O Foolish Ones, Slow of Heart

The Disciples on the Road to Emmaus

“O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” This is our text for today.

“That very day,” as our gospel reading begins, is the day of the resurrection, the day that He is risen! (He is risen indeed, Halleilujah!). We know from John’s gospel that Jesus had appeared to Mary Magdalene at the tomb on that first Easter morning. Last week, our annual beat up on Doubting St. Thomas text, we looked at Christ’s appearance to the disciples in the upper room in Jerusalem, where they were hiding, for fear of the Jews. Our text for today, the Road to Emmaus, happens between these events. it is still the Resurrection Day. Mary Magdelene has seen the risen Lord. Peter and John have seen the empty tomb. But, by and large, those who have followed him for all or part of the last 3 years do not know that He is risen! (He is risen indeed, Halleilujah!).

These events are happening just one week after the triumphal entry, where the crowds shouted “Hosanna, Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” From the discussion between Cleopas and Simon, who are walking to Emmaus, they, too, believed that Jesus was the promised King, of the line of David, who would throw off Roman oppression and restore the majesty of Israel. We don’t know why they were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus - about a 2 hour walk - but they had spent the Passover in Jerusalem. They had been there during the crucifixion, and now these followers of the dead rabbi were leaving town, heading to a small village down the hills, just west of Jerusalem, about 7 miles, just as the text says.

As they are talking among themselves, and Jesus joins them, we can tell a few things about what they thought, what they had heard, and about what they knew. They had hoped that Jesus was the one to redeem Israel. They express this hope in the past tense - they thought this hope was dead. They knew that He had been delivered up to the chief priests and rulers, that He had been crucified, died and was buried. They knew that the tomb was empty. They had heard from the Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Mary the mother of James that angels had told them He was alive. They had heard from Peter and John that the tomb was empty. They had not heard that Mary Magdalene had seen Jesus. With these scant facts, they were every bit the doubters - the unbelievers - that we saw Thomas as in last week’s reading.

They did not recognize Christ - their eyes were kept from recognizing Him, but He knew them. It is when they express their skepticism of the Resurrection that Christ rebukes them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” The rebuke of Christ is a rebuke of love. He does not follow His rebuke with, “why am I wasting my time with you fools?” He explains all of the Scripture to them - from Moses and all the Prophets. And they still don’t get it. It is not until they are sitting down at table, as He takes the bread and breaks it that their eyes are opened and they recognize the risen Lord.

Are we any less deserving of Christ’s rebuke in love than Cleopas and Simon were? Are our eyes any less open than theirs were? Christ’s rebuke is like that of a loving parent - yes, He is exasperated. Yes, He wishes we could just see the good and true and beautiful. But He is not spiteful. This rebuke is not the condemnation of the money changers in the temple. It is more along the lines of simple disappointment - Matt 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” “O Cleopas and Simon, foolish ones and slow of heart.” What is his rebuke, of love for us today? Where are eyes hidden, as were those of Cleopas and Simon on the road to Emmaus?

Not with all of our reason can we understand the prophecies and promises of Christ. It is only in His coming to us, in the Word and Sacrament, that we can understand with eyes opened by faith, the gift of the Spirit, just as Cleopas and Simon did on that first Easter evening.

That walk down the hill from Jersualem to Emmaus? That was the easy trip that day - gravity assisted. After seeing Jesus, they were so excited that they rushed back up the hills to Jerusalem, to find the eleven and tell them about meeting Jesus, to tell them that He is Risen (He is risen indeed, Halleilujah!).

That discussion -Cleopas and Simon telling the eleven, well minus Thomas, who wasn’t in the room at the time - they were telling the ten apostles, gathered in the upper room in Jerusalem, on that first Easter night, about meeting Jesus on the road to Emmaus when this same Jesus, their resurrected Lord appeared before them in the locked room. Luke doesn’t record any of the words of Cleopas and Simon after Jesus appeared, but you have to assume they at least thought, “That’s what we were trying to tell you!” We are all foolish ones, slow of heart, until Jesus comes to us. We do not come to Him. He comes to us.

Peter’s Words in his First Sermon

Just a couple of months later, one of those ten apostles, in that Upper Room who had heard the story of Cleopas and Simon was Simon Peter, who delivered the first sermon at Pentecost, our text from the first reading today. We like focus on Acts 2:38, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And it’s good and right that we hear the joyous gospel message in these words. Truly they are words of salvation. But Peter does not stop there. It is not, “be baptized and go your way, salvation is accomplished, and there’s nothing more to do.”

I find Peter’s words in verse 40 very interesting - “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” What exactly is he saying here? Is Peter advocating for some form of works righteousness? Most certainly not. Our works have no merit for our salvation. We cannot save ourselves. But Peter’s words to them are not to save themselves from eternal judgement. Only Christ can do that, and this is clear in Peter’s call for repentance and baptism. The words here, to save yourselves from this crooked generation are his admonition to the group following this call for baptism. In the midst of this crooked generation, where right is wrong and wrong is right, and all truth is declared to be relative, how much more does it apply to us - to save yourselves from this crooked generation?

Peter’s Words to God’s Elect, Strangers in the World

Perhaps Peter’s warning to “save yourselves from this crooked generation” is flushed out a bit in our epistle reading, also the words of Peter. Conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile. We are in exile from our heavenly home, just as Israel was in exile - in Egypt, in Assyria and in Babylon. Do not love the land of your exile. Accept the gifts of the Lord’s bounty in your time of exile, and look for the call to return home.

You will return home, for you were ransomed by the blood of Christ. The whole reason that Christ came to earth was for your sake, that you may believe, that through His resurrection, you may have faith and hope in God. You were dead to righteousness, lost in your sin. But God loved you so much that He left the 99 to send His son to pay the ransom price for you, that you may be freed, that you may be called home from this exile. Do not fall in love with the land of your exile, or give yourself over to the crooked generation.

We love one another because our souls have been purified, because we are obedient to truth - there’s that word again, “truth.” On Good Friday, Pilate had asked, “What is truth.” This is truth, that He is Risen (He is risen indeed, Halleilujah). And because of His sacrifice, and His ressruection, we have been born again (not of the flesh, but of water and the Spirit), not of perishable seed, but of imperishable.

All flesh is like grass. Like grass, every one of us will wither and die. But the Word of the Lord endures forever. And in that Word, you endure forever, not in your flesh, but of the imperishable seed that is in you.

Christ’s Words for Us

O foolish ones, slow of heart to believe ALL that the prophets have written.

All of the promises of Scripture are yours. What have our eyes failed to see? What have our hearts failed to comprehend? On what count would Christ rebuke us as he walked alongside us, on our own road to Emmaus, lost in hope that is real, but that we failed to fully comprehend?

Do you realize that your debt, no matter how much it weights on your heart, is forgiven? So forgive your brother.

Do you trust that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away? Blessed be the name of the Lord.

When we pray, “thy will be done,” do we really mean, “even if I can’t understand it, even if it really hurts me, help me to have the faith to trust that Your will is perfect, and my pain will pass.”

Do not fear. Only believe.