Hearts on Fire

Introduction

He is risen! (He is risen, indeed!)

It may be cold outside, but we’re not letting that put a damper on this party are we? The Son is shining and it is on fire up in here, AMEN?

The choir’s is certainly on fire, you’re on fire and the mood is smokin’! If you’re not, I’ll ask you what Cleopas asked the stranger on the Emmaus road: “Are you the only visitors that haven’t heard about the matters this past week concerning Jesus?”

Pray with me:

Blessed are you Almighty God, King of the Universe. You are the Risen Savior. You are the Lord. You are the First-born from the grave. You are the Creator, through You all things were made. Without You we are nothing. With You we can conquer all. Through Your Holy Spirit we have the faith we need to fulfill Your will, to spread Your Word to all the earth. And that begins today!

Through Christ our Lord we pray. Amen!

What I’d like to do today is for us to take a little walk, if you will, to Emmaus, with one of Jesus’ lesser known disciples, Cleopas.

So, let me introduce myself. I’m Cleopas. I’m one of Jesus disciples. You may have guessed I’m not one of The Twelve, Jesus’ closest disciples. They like to refer to themselves as “The Chosen”. I even saw where Dallas Jenkins recently produced a TV series about them. How about that, huh?! And it’s really good, too! Well, I guess I shouldn’t take offense at that as Jesus DID choose them. I became a disciple myself after hearing Jesus’ now famous “Sermon on the Mount”. It was awesome, both radical and life altering. Jesus really raised the bar there. I have not been the same and have been following his teaching ever since.

But, this last week was a whirlwind. So many things happened in such a short period of time.

Last Sunday we heard Brother Dave Wachter give us a unique accounting of Jesus triumphal entry back into Jerusalem. He took us on a trip around the globe back to the areas of Bethany and Bethphage, where Jesus told us about His impending suffering and death. What? Come again? Jesus began saying so many things that both confused us and stressed us out. How He directed the disciples to go into the village and locate a colt of a donkey that He might ride on into Jerusalem. David informed us that a donkey was the traditional ride of a king in those days. It showed humility. David illustrated to us that Jesus rode from Bethphage down the Mount of Olives from the East (from where the Messiah was foretold to come by the prophets) and came to a crossroads leading either right or left. The branch to the right led to the gate Beautiful, where it was prophesied that the Messiah would enter. The left branch led around to the rear of the city where the sheep's gate was located. David even speculated, following Jesus whole life and purpose, that He could see Him proceeding left and entering the sheep’s gate, as the Messiah, the Lamb of God.

We heard the story again of how the crowds went before Him and laid their cloaks on the road and cut palm branches to lay on the road as well. All the while shouting, “Hosanna” or “Hoshanna”. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! We learned that “Hoshanna” is translated as “save us”. Isn’t that what Jesus came to do? Isn’t that our cry to this day, God Save Us!

The next day, Jesus entered the temple and, using a homemade whip ( He was a craftsman), cleared the merchants and money changers from the courtyard. The courtyard, was supposed to be a place reserved or set aside for non-Jews to come and worship God. The worship of the nations had been sacrificed so that some could cheat and line their pockets. Jesus was angry about all of this, so He flipped over the tables and drove them out saying, in Mark 11:17, “Is it not written that my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? And, yet, you have made it a den of robbers!” Jesus wasn’t acting like another prophet, He was acting with authority. He said He would destroy this corrupt temple and establish another that will last for all eternity. Man, what a sight that was!

On Tuesday, as we were walking, Jesus cursed a fig tree for not bearing fruit. Jesus taught us that Israel’s priests and temple were supposed to be the place where all could come to God and worship and be blessed. However, the priests had forgotten God’s decrees and had become like that fig tree, as diseased trees, rotten to the core. Jesus was also teaching us about faith saying in Matthew 21:21 “21 “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.” He wasn’t explaining how we could curse our own fig tree, but that praying with faith we could cause the mountain that the temple was built on to crumble. Jesus came to cleanse the temple of its dead religion. He expects His disciples to share in this ministry. He invites us to join Him in building a global Church that will never be destroyed.

