Sought Before You Searched

Transcript

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[0:00] Our sermon text today comes from Luke 24, 13 to 35, and we will also be reading that in NLT today. That same day, two of Jesus' followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem. As they walked along, they were talking about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them. But God kept them from recognizing him. He asked them, what are you discussing so intently as you walk along? They stopped short, sadness written across their faces. Then one of them, Cleopas, replied, you must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn't heard about all the... all the things that have happened there the last few days.

[0:57] What things? Jesus asked. The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth, they said. He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. We had hoped he... he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel.

[1:27] This all happened three days ago. Then some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report. They said his body was missing, and they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive.

[1:46] Some of our men ran out to see, and sure enough, his body was gone, just as the women had said. Then Jesus said to them, You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all the prophets wrote in the scriptures. Wasn't it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?

[2:10] Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the scriptures the things concerning himself. By this time, they were nearing a man, and they had seen Jesus, and the end of their journey.

[2:26] Jesus acted as if he were going on, but they begged him, Stay the night with us, since it is getting late. So he went home with them. As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them, and suddenly their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared.

[2:53] They said to each other, Didn't our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the scriptures to us? And within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven disciples and the others who had gathered with them, who said, The Lord has really risen! He appeared to Peter! Then the two from Emmaus told their story of how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along the road. And how they had recognized him as he was breaking the bread.

[3:28] Let's pray. Our God, we thank you for your word. We ask for your blessing upon it. Would you speak to our hearts and our minds. God, would you join us on this journey today. These things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

[3:48] So sometimes I think that God needs a friend. A far better PR person. Because God has an entire realm of angels. And he has all of creation at his fingertips. And in his control. But then think about how he announces things.

[4:08] The birth of his son to the world. It began with an unmarried lower class woman. A teenage girl, really. An angel appeared to her in the privacy of her home. So who's going to believe her? Who's going to believe a pregnant, unwed, young woman?

[4:31] No one could have been more untrustworthy. Except maybe the shepherds. Where he sent his next angel. He sent another angel to the shepherds. And no one believed shepherds. Shepherds were the most distrustful, dishonest people. Even if they weren't dishonest, they were so poor that they were considered to be dishonest. So that if a shepherd were to give testimony in court, it wouldn't be believed simply because he was a shepherd. They were the least of humanity. And so that's where God sends his angel to tell the world that Christ has been born. And so then fast forward to the morning of the resurrection. And God sent another angel. Which is great. Angels are good at getting messages out. But he sent it to a group of women. And again, women were kind of like shepherds. They just aren't to be believed. At least not at that time. So they were not having a very good track record. God kept sending his angels to these very distrustful, unbelievable people.

[5:41] There's a great temptation to ask God why. With all of the resources and all of creation. At his disposal. Why not make Jesus' resurrection known in a way that would be immediate. In a way that people would feel sure. Why not announce it to the whole world all at once. With big booms and lightning and earthquakes and angels appearing all over. Because he could do that. He could even just go to the kings and the high priests. But he goes to the lowly and the unbelievable.

[6:16] So. It's also a little weird. That Jesus returns from death and doesn't go immediately to glory. Because he earned that. Right? He suffered in this world. We treated him so badly. And yet he returns to this world as a stranger.

[6:41] It's just a strange beginning. But he appeared to also. Two mostly unknown disciples. One of them is named in the passage. Cleopas. But that's the only place in scripture that his name actually appears. We have no other knowledge of him. We can assess some things about him. We can assume he was close to Jesus. But not as close as say the 11 disciples that were remaining. But we don't know anything at all about the disciple who is traveling with him. Some sources guess that it might be his wife. Since they went to the same house to break bread.

[7:22] And often times women were not named as long as their husband was named. So that could be the case. And if that was the case. That would make this disciple automatically even less known than Cleopas was.

[7:37] So. God just keeps appearing. Christ just keeps appearing to these very unknown sources. Or untrustworthy sources. And what are these two disciples doing as he appears to them? They're walking. It's not unusual. It's a very everyday moment. It's not something crazy or hugely climactic that they're doing. It's just an everyday activity. They're just walking along the road. It's not a very very long journey that they were making. It's a decent length. Seven miles. They're going from Jerusalem to Emmaus. They probably made that journey quite a bit.

[8:28] What's important here is the movement itself. Because movement is very important to Luke as an author. Many of the key moments in Luke are written with a certain emphasis on traveling. And movement. So Jesus often meets people along the road. There's an entire narrative of travel where Jesus journeys from Galilee to Jerusalem. And then in Acts, which was also written by Luke. They talk about how the first followers of Jesus were referred to as the Way. So even their name has movement in it. And so we learn to pay attention to wherever there's movement in Luke and Acts. And a lot of times when we see that we feel a slight prodding in our hearts to think about this as walking in the footsteps of Jesus.

