Eyes Open To The Risen Jesus

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"Then their eyes were opened and they recognised him, and he disappeared from their sight."

Luke 24:31

Main Readings: Luke 24:1-12 & Luke 24:13-35

Supporting Readings: Psalm 16 & 1 Corinthians 15

This chapter of the easter story focusses on two of Jesus followers. Not his close disciples. But two from his wider circle of followers.

We know that one of them was called Cleopas which is a male name. The other we’re not told anything about.

But, as we encounter them, through Luke’s storytelling, we see that they are walking together and engaged in some deep conversation.

Conversation that’s centred on one person – the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

The reason for that particular topic of conversation is fairly straight forward to understand: quite simply, Jesus was the topic of everyone’sconversation in Jerusalem that day.

Why? Well, because, just three days earlier he had been arrested by the Jewish chief priests and the teachers of the law, and handed over to the Roman governor Pilate in Jerusalem.

And there he had been tried, whipped, mocked, and crucified on a cross between two criminals.

After his death, that day, he had been laid in a tomb, and a large stone had been rolled in front of the opening.

In addition, a wax seal had been placed between the stone and tomb wall, and a Roman guard had been posted at the entrance too.

This was done at the request of the Jewish leaders who feared that Jesus’ disciples would come at night and steel the body away from the tomb - allowing them to spread rumours that he had risen from the dead.

Therefore, to prevent that from happening, the tomb was doublyprotected against the theft of Jesus’ body.

However, our friends who are walking together, heard, just this morning – the third day since Jesus’ death - that, when some of the women from their group went to the tomb to attend to Jesus’ body, they had found the tomb open, and Jesus body gone.

Furthermore, they reported that an angel had told them that Jesus was risen from the dead.

And, what’s more, two of their companions, Peter and John – disciples of Jesus – had also found the tomb empty. But had not met an angel or seen Jesus alive.

It’s all very confusing from their point of view.

And now, on the same day that all this revelation had come to light, they are on their way to a nearby town called Emmaus and it’s about mid-afternoon.

So that sets the scene for us.

What happens next is unique; and fascinating; and very enlightening for all of us here this morning.

Mainly because these two could so easily be taken as representative of everyone here this morning, in some sense.

So, I think there are valuable discoveries we can make about ourselves, as we relate to this Jesus, which can inform us, if we have ears to hear.

This story gets to the heart of who Jesus is.

To the heart of why he died.

To the significance of his resurrection.

And what is means to truly have faith.

In fact, there are four major things I want us to take away with us this morning – directly from this story – and apply to ourselves.

Asking ourselves, ‘how do these things apply to me also?’

They are these:

1. Unbelief leaves us confused and disappointed.

2. The bible presents a suffering Jesus, but also a risen one!

3. True faith in Jesus is a relationship with him.

4. And real encounters with Jesus produce responses.

As these two followers of Jesus are walking on the road to Emmaus - and talking about all the events of Jesus’ death, and the accounts of the empty tomb, and the words of the angel about Jesus being alive - now a third person catches up with them.

But he doesn’t walk past, he walks along with them, asking them about their topic of conversation.

And Luke tells us, this was the risen Jesus.

Now they would have recognised Jesus, because, after all, they werehis followers.

But they don’t recognise him. And that’s because, by some kind of supernatural action, they are prevented from recognising Jesus as Jesus.

Verse 16 says, ‘they were kept from recognising him’. And then, some time later, in verse 31, it says, ‘their eyes were opened, and they recognised him’.

What we are going to see, is that by virtue of Jesus pointing out truthto them - truth about himself - they came to believe that Jesus was risen from the dead without recognising him.

And so, these two disciples move from a place of unbelief to a place of belief in the course of this story.

And my hope is that you will too, if you have doubts about Jesus this morning.

That movement is represented in blindness to Jesus’ presence at the beginning of the story, and clarity about Jesus’ presence at the end of it.

So, the first thing I want us to know is that these two were unbelieving. And that’s a position so many people find themselves in about Jesus even today.

Simply unbelieving.

Let’s note some things about this.

First, Jesus could have not hidden his identity from them. In that casethey would have known he was alive.

They would have said, ‘ha! You’re alive! We did not believe it, but now we have seen you, we know it’s true’.

Jesus didn’t do that. Why? Well, because, faith is a necessarycomponent of salvation. Without faith it’s impossible to please God, the bible says.

Second, unbelief has resulted in deep-seated disappointment. Verse 18 says that their faces were downcast.

All Jerusalem was talking about the death of Jesus.

Why were they talking about the death of Jesus? He wasn’t the onlyone to be crucified three days ago. Right?

