The road to Emmaus

 

A five-year-old boy from Texas was told that the family would visit the Grand Canyon. They described it as much bigger than downtown Dallas. He could hardly wait to see it. When they finally got there, they asked him how it measured up to his expectations. With a little frown, he said, “I thought you said that it was a big cannon.” He was probably hoping to see them shoot it! When you’re hoping for the Grand Cannon, you can be let down even by something as spectacular as the Grand Canyon!

If your expectations are wrong, you can even be disappointed by God. It’s not that God was somehow lacking. He is far more glorious and perfect than we could ever conceive. But often, because of our limited perspective, we feel as if He let us down. We thought that He would do something, but He didn’t do it. We thought that we were trusting in the promises of His Word, but they didn’t come true. We thought that we were praying in line with His will, but He didn’t answer. God didn’t come through as we had hoped.

That’s where two weary travellers were at as they walked the seven miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus one Sunday. They had been hoping that Jesus was the promised Messiah who would redeem Israel (24:21). But their hopes had been dashed when the Jewish religious leaders suddenly succeeded in crucifying Jesus. They were going home, dejected and disappointed. They were still in shock. They didn’t understand why God had let them down.

They were talking about these things as they walked when a stranger caught up to them. He was really not a stranger; He was the risen Lord Jesus Christ. But “their eyes were prevented from recognising Him” (24:16). The passive voice of the verb suggests that God had closed their eyes from recognising Jesus. Why would God do that? As we’ll see, He had some important lessons to teach them (and us) about trusting in His written Word before He allowed them to see the living Word who was there with them. The story begins with these two men dejected and sad. It ends with them rejoicing in hope. The overall lesson is that …God will turn our disappointment to hope if with His people we will seek the risen Saviour through faith in His Word. The first thing we must acknowledge, although we may not want to admit it, is that, like these men,… We all face times when we are disappointed with God.

Now WE MAY BE DISAPPOINTED WITH GOD BECAUSE OUR EXPECTATIONS DO NOT MATCH HIS SOVEREIGN PURPOSE.

The risen Saviour tells these two men that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer these things (24:26). Earlier (24:7), the angel reminds the women at the tomb of Jesus’ earlier prediction, “that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified.” The Greek word translated must and necessary is a favourite term for Luke (18 times in his Gospel) that points to God’s sovereign purpose. Luke wants us to know that God is in charge of history, moving it along according to His sovereign purpose. This is especially true of the greatest tragedy in history, the crucifixion of the sinless Saviour. Although it was the worst crime that could ever be committed, and the men who did it were responsible for their wicked deed, God sovereignly ordained it (24:7; Acts 2:23; 4:27-28). It did not thwart His plan; it fulfilled it.

The Bible makes it clear that sin is part of God’s sovereign plan or decree, but at the same time, God is apart from all sin and not responsible for it.

But here is how this works out practically: If the worst sin ever, the death of Christ, was a part of God’s sovereign plan, then no sin can thwart His sovereign purpose.

But still, it is hard when we have prayed and hoped for something that we thought was God’s will, but then it does not happen. These men had prayed and hoped that Jesus was God’s Messiah who would redeem Israel. No doubt they were thinking about political redemption from Israel’s enemies the Romans. But that was not God’s will for His Son at that time. It is only at the second coming when Jesus shall fully rule the world (which shall be a new world then)

After this wonderful discussion on the road, Jesus acted as if He would keep going beyond their village, but they prevailed on Him to stay there with them that night (24:28-29). Just as the Lord’s earlier questions (24:17, 19) were for the purpose of drawing these men out in order to teach them, so His acting as if He would go further was to elicit this invitation from them. They invited Him in and He accepted their offer. He always comes into the heart and home where He is invited.

But notice that although He entered their home as a guest, He quickly took on the role of host and owner. Normally the owner of the home would break the bread and bless it, but Jesus took that role here. If you entreat the Lord to stay in your heart, be prepared: He isn’t a polite dinner guest! He takes over! No sooner did these men recognise the Lord than He vanished from their sight. They didn’t even have time to ask any questions. Jesus wanted them to know that He is alive, but also to know that they would not experience His physical presence as they formerly had. He would now go to the Father and send the Spirit to be with them permanently.

As soon as they realised that their unidentified guest was the Lord, even though it was late and a two hour walk in the dark back to Jerusalem, they went immediately to share what had happened with the disciples there (24:33). And, to their great delight and astonishment, the Lord appeared again, to the whole group, and they were privileged to witness it! Thomas was not there that first night, and he missed out until the next Sunday when he was there and Jesus graciously appeared again (John 20:19-29). The point is, it was when they were together, talking about the things of the Lord, that the Lord Himself appeared to them. While the Lord appeared to Peter when he was alone (24:34), to restore him, He did not appear to Thomas when he was alone, but only when he joined with the other disciples.

This shows us that we cannot follow the Lord as He intended unless we do it in fellowship with other believers. The church is His body, and body parts can only function in close connection with other body parts. If your hand gets hurt and decides that it’s because your stupid arm thrust the hand in front of the saw, it would be rather foolish to say, “I’m just going to cut myself off completely from that arm!” And yet, that’s exactly what many hurting Christians do! When you’re disappointed with God or with His people, don’t yield to the temptation to isolate yourself from other Christians! Get with them and talk about what’s troubling you.

To conclude these discouraged, disappointed men thought that Jesus was dead and gone, when in fact He was the one walking and talking with them as they trudged along that dusty road. He was near to them even though they did not recognise Him at first. When you are disappointed and discouraged, you may think that the Lord is a million miles away. But if you are one of His flock, even though you are being faithless and do not see Him, He is there with you. He has promised, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you” (Heb. 13:5).

He will turn your disappointment into hope if you will entreat Him to come in and stay with you.