Wednesday was the day that Mary, the sister of Lazarus, poured expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair. Judas Iscariot protested that this was a waste as it was worth a year’s wages and could have been sold to help the poor. Jesus says in John 12:8, “You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.” For what she did was to prepare Jesus for burial. It seemed that everyone at that time agreed that Jesus must die to save them (all except us, His closest friends). The religious elite believed that Jesus must die in order to save the people from Rome; Judas believed that He must die to save his financial status; and Mary was preparing Jesus for burial. Apparently, even Jesus knew He must die, but to save all from sin and death forever. We just couldn’t see it, didn’t want to see it!

Thursday was a special day. We celebrated the Passover. The Twelve got to dine with Jesus alone. There was something going on. We could feel it. Later, they would relate to us that Jesus washed their feet, taking the role of servant. He instructed them that they should go and do likewise. Note to self: Servant Leadership, Jesus’ example, done! John, you know the one that Jesus loved, told us a troubling account of how Jesus made a new covenant, taking bread and breaking it, that He said symbolized His body being broken; and then a cup of wine that He said symbolized His blood being shed. He said that Jesus told them all to eat and drink and to remember Him as often as we do so from now on. John said that Jesus said that He was sacrificing Himself for all people for the forgiveness of sin. But, what does that even mean?

Also, while sharing the meal, Jesus alluded to someone betraying Him to the religious authorities. No one could figure it out. It would all come to light in a short time!

After the meal, Jesus and the twelve went out to the Mount of Olives to Gethsemane to pray, as was Jesus’ custom. You know, He would just disappear like that and we would find Him praying. Another note to self: prayer is very important, Jesus made it a priority, we should too! It was there things got ugly as Judas Iscariot came with a mob and they arrested Jesus. Do you know that he betrayed Him with a kiss?! We all had been telling Jesus He needed to keep a lower profile or things may get rough. But, that was not His way. Somehow He seemed unafraid. He was on a mission.

They drug Jesus away to the palace of the high priest, Caiaphas at the time, where He was repeatedly beaten, mocked and spat upon. Many were brought forward to falsely accuse Him of things and to our amazement, Jesus answered none of the charges. He was drug over to Herod where he questioned Him. But, Jesus gave him no satisfaction. We laughed when we heard that! The old goat had that coming after having John the Baptizer beheaded!

Back at the high priest’s place, they asked Him if He was the Messiah. To this He responded, “You have said so, and to this I was born into the world. But, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at t he right hand of Power.” This really riled them up and Caiaphas tore his robe! Everyone said Jesus deserved death for His blasphemy.

All the while this was going on Simon-Peter was keeping close watch from within the courtyard. Earlier he had stated that he would die with Jesus, if necessary. Jesus told him straight out that he would die for Him, but not that night. In fact, Jesus told Peter that he would deny that he even knows Jesus three times before sun up. I can’t imagine how Peter felt when that rooster crowed after he had done just that! Yet, somehow Peter still retained some hope and was able to press on, unlike what happened to Judas, God rest his soul!

Finally, Jesus was taken before the governor, Pontius Pilot who, to his credit, tried valiantly to set Jesus free. But, Pilot was a coward deep down and, being afraid of what Caesar might do, succumbed to the pressure of the crowd (really the hopped up crowd from the religious authorities) and handed Jesus over to be crucified. Could this really be happening?

At this time we really became numb. Jesus had been beaten nearly to death, had to have help carrying the cross and was now being nailed to it and raised up. If that weren’t bad enough, they crucified Him like any other criminal with two bad actors on either side of Him. Hope was fading fast. Yet, Jesus had a couple more surprises. First, He forgave everyone who was doing this to Him, saying they didn’t know what they were doing. Duh! Then, He forgave one of the guys crucified with Him. Who does that? Forgive him of what? All our hopes and dreams went up in smoke in just a few hours as Jesus died on that cross.

All at once…we found ourselves standing with Jesus other disciples and followers with our mouths agape in disbelief. What just happened? Jesus was supposed to be THE ONE! He was supposed to be the one to save us all. Did we believe that He would somehow conquer Rome and usher back in the glory days of Israel? Simon the Zealot sure thought so. Did we somehow believe that, because of His mighty works that he couldn’t die. After all, didn’t Simon-Peter testify to Him being the Son of Living God? What did we miss? So, we find ourselves in no-man’s land, that time between the cross and the empty tomb. It’s a time of doubt and uncertainty. It’s a time for fear as what happened to Jesus may happen to us, and for what? What now? We uprooted our entire lives to follow Him and we just watched Him die and be buried, just like everyone else. What a waste!

