Recognized in the Breaking

Transcript

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[0:00] It's time for our sermon. Our sermon text is Luke chapter 24, verses 13 through 35. Luke 24, 13 through 35. Chris already told us a little bit about the story, but a little bit of an introduction here. Today, it's sort of a case of mistaken identity or actually more like unknown identity. And the setting for this is that it's still Easter Sunday. There's two disciples, not of the 12, but two others, are walking away from Jerusalem to a small town called Emmaus. And they meet Jesus on the way, but they were kept from recognizing him. And I want you to pay attention to this idea that they were kept from recognizing him. We're going to work on that a bit today. I try to unpack that somewhat because I think there's a lot in there. We're also building on last week's message. The idea that Jesus is revealed when he reaches into his followers' hearts. And so with Mary Magdalene, it was simply saying her name. Suddenly, she was able to see. That it was Jesus. Today, we find that when Jesus breaks bread in a familiar way to these two disciples, suddenly their eyes are opened and they are able to see who he really is. So as we read, I'd like to ask you to listen and ask yourself, what is it that keeps people from seeing Jesus for who he is?

[1:23] What keeps people from seeing Jesus for who he is? Let's go to our reading. Luke chapter 25. Starting with verse 13. Now that same day, two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them. But they were kept from recognizing him. 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?

[2:17] 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. The chief priest said, 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. And what is more, it is the third day since this all 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.

[3:06] Jesus 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 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.

[3:29] And they said, As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and began to give it to them.

[3:55] Then their eyes were opened. And they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the scriptures to 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 their way, And how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. Let's pray.

[4:33] Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. And we ask that you would add your blessing to it. In Jesus name. Amen. Well, this is one of my favorite Bible passages of all time. Partly because there's a little bit of drama in it, the good kind of drama. There's a dramatic reveal at the end. It's really great. But also because Jesus is the one who's going to reveal it. Jesus is always teaching. He's teaching people who don't even know who he is. And yet something's happening as that's going on. Because their hearts were burning inside them. They just didn't know who it was. So it's great storytelling, right? But it's also a great testimony to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So it's one of my favorite passages. And I love preaching on this passage.

[5:19] So I want to maybe go back, and as I mentioned, that Jesus is the one who's going to reveal his word. And I want to say that Jesus is always a challenge when it comes to Jesus and his identity in the Gospels. And so I want you to think back at other parts of the Gospel where his identity is revealed and he's not exactly wanting it all to be out there. So, for example, sometimes he heals people. But then he says, don't tell anyone that I did this. All right? Of course, some of them go and do it anyways because they're just so excited. There's other times when he cast demons out of people. And the demons say, we know who you are. And Jesus says, then don't tell anybody. So he kind of wants to keep his identity on the down low. When he's at a wedding in Cana with his mother, she wants him to do a miracle. She wants him to turn water into wine. And he doesn't want to do it yet because he doesn't want to reveal his power just yet. But she kind of orders him to do it. And so, of course, he's a good son. And so he ends up doing it. That's an interesting story right there, is that his mom can still tell him what to do even though he's the Messiah, which I like. I think that's a nice thing.

[6:30] So some of this we chalk up to the idea that for Jesus, wherever we are in the gospel, the time hasn't quite fully come for him to reveal himself. He's not letting it all out just yet. It's coming out in small amounts. And so sometimes it has to wait until Holy Week, until he gets to Jerusalem. It has to wait for the resurrection for more of it to come out. It has to wait for his ascension, even more of it comes out. And finally, some of it waits until Pentecost. And I would say even after Pentecost, some of it comes out in the writings of the apostles and the epistles. And so we see that information comes out slowly, kind of at the speed that his disciples can absorb it, I think, is what's going on. So Jesus is sometimes a little cagey, right? He doesn't quite tell you. He doesn't quite tell you who he is all the time. But then he does miracles and things like that. So the question of his identity in the gospels is a very interesting one.

[7:30] And I think one of the reasons as well is he wants people to think. And it's the same reason he tells parables, right? He tells a parable because he wants you to think about it. He doesn't want to just tell you straight up. He wants to tell you a story that has some parts in it that you kind of have to fit together in your mind. You have to work on it yourself. You have to mull it over. And so that's how he is with his identity, too. He doesn't want to come out all at once with everything. But he wants it to come out in a way that people keep saying, who is he? What is he up to? What's going on here?

[8:12] In fact, he describes his death and resurrection. This is interesting. He describes his death and resurrection in parables at times. But there's other times when he tells his disciples very plainly what will happen in Jerusalem. And either they don't understand, or they seem to forget, or they are kept from understanding it. And we're going to talk a little bit about that as I mentioned.

[8:38] And there's this common theme for Easter at least, almost all the Easter narratives that we have in the gospel, is that at first people don't recognize Jesus for who he is. So last week Mary Magdalene doesn't understand who Jesus is.

