To Emmaus, with Love (Jamie Haith)

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Transcript

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Welcome to SGTM Talks. We hope you find this encouraging and inspiring.

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Our reading today is Luke 24, verse 13 to 35. Luke 24, 13 to 35. 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 in these days? What things? He asked. About Jesus of Nazareth, they replied. He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 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 is more, it's the third day since all of 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. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. And 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, how slow to believe all the prophets have spoken. 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. As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, stay with us. It's nearly evening, 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, Were 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, and there they found the eleven and those with them assembled together, and saying, It is true, the Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon. And then the two told what had happened on the way and how Jesus had recogn was recognized by them when he broke the bread. I love this story so much. I love it because it reads like a classic short story. It moves us along like a top movie. It has all the key elements that you would look for in a drama: friendship and loss, a journey, a mistaken identity, ultimate revelation, and a wonderfully joyful, uplifting ending. I also love it because it's so raw in its honesty when it comes to how rocked they were in their belief, despite what others were saying about Jesus. But the main reason I love it is because the road to Emmaus is not just their journey, it's very much ours as well. In the time we have together, I want to draw out three themes, three concepts that are embedded in this story, three truths that were true for these two disciples on their journey from Jerusalem and are also true for you and me on our journey of life. Because the journey of life, firstly, often includes unrealized expectations about what God is doing around us. Secondly, it often, the journey of life often involves the unrecognized presence of God with us. And thirdly, the journey of life always offers the unrelenting revelation of God's love for us. Let's look together at those one by one. Firstly, the journey of life often includes unrealized expectations about what God is doing around us. There are seasons for all of us in life when what you believe doesn't match what you see. When expectations collapse under the weight of reality. When you put when what you've put your faith in feels like it's slipping through your fingers. That's exactly where we find these two disciples walking the road to Emmaus, seven miles away from Jerusalem, seven miles of depression and disillusionment, seven miles of crushing confusion, seven miles of trying to make sense of a story that did not go the way they were convinced it would and should. Because Jesus has been executed. He's gone. And sure, there are some resurrection rumors, but these two clearly don't believe them. Why else would they be on the road away from Jerusalem? Leaving all the other disciples with such downcast disappointment. And so now, as they walk, they're not just leaving a place. It feels like these two are walking away from faith itself. But are they? I wonder if these two disciples have classically had what I'm reliably informed is a bad rap. I wonder if we can be too quick to criticize them for their lack of faith. Admittedly, it's tricky because Jesus Himself does call them foolish and slow to believe. He said to them how foolish you are, how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken, and then he unpacks everything, beginning with Moses, all the prophets. He explained to them what was said in the scriptures concerning himself. Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? Surely we can cut them some slack. Because this is some deep theology that Jesus is getting into here. No wonder they didn't understand it all. And Jesus asked them what they are discussing, and he knew, and they began to explain to him the story of Christ. And they recount all of their incomplete understanding. He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 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. We had hoped. Oof, that's a powerful three words, isn't it? We had hoped. Past tense. Hope in the past tense is the language of disappointment, the echo of expectations unmet. Let's go slightly back. Let's go back slightly to slightly earlier in the story because I believe there's a couple of clues here about a couple of aspects of faith that I think can help us. Verse 14, they were talking with each other about everything that had happened as they talked. They discussed these things with each other. Jesus himself came up and walked along with them, but they were kept from recognizing him. Firstly, verse 16, that's a strange one, isn't it? They were kept from recognizing him. They were kept from recognizing him. I wonder, I wonder if I've always read this to mean that for some reason God had willingly, purposefully blinded