I ran away and hid myself. I cried the rest of the day, no wailed the rest of the day, and cried myself to sleep that night. Good Friday they call it. What’s good about it anyway? Saturday was a blur. It was the sabbath, but we were afraid to go out anywhere. If I had been a drinking man I might have gotten drunk and stayed that way, the rest of my life! Then came Sunday morning…Did I mention that you have an awesome choir here at Faith Community Church? What a beautiful song, and oh so appropriate for today!

I mentioned the empty tomb. Some of our women, most notably Mary Of Magdala. I really like the way they’ve portrayed her in The Chosen; very accurate. She is the real deal! She came running to us early this morning saying that the tomb was open and that Jesus was gone, that angels had told her He was risen and alive just as He told us! It was hard to hear. In fact, it was unbelievable. We really couldn’t accept it. We saw Him die and saw Him buried. Didn’t we? It just doesn’t make sense.

Then we meet this guy on the road as we are walking from Jerusalem who is completely unaware of all this I have just told you. Where has he been? We thought that he had to be a hermit to know nothing about Jesus. As we walked, we relayed this story. Emmaus is about a seven mile walk so we had plenty of time.

Then, this guy begins to give us a history lesson about how the Messiah was foretold as far back as Genesis. How King David and the prophet Isaiah wrote how He would be a man of sorrows, discounted by all and would suffer many injustices and die and be raised for all mankind. As He was reminding us of all this, our hearts began to burn within us and we began putting things together. It was still a little murky but a fire was building inside of us for sure.

It was getting late so we asked this guy to stay with us and he agreed. While we reclined at table the guy took some bread and broke it and gave it to us. We immediately remembered what John had told us about the Passover meal and knew without a doubt that this was Jesus! He was in fact risen and alive! Before we could say another word, Jesus vanished before our eyes. That fire growing inside us was now a roaring blaze! We could not contain ourselves and had to tell the others. We left immediately and ran all the way back to Jerusalem. We ran so fast that we would have won a Olympic marathon!

We told the eleven and other disciples what happened, but like us were slow to believe. Then out of nowhere Jesus walked among us, showing us His hands and feet and His side. He is alive! Jesus is risen and is alive, just as He said. Hallelujah!

It’s now all clear. Jesus didn’t come to save Israel only from Rome. He came to save everyone from ourselves, our sin! Jesus did have to die. By one man’s sin (Adam), all mankind was cursed. By one man’s act of sinless sacrifice (Jesus), all mankind is saved and have access to eternal life. It was our sin that nailed Him to that cross. Jesus did have the power to come down, as one of the criminals alluded to. But, His love for us kept Him there. We had been separated from God for centuries, symbolized by the curtain in the temple blocking the Holy of Holies. But, when Jesus breathed His last that curtain was torn in two from top to bottom, clearing the pathway back to God. God’s wrath had been satisfied once and for all. No longer do we need an earthy high priest to go before us to God. Jesus is our high priest!

On Sunday, at dawn, Jesus arose from His well earned rest, conquering Satan’s greatest weapon, death. The grave could not hold Him, death a mere nap. O death, where is your sting?

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and He did so in 6 days. On the seventh day He rested from all His work. In the same manner, Jesus’ heaviest workload happened over the last six days of His life, punctuated by Him saying, “It is finished.” Then He rested from all His work on the seventh day in the tomb. It just happened to be on a sabbath day. No coincidence there. Jesus’ work of salvation is a finished work. There is no more left to do. We, too, can rest in that assurance today.

Because we serve a Risen Savior, we can also rest in the assurance that all fear of sin and death is gone! We have been freed from that death sentence. This should also cause OUR hearts to burn within us! If you don’t have a heart on fire for Christ after today, something’s wrong with you!

Seriously friends, if you still have questions or if you want to know more, or you need prayer. Please talk one of us, even come forward now, today!

Pray with me!