The Road to Emmaus

Confusion is a strange kind of spiritual weather. One day you’re sure God is working, and the next you’re staring at your life thinking, I don’t know what to believe. We lean into that tension through Luke 24:13–35, the Road to Emmaus, where two disciples walk away crushed by what they saw at the cross and unsure what to do with the news of a risen Jesus. The surprise is that Jesus doesn’t wait for them to “get it together” first, he shows up and walks with them while they’re still disappointed. 

As we unpack the story, we talk about why God sometimes feels hidden, how doubt can expose what we actually hoped for, and how Jesus patiently corrects our understanding through Scripture. We connect the disciples’ confusion to our everyday struggles like loss, pain, and unmet expectations, and we challenge the modern habit of chasing quick spiritual fixes. Real Christian faith grows through disciplined Bible reading and prayer, because the Word of God is living and powerful, and it has a way of reigniting a cold heart. 

The moment everything changes is not just information, it’s fellowship. When Jesus breaks bread at the table, their eyes open. That becomes the invitation for us too: let Jesus into the ordinary spaces of your life, not only a Sunday service, and let him bring clarity where you’ve been stuck. If you’re hungry for deeper spiritual growth, biblical truth, and a faith that holds up under pressure, this message will help you take a next step. 

Subscribe for more, share this with a friend who’s wrestling with doubt, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What’s one area of your life where you need to invite Jesus to your table this week?

Transcript

Welcome And The Road To Redemption

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Who's happy to be in the house of the Lord this morning? It's a beautiful day. We are in the last week of a series we've been going through called The Road to Redemption. And what we have seen is story after story in the road to redemption. We have witnessed people that have been in Jesus' earthly ministry whose lives were changed. And they had all kinds of different walks of life, but we saw the same redemption offered to all of them. Are you thankful that we serve a God who offers equal redemption to us today, no matter what we've done? That's why I'm here. I don't deserve it. There have been so many times in my life where trying to walk this road with the Lord that God just has me confused. You ever been confused about what God is doing and how he works? I know I do. And there is some confusion in following Jesus, and it's not because he's confusing, it's because, well, we're just confused. And the disciples at the time, they they were very confused. They had seen Jesus taken by Roman soldiers, they had seen him beaten and crucified, and then they hear he's alive again. Now, if you are there and present and witness all this, you're like, hold on. But I saw him be taken, I saw him beaten, I heard his cries from the cross. I saw him die. And so for the human mind to embrace that is so difficult. And I know that life lends, especially as we draw closer to the Lord, it lends these moments of confusion and frustrating moments because of our understanding. But God can bring clarity. But we get on the, we get on the water, and then we discover that it was windy and cold on the water. And we had a snorkeling excursion, and our first stop was Honduras, and we get off the ship and we walk up, and it's probably 60 degrees outside, which you guys think is like heaven. But if you're going snorkeling, not good. And anyways, so we we go and we meet this uh company we booked our excursion through, and they said, because of the high winds and everything, we're not doing that today, but you have a few options, and they said there's there's this one option, and you can go, you know, pet sloths and do things like that, or you can go to the chocolate factory, and it's like, okay, you know, we're we want to do something, so we'll do whatever. And then we waited for what seemed like an hour, and she's like, Oh, your driver's coming. And then a guy shows up in an unmarked vehicle, wearing no identification from the company that he is supposed to be representing. And they said, Here's your driver right here. And Wendy and I get in the back of the car. He doesn't speak English. And guys, my Spanish is bad. I can understand a lot more than I can speak. I just lack the confidence to speak it. But I'm just sitting there in the backseat going, okay, what do we do now? And this guy is driving us to the opposite end of the island. And meanwhile, his phone is blowing up. And he is also at the same time on the phone, and he just seems to be talking about regular life problems. You know, it's not, hey, where am I taking these Americans to? Nothing like that. And so, anyways, next thing we know, he gets a call, picks it up, and says, Here, you need to talk to him. And I'm like, this is getting weird. And it is the operator of the excursion company that says, You're actually not supposed to be with him. He said, as a matter of fact, the guy that is supposed to be leading you set him in his place, and he's never worked for us. So, in essence, there, Wendy and I are in the backseat, you know, kidnapped or whatever you want to call it. I don't know. And then the next thing you know, he just pulls off to the side of the road and he's like, get in that van. And I'm like, I've traveled the world. Like, I'm I'm doing a few QA things before we dare get in that van. And then immediately, there you saw him represented in the polo of the company, and he starts talking to us and he says, You should have never been in that vehicle. And I'm like, Well, thank God we're alive. You know, like that's the most important part. But I was definitely confused. Now, I, you know, I, as I do travel a lot, I was reading the cues, and I didn't think there was anything necessarily to be worried about. I mean, Roatan is not a big island, and so we were gonna be fine, but there was definitely some worry there. The disciples, everything they had seen, they were worried, they were confused. And it's three days after Jesus was uh put on the cross and died, and there's two disciples, and they're walking alongside this road, and they're walking back home. And we're gonna pick up this story about these two walking along this road, and Jesus appears to them. So if you could turn in your Bibles, we're reading from Luke chapter 24, verses 13 through 35. Who here loves the word of God? Amen. Amen. So we don't put, we don't put our main text up on the screen. We encourage you to bring a Bible, open a Bible. If you don't have a Bible, there's one in the seat in front of you, and we ask you to just grab that Bible and we'll read it together. But again, Luke chapter 24, verses 13 through 35, and I want you to know that Jesus meets us in our confusion and doubt. Who can say amen to that? Luke 24, 13 through 35. We're gonna read it together. That same day, two of Jesus' followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem. As they walked along, they were talking about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them. But God kept them from recognizing him, and he asked them, What are you discussing so intently as you walk along? They stopped short, sadness written across their faces. One of them, Cleopus, replied, You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn't heard about all the things that have happened here the last few days. What things? Jesus asked. He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. But our leading priest and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago. Then some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report. They said his body was missing, and they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive. Some of our men ran out to sea, and sure enough, his body was gone, just as the women had said.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Let's pray, Lord. I want to thank you for this promise and your word. And God, may we understand the hope and the understanding we can gain through just your son daily ministering to us.