them in this moment, spiritually speaking, which has always struck me as rather unfair. Why not just be straight out? It's resurrected Jesus. Hi guys. But actually, as I sat with this scripture this week, I started to wonder in a different direction that they were kept from recognizing him by themselves, by their own preconceived notions of how God would work and what Jesus would do. And that first Easter weekend, God did not show up in any way that anyone expected Messiah to be involved in the world. And so their assumption was that God had not showed up at all. And the same can go for you and me. When our expectation collides with actual reality, our perception often fails. When our expectation collides with actual reality, our perception often fails. The lesson for us is clear, we have to be so careful. We do not prejudge what God will do or should do, and so miss out on what He is actually doing. Or in other words, keeping ourselves from recognizing Jesus. You know the thinking, well, this has happened this week. Um and that happened last week. God cannot possibly be at work. I've had a couple of conversations in the last couple of days with people that it's just weird and impossible the situation that you you're encountering. You think God cannot possibly be at work in this. But it's not actually that these two disciples have gone quite that far as to say God cannot possibly be at work. One thing they've done, they haven't done, is to make a concrete decision in their minds and hearts. Because they're still talking about it. They are simply confused. And that brings me to the second thought about faith from this experience of these two disciples. They still had the potential to believe. Their confused minds were not shut off to seeing things in a new way. They're churned up, yeah. But they're still open for new life to grow in their hearts. And we see that new life happening as Jesus is teaching them gently as they go, and their hearts are burning, and something beyond reason and logic is stirring in them, like seeds germinating in churned up soil, and green shoots springing up into life of this beautiful revelation of Christ before their very eyes, which is about to happen a bit later. I believe the key is that they wanted to have faith. And because they wanted it, that's why they were so downcast. Because they wanted it, they were open to wrestle and wonder and discuss and talk through everything that had been happening. Because surely faith is not and never has been a case of clarity and certainty. Surely it's more a posture of the heart. Surely faith is a heart that is longing for God, that is longing for spiritual truth, longing for meaning. Faith, as I see it at least, is more about wondering and wrestling rather than concrete certainty. Faith is about the willingness, the determination to explore and to keep exploring. The poet T. S. Eliot wrote, We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will to be arrived where we started and know the place for the first time. Faith is exploration, faith is having questions, questions, doubts even. They are not the antithesis or the enemy of faith. Handled right, our questions and our doubts can open us up to this journey of exploration that will bring us to a place of revelation and freshness and beauty, just as it did these two. Because faith is a wanting, it's a longing, and as such, it's directed towards God. Faith is holding those doubts in an open palm and discussing them with Jesus, just as these disciples do. It's being honest about God, with God, about God, and we don't understand. Just as Joe was so beautifully teaching last week, I listened to it, wonderful sermon. Listened to it online about the Apostle Thomas, and he wasn't alone in his doubting. He's called doubting Thomas. All the others doubted as well. Just as with Thomas's questioning, Jesus can handle our questions as well. He can handle it, he doesn't reject us in our exploration. He welcomes it. And so we see that doubt is not the opposite of faith. We've said this here before. The opposite of faith is unbelief. Because unbelief is over here, God is over here. It's a choice. What are you going to bend into? Unbelief is an orientation of your heart away from God. Unbelief is the proactive choice to go in a different direction rather than moving in the direction that faith points, wanting, longing, and moving towards God. Atheism is a faith position. You're choosing it. Faith is the desire to understand. The two disciples, they want to believe. I've told you this before, the story of how my dear dad came to Christ. I was living in America, running the church in America. I'd been asked to go to Holland to uh speak to a group of the student group navigators. It was a cold January in Utrecht, probably not pronouncing that correctly. Um, forgive me, any Dutch people listening. The um, and uh it was a whole weekend on evangelism. And I was I afterwards I was gonna be flying back to America to be back in McLean, Virginia. But I knew that I had one day back in London, uh back in the UK, and I was talking to these 1500 students about about evangelism and how the hardest people to talk to about your faith is your family. And I was so convicted, I said to them, I need to talk to my dad, who has held out against Jesus his entire life. He was an atheist, I think he became more of an agnostic