[9:24] But here and in some of the other passages, we see Jesus not walking in our footsteps but walking alongside of us. We see Jesus walking alongside the disciples. He's taking the journey with them. And that's very important. That he doesn't leave them to take the journey themselves. And he doesn't force them to follow along behind him. But he just takes this journey with each of them. Just like he continues today to take the journey with each of us. And I think it's incredible that Jesus did not ascend immediately to heaven. But instead chose to walk alongside humanity. As we tried to unravel. This mystery of his death and resurrection.

[10:14] And he doesn't just abandon us to figure out our faith on our own as he watches from above. So I only ever took one preaching class and it was an intro to preaching. And the first thing we learn is this three point sermon format. Where we kind of count our way through the message. And I never liked it because it's kind of cheesy. But it does make it easier to take notes. And it also gives you this added bonus that you'll know when I'm almost done talking. So there are three points today about how Jesus journeys with us. That we can pull out of the passage. And the first is that Jesus journeys with us by actively and intentionally seeking us out. And this is true of absolutely every person. And I'm so grateful for this. I think of my own story of faith. And at one point I thought I had the idea of how God worked. And yet I was so far off the mark.

[11:22] Jesus sought me when I had no idea that I needed him. I became a Christian in middle school. And I was not raised in the church. But when I look back on my life. I can see evidence of God pursuing me. And caring for me. And setting me apart for his kingdom.

[11:42] From the point of even some of my very earliest memories. And it was always Jesus seeking me. And never the other way around. From the beginning of my life. And from the beginning of my faith story. So I say that Jesus seeks us. But the thing is we don't always recognize that. And that's important. That's a key part of the journey process. Is that Jesus is seeking to walk alongside us. And we don't even recognize that it's him. Much like the disciples walking along. They were disturbed by him at first. At first they were, they sounded a little angry. We have no way of knowing what their tone of voice was. But they didn't sound content with him. Are you the only one in the world. In all of Jerusalem who doesn't know. How dense can you be. You're interrupting our time of mourning. We don't have time for you to enter in. We don't really want to be in this conversation. They don't recognize him. And yet Jesus is seeking them out.

[12:57] So here in the passage we must forgive the disciples a little bit. Because they had heard testimony. But like I said before it was just from some women. In their group. They heard that Jesus has risen. They can't really be expected to trust that. I mean Jesus did appear to these women. So obviously he expected us to have faith through that. But it seems so unbelievable at that time. To trust the word of just a few women.

[13:30] So they weren't seeking Jesus. Because they didn't really understand that they were meant to. They didn't understand that he was still with them. And I think that goes for a lot of people today. There's testimonies from others. That Jesus exists. And Jesus is real. And Jesus wants to seek us out and journey with us.

[13:52] But. Christians aren't really the most believable people. Religious people aren't really the most believable people. What people want to believe is science. And they feel like science and religion can't. Coexist. So they just assume that the testimony of religious people is untrustworthy. So they don't know they're supposed to seek Jesus out. Because they simply don't know that he's available to them.

[14:22] In this case in the passage. Jesus was right there. Among the disciples. And the two disciples didn't even recognize him. And some of this is down to their own faith. Because even if they didn't know. Even if the women weren't considered a reliable witness. They were the people that God chose. To reveal the gospel to.

[14:44] And so the disciples on the road had been given the information. And since they were coming from Jerusalem. They'd obviously been in the center of the action. They did believe the men who went to verify that the tomb was empty. Or maybe they didn't believe. Maybe they were unsure. Maybe that's what they were talking about. But they knew a lot about what was happening. They knew a lot about Jesus. They had heard his teachings. They had followed him. They had heard the scriptures. And had undoubtedly connected some of the dots. Of the prophecies to Jesus. But they couldn't comprehend. That God would raise Jesus from the dead. They couldn't understand it. Because even though they knew a lot about Jesus. They did not truly know. Who Jesus was.

[15:37] And they also didn't recognize him. Simply because things hadn't gone the way. That they expected them to go. As Jesus came up to them. He asked, what were you discussing? And the emotion of that moment. Of thinking through everything that had happened. And everyone knew about it. Except for this clueless irritating stranger. Who just cuts in and derails their time of mourning.

[16:05] But what were they discussing? They were discussing news and politics. And there was some emotional attachment also. Maybe it was a little deeper. Because these two seemed to be in that close circle. But really this was a highly political happening. Jesus had been crucified. And in the Roman Empire that was a political thing to do.

[16:30] Who is a political enemy? Is important. And so like many today. Cleopas and his companion. Have lost hope in the face of this political news. And so he declares in the past tense. We had hoped that he was the Messiah. Who had come to rescue Israel. They call him a prophet.