Disappointment That Exposes Our Doubt

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Lord, speak to hearts and minds today in Jesus' name. And everyone said, Amen. We're gonna get to the rest of that story here soon, but yet we we I just want to pick up where we're at so far in this story that we see these two disciples of Jesus Christ, these two that we can presume we don't know for sure, that had been following him for the past three years, they witnessed Jesus be taken, they witnessed that he died, and they even before they left Jerusalem heard that he might be raised from the dead, but they choose to go home. And there, you you know, you hear as we read this story, they're replaying the heartbreak of who they believed up to that point was the Messiah, and then he was crucified, and their doubt was so, so uh evident in their statement: we had hoped he was the Messiah. And he later, we didn't get to it yet, but he gently rebukes them in verse 25. And we know that it says that Jesus doesn't reveal himself right away. And so, what he is doing by his identity being concealed right now is he is allowing them to open up their hearts about how all this has impacted them. You ever been through a situation that you just don't understand why God is working the way God is working? And God kind of just lets you linger in that a little bit. You're like, I don't, I don't know if I like this. But what it displayed, check this out, it displayed that their faith is exposed and they're clearly disappointed. They have they have some hope by what they've heard, but they are walking in disappointment because even the scripture said they were in sadness.

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Did you catch that?

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And yet they referenced what the two women saw at the tomb, and then others had gone and seen that his body wasn't there. And so there is a glimpse of hope, but all this reveals they don't know what to believe. They don't know what to believe. Do you ever feel like that? I don't know what to believe. Where you believe, but everything else makes it so easy to doubt. Church, I want you to know Jesus walks through our doubts. He walks through each and every one of our doubts. And it's it's not that Jesus has done anything to cast doubt, but often how we are affected gives us this false perception of who God is. And so we, whether it's doubt, disillusionment, or we're just heading in the wrong direction in life. What I love that this story represents is Jesus doesn't wait for perfect faith. He will interrupt your despair. And he will prove that he is there for you. Psalm 34, 18 says, the Lord is close to the brokenhearted, he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. In fact, knowing how easily we get disappointed, sidetracked, you might be doubtful, he reminds us in the Great Commission. Listen to this. This was after his death and resurrection, Matthew 28, 20. I am with you always. Know that I am with you always. And what a great representation in this story of the road to Emmaus. And so we know that Jesus is willing to meet people in their mess. And these two disciples, they're heading back home after traveling with Jesus for three years. So they're embracing Jesus. They had embraced Jesus, I should say, and then experienced his death, and now they're not sure if they can embrace the resurrection. And I know that for us, we hear all this, this is all we've ever known is Jesus was raised from the dead, and we can have hope in this. But what I've learned is when we choose to embrace Jesus, or if we just hang on to the resurrection knowing that he's alive, it doesn't erase all these moments in your life for what you might have hoped for in serving the Lord. People go through job loss, health issues, family pain, maybe church disappointments. And Jesus still walks beside us. And here's the thing so often it's unrecognized by us at first. We don't we don't realize that he's walking there. In fact, usually we go through these things believing that we're alone. And you and I, we we often try in these moments of doubt, these moments of pain, we try and outrun those things as the disciples did in this story. But something interesting takes place. They invite the stranger they meet on the road to keep talking to us, come with us.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

And it demonstrates something fascinating to me with Jesus.

