Luke 24:13-35

He Lives— to Restore My Hope!

¹³Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. ¹⁴They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. ¹⁵As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; ¹⁶but they were kept from recognizing him.

¹⁷He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”

They stood still, their faces downcast. ¹⁸One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

¹⁹“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. ²⁰The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; ²¹but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. ²²In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning ²³but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. ²⁴Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”

²⁵He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” ²⁷And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

²⁸As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. ²⁹But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

³⁰When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. ³¹Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. ³²They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

³³They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together ³⁴and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” ³⁵Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. (NIV1984)

Dear fellow worshipers of our living Lord and Savior,

He is risen!  He is risen indeed!

Has anything ever left you feeling hopeless?  Over the course of my own life there have been things that have left me feeling hopeless.  Over the course of my ministry I have counseled many different people who have felt hopeless for many different reasons.  Sometimes we feel hopeless because someone has hurt us— either physically or emotionally or both.  Sometimes we feel hopeless because the goals that we had for our life were dashed, or what we thought was our purpose in life failed and all we had left was a feeling of emptiness deep inside of us.  And sometimes we feel hopeless because the “little” sins that we keep repeating over and over again finally led us into a “big” sin— a sin that we never thought we could ever commit.

No matter how many times we might feel hopeless, the epitome of hopelessness is found right here in our text for today.  As we study this text and as see how Jesus overcame the hopelessness that had filled the hearts and shrouded the lives of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, our goal is to see and to hear and to experience this truth:  He Lives— to Restore My Hope!

Luke takes us back to Easter Sunday.  Two disciples had gone to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.  While they were in Jerusalem they witnessed extraordinary events— events that they probably never expected to experience!  Luke tells us that as these two men were making their way to Emmaus, “They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.”  Luke also tells us that they “talked and discussed these things with each other.”  The Greek verbs that the Holy Spirit led Luke to use here are very descriptive.  This was not just a casual conversation.  This was an animated perhaps even boisterous “discussion.”  They were tossing hard unanswerable questions back and forth between them.  Like a child’s toy that bumps into something and then goes off in a different direction they ran into one roadblock after another.  They undoubtedly felt a very real sense of urgency as they tried to solve the puzzle and fill in the blanks of the last few days.  In frustration they failed to find the answers for which they were searching and were left with nothing but hopelessness.

As they were in the midst of their animated “discussion” Luke very simply tells us, “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 only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?’”

Here we begin to see the hopelessness that had settled in the hearts of these two disciples.  As soon as Jesus asked them what they were “discussing together” they went from an animated “discussion,” tossing unanswerable questions back and forth to standing still with “their faces downcast.”  We know this feeling well, don’t we.  We know the physical impact that hopelessness can have on us.  Our eyes are downcast.  Our shoulders slump.  Our entire body is one big frown.

Thankfully for these two disciples the risen Lord— who knows everything!— gets them to open up by simply asking them, “What things?”  Now the floodgates burst open as they start talking about Jesus of Nazareth!  Even though their hearts were filled with hopelessness you can hear the excitement in their voices building higher and higher as they talked about Jesus— only to have that excitement fall off a cliff into hopelessness once again.  Luke records this emotional roller-coaster for us with these words, “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.”  Now here’s the cliff, “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.”  Did you hear the “thud” of hopelessness in their voices?

We definitely get the impression that while these disciples were in Jerusalem for the Passover they experienced firsthand the highs and the lows of what we call Holy Week.  The highs would have included Jesus’ triumphal entry into the city with crowds of people proclaiming, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord” (Luke 19:38), the cleansing of the Temple (Luke 19:45), and listening to Jesus of Nazareth as He taught in the Temple of the Lord and proclaimed the Good News of the Gospel! (Luke 20:1)  The lows would have included watching Jesus brought to trial in front of the Roman governor, hearing the crowds cry out, “Crucify him!  Crucify him!” and ultimately, Jesus being nailed to a cross on the hill called Golgotha.  (Pointing to the cross)  We can hear and feel the depth of their hopelessness when they say, “But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.”  For a while it looked like Jesus was “on track” to get rid of the hated Roman occupiers and restore the nation of Israel to the glory and honor and power she once possessed.  All that hope died with Jesus.