[16:56] They had this certain understanding of what Jesus meant. And that understanding was now skewed. They would have in the past called him Messiah. Now he's just another prophet that died and passed on. They had a certain hope for what Jesus' role was. But his death meant that wouldn't happen. And they were in mourning for Jesus the person. But also for Jesus the idea of the future of Israel.

[17:28] They thought they already understood what was going on. And so it was so hard for them to have a different understanding. Or a different interpretation of events. And I've been there. At the beginning of my faith journey. I was certain that faith was all about just being a good person. And I thought I knew exactly what was right. And there have been many points along my faith journey. Where I thought I knew exactly what was right. And I was the one who knew what was going on.

[18:00] Well I couldn't find the answer. And so I didn't. And so I didn't. And so I didn't. And so I didn't. place and he continues to seek us and continues to reason with us and talk with us. Now the other reason they didn't recognize him was simply because God did not want them to recognize him just yet. The passage outright says that they were kept from recognizing him and we don't know God's purpose in this but God does always have a purpose and we can go ahead and just assume that it's not because God wants to control us or mess with us or have a power play but instead it's mostly because he has a purpose. Eventually Jesus reveals himself to them.

[19:18] He helps them reason out what happened and in the process of doing so he reveals himself and he reveals about God's kingdom. He reveals himself and he reveals about God's kingdom. He reveals about the He reveals himself and he reveals about God's kingdom. He reveals about the promises and even their own lack of faith. So they learn to trust in God's Word and they learn to trust in Jesus and sometimes we would rather just rip off the band-aid and have our have our celebration right away at the end and we don't want to take things slowly because the slow way is the painful way but it's also the way that we have the chance to learn and to grow and so Jesus slowly walks this seven mile walk alongside of them and he painstakingly steps through scriptures and when it's time then he reveals himself.

[20:13] The second way that we that Jesus journeys with us is by opening our eyes and revealing himself to us. So Jesus spoke scripture with them. He spoke through the prophecies. He connected them to him. He spoke through the prophecies. He connected them to him. He spoke through the prophecies. He spoke through the himself and it was scripture that gave witness to who he was and why he had himself and it was scripture that gave witness to who he was and why he had come and why it was necessary because that was the part they were probably struggling with. Why was it necessary that Jesus had to suffer and die? And Jesus wanted them to see that if they would only believe the scriptures and what they say about him they would understand why he came and why he had to suffer. Even why he had to die which really was not anyone's understanding of the Messiah. How can you redeem Israel if you are not here? So through scripture they'd finally know who he was instead of just knowing about him. We still learn about Jesus through scripture and we spend our lives learning and growing because of what scripture reveals about the character in the heart of God. But it was something beyond scripture that finally revealed to these disciples who Jesus really was. It was something deep and personal and

[21:29] something that goes beyond logic and proof. It was fellowship with him. This was not the only time that happened either. After the resurrection Jesus revealed himself often during times of fellowship. Fellowship with him is intimate and there's something that we feel within our hearts that's indescribable. It can't be used with logic and so as important as logic and the process of understanding the gospel is to be able to understand the proof of Scripture are because they are important. We do some of our best growing when we simply come before Jesus with a heart of fellowship. When we have conversation with him in prayer. When we come to the communion table. When we allow ourselves to be silent before him. When we come to him in worship. These are the times when we hear from Jesus when we learn his heart and when we grow in relationship.

[22:28] Now something had been changing in the in the two disciples as they walked along. They were abrasive toward Jesus at first. This stranger who was almost insulting by not knowing what was happening. But as he spoke with them and journeyed with them they began to become more open to him. But it wasn't until he had fellowship with them and broke the bread that they truly knew him. Because they had known him before in their heart and in that moment their hearts knew the man Jesus. Here's the final point for the day. When Jesus journeys with us we are moved to share about him. And that was the immediate response of these disciples. When Jesus revealed himself to them they were moved to share. When your eyes have been opened you'll want the eyes of others to be opened. When the relief of the gospel washes over you. When you understand that Jesus died for you. And for your salvation. And for the salvation of the world. When the hope of the resurrection becomes apparent to you. You'll want that for everyone. You want that hope for the world. How is your journey with Jesus going. What are the things that he's been revealing to you? Where has he been patiently meeting you? Where has he been walking slowly alongside of you? Is he calling you to a deeper journey through

[24:08] the scriptures or maybe just a time of rich fellowship with him? Has he moved your heart in compassion for another person in your life who needs to hear about your journey? Wherever you are this morning, I challenge you to invite God to open your eyes to what he's trying to reveal to you. It's not as easy as it sounds, but it's definitely worth the effort. Let's pray. God, we thank you that you meet us where we're at. God, we pray that you would open our eyes to your presence alongside us. God, we pray that you would challenge us, grow us, and shape us. These things we pray in Jesus name, Amen.