighbor. To be hospitable to the stranger.
These disciples were faithful disciples, who knew their scripture – knew what had happened, were students of all that Jesus had taught them… and yet – they still did not recognize Him.
So the story about the road to Emmaus brings home three important points:
First: We can’t control the one who reveals Himself to us. God has to open scripture up for us. A person can read and know the scriptures inside and out and still not understand them, still not see Jesus present within them unless God chooses to reveal its meaning to them. As I’ve told people many times – knowing scripture and understanding scripture – not always the same thing. Like those disciples on the road, I can know a verse forwards and backwards, but unless I understand its meaning and purpose – unless I see Jesus is in it… it’s just words. And the frustrating part is it takes God’s action, God’s opening up of a heart for one to truly understand what God is doing in scripture.
Many will use this passage to say that in order to know Jesus – you have to invite Him in. The problem with that interpretation is that Cleopas and the other disciple are oblivious to what they’re doing. They don’t even know that they’re inviting Christ into their home when they ask him to stay. Jesus came to them – approached them, listened to them, spoke to them – and their act of hospitality was done while they were completely oblivious to the identity of the person they were inviting in. But it was Jesus who approached them, came to them, walked with them, talked with them – and worked on their hearts, causing them to “burn” as the disciples would later describe it.
And Jesus had to be the one to open their eyes so they would recognize Him and know who He was. They were incapable of recognizing Him on their own. They couldn’t see until Jesus lifted the blinders.
Second: It reminds me that we miss Jesus in a lot of places. That we don’t always see him in our daily lives or at times when we probably should.
We get upset a lot of the time because we don’t see where God is at work. Things happen that don’t make sense to us. Things happen in our lives that make us wonder – is God listening? Is God paying attention? Is God sitting up there in His heavenly throne totally unconcerned with the things that happen around us?
We miss seeing his presence. We miss the places where he’s standing right beside us, talking to us –we’re too blinded by confusion, grief, preconceived notions, and even our own intelligence and reason at times – to know that He’s RIGHT THERE beside us.
And let’s face it – most of us are just like Cleopas and the other disciple – we don’t even know that our eyes are closed. We don’t know that we’re missing Him.
This might cause us to despair – to say what hope do we have in ever seeing God at work if His own disciples missed it when He was so plainly right there?
Well, as often as I know I miss seeing Jesus when He’s present during times of struggle, times of doubt, times of tragedy and suffering… I know there is a place where I will always see and always recognize Jesus – in the giving of the bread. There is where I recognize most fully who Jesus is and what He has done for me.
The third point is that this story reminds us – God is active there. God is making Himself known to us through our breaking of the bread together—of Christ giving himself to us. God is revealing His saving work through Christ in his Holy meal.
This is where the resurrected Christ chose to reveal Himself and make Himself known. Jesus comes to us in this way suddenly and fully – feeding us with the assurances of forgiveness and hope. Feeding us with Himself – having poured Himself out for our sake. Letting us know – he does see. He does listen. He is active. He is present.
We may not always recognize his work, we may not always see His presence – but when we take communion, we are reassured that we are being given Jesus and all his promises that we doubt. He is present with us as we partake of the bread and the wine.
Because that’s what we do during the week – we are like those disciples. We doubt His resurrection. We doubt what He has truly done for us. Has Christ REALLY been raised from the dead? Did what we just celebrated two weekends ago REALLY happen? Is Easter a reality? Life is still a struggle. Disasters and wars still happen. Where is Christ?
But when we come together and that bread is broken and given to us – his promises of forgiveness, resurrection and eternal life are again given and revealed. Easter IS a reality. When we partake of the bread He has given to us, we are able to also proclaim the good news, “It is true! The Lord has risen!”
It is always interesting to me to note that the resurrected Jesus is always difficult to recognize. On Easter morning, we had Mary at the tomb, not seeing Jesus immediately for who he was, but instead thinking he was the gardener. It wasn’t until he spoke her name, when he named her – recognition finally dawned.
The story in Luke regarding the road to Emmaus isn’t much different. Here are some disciples and followers of Jesus who knew him, had spent time with him, and were even waiting and expecting him to come to them after the prophesied three days.
But… still… they did not recognize him and had seemingly given up hope that Jesus would come to them, even though the third day was not yet at an end! And people call ME impatient! They’re already leaving Jerusalem. They had begun the journey down the road of disappointment. So they did not see Him as he walked along beside them, talked with them, even discussed the scriptures that pointed to Him with them.
This of course raises the question – how often do we miss the resurrected Jesus as we walk down the road of life? How often in the midst of our own disappointment do we not see Him? There are two disciples on that road – one is named… the other is not. I think it’s because that other disciple – is supposed to represent us.
As we walk down the road of life, we’re very much like these disciples: they had expectations. They were having an intense discussion about the scriptures. They were so consumed with their own ideas and thoughts they failed to see and recognize Jesus when he happened upon them.
It’s really not hard to do. When I moved to Los Angeles, I left Lincoln as a blond. When I returned several months later to visit my parents, I was a red-head.
Getting off the plane, I was standing about three feet away from my mother. She kept going, “Where is she? I don’t see her?” While my dad was going, “Umm… she’s right in front of you.”
Took her a moment, but she finally saw me. I was astounded, of course. I was her daughter. Wouldn’t she know me anywhere, wearing any hair color?
