“Join Us on the Road to Emmaus”
Luke 24:13-35
INI
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
During the week when I’m beginning my study of the text on which I’m preaching the following Sunday, it’s sometimes fun for a preacher to “escape into the text.” Let me tell you what I mean by that. Two Sundays ago, on Easter Sunday, you and I heard the account from Matthew’s Gospel of the empty tomb and the angel speaking to the women who had gone there that early morning. When you read a text like that, you can’t help but wonder, “What would it have been like to be at the empty tomb?” “What did that angel look like?” “What sort of fear were those women encountering?” Last Sunday, you and I heard the account of Jesus’ first appearance to the disciples on Easter evening…and then eight days later when he appeared to Thomas and offered him the chance to see the wounds of the cross and touch them. Again, one can’t help but ask, “What did the risen Jesus look like?” “What was it like to see him enter a room whose doors were locked?” “What would you say to him if you saw him?” “Would you be able to come up with anything more than Thomas’, ‘My Lord and my God?’” Now obviously you and I can’t travel back in time to be there at the empty tomb. You and I can’t go back to the room where the disciples were. Now granted, once we’re in heaven we will definitely be in the presence of the resurrected Jesus! But for now you and I can only sit back and wonder what it might be like.
The story from today’s Gospel in Luke 24 is a bit different though. This, I’ve always thought, is one of the coolest stories in the New Testament. Two disciples are walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus on the very first Easter. And these guys are totally dejected. They knew that Jesus had been crucified and now they’ve heard the reports that his body is missing from the tomb. The possibility of resurrection has not entered their minds at this point. And then Jesus appears to them, but they don’t know it’s him. He walks with them and shows them how the Scriptures pointed to Jesus’ coming…his death…his resurrection. He goes with them to a dinner table and “breaks bread” with them. What a cool story! How neat it would be to have Jesus come to you and interpret the Bible for you…to share a meal with you. Wouldn’t it be great to walk down the road with Jesus, having him interpret the Bible for you? Wouldn’t it be great to sit at a table with him and share a meal? Wouldn’t it be great to feel the fire “burning in the hearts” that those disciples felt that day?
The reason this story is a bit different than the others I mentioned is that you and I do get to “walk the road to Emmaus.” In this text, what happens on that road between Jesus and those disciples sets the stage for how Jesus would work with all of his disciples throughout the ages. You and I do get to enjoy being in Jesus’ presence—and just because you and I cannot visibly see him, does not mean he is any less present with us today than he was on that Emmaus road. You and I actually get to frequently “travel the Emmaus road” with Jesus…and this morning you and I will look at this text to see just how that happens. In fact, there are three distinct events in this Gospel account…that lend themselves quite well to a good old Lutheran “three-point sermon.”
First, Jesus appears to the disciples and teaches them how to read the Bible. More importantly, he shows them that the entire Scriptures (and on that day it would have been the entire Old Testament) point to him and his suffering and death. The disciples said to him, “We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” And Jesus says to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And then we read, “Beginning with Moses and the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” What a Bible study that must have been! But what Jesus clarifies for the disciples on the Emmaus road, is the very same thing his Word does for us today. You and I gather around God’s Word to see Jesus crucified for sinners. We hear the good news of Good Friday and of Easter, and hear that they do in fact redeem not just Israel, but the entire Church.
None of us should ever use the Bible for anything over and above pointing us to Jesus. Does the Bible teach you some things about how you should live? Yes—but even more, it teaches you about the one who redeems from the life you’ve failed to live. Does the Bible teach us about relationships? Yes—but first and foremost, it teaches about our restored relationship to our Father through the Son who dies in our place. Does the Bible tell us things about the future? Yes—but most importantly, it tells us of the future in heaven that Jesus wins with his blood and with his victory over the grave.
There are a lot of people today in Christian churches who regard the Bible as a book where lots of people write about their experiences and how they thought God came to them in the midst of their experiences. So in other words—some people thought they learned something about God in the creation account. Others thought they learned something about God in the story of the children of Israel crossing the Red Sea. Still others learned something about God in the account of Daniel in the lions’ den. They will tell you, “What’s important is what you learn about God in your experiences.” That is not what the Bible is for. In the Holy Scriptures, God reveals to us Jesus Christ our Savior. Jesus our Savior is shown to us in the creation story…in the crossing of the Red Sea…in the lions’ den…in the fish that swallowed Jonah…in the account of David and Bathsheba…in the accounts of the different kings of Israel. In all of the Old Testament and New Testament, God shows us Jesus Christ who saves us from sin. Jesus showed that to the disciples on that Emmaus road…he shows it to us today when you and I hear the Word proclaimed to our hearts of sin, in need of forgiveness and redemption.
