Lineage Manger to Messiah
The Walk to Emmaus Episode 21
On the afternoon of the day of the resurrection
two disciples were headed to Emmaus,
a small town about eight miles west of Jerusalem.
Today's scholars are divided as to the exact location,
with there being three possible locations,
and we are standing here today in Abu Ghosh.
These disciples would no doubt have gone to Jerusalem for the passover
but now they are heading home with confused minds and troubled hearts.
They would have heard about the death and resurrection of Jesus
but would have been unsure about the latter,
as it could have been hearsay.
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They had not made much distance
when they were met in their journey by a stranger.
They were so absorbed in their despondency and disappointment
that they hadn't taken time to notice his physical appearance.
Jesus, listening to their gloomy conversation,
longed to bring them some hope and asked them why they were sad.
One of the disciples, Cleopas,
turned to Him and asked if He was the only person in Jerusalem
who hadn't heard the talk of the town.
In verse 21 of chapter 24 of Luke,
he then proceeded to say how Jesus had been crucified, and then he said,
'We trusted that He was the one who would have redeemed Israel.'
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people had many expectations of Jesus,
one of which was He would free them
of their subjugation and bondage to the Roman Empire,
that He would use His supernatural powers to defeat them.
These hopes and dreams were dashed, however,
when they saw Jesus crucified on the cross.
Sometimes our hopes and our dreams are not the same as God's,
and He uses disappointment to merely redirect us to a better plan in life.
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Jesus listened some more to them retelling the story of His own death,
and then in verse 27 He began to expound to them
what Moses and all the prophets had written.
Often we only hear what we want to hear,
we only read and pay attention to the parts that appeal to us,
but Jesus showed clearly how the messiah was to have no earthly kingdom
how He came to serve, demonstrate true love, and how He came to die.
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Arriving here in Emmaus, Jesus wished to go on in His journey
but He was persuaded by them to stay a little longer and eat some food.
Here we see the importance of hospitality,
for unbeknownst to us we might be entertaining angels unawares.
As Jesus took the food and broke the bread and blessed it.
They saw His hands and the nail scars in His hands
and realized that it was Jesus.
No doubt they wanted to bow down and worship Him,
but in the moment they realized whom it was, Jesus vanished.
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They then return to Jerusalem with a testimony to share
and they find the house where the 11 disciples are
and they explain that Jesus has risen
and right then, in their midst, Jesus appears and says, 'Peace...'
He holds out His hands and encourages them to touch Him
and see that He is real and that he is not a spirit.
They see the scars in His hands for the first time
and now they know that it is Jesus.
He then eats with them and spends time teaching, training, and educating them.
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Both at the table in Emmaus and with His disciples
Jesus uses His scars to prove His identity.
Jesus has supernatural power and is not bound to keep His scars,
but He chooses to do so
as they tell a key story about who He is as a person.
In heaven we will continue to look on these scars
as they tell a story about His immense love for us,
about the high cost of sin and the sacrifice that Jesus made.
May our hearts burn within us as we hear this story
and may it compel us to surrender our hearts to Him.