The King's Questions: Have you Anything here to Eat?

Introduction:

Road to Emmaus

Sadness and sarcasm

Jesus comes and teaches them from Moses and the prophets

v.45: With Jesus, confused. But Jesus “opened their minds to understand the Scripture.”

Disciples Together

Fear and doubts

Jesus comes and teaches them from Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms.

Jesus ‘opens their minds to the scriptures.’

1. He meets people where they are at:

Met Thomas in his faithlessness.

Met Chleopas and his compadre in their sadness and sarcasm.

Meets the disciples who fear and doubt.

2. He also continues to point his disciples to Scripture

3. He supernaturally reveals

It’s as if Jesus wants to meet us at all the emotional and, as we will see this morning, intellectual levels…

He wants to make sure he meet us where we’re at to comfort, assure, encourage, and give courage to his disciples moving forward.

Question for the Troubled Doubters

“Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?

Jesus suddenly enters the room, and emotions hit hard:

Startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit.

Shocked. Scared. Brains are trying to make sense of what they are seeing.

Love watching the Reactions of Magic Tricks. Similar reaction:

Shock. Awe. and then ask the question: How’d you do that?

Some of the magic feels so real, so outlandish, that it’s freaky. I watched this one video recently where the magician asks the participant to take a card out of the deck and sign it and burn the edges of it…

The magician asks the participant to pick up the original deck of cards and spread it out, only to find a duplicate of that burnt, ripped, and signed card was found in the actual deck.

The magician asks how he feels after the magic trick, and the participant said, “Freaked!”

And that was over a card trick. Can you imagine Jesus?

He’s got holes, and rips in his skin, and tells them to come right up to them. And they’re like, “These are legit!” How do I make sense of this!?

Same progression:

Shock and awe. And then they try to make sense of this. And the only rational explanation is that they are seeing a ghost

“Spirit”: Some in the early church interpreted this word to what they meant.

Codex Bezae (D): “phantasma”=later addition

As the concept of the Holy Spirit developed, one editor thought it would change the word from spirit to more like a phantom or ghost.

Jesus couldn’t be physically present with them because they saw him die.

Jesus knows how to read the room:

He knows what his presence will immediately address their emotions

vv.38-39: “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

Jesus offers proof:

Jesus offers them the invitation to verify his physicality.

Jesus invites them to have their doubts disappear.

He wants to make sure that his disciples will not believe that Jesus rose from the dead as a phantom.

He reveals himself to alleviate their fears, to remove their doubts, to make their experience of him more than shock and awe, and steers them towards assurance, confidence, and hope!

What I love about going through these resurrection encounters the past few weeks is again, that Jesus comes to us as we are at:

Jesus meets us in our sadness, grief, conflicted hearts, doubting heart, even if you came here without faith in Jesus at all, like he did with Thomas, Jesus meets us.

Where are you at? Where would Jesus have to meet you?

Perhaps you’re needing assurance of faith?

Perhaps you’re looking for faith?

Perhaps you’re disappointed with God? Wondering why He allowed so much trouble to happen in our lives? Why would Jesus take me through that?

Jesus takes us where we’re at and challenges us to face him and do what? To reach out and touch him!

He addresses the agnostic, the atheist, the hurting, the sad, the grieving, the doubter, the troubled, the legalist, the rebel, the comfortable and conflicted, the messed up, and pride-filled, the broken and perfectionist, the dirty poor and the filthy rich. The comfortable middle class, the idolatrous, adulterous, the anxious, worried, and depressed, the busy body and slothful.

If you fit any of those catagories, imagine Jesus facing you in that state. What area does he address? What area will he speak into. Will he comfort you? Confront you? Will he encourage or challenge?

But in order to understand what Jesus needs to address in our lives, WE MUST COME TO UNDERSTAND THE JESUS REVEALED TO US IN SCRIPTURE!

Jesus take our issues and points to himself as the solution, but it’s important for Jesus that we have a fully biblical understanding of WHO this Jesus is!

Question for Further Proof

Okay so perhaps Jesus isn’t a ghost, but maybe his a zombie?

“Have you anything here to eat?”

Emotion: v. 41: “While they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, Jesus says…” ESV

Thinking this was too good to believe. Roller coaster ride of emotions right now.

v. 41b: “Do you have anything here to eat?”

ie. “Do you have any left-overs?”