When the disciples heard that clear Gospel message foretold in the Scriptures, then Jesus went with them to the village and “he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them.” The second thing that Jesus continues to do with us as he did with those disciples is feed us in the “breaking of bread.” Through the New Testament, the phrase “breaking of bread” is used to refer to the Lord’s Supper. After the Word of God is taught to the people to clearly show Christ our Savior, then it is fully appropriate that Jesus should “break bread” with us.
In Jesus’ day, who you sat at the dinner table with dictated what you thought about that person. For that reason, we find that Jesus encounters controversy for eating dinner with Levi, the tax collector. He gets chided for acknowledging a woman who happens to be by his feet at the dinner table and she anoints his feet and wipes them with her hair. That doesn’t happen very often with us…a meal most often occurs within our own homes and with those whom we’ve invited to eat with us. Not many of us have servants or “unclean” people who would even be in our homes to eat. The closest you and I have is the “little kids table” at Thanksgiving dinner. You know what I’m talking about…the little card table where the kids sit and are free to make their noise and make their mess. And then at some point in your life, you get the invitation to come up to the “big table.” You eat with the adults—it’s kind of like puberty…it means you’re growing up and maturing. Now as a parent with little kids who have needed help eating their food, I’ve found there have been times where I’ve had to lower myself to sitting at the “little kids table.” There I can cut up food for the kids, make sure their cleaning their plates, wipe up the spills. In the New Testament, Jesus shows that he regards us as his beloved children by “eating with sinners.” He dines with those who are considered second-class citizens, or even third-class citizens by everyone else.
When you eat and drink the Lord’s Supper, you enjoy table fellowship with Jesus. Having been taught his Word, as the disciples were on the road to Emmaus, he then comes to feed you and “break bread” with you. He comes to give you his very body and blood to eat and drink. And having been taught the Word, you know that the body and blood of Jesus was foretold by the Scriptures to be for your redemption. You don’t deserve to dine with Jesus. Coming to the Lord’s Supper isn’t one of your rights. It’s a gracious invitation given by our Lord to those who have been taught the Scriptures…that he is the Redeemer of Israel, and of all people.
Finally, Jesus works in the disciples the desire to share the good news of his death and resurrection. After he “broke bread” with the disciples, the Gospel for today says, “He vanished from their sight.” And then we read, “They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?’” Then it says they returned to Jerusalem, found the eleven inner circle disciples saying, “The Lord has risen indeed!” and they told them what had happened to them “on the road” and “how he was known to them in the breaking of bread.” People who are taught Jesus crucified for their sins…who have dined with Jesus in the “breaking of bread” of the Lord’s Supper…they are people who talk about Jesus. Their “hearts burn”…they cannot help but talk about Jesus who comes to people in his Word and in his table.
It’s been fun this past year to watch our son Paul get interested in “Transformers.” The reason that’s been so neat is that when I was a kid, I played with Transformers. One year for Christmas, my parents got me this gigantic Transformer—a robot that transformed into a city. I’m not kidding. That was a pretty big deal because I remember seeing that toy in the catalog and thinking, “Mom and Dad will never get me a toy that expensive.” And it was really expensive, but Mom and Dad got it for me anyway. I called every kid I knew over the next twenty-four hours…not because I wanted to brag…I was just excited. I couldn’t help but tell people that I’d gotten the coolest Transformer there was.
That’s sort of how it works with the gifts that God gives us in the teaching of the Word and the “breaking of bread.” When you receive those gifts, you can’t help but tell about them to others. You want others to share in those gifts. And that’s how the church grows. People who receive God’s gifts…tell others about God’s gifts. God’s Holy Spirit comes to us through the Word and through the Sacraments…that Spirit moves us to share our faith with others. And in so doing, God builds his Church. That’s really what “the Emmaus road” is…it’s a picture of the Church. When you become a part of the Church, you “walk the Emmaus road” with Jesus. You hear his Word that centers on his death and resurrection. You “break bread” with him in the Lord’s Supper. You receive strength and “burning in your hearts” to share that Gospel news with others…to invite others to join you on the road to Emmaus…the Church. Every single one of us wants the Church to grow. How does that happen? It happens when God’s people walk the road to Emmaus with Jesus…when they gather around his Word and Sacraments. A church that is devoted to the Word and Sacraments is a growing church—it’s through those means that God does the work of making disciples and building his kingdom. Join us on the road to Emmaus! See our Lord who lives and dies and rises again according to the Scriptures! “Break bread” with him often! And in so doing, you hearts will burn within you to share the good news of Easter. Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