But it takes just that little change to throw someone off, to cause someone to miss what they were looking for. Even someone who loves you and knows you best.
I always make fun of the fact that those closest to Superman didn’t recognize him when he put on a pair of glasses and changed his posture and clothing. I was always the first to go – “How stupid can Lois Lane really be?” But sometimes – it really is just those little changes that make us oblivious.
And Jesus doesn’t act surprised that they don’t recognize him. He gets a little irritated that they seem to have forgotten the fact that the prophecies say all these things must happen, and that they don’t understand their scriptures… but he never once says, “Ummm… scuse me! I’m right HERE!!!” In fact - the text says Jesus' identity was purposely hidden from them.
Instead… he walks with them and talks with them. He patiently listens to their story. Listens to their pain and their grief. Their disappointment. And then enters the conversation by showing them what they were missing in their understandings.
But still – throughout all that – he does not reveal who he is.
He waits. And when he is invited to stay and eat, that is when his identity is made known. Their eyes were “opened” by the breaking and giving of the bread.
You can have all the theological discussions in the world, but it is in this simple act of communion, this simple act of the breaking and giving of bread that Jesus is made known most fully to those who follow Him.
Now I think it’s important to note – these disciples - they were neither faithless nor uninformed. They were busy trying to make sense of what had happened – they were people who both knew the need for and had hope for the coming of a Messiah who could redeem God's people.
They also were people who were concerned for others--or at least for this traveling companion of theirs who thought he'd press on in the evening. Cleopas and his friend knew how unsafe the roads were. They were following Jesus’ command to love their neighbor. To be hospitable to the stranger.
These disciples were faithful disciples, who knew their scripture – knew what had happened, were students of all that Jesus had taught them… and yet – they still did not recognize Him.
So the story about the road to Emmaus brings home three important points:
First: We can’t control the one who reveals Himself to us. God has to open scripture up for us. A person can read and know the scriptures inside and out and still not understand them, still not see Jesus present within them unless God chooses to reveal its meaning to them. As I’ve told people many times – knowing scripture and understanding scripture – not always the same thing. Like those disciples on the road, I can know a verse forwards and backwards, but unless I understand its meaning and purpose – unless I see Jesus is in it… it’s just words. And the frustrating part is it takes God’s action, God’s opening up of a heart for one to truly understand what God is doing in scripture.
Many will use this passage to say that in order to know Jesus – you have to invite Him in. The problem with that interpretation is that Cleopas and the other disciple are oblivious to what they’re doing. They don’t even know that they’re inviting Christ into their home when they ask him to stay. Jesus came to them – approached them, listened to them, spoke to them – and their act of hospitality was done while they were completely oblivious to the identity of the person they were inviting in. But it was Jesus who approached them, came to them, walked with them, talked with them – and worked on their hearts, causing them to “burn” as the disciples would later describe it.
And Jesus had to be the one to open their eyes so they would recognize Him and know who He was. They were incapable of recognizing Him on their own. They couldn’t see until Jesus lifted the blinders.
Second: It reminds me that we miss Jesus in a lot of places. That we don’t always see him in our daily lives or at times when we probably should.
We get upset a lot of the time because we don’t see where God is at work. Things happen that don’t make sense to us. Things happen in our lives that make us wonder – is God listening? Is God paying attention? Is God sitting up there in His heavenly throne totally unconcerned with the things that happen around us?
We miss seeing his presence. We miss the places where he’s standing right beside us, talking to us –we’re too blinded by confusion, grief, preconceived notions, and even our own intelligence and reason at times – to know that He’s RIGHT THERE beside us.
And let’s face it – most of us are just like Cleopas and the other disciple – we don’t even know that our eyes are closed. We don’t know that we’re missing Him.
This might cause us to despair – to say what hope do we have in ever seeing God at work if His own disciples missed it when He was so plainly right there?
Well, as often as I know I miss seeing Jesus when He’s present during times of struggle, times of doubt, times of tragedy and suffering… I know there is a place where I will always see and always recognize Jesus – in the giving of the bread. There is where I recognize most fully who Jesus is and what He has done for me.
The third point is that this story reminds us – God is active there. God is making Himself known to us through our breaking of the bread together—of Christ giving himself to us. God is revealing His saving work through Christ in his Holy meal.
This is where the resurrected Christ chose to reveal Himself and make Himself known. Jesus comes to us in this way suddenly and fully – feeding us with the assurances of forgiveness and hope. Feeding us with Himself – having poured Himself out for our sake. Letting us know – he does see. He does listen. He is active. He is present.
We may not always recognize his work, we may not always see His presence – but when we take communion, we are reassured that we are being given Jesus and all his promises that we doubt. He is present with us as we partake of the bread and the wine.
Because that’s what we do during the week – we are like those disciples. We doubt His resurrection. We doubt what He has truly done for us. Has Christ REALLY been raised from the dead? Did what we just celebrated two weekends ago REALLY happen? Is Easter a reality? Life is still a struggle. Disasters and wars still happen. Where is Christ?
But when we come together and that bread is broken and given to us – his promises of forgiveness, resurrection and eternal life are again given and revealed. Easter IS a reality. When we partake of the bread He has given to us, we are able to also proclaim the good news, “It is true! The Lord has risen!”
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