Why wasn’t Jerusalem talking about the others too?

Well, because Jesus had been a prophet powerful in word and deed. They say that themselves.

And that fact had led them to wonder if Jesus was going to be the redeemer of Israel (see verse 21).

What does ‘redeemer of Isreal’ mean? It means a person, promised from ancient times who would come at an appointed time and set Israel free from their oppressors – which right now, were the Romans.

And Jersualem had seen signs in Jesus that he was absolutely exceptional. He had healed people.

He had gone toe to toe with the religious leaders and left them baffled.

He had driven out evil spirits.

He had even raised people from the dead.

All the signs in Jesus pointed to a person who could well be the Messiah character Israel had been waiting for.

But then, at the height of his powers, he’d been arrested, and handed over, and finally crucified to death.

So, these guys think to themselves, ‘I guess he wasn’t who we thought he was’. ‘Because now he’s dead!’

Their hopes are dashed!

No wonder their faces look long.

And third, all these stories of the empty tomb, and angelic visitations are serving to shake them out of our minds basically. They don’t know what to believe!

Now on face value, we can sympathise a lot with them, right? I mean everything they’re saying makes sense. It’s rational!

Jesus is right next to them, but they don’t know that.

So how can they make any sense of the stories they’ve heard and put those together with what they witnessed three days earlier – namely the death of Jesus?

And maybe you can relate. You haven’t seen Jesus either, but Easter speaks of Jesus in living terms.

How can you put that together?! It’s asking a lot, isn’t it?

And Jesus had looked so promising to them.

But what could be more hope destroying than death?  Death is hope destroying isn’t it?

It had felt like redemption was just around the corner, and now all hope is gone because he’s dead.

Maybe you can relate to that too. Easter is all about a Jesus who died. Isn’t it?

How is death a story of victory?

And what confusion must have gripped them with the stories they heard that morning. Were the women mistaken? Had Jesus somehow been stolen away in spite of the guard and the seal? And if so, by whom?

So many questions!

But, so few answers.

And maybe you can relate to this too. Confusion.

Confusion about Jesus.

Let me tell you this!

You can’t see him, but Jesus really is amongst us this morning, like he was amongst them on the road to Emmaus, because he’s not far from any one of us.

If we care to believe it, that is really the case!

Jesus said to these two disciples, ‘how foolish you are. And how slow to believe!’

Well, we don’t want Jesus to say that to us!

So, let’s see if there’s more here, to help us believe.

Jesus does want to show us - as he wanted to show them - reasons to believe in him.

So, what is it he wants you to know about him?

It’s this – and I want this to soak into every heart this morning because it’s so precious. It is the difference between life and death.

Really, it is!

Verse 26, ‘Did not the Messiah [Jesus] have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’

So, this is the second take-away this morning.

The pattern of Easter is the pattern of redemption.

And it goes like this: First suffering and then resurrection-life. Notsuffering alone. But suffering and resurrection.

The things they’d got wrong, were that the Messiah would liberate Israel from their physical enemies.

But that wasn’t it at all!

The Messiah was coming into the world to redeem sinners, not Isreal, from the oppression of their sins.

And that oppression didn’t look like Romans, it looks like personal guilt, and judgement, and eternal suffering for everyone, because of their sin.

And, that the Messiah, to accomplish that redemption would need to suffer – even to the point of death.

And that the Messiah would conquer – not the Romans, but death itself – by rising from the grave and entering into his glory.

This is why we have Good Friday AND Easter Sunday – not just Good Friday!

In other words, these two disciples should have known what the scriptures had always said about Jesus. About his suffering. About his dying. And about the glory of his resurrection.

At the beginning of the bible, how the victory of Jesus would come in a cosmic conflict.

In the middle of the Old Testament, how he would be pierced on the cross, but would be proved right in the end.

At the end of the Old Testament, how he would bear our sins in himself and so be rejected.

And how he would receive an eternal throne after suffering.

Perhaps, you’ve never heard these things before, and you don’t know them. That doesn’t matter.

What matters is that now you hear them. And having heard them, you believe them.

Jesus is the Messiah. Promised in the ancient past as the redeemer of sinners just like us.

Including us, if we believe!

When he went to the cross, Jesus suffered in the place of every single person who would believe in him.

And he is not dead. He’s alive!

Which means that anybody who has faith in Jesus, has not believedin vain.

He is not a dead Messiah. He’s a living one.

He is not a dead redeemer; he’s a glorified one!

Do you believe in this Jesus?

Can you believe that God made a plan to rescue you from the consequences of your sins.

Can you believe that Jesus died on that cross in your personal place?

