The Road to Emmaus: A Walk With Jesus — Sermon by the Very Rev. Dr. Craig Stephans

Let's pray. Father, I pray that you

would open all of our eyes today that we

might recognize Jesus. I pray that you

open the scriptures to us and cause our

hearts to burn with love and passion and

desire for him. Come, Holy Spirit, grant

us wisdom and revelation to know you

better. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Amen. Please be seated.

As I was reflecting on this passage, I

was reminded of the summer either before

or right after I started seminary. My

home church, our home church in

Charleston, St. James, had a series

during that summer where the recctor

author, Father Arthur, who some of you

have met, just invited some different

preachers to preach on their favorite

passage in scripture, any of them. And

so I remember this was mine and still is

probably one of the top two maybe along

with the transfiguration. My favorite

passage in scripture. It just says so

much about the divinity and the humanity

of Jesus. I think it says so much about

our life of faith walking with Jesus and

with fellow believers in this world.

And I think that as I imagine this

passage, the events happening, I think

Jesus was really enjoying himself as he

walked with these two disciples and then

as he revealed himself and disappeared.

This happens as as Luke tells us and I

encourage you to turn to Luke chapter 24

Luke 24 · chapter mention

in your gospel passages. If we step back

from this, this happens on that morning

of Sunday following the crucifixion that

happened on Friday, following the day of

Jesus being in the tomb. And during that

time, the disciples are hiding in the

upper room. Many of the women are still

there with them.

And it wasn't until that Sunday morning

when the women went to the tomb to

prepare and anoint the body that in

John's gospel, he tells us that Mary

Magdalene encountered Jesus, saw him

alive, and the other women, as Luke and

Matthew tell us, they saw the angels

after seeing the tomb empty and heard

the message of the angels that Jesus

isn't here. He's alive. Go tell the

disciples.

And when you read the gospel passages of

the crucifixion and the visitation to

the tomb, you can see there's at least

three Marys involved, maybe four. It can

become kind of confusing who they are.

Mary, Jesus's mom, was at the tomb.

Another Mary, the mother of James, and

Joseph was there. And then John tells us

in the gospel in chapter 19:2 that Mary,

the wife of Clus, was there as well and

possibly one other Mary.

So the disciples hear the story from

them that Jesus is alive. And Luke is

pretty honest with us in verse 11 of

chapter 24. He tells us these words seem

like an idol tale to them and they

didn't believe the women.

And I imagine and wonder if these two

disciples that then leave Jerusalem to

go back to Emmas where they may have

lived. They're leaving knowing that

Jesus is dead, not believing that he's

alive. We know one of these disciples on

the road is named Cleopus.

In John's gospel, there's no E in the

name. In Luke's gospel, there is an E in

the name. As someone who is often

who's my my last name is often spelled

with an extra E, it would not be

surprising to me if this is the same

Clus. And it wouldn't be surprising to

me that if the other person on the road

to Emmas is his wife Mary, the wife of

Clus. And when you imagine that, and it

could be another guy, another disciple

too, but just think about seven miles

walking on the road with your wife

telling you that they saw angels who

said Jesus is alive and you better

believe it. Jesus comes and walks

alongside of them and saved Cleopus.

Seven miles of listening to his wife

tell him that he needs to believe her.

It didn't save him from the walk back

seven miles to Jerusalem being told, "I

told you so. Jesus is alive." But just

speculation.

But we do know that as they're walking

on the road, they are dejected.

They're desparing. They're frustrated.

I'm sure they're wondering what to do

with their lives now because they admit

to us that this Jesus mighty in word and

deed. They thought he was a prophet.

They thought he was the Messiah, the one

to redeem Israel, and he's dead. Our own

leaders put him to death.

All of their hopes, their investment of

faith, time, their talents, their future

that they imagined is gone in their

minds. It's all gone because Jesus is

dead.

But Jesus comes alongside them, not

allowing them to recognize who he is.

But he knows for sure who he is. And he

knows that he has conquered death. He

has gone through the torture and hell of

the cross and the tomb and he has risen

gloriously alive and he will never die

again and all that he suffered for he

has achieved now at this time.

So he comes along two of his side two of

his friends who are still suffering in

their despair and lack of hope. But he

knows and I just have to believe that

Jesus is really enjoying himself right

now because he knows the victory has

been won. But he doesn't let them know

who he is. And he just sidles up to him

his friends. What are you guys What are

you talking about?

Why do you seem so downcast? Why are you

so upset?

And they then tell Jesus

that Jesus is dead and that's why. Are

you the only one who doesn't know what

happened to Jesus?

I mean, if you don't think Jesus had a

little fun with that,

they're telling Jesus that they he

what's wrong with you?

How can you not know about Jesus?

And then I think light-heartedly, but

maybe serious too, he says, "Oh, foolish

ones.

How slow of heart to believe all that

the prophets have written. All that had

to happen to Jesus."