[8:55] After some of the other disciples see Jesus and they believe it, their friend Thomas won't believe it until he actually touches Jesus. So there's doubt, there's confusion, there's a bit of a fog around this. And now on the road to Emmaus, Jesus is walking right next to two other people. And he's talking to them about the Holy Scriptures, Moses and the prophets. And they don't get it. They know something's happening, but they don't see Jesus for who he is. So even on Easter Sunday, we see there's a lot of not mistaken identity, but unknown identity. Who is this person?

[9:35] Well, one question we might ask is why is this happening so much on Easter? Why do people not really get who Jesus is? Is it a matter of perception? Is it something they can't see? Or is it a matter of memory? They just can't remember that he said this would happen, and so memory is poor. And as I turn 50 in November and my memory is poor. It's getting worse all the time. I don't know what to do about it. I actually ordered these wonderful pills from Amazon. And they came in the mail, but it took a while, right? And so these pills came, and I said, oh, I wonder what these are for. They were definitely addressed to me, so I put them in the cabinet. And then they were there for a long time, and then finally I was asked, what are those? And I said, I have no idea. I just really don't know. And so then I looked at the label and I typed the name of the medication. It's not really a medication. It's more of a...

[10:29] What's the other thing? See, I can't even remember the difference between a medication or a supplement. It's like a supplement. Yeah. See, I can't even remember that. So it was more of a supplement. So I typed that into Google. And it said, this is for to help you with your memory. And I was like, well, great. So then I started taking it, but I couldn't tell any difference. And so in my mind, that's what I was doing. And that's like the most worthless medication I've ever heard of. Because if you can't remember to take it, it won't help you. And you won't remember to take it because you can't remember things. And so it's kind of a pointless medication. So I ate them all up and they're gone, and I honestly can't tell any difference. So memory is a problem, as you can tell from this long diatribe about my own memory. Or is it a... So the question was, is it a matter of perception, or is it a matter of memory, or is it a matter of belief? Is there something inside them? That can't believe that Jesus is actually there? Why is Jesus so obscured on Easter Sunday? Why, and also why is his identity and his words sometimes a mystery to people?

[11:31] So there's one view, and you might want to look in your Bible now. Go back to Luke chapter 18. Go back to Luke chapter 18 and find verse 31. And one view is that it's a purposeful obfuscation by Satan. Now, the kids are listening at home. Obfuscate, to obfuscate something is to sort of hide it or to cover it over with something else, to confuse it, to muddle it up. So one view is that this is a purposeful obfuscation by Satan himself. Now, I'm going to read to you from Luke 18, 31 through 34, and this is what it says. This is exactly what we're talking about. Jesus took the twelve aside and told them, and I would say he told them plainly. He said this, We are going up to Jerusalem. This is almost like a laundry list of what's going to happen. We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him, and kill him. It's a very exhaustive list of what's going to happen to Jesus. Then, verse 33, On the third day he will rise again.

[12:43] I mean, it's all there. It's all there. But now look at verse 34. The disciples did not understand any of this. Which is laughable, because it was so plain. They did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them. And they did not know what he was talking about. So something's happening here, right? It's hidden from them. The meaning of this was hidden from them. And they weren't able to process it at all. And I don't think it was hidden by God. That's not how God works, right? God is not the one that hides things from people. He's always revealing things. It's not likely that God was the one that hid this from them.

[13:31] It's probably some other force or some other circumstance. But there seems to be some intentionality there in the way that verb is coming together. Some demonic force that's bent on keeping them in the dark and keeping them confused.

[13:48] So this is serious. Isn't it interesting that even while Jesus is talking to his disciples, Satan was there blocking their understanding of what he was saying? And how could that be? How could that be in the presence of Jesus? But he was speaking to humans, of course. Fallen, broken people.

[14:10] So I think this is actually an interesting concept for us today. I think Satan actually makes great strides when he's able to confuse us. I think that's one of his most powerful tricks in his box. When we can't see things for what they really are, I think Satan loves that. Or if we see them, we're too afraid to name them. We're too afraid to speak the truth out about something. Or if somebody is calling truth a lie or calling a lie the truth, oh, I think he loves that. Or someone else creates a fantasy and insists that everyone else treats it like a reality. That one drives me crazy personally.

[14:52] So the biggest challenge for us, I think, is to always be rooting ourselves in reality, not in fantasy. And that applies to almost everything. And it applies very much to the situations that we find ourselves in right now. This also works on an interpersonal level. When we make a judgment about someone else without body language, without bothering to get all the facts, then we're not getting all the story, right? We're not giving someone the benefit of the doubt, then. We could even be telling lies about somebody because it suits us. All these are tools of the devil.

