That better. Okay. The resurrection can mean different things to different people.
Sometimes you can get a positive view of resurrection in the strangest places.
There's a story of a man who went to the Holy Land with his wife and his cranky mother-in-law while they were on the trip enjoying the sites his mother-in-law died.
So he went to the undertaker in Israel, and the undertaker was telling him about various various options and it boils down to 2 options.
He said, you can ship your mother-in-law home for 5,000 bucks, or you can bury her here for 150 bucks.
The man looks down. He's thinking about it for a bit, and he looks up again, and he said, I think I'm going to ship her back for 5,000 bucks, and the undertaker couldn't even believe this.
He's like, why wouldn't she bury her in this wondrous land of Israel?
You could save thousands of dollars. And the man looked at him, and he said, You know there's a story of a man 2,000 years ago.
That was buried and came back to life after 3 days. Just can't take that chance.
Reader's Digest. Compiled interesting epitaphs from different Tombstones.
One of them read like this.
A dentist, tombstone said this, I'm filling my last cavity now.
That's kind of a negative view of resurrection.
Another one. John Yeast said, This here lies the grave of John Yeast.
Pardon me for not rising.
And then my favorite is the gravestone of less, more.
It says, here the gravestone of Lesbor. He took 4 slugs from a 44, no less, no more.
So we got a positive view and negative view. But let's take a look at Luke 24, verse 13 or 35.
I like the Gospel of Luke, because it always gives us a lot of details.
Additional details. Let's take a look at this. I've got the new King James.
First 13, Luke 20. First says, now behold, 2 of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was 7 miles from Jerusalem, verse 14, and they walked together.
I'm sorry. They talked together of all these things which had happened so it was while they conversed in reason that Jesus himself drew near and went with them.
But their eyes were restrained, so they they did not know him.
And he said, then, what kind of conversation is this that you have with one another?
As you walk and are sad. First 18, he said to them.
What things! So they said to him the things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty indeed, and word before God, and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and crusified him there is 21.
But we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel.
Indeed, beside all this today is the third day since these things happen.
Yes, and certain women of our company who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us when they did not find his body.
They came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said he was alive, and certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found a just as the woman had said, but him they did not see 25.
Then he said to them, Oh, foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken.
Ought not the Christ who have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory, and beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself?
Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and he indicated that he would have gone farther, but they constrained him, saying, Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent, and he went in to stay with them.
Now came to pass, as he sat at the table with them, that he took bread blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.
Then their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and he vanished from their sight.
Verse 32. Then they said to one another, Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us on the road?
And while he opened the Scriptures to us, so they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the 11, and those were with them gathered together, saying, The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon.
And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of red well, all of Jerusalem reverberated with the aftershock.
Jesus of Nazareth had just been crucified.
It was a national event. Everyone had an opinion about it, and for religious leaders he was finally gone, and life could return to normal.
They could return to normal Passover at last, but to others the death of Jesus meant mourning and despair.
They had believed in him. They believed that he was the Messiah, that he would free them from Roman domination, but there were hopes, and their and those hopes had been lifted up on a cross, bloodied and bruised until he was dead, and their hopes had been dashed they were in shock
but then, on the third day the stories began to come out.
Some said his body where it had been laid in the tomb.
I'm sorry. Some said his body where it had been laid in tomb.
Was there. Others were saying he had risen from the dead.
People reported seeing him. In fact, 10 reports, and even 5 in one day alone.
Talked about his resurrection. But the fifth appearance of Jesus was the most astonishing of all.
He appeared to 2 travellers on the road to a mass, and this story Luke, gives us a very vivid glimpse what was going through the minds of some of Jesus's disciples as they traveled on this road home.
You know no one in the Holy Land today really knows where a mass is actually located.
The Bible tells us it was 7 miles northwest of Jerusalem, and the word of me S.
Actually means hot baths but beyond this we don't know exactly where mass is located.
Centuries ago. What's more, of these 2 disciples traveling on this road are also somewhat of a mystery.
Only one of them is named Cleopis, and we have no idea the other disciples name.
It's important to mention that these 2 disciples were not part of the original 12.
They could have been included in the 70 that Jesus sent out.
We just don't know, although these 2 certainly were very first with Jesus, and they had a desire to follow him.
We just don't know very much about him but we joined the 2 travelers at their lowest point in life.
Their expectations, their hopes, their dreams, that which had got them out of bed in the morning had been crushed before their very eyes.
In a sense their lives were over, and they would never recover from the events that they had witnessed.