Now, I think what is true about these

two disciples is true of us. They

believed in Jesus. They saw his mighty

works. They believed he was a prophet of

God. They believed he was the Messiah,

the redeemer of Israel. But at this

moment, they don't believe. They don't

believe in him. They don't believe that

Jesus is alive and with them and can

influence their life anymore. They think

that he's dead.

And we too, maybe all of us or most of

us, believe that Jesus died on the

cross. We even believe that he rose

again and ascended to the right hand of

the father and is given the Holy Spirit

who is with us. But sometimes we may not

believe in Jesus's presence and power

and help for us in our present

situation.

I'll give you an example. Many of you

know that in October we offered the

position of our new music director to a

man from England named Carrie Bowmont.

October is like seven months ago. We've

been waiting this whole time for him to

get approved. He's from England, so he

needed a work visa to come to England.

And as of last week,

I had come to the place where yes, I

believe in Jesus, but I also have to

confess that I came to the place where I

don't think I believe in Jesus for this

process anymore. This bureaucracy might

be beyond him. And what am I going to do

now? What are we going to do if he

doesn't get approved like soon?

Well, the next day, the next morning,

which was Friday, I got a message from

him. He's approved. He's got his R1

visa. So, praise God for that.

And we've been so blessed by Mary Maro

filling in and Cindy and Mark. But it's

just this process. Yeah. Thank you.

And you know, God does it like while I'm

studying this scripture, I'm convicted

that oh my gosh, this is where I have

been. I was I mean, it's just a day

before like God couldn't have helped me

hold out for one more day of believing.

But we do that. We think that because

God hasn't met our expectations of what

we expected and maybe even demanded of

him. Well, yeah, I still believe in him,

but not for this. I've got to work this

out myself or this is too far gone. Or

this is too deep. This is too

impossible. This is too irrelevant to

what the scriptures say.

And then we become downcast. We become

desparing, depressed, or we take it into

our own hands and I'm going to fix this.

But Jesus demonstrates over and over and

over again that he is the God of all

hope and that he will fulfill his

promises to us. He will come through for

us. And that's really what we are

wondering. Jesus, are you going to come

through for me today in this situation?

And he promises that he'll be here with

us. That he will come through because he

is alive. He's conquered everything that

could hinder him coming through for us.

And we do have to be honest and say that

some of those fulfillments will happen

in his presence in the kingdom of heaven

and not in this world.

Because what we know is Jesus appeared

to them. He demonstrated that he was

alive. But 40 days later, he ascended

into heaven.

And we won't see him unless he gives us

a special grace. We won't see him until

we get there. And sometimes we won't see

the total fulfillment of what we are

hoping for until we get there. But God

is the God of all hope and he's given us

the Holy Spirit right now. We can

believe that Jesus is Lord and that we

are not alone in this world apart from

God and his help.

Jesus promised us in John 14:18, I will

John 14:18

not leave you as orphans. I will come to

you. And he is fulfilling his promise in

this narrative on the road to Emmas. And

I think he is rejoicing in this two and

a half, three hours he spends with these

two disciples talking to them.

I think he enjoys the time that you give

him to really spend with you when you

give him your attention. He enjoys

revealing himself and letting you know

for sure that he is alive and present

through his Holy Spirit. He promises, "I

will not leave you as orphans. I will

come to you." And then in verse 23 of

John 14, Jesus said, "If anyone loves

me, he will keep my word and my father

will love him and we will come to him

and make our home with him."

That's the desire of Jesus and the

father and the holy spirit to come to us

and make their home with us. The desire

of Jesus was to overcome death in the

grave and rise again and walk beside his

disciples. teasing them a little bit,

opening up the scriptures to them,

saying, "Oh, foolish ones, look what it

says. It says the Christ had to suffer."

But it says he'll rise again

and he'll be with you forever.

Jesus says, "Whoever loves me, he will

keep my word and we'll make our home

with them." We can read that and think,

well, gosh, I don't know if I keep his

word. I'm not perfect. I'm sure I slip

and fall. But that's not what Jesus is

saying.

Those who read and study and meditate on

his word, those who have faith in his

word and follow it as best they can by

God's grace, he will come and make his

home with us with them. What we see on

this road to is that to confront their

doubts and the deceptions they believe,

Jesus opens up the scriptures beginning

with Moses, which is the very beginning,

working through the Psalms and the

prophets. He reveals to him to them

himself through the scriptures.

That's what it means. He will reveal to

us through the scriptures himself and he

will manifest himself and make himself

known to us as we read and meditate on

the scriptures.

These folks walked with him seven miles,

two to three hours,

hearing Jesus preach Jesus,

hearing Jesus reveal Jesus to them

through the scriptures, through his

presence with them.

Have we given Jesus the time to do that

in our lives?