Can you believe that the anger of God that should have fallen on you, was laid on him on that cross?

Can you believe that he is not dead but alive?

And since he is alive. And since he has become your salvation. You too will rise, after you have died. Rise unto everlasting life?

You can believe these things today, if you are willing to humbleyourself and seek Jesus.

These guys had missed it. And Jesus is telling them plainly, what they had missed.

Maybe you’ve missed it, until this morning.

Jesus is telling you plainly, what you’ve missed.

See what happens now that Jesus has illuminated their understanding.

And pray, God, this happens for everyone here too.

They’ve been fixed on every word so far – just listening and listening to this man (who is Jesus, but they don’t know it).

And now they’ve arrived at their destination.

It’s evening time, and they try to persuade Jesus to come with them and stay the night in the town.

Now that impulse to have Jesus with them longer, is more than just a preference.

Shortly, after he has gone from them, they’ll reflect that their hearts were ‘burning within them’ while he talked with them on the road and opened the bible to them.

The revelation from Jesus, about himself, can produce this kind of response in our hearts.

It can cause our hearts to burn for him.

To feel such a strong urge to have him.

To know him.

To be with him.

To enjoy him.

That we can’t get enough of him.

This faith is more than just head knowledge, you see.

It’s a deep longing and yearning to be in fellowship with Jesus.

And that is what his cross and his resurrection call us into.

It’s not a dead religion of the head - Christianity. It’s a living religion of the heart.

Where Jesus becomes our all in all.

That’s what had actually happened to these two on their journey.

And it’s the third thing I want us take away with us this morning. The Christian faith at its core is a relationship.

And we can see it even more clearly in our story.

After persuading Jesus to come in with them, they sat down to eattogether.

And Jesus behaves just how you would expect him to behave.

First, he gives thanks to his heavenly Father for the food – he always did that.

Second, he broke the bread – like at the last supper just before his death.

And third – he gave it to them – just like at the last supper.

Now when he had done this same thing at the last supper, before his death, he had said, ‘this is my body which is broken for you’.

And by that he meant, ‘I will offer up my body to suffering and death for your sake’.

‘For your sake’, means, so that your body won’t have to suffer for all eternity.

The bread symbolised his substitution for his people.

And here he is now saying the same thing.

Only now it’s after his death. His body has been offered up. And what he’s saying is ‘it has been offered up for you two’.

By giving thanks, he shows that God is satisfied with his sacrifice for these two disciples.

And the wonderful and amazing thing is: it is at this very moment, as they eat the bread Jesus has given them, that their eyes are opened, and they, at last, recognise Jesus!

So, when you receive Jesus as your personal saviour, because your heart is burning with love for him, then your eyes are opened to who Jesus is.

And you sit at his feet and receive forgiveness from him for all your sins!

This is the good news of Easter folks!

Every single one of us needs what these two got that day.

The cross. The resurrection. The encounter with Jesus. They save and transform our lives and eternal destinies.

The truth about Jesus’s death and resurrection, dispels confusion.

It turns blindness into sight.

And it replaces gloom with hope.

How many people are without hope and without God in the world this Easter?

Most!

With Jesus there is hope that goes beyond the grave and beyond this life itself!

Nothing this world has to offer can compare with it. Nothing!

And so, I commend the suffering of Jesus to you. For the forgiveness of your sins.

And the resurrection of Jesus to you. For your resurrection from the dead.

And I commend Jesus to you. Who is your very life.

He will make your heart burn in fellowship with him.

I urge you to believe on him this Easter if you haven’t already.

There’s one final take away from Luke’s story.

The joy and excitement that meeting Jesus like this had produced in these disciples, caused a response in them.

By now it was night. The journey back to Jerusalem was a two and half hour walk.

And the logical thing to do is to stay the night and return in the morning to tell the others they had met the risen Jesus.

But that’s not what they did.

They just had to get the word out – ‘we’ve met him alive!’

So, they returned, ‘at once’, Luke says, to Jerusalem.

They went immediately to find the disciples of Jesus and told of how they had encountered Jesus.

And specifically, how they had recognised him when they had broken bread with him.

That’s pretty amazing!

I think they were so eager to tell of the risen Jesus, they just couldn’t wait.

Evidence that a real encounter has taken place with the risen Jesus is always there when someone comes to faith in Christ.

Maybe this easter, that’s you.

Maybe you’ve had a real encounter with the risen Lord Jesus. If you have, go tell it, and your joy will be made complete.

May this be the happiest Easter ever, because you have encountered the living, Lord Jesus!

I wish you all a very happy Easter Sunday.