Just 3 days prior. Try to put yourself in their shoes.
As these 2 travelers are walking, they are discussing all that had taken place in the last few days, with their heads hung low.
As they were traveling along. Suddenly a stranger joins them on the journey home.
Now we know this stranger was, in fact, Jesus, but we are told that somehow they were prevented from recognizing him at that current moment.
No doubt God was going to teach them a very important lesson, and the temporary moment of not recognising Jesus was part of that lesson.
Jesus comes to the Men asks a very simple question, a question he already knew the answer to in verse 17.
What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another?
As you walk, and are sad, and the response by Cleopis is very interesting.
He says, are you the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have you not known the things which happened there in these days?
Jesus's response probably shows a bit of humor. Certainly the subtlety of God.
It seems obvious that there's a ring of humor to Jesus's voice when he answers Cleopis with the question, what things the ironic thing about this is that Jesus was the only one in Jerusalem who actually knew all about what had taken place in the last few days Jesus questions were meant
to help draw them out and help them understand where they were.
In all of this. Why are you sad? What things are you talking about?
Jesus knew the answers to all of those things, but he asked them, anyway, you know, by the way, Jesus just didn't just dump everything on people.
He will get to the gospel in a moment. He asked him very penetrating questions to get them involved in thinking through the process.
Jesus? Was a question asker, and he knew the answers as well.
So they began their story in verse 19, talking about Jesus, the Nazarene.
They said he was a prophet, mighty indeed in word, before God and all the people.
But immediately their story takes a dark turn here, they begin to say how the chief priest and the rulers delivered him to death and crucified him.
We read the Gospel accounts, we know the end from the beginning, and as a result we missed just how devastated and utterly grief stricken these followers of Christ really were after Jesus died in the cross.
If you close your eyes and can sum up, put yourself in the shoes of these disciples traveling on the road, I believe you would hear them take a very long, deep breath, and then say, with a sense of disappointment, in verse 21, we were hoping that it was he was going to redeem
Israel. They were hoping we thought we had the greatest expectations the world has ever known.
But we were wrong.
Then they began to tell Jesus a surprising claims in verse 22 being made by some of the women that they knew.
They said they had gone to the tomb early in the morning, but they didn't find his body.
What is more, some angels had apparently told them that Jesus wasn't dead.
He was alive as a side note. So much of the revelation is given to women.
Isn't that they probably because of their perception.
Jesus had followers, certainly, and there were women who were always providing for his needs.
I mean, they're remarkable. The the the a little sort of cameo rolls that these women have as they appear in the Gospels, of doing very important things but again, they didn't quite seem to believe that this had actually happened after all, no one had ever been resurrected before
and they had seen Jesus die on the cross. Anyone who died in a cross was believed to be cursed by God.
They probably believed that Jesus body had been stolen, or someone was trying to deceive them.
And, after all, the testimony of women wasn't not reliable in the, for in this particular time no one really gave women that much credibility in first century Israel, so they probably were just thought they were making it up when Jesus responds to all their talk and their sorrow he was very pointed in what he
says, in verse 25, through 27, he says to them, Oh, foolish ones!
The translation there, or synonyms could be, oh, foolish ones or stupid ones, or blunt ones, and slow of heart to believe in all the prophets have spoken.
Ought not the Christ have suffered these things and enter into His glory?
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them and all the Scriptures of things concerning Himself.
These disciples, and all of the other followers of Jesus, failed to look at the Scriptures.
What they actually said about the Messiah. Those who had been following Jesus, or the past few years were eagerly waiting for the time in which Jesus would take out a sword, grab a shield, and mount a massive rebellion against pagan and imperial Rome.
They were waiting for Jesus to charge into the palace of King Herod.
We were waiting for a time which Jesus would crush Pontius Pilate, and they were waiting for the day that Jesus would lead a massive army and conquer Caesar and crush him.
They were waiting for a strong military Messiah who had reestablished the earthly kingdom of Israel to restore the Jews to their rightful reign as shining lights of God's triumph and victory to them the idea of a messiah would suffer who would be meek it would be
a approachable no that's why Jesus began to relate the truth of the Old Testament to them, probably starting in Genesis, working his way into the Psalms, and then to the Prophets.
No one knows what Jesus told them, but he probably shared with the Jew travellers how sin in the Garden of Eden had separated man from God, may be mentioned through Abraham's descendants.
All people of the earth would be blessed referring to the birth of Christ also, Jesus probably mentioned in Psalm 22, which spoke of the agony of the cross centuries before crucifixion was even invented.