Why does Jesus ask this question? Is Jesus truly hungry?

Perhaps. But he’s making a point.

So he eats, and the disciples are watching again as if this is a magic trick. If Jesus could eat, then surely he can’t be fooling us. Like, if he was a phantom, then where would the food go?

And so Jesus gives this proof, essential proof that helped not only the disciples, but also for future centuries of Christian thinkers who continues to try to figure it all out!

The early church continued to try to figure Jesus out.

Like, if Jesus could eat, then he needed a body.

But if he had a body, then how does that jive with Greek philosophy?

Perhaps Jesus just seemed like he was human?

And so the early church had to fend off those who wouldn’t pay attention to what Scripture actually wrote.

List of Future Heresies:

Docetism (early 2nd Century): Jesus only appeared human. Only appeared to eat.

Gnosticism (Later 1st Century): Jesus was only spiritual because the physical realm is evil. Jesus couldn’t really eat. Would have been sinful for Jesus to touch something physical.

Jesus was Third Kind of Being (Tertium Quid)

Arianism: Jesus was like superman (but not God). So he could eat, but not like us.

Monophysites: Jesus only had one nature.

Marcionism (2nd Century): Jesus would have never quoted from the Old Testament, Prophets, or Psalms because the God of the Old Testament was the author of evil. He took out portions of Luke, which included all references to Jesus eating, I imagine.

Monarchianism (2nd Century): Jesus was just a man, so he could eat.

Nestorius (4th Century): Jesus was two person, so he could eat as his human person but probably didn’t need to in his divine person.

Eutychus (4th-5th Century): The divine nature ate up Jesus human nature, so it’s not clear whether Jesus needed to eat.

Church had to constantly fend off these descriptions of Jesus, and so the Church produced more detailed creeds:

Turn to Scripture: New Testament Defined Jesus:

Colossians 1:19 “19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,”

Hebrews 1:3 “3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

John 1:1-3 “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

Mark 1:10-11 “10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.””

Creeds and Confessions:

Athanasian Creed:

Thus the Father is God,         the Son is God,         the Holy Spirit is God.             Yet there are not three gods;             there is but one God.

Thus the Father is Lord,         the Son is Lord,         the Holy Spirit is Lord.             Yet there are not three lords;             there is but one Lord.

Just as Christian truth compels us     to confess each person individually     as both God and Lord,     so catholic religion forbids us     to say that there are three gods or lords.

Don’t allow your own made up version of Jesus to comfort or confront you.

Jesus won’t allow you to get away with putting words in his mouth, or doing things he clearly didn’t teach! Church history is filled with people creating versions of Jesus that justify their behavior.

Modern day heresies like the social gospel, health and wealth gospel, etc. These versions of Jesus are manifestations of our own image and not the image painted for us in Scripture.

Example: If you’re presupposition about reality is that the physical reality is something we need to escape because it’s evil, then you can’t have Jesus embody a body! You have to make it fit somehow…

Idols of the Day:

Consumerism

Idolatry

Read the Gospels

Read Paul’s Letters

Here’s one: Read John:

Revelation 1:12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

Conclusion:

Properly represent him!

Do you have a full understanding of Jesus?

How do you make sense of Jesus when you look at him?

Who are you looking at?

Convicted recently that in order to have a full understanding of the Gospel, we need to have a full understanding of Jesus.

He addresses people who are sad, scared, sarcastic, faithless, shocked, doubtful.

Jesus met people were they are at, and he continues to meet us where we’re at!

Commission for You

vv.44-49: Luke’s Great Commission

Mirrors the Emmeus Story

“Repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things…”

“I am with you” vs. “I am sending the promise of my Father upon you.”

Ontos=Truly. Two x in Luke

Luke 23:47 “Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!””

Luke 24:34 “34 saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!””

“Verily: “The two events in Luke-Acts that are designated with absolute verification are thus the death of Jesus on the cross as the righteous Servant of the Lord and his resurrection from the dead.” James Edwards

Deconstructionists Apathetic Post-Modernists

Are you feeding your skepticism over against your spirituality?

Do you feed your laziness over against Jesus’ LORDSHIP?

Is your mind controlled by secularism over against the Holy Spirit?

Have the values of Postmodernism highjacked your sense of God’s PROVIDENCE?

Has intellectual arrogance robbed you from opportunities to sharing the Gospel?

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