Jesus Corrects Them With Scripture

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He allows you that as we walk with him, that you can name your confusion out loud to him. Jesus has big shoulders. He can handle all your doubts, he can handle your confusion, he's not frustrated by it, he's already walking with you, he already knows. And as we turn in this story, we see that Jesus, he starts reading these scriptures, he starts reading these old prophecies. And as Jesus opens the scriptures, it ignites their heart. And I'm telling you, church, today, that as you open the scripture, as long as you seek the truth out of it, it can ignite your heart. So let's pick up verses 25 through 28 out of Luke chapter 24. It says, Then Jesus said to them, You foolish people, okay, if you were called foolish, who'd be offended? I mean, it's he's a stranger at this point, right? Like, I think they'd be offended, but their response is they're not. Listen to this. You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the scriptures. Wasn't it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory? Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the scriptures the things concerning himself. By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey, Jesus acted as if he were going on. Let's end right there. Something fascinating begins to occur as Jesus is walking through all their frustration, confusion, and doubts is that he is correcting their understanding of the situation. And as I pointed out, he calls them foolish. And I can imagine that if a stranger called you foolish, it probably wouldn't sit too well with you. But here's the thing about Jesus, and when he talks to us, and this is important for you to note, Jesus never talks, his tone isn't harsh when he's trying to bring you onto himself. What it is, it's always inviting because he wants to be with you. He wants to be with you. And they keep they keep inviting him along, and he points out that you are slow to believe what the prophet said. Who hears things and sometimes you're slow to believe it. It's funny, you know, uh this last week they they sent Artemis up into space to go around the moon. And, you know, on social media, everyone's coming out of the woodwork about how they doubted the moon landing in the 60s and questioning what was on a set and all these things, and and how how easy it is for us to start, especially in the days of social media, we doubt everything, don't we? We we do. And so they're they're having a hard time understanding what the truth is, and Jesus, what he does is he brings them along and starts pointing out all these Old Testament prophecies that that backs exactly who he is, exactly what he had to come to the earth to do. And here's the fascinating thing as you study the Old Testament, there are over 300 prophecies in regards to Jesus. In fact, there is a uh there's an expert in prophecy. His name is Jay Barton Payne, and he wrote the Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy, and he notes the Old Testament identifies 191 prophecies with a personal reference to Christ. But check this out. But he notes there are broader references to the Messiah reaching up to 574 verses. So Jesus had had this slew of verses where he was referencing the Old Testament. He could pick anyone that he wanted to just emphasize who he was. And Jesus only used the ancient texts and how they point to his fulfillment of the prophecies. And you know, he may have been a little disappointed with their belief at that point after following him for so long, but his disappointment and frustration wasn't one of abandonment.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

I want to bring you along into understanding. I don't know about you, but I can get pretty frustrated with my kids.

SPEAKER_02 19:04

Yeah. Yeah. When I ask them to do something, they act like I'm just speaking a foreign language to them. You know? And I've learned something. I can get mad, frustrated, and do it myself. Or I could choose, hear me out, to correct their behaviors and bring them along for the desired result.

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Right? Jesus doesn't give up on his frustration.

