04.23.2023 - Sunday PM Service - Two Types of Surprise

Scripture: Luke 24:13-35

Two Types of Surprise

Shock and Awe

Two types of surprises follow Jesus in the gospel of Luke. We could call them Shock and Awe. Luke uses two very different words to describe Shock and Awe, ekplesso and existemi, but they get translated into similar words in English: astonished and amazed. I don’t usually get nitpicky about individual words and their meanings. Still, this evening, I want to share with you how the senses of these two words show up beside each other to describe the different kinds of surprises people experience from Jesus.

So, let’s begin with these two words. Existemi, the one that is sometimes translated as “amazed” or Awed is related to the word that means to stand up and pay attention and is a cousin to the word that the gospel writers used for resurrection or raised from the dead. This Awe and amazement might be what we would experience seeing the miracles of God: the parting of the Red Sea, Lazarus coming out of the tomb, or perhaps getting to hear Jesus teach about the Kingdom of God. John probably experienced this when the angel gave him the vision that became our book Revelation at the end of our Bible. So, when we come into God’s presence, we often experience Awe and Amazement.

The second word is Ekplesso, often translated as “astonished” or perhaps Shocked. This is a very different word. In the Greek language, it is related to ideas of sudden violence, bullying, and injury. If you have ever watched Looney Tunes cartoons, I think the best way to describe being astonished or Shocked is when those anvils or pianos fall out of the sky and hit Wile E. Coyote on the head, leaving him seeing stars.

So, in a very rough sense, and for our purposes tonight, to be amazed is to be raised to your feet and to stand in amazement of God, while being astonished is to be pounded down in paralyzed confusion, seeing stars that aren’t really there.

The first two passages

Several passages in Luke demonstrate these two responses of Shock and Awe, astonishment and amazement in the life of Jesus. The birth of Jesus certainly surprised and inspired many people, but the first and best example comes from the end of Luke 2.

This is the one example we have of Jesus as a young boy. Mary and Joseph traveled to Jerusalem. On the way back to Nazareth, they suddenly realized that Jesus was not with them. Panicked, they returned to the city, looking all over for Him. Listen to this passage:

46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” 49 He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he said to them.

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Lk 2:46–50). (1989). Thomas Nelson Publishers.

The temple leaders were amazed at His teaching. His parents were astonished and upset. This is one of the passages that use both of these words to show the contrast of how people responded differently to Jesus.

There is another example from Luke 5. In this passage, Jesus was preaching and teaching in a crowded house that no one else could enter. Four men brought a paralyzed man to the house and lowered him through the roof on a mat.

21 Then the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, “Who is this who is speaking blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 When Jesus perceived their questionings, he answered them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’? 24 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the one who was paralyzed—“I say to you, stand up and take your bed and go to your home.” 25 Immediately he stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went to his home, glorifying God. 26 Amazement seized all of them, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen strange things today.”

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Lk 5:21–26). (1989). Thomas Nelson Publishers.

In this passage, the word Amazement shows up in connection with the paralyzed man standing up. So, in a poetic sense, the crowd stands in amazement as the paralyzed man stands in amazement, and everyone is in awe of the power and presence of God.

Well, perhaps not everyone. The Scribes and Pharisees were not standing in awe. On the contrary, they probably felt like Wile E. Coyote, whose trap had just backfired, and an anvil had just dropped on their heads.

The Unexpected Guest

There are many other examples of surprise in Luke’s gospel, which are not always translated with the exact English words. At the end of Luke 8, Jesus heals a young girl whose family thinks she is dead, and they are amazed. When Jesus cast a demon out of an epileptic boy, the people were amazed again, while the disciples were frustrated at their inability to help this boy. These scenes are repeated throughout the chapters of each of the gospels. In almost every case, some people respond to the wisdom, love, and power of Jesus with awe, and others are shocked and shaken.

That brings us to our passage today. This took place on the day Jesus rose from the dead.

13 Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16 but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” 19 He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. 22 Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23 and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.” 25 Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26 Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

28 As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29 But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” 33 That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. 34 They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Lk 24:13–35). (1989). Thomas Nelson Publishers.

Surprised by Jesus

The news that Jesus rose from the dead amazed them. Some believed and sought to see Jesus for themselves. Others, like Thomas, were confused and stuck in place. In this final example from Luke, two less famous disciples have heard the news and have an encounter with Jesus without even knowing it. Then, after He stayed and ate with them, their eyes were finally opened to see Jesus for Who He truly was all along.

At that moment, Jesus vanished. Were those disciples amazed or left in shock? Were they empowered and prepared for Pentecost, or were they left more confused than before they met Jesus? Unfortunately, Luke doesn’t tell us the end of their story directly. He only gives us the name of one of the disciples, perhaps hoping that some of his early readers might recognize Cleopas as one of the early church leaders and be inspired by the story of his experience with Jesus on the road to Emmaus.

The only specific detail we get from Luke is that they returned to Jerusalem, to the other eleven disciples, rather than going back home to their everyday lives.

What about you?

When you encounter Jesus, how does He surprise you? When you experience Him moving and directing your life, do you find yourself standing up in amazement or backing down in confusion? Do you rise to the call to go out and make disciples, or do you balk at the cross He asks you to carry along that road?

I think Jesus will always surprise us. We will grow to know Him more daily but never have Him figured out entirely. Our faith and our fate will be determined by how we respond to that surprise we experience in His presence, and that response is up to us. Will we stand and be amazed at what God can do in us, or will we back away in confused frustration because Jesus is not taking us the way we expected Him to lead?