through his suffering of his multiple sclerosis, but still had not made a choice for God. And I said to them, Would you pray for me? And so when 1,500 Dutch students have prayed for you, you'd better well talk about Jesus to your dad the next day. So I went in and I spoke to my dad, and we talked about the weather, we talked about anything we could instead of talking about Jesus. And then I said, Ah, Dad, where do you stand on this faith thing? And he said, Firmly on the fence. And I was like, Well, I didn't know what to say. And into my mind popped that image of Jesus, light of the world, the Holman Hunt painting, standing at the door of someone's heart, hanging in St. Paul's Cathedral if you want to go and see it. And there's Jesus standing outside someone's life, and he's there with a lantern, and there's no handle on the door because the painter wanted it to be very clear that it's the choice of the person to open their heart from the inside to Jesus. And we talked about that painting, he knew it, and I said, Dad, you know, you know when someone's at the door, you don't know who it is. All you know is, are you intrigued? Do you want to see who it is? I said, and this was the moment I think God gave me the very line to say. I said, Dad, I think faith is more about wanting than knowing. Do you want God? And he sat there, well, he didn't sit there, he was lying in his bed, and he just went, Yes, I do. And then we prayed a prayer together, and uh, and that was the day my dad became a Christian. That was the second to last time I saw him. I know he's in heaven today. Why did he wait so long? I don't know. But how lovely to be given by God that moment, just that one line. Faith is more about wanting than knowing. Because people say, I don't know, I don't have faith, I don't know about God. Fine, these guys didn't know about God. Gently, Jesus opened things up, their desire was to understand, they wanted to believe, and that's what Jesus engages with. Sure, he's gonna have to change their perspective, but they're open and they're willing to have him rework their expectations. And Jesus wants to do that with you and me too, because the journey of life often includes unrealized expectations about what God is doing around us. Secondly, the journey of life often involves the unrecognized presence of God with us. If you think about it, it's rather a funny scene, isn't it? These two are asking all of these questions and they're walking with the answer himself. You're sitting in the movie watching this on this big screen, and you just want to shout at them, it's him. So ironic. They are in the very presence of Resurrection Hope itself, himself, but they are still feeling hopeless. They feel frail and lonely, they feel depressed and confused, they feel abandoned by God, but God was with them all along. They're not alone at all. I wonder, have you ever felt abandoned by God? I know I have been tempted to at times. And as you and I know, plenty of characters in the Bible have as well. But then time and time again, God reminds us that He will never leave us. He will never leave us. He will never leave us. Just take, for example, how King David often feels tempted to think himself all alone, abandoned. But he finds himself then, when he reflects, overwhelmed by the truth of the beautiful omnipotence and omnipresence of hope. And he writes something like the exquisite 139th psalm. I've always loved that psalm. I've tried songwriting over the years, and normally it's really, really hard. One trick has been to think like Leonard Bernstein or Andrew Lloyd Weber and let someone else do the lyrical heavy lifting for you. So I've often used David's Psalms as lyrical inspiration. Thanks, Dave. Even then, it's still normally a real struggle. As they say, 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration. But I remember, like it was yesterday, when I wrote the song that Dominic led us in earlier, If I Rise. I actually didn't know he was going to play it until a couple of days ago. So it's a lovely, a lovely moment. If I Rise. I was going through an intensely painful and lonely time 30 years ago. That's how old that song is. And that song came out of that time. Bringing that sadness into a place of worship, sitting down with a guitar and an open Bible, I wrote that song in precisely 10 minutes. It's never happened before, never happened since. It came out of praise and relief that I knew God was with me through it all. A knowing beyond knowing. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I rest on the far side of the sea, even there your arms will keep me warm. Even there, your loving hand is sure to guide me. From your spirit, where can I go? From your presence, where can I flee? You are there in the ocean far below. I go up to the heavens, you are there beside me. As most of you know, I found the last few years post-divorce very tough for various reasons. I don't understand it, I certainly haven't liked it, but I know that Jesus has always been with me on the journey. Just like he was right there with those two disciples, even though they couldn't see him. And if that's true for you today, I pray that you would know in a profound way, even as a result of coming here this morning, that the personification of hope, Jesus, is right there with you, and he's been with you the whole time. Because God's presence is