Luke places us back on that emotional roller-coaster when he goes on to record these words of these two disciples, “And what is more, it is the third day since all 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.  Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”

Once again we can hear the “thud” of hopelessness in their words, “but him they did not see.”  While they were obviously familiar with Jesus’ promise to rise from the dead on the third day they had no evidence to prove that He had fulfilled that promise.  They had watched.  They had waited.  Peter himself had gone to the tomb to investigate— but, nothing.  Now it was time to go back to Emmaus— empty handed and filled with hopelessness.

How did the risen Christ chase away their hopelessness?  Luke tells us, “He said to them, ‘How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!  Did not the Christ have to suffer all 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.”

Scripture.  God’s holy revealed Word.  That’s what the risen Christ used to shine the light of Truth into these two hearts that had been darkened by hopelessness.  While the Holy Spirit does not reveal to us exactly what portions of the Bible Jesus shared with these two disciples, we are told that Jesus carefully and clearly walked them through all the Messianic prophecies— such as the prophecy given in the Garden of Eden, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15), such as the prophesy recorded by Isaiah, “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted.  But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4, 5).  Yes, Jesus walked these disciples through the Old Testament Scriptures and showed them how everything they had witnessed was a part of God’s Plan of Salvation for this world— all of it!

In the closing portion of our text we see two ways in which we can see just how effective Jesus’ use of Scripture was in restoring hope in the hearts and minds of these two disciples.  Look at verses 30-32.  After Jesus “opened up their eyes” so that they could recognize Him, the disciples said, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”  Scripture is just as effective today when it comes to restoring hope in our hearts, my friends.  Whenever it seems as though our life is “falling apart,” whenever it seems as though nothing in our life is going “according to plan,” that is, our plan, whenever we are bombarded with more questions than answers or questions for which we don’t have an answer— where do we turn?  We turn to Scripture!  We turn to Scripture and let the fact that Jesus has fulfilled His promise to rise from the dead on the third day fill us with the confidence that Jesus  will fulfill all the other promises He has made to us!  We turn to Scripture and see that just as God’s Plan for our eternity unfolded exactly the way He designed (Pointing to the cross), so also God has a plan for our journey here on this earth and His plan will unfold exactly the way He knows it needs to unfold.  Yes, through Scripture our risen Lord restores our hope!

Now look at verses 33-35 of our text.  Here we see  a second way which reveals how effectively the risen Christ restored the hope of these two disciples.  Luke tells us, “They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem.  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.’  Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.”

These men were filled with so much joy and so much hope that they instantly knew what they had to do.  They had to go back to Jerusalem as quickly as they could so that they could share this joy and this hope with the others!  When they arrived at Jerusalem they immediately saw and heard that the risen Christ had already restored the hope of His disciples by appearing to Simon Peter.  What a joy it must have been for all the disciples to share with each other the confident hope that Easter both proclaims and provides!

This is an example that we would do well to follow, my friends.  Whenever we are feeling hopeless Satan loves to have us look inside of ourselves and lament, “There is no hope— at least not for me.”  One of the best ways to overcome this temptation to fall into the pit of hopelessness is to do what these two disciples did:  Talk to someone about Jesus!  Talk to your children and your grandchildren.  Talk to your family and your friends.  Take the focus off of yourself and put the focus on Him!  (Pointing to the cross)  Talk about who Jesus is and what He has done for us.  Talk about His love and His grace, His mercy and His forgiveness.  Talk about the power and the promises of your risen Lord so that He can restore your hope!

What if you don’t feel equipped to do this?  What if you aren’t sure what to say?  Then you  open up your Bible and let the Holy Spirit use Scripture to open up your eyes with the Truth and fill your heart with hope!  The better we know what God has revealed to us in His Word the more difficult it will be for Satan to take away the hope the risen Christ has given to us.  The better we know what God has revealed to us in His Word the easier it will be for us to share with others the hope that only the risen Christ can give to us.

There are going to be times when someone hurts us— either physically or emotionally or both.  There are going to be times when our goals are dashed, and we wonder if we still have any purpose in our life.  There are going to be times when our own sin leaves us feeling dejected and defeated.  These are the times when Satan works the hardest to rob us of all hope.  These are the times when we need the risen Christ to walk alongside of us on our journey through this world to restore our hope!  While the risen Christ is “hidden” from our physical eyes, He is “revealed” to us through His holy Word and Sacrament.  Read God’s Word!  Receive His holy Supper!  Let the risen Christ restore your hope!

He is risen!  He is risen indeed!

To God be the glory!

Amen