[15:30] So Satan has a motive to make it hard to see Jesus, to make it hard to understand what Jesus is. And that's what the Bible is up to. And I think that's a real challenge. It's a challenge for Jesus and it's a challenge for us because I think it still happens all the time. Jesus wants to proclaim himself to us. He wants to reveal himself to us. But there's something that gets in the way of that. Now, what I like, though, is that Jesus is really powerful. He's got this, all right? He's okay. And sometimes it just takes time, right? Back in chapter 18, they didn't know what he was talking about. They didn't understand. Well, here we are in chapter 24, and now everybody understands. And so in time, Jesus is able to overcome it. Just as Jesus came to rescue the world from the evil of sin, he reaches into his followers' lives and he rescues them from the evil of confusion and the evil of obfuscation. Jesus is good at fighting evil. That's the takeaway there. And so whatever evil that is attacking us, that keeps us from seeing the truth about anything, but especially about Jesus, we also have this living hope that Jesus can conquer even that evil and that he can make himself known to us and he can get through all these things that are in our way,

[16:55] in between us and him. What I also like is that it is almost always Jesus' initiative when this happens. It's Jesus making the first move. And so he's the one who says a name, and suddenly it's known that it's him. Or he breaks the bread, and in that motion, in that action, suddenly their eyes are opened and everything floods on in. Right that moment they say, That was Jesus! And also they were probably thinking, We were with him this whole time? Can you believe it? Were not our hearts burning as the scriptures were opened up to us? Wow! That was amazing. And so that's the emotional high point of this story, this big dramatic reveal. The bread is broken. The eyes are opened. This moment of amazement, like, Whoa! That was him! And then it instantly turns into action because Jesus also disappears right at that moment. Did you catch that? Did you catch that? Right when he breaks the bread and they see him for who he is, he vanishes. And I actually am slightly annoyed by that. Okay? I'm just the tiniest bit annoyed. I can't be too annoyed because it's Jesus, but it's like if I was there, I'd be like, Tell me more!

[18:14] It's so good to see you. Can we hug you? Anything. He just vanishes, right? And so, but he's kind of like, you know, he's kind of like a wizard in the Lord of the Rings, you know. He always appears exactly when he means to, and he seems to depart exactly when he means to as well. And that's what he does. He just leaves. And that drives these two disciples into action. They say immediately, Let's get up and let's go back. And it's dark already because, you know, it's supper time. It's already getting dark. And what was probably a slow walk there was like a sprint back. You know, we think it was about three and a half miles between these two destinations. And they run back.

[18:53] It's so clear to them now. They hike all the way back, and they tell everybody else about it. It's a great story, right? It's a great story. So Jesus reaches in to his followers' hearts. He says a name. He breaks the bread. He does other things that reveals himself to them. He reveals himself to the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus. There's all sorts of other stories like that. So maybe the question now is, What do we do with this for us? What is this going to help us with today? We're in the Easter season. This is the second Sunday of Easter.

[19:33] Luckily, we have, I would say, we have the benefit of hindsight. So this has all been recorded for us. And we can kind of laugh at these people who can't really see Jesus for who he is. But we would do the same thing. There's no doubt about us. Sometimes evil keeps us in the dark. Sometimes it hides the truth for us. And also, just to be honest, sometimes it's not evil at work. Sometimes it's just us not being very smart. Right? There's that too. Sometimes we have our own perception problems that aren't the work of the devil. It's just us not being able to figure things out. Not spending enough time on it. Not working hard enough to figure it out.

[20:10] But I think when we look back, we have to give kudos. We have to give some praise to the gospel writers who put their doubts and their confusion on display for us. They actually wrote this down for us. They didn't gloss over it and tell the story sort of like from a heroic point of view, but from a broken point of view. A point of view of, Hey, we didn't get this. And then we got it. And it was great. And so the purpose that serves is that then we can identify with them. We can really put ourselves in the shoes of these two disciples as they walk to Emmaus. We can't really always see Jesus for who he is, and we can't always see what he's trying to do in our lives. So that's how we encounter Jesus too.

[21:01] What changes, is that once we really do get to see Jesus for who he is, because he reaches into our hearts, then we go, Oh, now I get it. Now I know what I need to do. Now I know what I need to throw away. Now I know which relationships to invest energy into. Now I know where to spend my time. Now I know Jesus. All these things become clear and all the other things sort of fade away. And recede into the background. And so this week, I'm going to ask you to do something. I want you to work on your memory. The pills from Amazon, if you order them, you'll get them. You won't know what they are, so don't even bother. But work on your memory, whatever method you have for spurring your moment. And I want to ask you this.

[21:55] What is your bread breaking moment? What is your bread breaking moment? What was the moment that you suddenly saw Jesus for who he truly was and it made all the difference to you? Mine was at Bible camp when I was young. And someday I'll tell that story again. I can't tell it right now. But mine was at Bible camp. That's when the bread was broken for me and I saw Jesus. And everything kind of lined up in the world.

[22:30] What event in your life is the moment when you say, oh, now I get it. And now I want to ask you another question about your memory. Is there anything that's making you forget about it? Is there anything getting in the way of that memory operating in your life now? What is hiding it from you now or who is hiding it from you now? It's a good question. I want you to live in that memory. It's a good memory, the breaking of the bread. And then I want you to ask me, I want you to ask yourself, how do I break bread for someone else so that they too will know who Jesus is? Let's pray.

[23:12] Father, thank you again for your word. Thank you that Jesus broke the bread for us, that we can see him for who he is, that he reaches into our hearts. And Lord, make us instruments of Jesus to break bread for others. And we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.