When I was at clergy conference in the

beginning of March with some of our

other clergy in the discussions I was

having with other clergy, we were

talking about stress and, you know,

dealing with stress and and and

preventing burnout and that sort of

thing. And one of the priests who's

nicely positioned in Florida right along

the beach said, "Well, every day in the

evening, I try to just go sit on the

beach and just stare at the water and do

nothing for an hour." And man, I was

convicted because I couldn't think of

the last time I just sat and did nothing

in the presence of God. I mean, yes, I

spend time reading the Bible and praying

and being very focused and earnest

about, okay, God, speak. I need a word.

But to just sit and to let God manifest

himself to me and speak to me, I had I

don't even know when the last time I did

that was, but I've tried to do that.

I've made myself just go sit in the

backyard and stare at the trees and say,

"Okay, God, here I am." And I think that

we need to offer the Lord that kind of

time and space to just come and say, "Oh

foolish one, why are you worried? Oh

foolish one, why are you so anxious? Why

are you not believing in me for this

situation?"

and let him reveal himself and make

himself known to us. And and you know,

that's in addition to reading the word

and studying and meditating on scripture

with ourselves and with others. But when

we give Jesus just a little bit of that

two or three hours he had with these

folks, he makes our hearts burn within

us with his presence and with his love.

But what I've noticed in comparison with

that, as we're going about our busy

lives, Jesus, he might be speaking here

and there trying to catch our attention,

but he doesn't have the time and space

he needs and wants above all else to

come and minister to us. We see that as

these two disciples when Jesus has been

revealed to them and they look at one

another and say, "Didn't our hearts burn

within us while he opened the scriptures

to us along the road?

And we need that encouragement from one

another too. As we give Jesus time in

our lives, he will make himself known to

us in such a way that will lead us from

despair to faith and hope.

And this journey for the two disciples

ends with communion at their house.

Jesus again. Jesus just being Jesus who

he is a wonderful loving joyful

fun person in addition to being Lord of

all pretends to that he's going to keep

going. Okay guys, I'll see you later.

Laughing to himself, I'm sure. And they

they they cajul him to coming and

staying with them and breaking bread.

And then as Jesus breaks the bread,

their eyes are open to see him as the

risen Lord. And then he disappears.

I mean, is he a prankster? Is he a

jokester? Is he just having fun? He's

alive. He's been through death. He's

conquered it. He can do anything that he

wants to do. And he loves interacting

with us.

And so these two disciples, they've

walked seven hour, I mean seven miles,

but they've just come to the assurance

that their Lord and Savior, the Messiah,

who they thought was dead, is alive.

They immediately go back out probably in

the dark,

energized supernaturally, and they go

seven miles back to Jerusalem. And at

that time,

the disciples are still locked in the

upper room for fear of the Jews.

But these two have seen Jesus. They have

no more fear and they've had communion

with him. It It's not by accident that g

that Luke describes in his gospel the

breaking of bread and how Jesus blessed

and gave thanks over the bread. He gave

Eucharist

and in that their eyes were open and

they encouraged one another in the

presence of the Lord and in their faith.

The same thing happens here at our

table. Every Sunday the Lord reveals

himself in the Eucharist in the giving

of thanks and we come together to

encourage one another and be encouraged

by the Lord that he is alive and he's

given himself for us.

And then from here we go with that

assurance, with that supernatural energy

and grace to go and share the gospel.

Just like these two, running back to

Jerusalem on that locked door where the

disciples are inside scared, still

mulling over those idle tales told to

them by the women that Jesus was alive.

These two going bang on that door. And

you can just imagine them banging on

that door, scaring the heck out of

everyone who's in there.

But it's not the rulers coming to arrest

them. It's their friends coming to tell

them, "Jesus is alive. Open the door.

>> He's alive."

And then, of course, Jesus comes in the

door later and shows up again. Just

showing up. Do you have anything to eat?

Jesus really loves us.

Jesus really enjoys interacting with us

and he desires it. And I don't think

there's anything better we can

experience than the manifestation, the

expressions of Jesus in our lives

together. And he is here and he's alive

and he's just waiting

for you and me to give him our attention

with nothing else happening and say,

"Jesus, come and make yourself known to

me. Open up the scriptures to me. make

my heart burn with your love and with

passion for you

and encourage us all with the breaking

of the bread and help us to go out and

tell everyone that it's true.

Those crazy tales that people have told,

it's true. He's alive

and he wants to appear through the

spirit and through his word to all of

you and everyone out there.

So I pray and I will pray right now that

what will be true of our church is what

was true and written about the church in

the book of Acts that we just read. That

every day the Lord will add to our

number those who are being saved

because he's died for every one of them

and welcomes them into his salvation. So

let's pray.

Father, we thank you for Jesus Christ,

our Lord. And Jesus, we thank you and

praise you that you have overcome death

and sin and the devil

and risen again and are seated at the

right hand of the father and that you

have sent the Holy Spirit to fill us and

to give us salvation in the kingdom of

heaven today.

Make yourself known to us. make our

hearts burn with passion for you and

passion to tell the message that you are

alive. And I pray that in your goodness

and grace, you work through us to save

others and add them to the body of

Christ. Amen.