Jesus may have pointed them to one of the most powerful prophecies from the prophet Isaiah.
Think of these striking words, Isaiah, 53 s.
4, through 6. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, spent my God, and inflicted.
We saw him, and we thought God was punishing him but he was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was laid upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.
All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid upon him the iniquity of us all.
Finally Jesus may have pointed them to Psalm 16.
The victory of how God would not allow Christ to remain in the grave, or to be abandoned in death, but that grave could not hold any, would rise again.
At this time the 3 travelers were in a Mayus, and the 2 disciples stood in front of their home.
Jesus was about to go on his way, but the 2 disciples urged him to come in to abide with Christ, to stay not long after Jesus entered the house.
Now he takes on the position of a host, and as Jesus begins to break the bread and give it to the travellers, all of a sudden their eyes were open.
Verse 31, and they realized that this stranger, who had been walking with them for miles from the city of Jerusalem, is not a stranger.
He's the Savior. Can I get an Amen?
I don't exactly know what it was that made these disciples realize that this traveling stranger was Jesus.
You know. Many have wondered, many commentators say this, but perhaps when he was walking with him and talking, he kept his hands in his robe, or whatever now they saw him break bread, and maybe they saw the nails in his hands, maybe that's what it was you never know but here in the quieter their
house, Jesus took the bread, handed it to his friends, and they noticed maybe the scars where the nails had been, and then they knew it was Jesus.
He had truly risen. Then they looked at one another, shocked with excitement and joy in their eyes, and they said these words that was said in the Lord's Supper.
Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us on the road?
And while he opened the Scriptures to us, after that their mouths were opened.
They didn't waste any time after they realized the stranger was Jesus.
These men were so tired after taking probably a couple of hour journey.
Sad, dejected now at night, because the day was already far spent when Jesus joined them.
They go back to Jerusalem with new energy. At night.
Basically, they didn't stay locked away in their house.
They went to join with others in fellowship with the rest of this small church as its beginning to grow, look later records that when they arrived back in Jerusalem they found the 11 disciples and others, and Jesus appeared to them again as they continue to be amazed, and come to joy for realization that Jesus was
alive, the story from Scripture takes a couple of very ordinary people doing very ordinary things, and dramatically shows how Jesus changed their life.
These 2 disciples learn some very important lessons. That day they learned number one not merely to look at life with a human viewpoint as Cleopis and the other disciples were talking to Jesus.
They mentioned God. Briefly, then it went on to talk about how the chief priests and the rulers had Jesus crucified?
They quickly turned away from God's plans and looked at what happened from merely him.
Perspective number 2. They learned that God can take the worst and bring about the best.
Cleopis and the other disciple. 3 days early had witnessed the greatest tragedy the world had ever known.
A perfectly righteous man had never done anything wrong, was crucified at the hands of wicked and evil men.
Yet when mankind was at its worst, God was at his best on the darkest of days he was taking the worst act in history to bring about the greatest redemption plan, and finally, 3.
They would see that God would exceed their greatest expectations.
When the 2 disciples join with the rest of the Church, they join them with a sense of joy that they had never had before.
Their leader. The Lord, was raised from the Debbie, even though they had witnessed the greatest miracle of God.
The results of that Christ Christ had done would be seen in powerful ways.
For the rest of their lives.
So in closing this very powerful story about the Rodoomeeus is in many ways a metaphor for life, isn't it?
Because we are on a road of our own, a journey of life, a journey in which God longs to use us to far exceed the greatest expectations we have of ourselves, and on this road we call life.
We will encounter many disappointments and setbacks, like the 2 disciples, we will many times find our heads hanging low, and the struggles of this world weigh heavy on our backs as disappointments and heartaches cause us to lose joy and hope but just when we think all is lost, for
the follower of Christ, we find that another is joined on our journey, and this person is not a stranger, but he is Jesus who walks along the road of life with us.
Find that he reaches out his hand to hold us, to sustain us, to strengthen us in the inner man.
Jesus is carrying us the entire time. The most special thing of all is this, just like the weary travellers and the Rodimaeus, Jesus is walking us home.
Amen. Let's pray our Father. We just give you thanks and praise.
Thank you for this time here together in corporate fellowship, as we go about the rest of our Easter Day.
Thank you for making all these things right in our lives. Thank you for saving us. Thank you.
That we can keep our eyes focused on you, and then the world fades, and we thank you again.
Praise you in your name. Lord Jesus. Amen.