Stop Chasing Quick Fix Faith

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Perhaps Jesus referenced with him Psalm 22, 16 through 18. It says, My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs. An evil gang closes in on me, they have pierced my hands and feet. I can count all my bones, my enemies stare at me and gloat. They divide my garments among themselves and throw dice for my clothing. Maybe Jesus referenced all of Isaiah chapter 53 as he is explaining exactly who he is. Maybe he referenced Zachariah chapter 9 and just referencing who he is to bring them understanding. But what Jesus is doing as he's walking along this path is he is reinforcing what they have been taught while also combating all their doubt. And in essence, what he's doing is he's redeeming their confusion by he's connecting all the dots for them. And they're starting to think about what they've experienced the past few days and how that's fulfilled. And that's fulfilled, and that's fulfilled. And church, you need to note this the cross wasn't a failure, it was God's fulfillment. God purposed it since the beginning, since the foundations of the earth. They're hearing all this scripture, they're starting to connect the dots, and their hearts start to burn. Not like heartburn, but it starts to burn like a yearning for more. And I deeply want to understand everything, every every ounce of wisdom that you have. Keep pouring it into me. And that that burning is a longing for more. You know, Jesus told his disciples in John 5.39, and perhaps these two, Cleopas and and the other disciple that's not mentioned, heard this in John 5.39. You search the scriptures because you think they give you eternal life, but the scriptures point to me. The scriptures point to me, and it's scripture that will ignite your faith, church. I want that to be so clear. It's scripture that will ignite your faith, and we want. We we want scripture to ignite on understanding in our faith, and so often it's the biggest thing that is neglected. You guys hearing me? We do neglect it because we want quick fixes, and our quick fix solutions is we get our theology from songs. Or maybe, maybe we have these viral moments on all social media where we can get we can gain theological understanding in a 30-second reel. And I think we can all agree, most Christians we want to build our faith, but we're neglecting the biggest tool, the biggest key, the word of God, the voice of God. We're neglecting it and settling for quick fixes and other means. Romans 10, 17 says, faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. And at the time that that was written, at the time Paul wrote that, they weren't blessed to have a Bible in every home. If you're a pastor that's ridiculous like I am, I've got at least 10, right? And the only way they could hear the word of God is by going to the synagogue and hearing the priest orate it for the group as they sat there and listened. And I'm telling you, church, that today we have this big blessing that they didn't have back then. And our faith is built by receiving and understanding the word. So those 30-second sound bites and reels being the only means to building our faith is going to leave your heart cold. Not developing full understanding. If you want your faith to truly develop, we have to have a committed discipline to scripture to fully change our perspective. You know, um talk to anyone who's a health nut. And if you say, man, I'd like to get there, I'd like to be where you're at. They talk about a discipline that you probably don't feel like you want to commit to. You know? But but the reality is there are no quick fixes to that, are there? There are there are so many people that try, but they can't stay there. Because it takes a special kind of discipline.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

And church, if you and I want our faith to truly develop, we have to have this committed discipline.

SPEAKER_02 24:52

So check this out. Just coming to church to celebrate the resurrection, that's a small step, right? We can do that today, and that's good. But it is not gonna come overcome every one of your doubts, all your confusion, everything you're wrestling with. It's not gonna fix it today. And I know that.

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But it's those private moments with God in his word and in prayer that changes our hearts.

Recognizing Jesus In Fellowship

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Listen to Hebrews 4:12. It says, For the word of God is alive and powerful, it is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword. Cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow, it exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. That is the power of the word of God, church. And I am telling you, now is the day where you need to commit it or commit to it if you never have. It's time to implement that discipline. Because what happens is God, what he does is as we're reading, and it doesn't always make sense. And you know what? That means I I pour into it more. That means I ask the right questions, that means I seek deeper, and what I find is that what happens, the Holy Spirit comes along and he gives us revelation, he gives us understanding in his word. And then that revelation in your life will bring declaration. And that's what that's what Jesus does when he ignites our hearts. That everything that Jesus revealed to them, it brings declaration. And I want to read this for you, picking up our scripture again, Luke 24, 29 through 35. It says, But they begged him, stay the night with us since it is getting late. Remember, previously it said he was going to keep walking on. Stay with us because it's getting late. So he went home with them. As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. Suddenly their eyes were opened and they recognized him. And at that moment, he disappeared. They said to each other, Didn't our hearts burn within us? As he talked with us on the road and explained the scriptures to us. And within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven disciples and the others who had gathered with them, who said, The Lord has really risen. He appeared to Peter. Then the two from Emmaus told their story of how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along the road and how they had recognized him as he was breaking bread.

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The word of God.

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And at the moment that they sit down with Jesus to break that bread. And he breaks it and he gives it to them. They see him. Their eyes are all of a sudden open. And Paul explained what the breaking of the bread does. Listen to this. We did this today. 1 Corinthians 11, 26. For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord's death until he comes again. This moment that they had at their table, exactly like at the Last Supper, the same as when he fed the 5,000 scripturally, their understanding of to break bread with someone meant to have personal fellowship. And at that moment, as they were sitting at the table, they're having personal fellowship with Jesus, and their eyes are completely open to him. And when you decide in my life, I'm going to choose to have personal fellowship with Jesus, that is when you will truly see him for who he is.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

You ever walked for seven miles?