not dependent on our awareness of it. He walks with us in our uncertainty, he listens to our incomplete understanding, he remains close even when unrecognized. The journey of life often includes unrealized expectations about what God is doing. Secondly, the journey of life often involves the unrecognized presence of God with us. And finally, the journey of life always offers the unrelenting revelation of God's love. Don't you just love the dramatic finale? How their eyes are opened to the truth of Jesus, and they immediately legate the seven miles back to Jerusalem to tell everyone else. I've given this sermon the title To Emmaus with Love, because these two disciples journeyed on the road to Emmaus with love personified, the one who is love. It's the story of burning hearts and broken bread. The unrelenting revelation of God's love was being laid out to them by Jesus Himself as they walked. And even though they couldn't comprehend it in their heads, this burning was going on in their hearts, and knowing beyond knowing. There are moments when your circumstances confuse your mind, but something deeper still senses that God is near and he loves you. Blaise Pascal observed, the heart has its reasons, which reason does not know. Cogs and wheels are clicking in these two, in that place, in that place deep inside them, as they start to understand that God was so much more than what they had figured him to be. They called him a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. And doesn't that sound like a familiar mistake that so many people make about Jesus even today? But even in this, there's an encouragement for us in our daily lives because we can find support knowing that Christ is alongside us in our everyday experiences, even of being misunderstood. When we ourselves are understood or misunderstood or unappreciated, what comfort is there there is in knowing that Christ, for Christ, it was the same, and so much more. I was texting a friend actually in Holland about this scripture, and they wrote back this that I found so helpful. And may this be an encouragement to you if you're feeling undervalued in your work or as a friend, or especially I feel as a parent today, if you're here and you're feeling undervalued, unseen. They wrote the two disciples not recognizing him on their walk to Emmaus is, in my humble opinion, really how most people do not immediately recognize love when it's right in front of them, but also how we don't realize the deeds in general of those that love us, do for us, as well as how we ourselves sometimes suffer for those who don't deserve our love. By way of practical application, keep loving this week. Keep loving, keep loving, keep helping, keep serving those that need you. The example of Christ is to keep loving patiently, unrelentingly, however misunderstood. Jesus keeps going with these two, and then he breaks the bread. And the unrelenting revelation of God's love comes in full force. We don't see it in the scripture, but I have a hunch. I love to think that Jesus performed this highly symbolic act with a little twinkle in his eye and a little smile on his face. He knew what he was doing. Pure love written across his face and pouring from his heart towards these two disciples as he reveals his identity, showing them that his suffering was the ultimate deed of his love for us all. And their lives were forever changed. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they would both go on to have their moments of doubt and disappointment. We know that the lives of the disciples following the resurrection and in the birth of the and growth of the early church was phenomenally difficult. Intense, excruciating suffering for most of them. I'm sure they would have had hard times because the road of life is so hard at times, and it would have been for them. They would doubtless have still tripped up in potholes of fragility and fear. And in those pothole moments, what did they rely on? I believe they would have looked back to those hands pulling apart that bread and thought about those same hands nailed to the cross in love for them. I believe they would have recounted the words again, run the tapes again of how Jesus taught them on the road and allow again their hearts to burn within them with the unrelenting revelation of God's love. We need to close. We're going to pray together and share communion together and break bread together this morning. But let me close with this from the wonderful writer Brennan Manning from his book, The Ragamuffin Gospel. When I get honest, I see the contradictions in me. I believe and I doubt. I hope and then lose heart. I love and I turn away. I don't live as consistently as I pretend to. I'm far more fragile, far more broken than I want anyone to know. And yet, in the middle of all that comes this truth. I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ. Not because I've earned it, not because I figured it out, but because God is good. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for your presence here today, Lord Jesus. And we ask, Lord, that you would give to each of us this morning a fresh revelation of your love. Lord Jesus, you are here just as you were there for those on the road to Emmaus. Draw close to us, reveal yourself to each of us this week on our journey. Amen.

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