Alive Again for Sure – Luke 24:13-35

A text – Luke 24:13-35

¹³ Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁴ and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. ¹⁵ While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, ¹⁶ but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. ¹⁷ And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. ¹⁸ Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” ¹⁹ He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰ and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. ²¹ But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. ²² Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, ²³ and when they did not find his body there they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. ²⁴ Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see him.” ²⁵ Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! ²⁶ Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” ²⁷ Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

²⁸ As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. ²⁹ But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰ When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. ³¹ Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight. ³² They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” ³³ That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem, and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. ³⁴ They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” ³⁵ Then they told what had happened on the road and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

A reflection:

The Road to Emmaus. So many paintings. So many times we have heard the story. Two followers of Jesus, perhaps husband and wife, walking homeward after having traveled to Jerusalem as usual for Passover and then learning or perhaps even seeing everything their Lord had gone through at the hands of their own chief priests and leaders. Their lifelong hopes of Messiah’s return were dashed that weekend, because death generally ends all hopes. But then tales had begun to circulate of sightings of the risen Lord on Sunday morning, of angels and their messages. Even as the two travelers related the tales to a stranger (the word used means an undocumented foreigner) they met on the road, they were still looking sad. But Jesus called them slow of heart for not realizing the Man they had followed was indeed the Messiah, suffering as predicted and then rising to his glory. Listening to him, their hearts began to burn as he opened the scriptures to them. They asked him to stay and eat with them. As he took bread, blessed and broke it, their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight. They got up and returned to the disciples in Jerusalem that same evening and reported what had happened to them.

Their hearts burned within them as he explained the scriptures. They were getting a clue, a sense that something extraordinary was happening to them. But they knew who he was when he blessed and broke the bread. Such an ordinary act, but Jesus had broken bread in front of them before, I’ll bet. And Jesus had sat at a small table with them before. They had seen him teach about scripture in crowds, but, well, eating together – that is an intimate act that everyone in the world does. Bible scholars think it would be completely understandable that they recognized Jesus at that moment of breaking bread. And, fittingly, his own body had been broken three days before. For them. But imagine the great aha!, the moment, in a flash! They see it, they know him, he vanishes! I’d be running out the door and back to the disciples, too. I wonder now how many others he came to in a similar way, to give his beloved followers comfort and joy when he was alive again? He appeared to many, the scriptures say. Imagine how many folk like these two from Emmaus had the unforgettable and also need-to-tell-others-about experience of seeing their Lord in the flesh once again. Their dreams of a king who could break Rome became the reality of a Lord who could break death. Wouldn’t you be spreading the news?

A prayer:

Lord God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for Jesus and his shocking, wonderful, helpful appearances to so many people. Help us to remember, these ages and ages hence, that he was real and rose from the dead so that we could be sure we would do so too. Amen.