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It takes some time. And they're gleaning this wisdom from him, but it wasn't until they truly had fellowship with him that they knew him. As Jesus disappears, they're reflecting on the moment they recall being on the road. In verse 32, it says, Didn't our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explain the scriptures to us?

SPEAKER_01 29:52

And as they're realizing what just happened, they're sitting at the table. The bread that he broke is just sitting there. What do we do now? It's late at night.

Invite Jesus To Your Table

Responding With Prayer And A Reading Plan

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They just walked seven miles. They did the only thing they could do. We are making the wrong choices. We are turning around right now and we're going back to Jerusalem. We're doing it right now. We're not waiting for tomorrow. We have to go now. They had everything burning in their hearts and say, we have to tell others what Jesus has done. We have to tell others that Jesus is alive. They just had an intimate encounter with him. And Jesus offered them full redemption. Not just information, but his presence at the table. And church, if there's any encouragement I could leave you, invite Jesus to your table. Invite him to your table. You and I, we often find ourselves, just like these two disciples, we find ourselves on this road of confusion. And what I've found is that so often in these times where, I mean, it's a desperate time, it's a time where we're we're reaching out for anything and trying to find a solution that Jesus can invade our life and he can bring us understanding. And there are so many people I see that they they come here to the church, they they weep at the altar, they're so excited for what God could do, hoping that in that moment he can impact them and change their life. And then they leave and they go sit at their tables at home and they don't invite him in. Jesus wants invited at your table. Listen to Revelation 3:20. Jesus says, Look, I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and we will share a meal together as friends. So Jesus Christ, in his love and compassion, and his grace for us on anyone who chooses to receive it is hearing a knock at the door. Jesus wants in. We just have to be willing to say, I'm opening up all parts of my life to Him. Here's the problem. We have to be willing to set aside our agendas. When we really, really have fellowship with Him, our hearts burn for Him and His Word. Guys, Jesus changes, Jesus changes everything, and we can't stay silent about it. Where Cleopas explained, the Lord has risen indeed, and he met me on the road. He causes our hearts to burn to share about what he's done. Jesus meeting you on this road. And I know it. It's difficult, it's confusing, but he wants to bring you peace and understanding. And so, church, lastly, as we close, you have an opportunity before you to invite him to stay at your table. Let him work through every confusion and doubt and bring your faith to clarity. I'd like you to bow your heads. If you're here today and you say, Pastor, I know Jesus. I've heard of Jesus. I want to know more about Jesus. But I know most importantly that I need to invite him into my table. I want to have a personal relationship with him. If that is you, I encourage you right now. Just look up at me. Praise God. Praise God. Life's hard. And you and I, what happens is we tend we tend to get distracted. And in our distractions, we take our eyes off of Jesus. In our distractions, we we embrace other things, not the Lord. But God is wanting us to open up our whole heart to Him. And so as you decide to do this, I am encouraging you personal relationship with Christ, it starts here. And so don't be afraid that you're going to read this and you might not completely understand it. But I want you to start in the book of John. And I want you to read through those 21 chapters in John and really understand the ministry of Jesus. And then next after you're done with the book of John, and after you've got every question that came to mind as you read it out of the way, I want you to read the book of Romans. Because what the book of Romans does is it takes everything from the gospel and it says, now this is how you ought to live your life. And you know what? It's going to challenge you in all the right ways. And there's going to be more moments of confusion and frustration. But remember the Lord works with you through those. And so what I want to do right now, if you're looking at me, I want you to know Jesus is for you. He's not against you. He loves you, he cares about you. And we need to choose to receive Him at our table. We need to choose to invite Him in. And so if you are a believer in Jesus Christ and you say, Pastor, I already have that personal relationship. Or if you're recognizing that you need that personal relationship, I encourage both. Live your hands up to the Lord. And I want us to pray. And what you're going to do is you're going to repeat after me. Father God, I thank you for sending your Son. I thank you for the life that he lived. I thank you, God, that he was sent to the cross and suffered a death that was for me. Lord, I thank you all the more that I serve a resurrected Savior. I choose Him in my life. And I invite Him in to have a seat at my table. Lord, may we find fellowship with Him every day. I thank you. In Jesus' name.

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Amen.

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Church, give the Lord a hand clap of praise this morning.