Mark 16:9-14 "Jesus' Appearances"

Good Morning Calvary Chapel Lake City!

Well… as mentioned… tomorrow kicks off Every Word… the reading of the entire Bible line by line… for the second consecutive year here in Warsaw, IN.

Please be praying for the event… for the readers… the hearers… for God stories… for safety… pray for the Administrators… for energy and endurance through the week.

I’m confident it’s going to be amazing once again… and I hope you take advantage of the opportunity to be involved.

Well… let’s open our Bibles to the Gospel of Mark. We are in the final chapter of Mark’s Gospel… and there are some rich events that Mark mentions.

In the past few teachings we’ve looked at Jesus’ crucifixion, death, burial, and glorious resurrection.

Angels were present at the empty tomb and instructed the women “He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. 7 But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.”

We left off there, and today we are going to look at “Jesus’ Appearances”… our message title for today.

But before we do… I want to address the footnote after V8 in most Bibles other then KJV and New (which uses what’s called the “textus receptus”… meaning the “received text” for the New Testament)…

Other translations include some footnote like…

“SOME OF THE EARLIEST MANUSCRIPTS DO NOT INCLUDE 16:9–20.”

Those “earliest manuscripts” are the fourth century manuscripts called the Sinaiticus and the Vaticanus.

And, there is an ongoing scholarly debate about the authenticity of these verses…

Walvoord and Zuck note, “Equally astute and conscientious interpreters differ widely in their evaluations of this data and reach opposing conclusions.”

They also note the two manuscripts mentioned “omit the verses though their respective scribes left some blank space after verse 8, suggesting that they knew of a longer ending but did not have it in the manuscript they were copying.”

And, “Most all other manuscripts (fifth century on) as well as early versions support the inclusion of verses 9–20.”

And, there is a deep well of many other points of internal and external evidence for and against the inclusion of vv 9-20… thus the debate.

But beyond higher criticism… just look at how V8 ends… the women flee the tomb trembling and amazed… and Mark’s final words of V8 are “And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

If that’s how Mark concluded the Gospel to Roman Christians… what kind of ‘good news’ message is that?

The women were silent and afraid. THE END.

I struggle to understand how FEAR would be the conclusion of the gospel.

Anyhow… we ARE entering into V9 today… and there is a whole camp of scholars who support these verses as the authentic word of God…

So, let’s pray… and read these verses… And, if your Bible omits these verses… then look at your neighbors Bible.

In reverence for God’s word, please stand as I read our passage today.

Mark 16:9-14 “Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. 11 And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.

12 After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. 13 And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.

14 Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.”

Praise God for His word! Please be seated.

When Mark wrote his Gospel, he wrote to a Roman audience, and wrote in a style very much like how western culture can relate.

Fast paced, action packed… moving from scene to scene with broad stroke highlights… and not so much in the weeds.

It was how the Holy Spirit inspired Mark to write to the Romans.

And, it’s interesting, how Mark was led to capture the various appearances of Jesus… post resurrection… in simply 6 verses.

The other Gospel writers (Matthew, Luke and John) devoted chapters to these appearances…

… where Mark was led to write just six verses… a summary statement.

And, notice the content Mark captures…

Notice what Mark was led to highlight.

Mary testifies of Jesus’ appearance… and the Apostles did not believe.

The Emmaus road disciples testify of Jesus’ appearance… again… the Apostles did not believe.

So… Jesus appears to them in person… and rebukes their hardness of heart for not believing the testimony of those who had seen Him after He had risen.

And, is that NOT the same pattern that so many Christians fall into still today…

A pattern of unbelief until the Lord deals with them.

People had seen the risen Lord… they testified of this truth… and even His closest disciples… the Eleven remaining Apostles… they did not believe.

How relevant is this in our culture today? How many times have you… I know I have shared truth of the power of God… and Christians have doubted.

So, let’s dig in… because this passage was relevant to Mark’s Roman audience in the first century… and it’s relevant for us today.

V9 “Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons.”

So “He” being Jesus rose on the first day of the week… …

Sunday… resurrection Sunday setting a pattern for the early church… to gather on Sunday.

Note the words “He rose”… spectacular… we should always pause to let those words sink in…

In full acceptance of His sacrifice… He rose…

In victory over sin and death… He rose…

In fulfillment of OT prophecies… and in fulfillment of His many personal predictions… He rose.

Like NO other leader of any world religion… He rose…

“He rose early on the first day of the week…” and “He appeared first to Mary Magdalene.”

Mary is first mentioned in Luke 8:2. Go ahead and turn to Luke 8.

We read in Luke 8:1 that Jesus was going through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God.”

Which should be on our minds and on our lips as well in this day…

And Mary of Magdalene… some say Mary of Magdala… a city in the Galilee… was healed of seven demons.

Seven is often used to denote completion… and so the thought is Mary was totally demon-possessed.

Besides Mary… we also see in Luke 8:3 that Joanna who was married to Chuza (a steward of Herod… the Government official… no doubt wealthy)… and Susanna… and many others…

Many people who heard the glad tidings of the kingdom of God… “provided for Him from their substance.” as Luke 8:3 states.

Note: Mary, a demon possessed woman… and Joanna, a woman married to a man working for Herod (thus despised because of their connection to Herod)…

These women… and many others whom would have been looked down upon by society…

Who were in hopeless situations like complete demon possession…

They had been forgiven much… and therefore they loved much.

They were open handed with their possessions… freely giving to support the ministry of Jesus Christ…

Giving their time… giving their resources… cheerfully giving… storing up treasures in heaven…

Because upon being connected to Jesus… no longer was their loyalty to the world.

And, it’s a beautiful thing when a person is transformed where they change their citizenship from being a worldly citizen… to becoming a heavenly citizen.

Because of faith… they found peace… and they gave and loved Jesus much because He first loved them.

In fact if you turn to and look at the context of Luke 8… just prior at the end of Luke 7…

… is the account of Jesus eating at Simon the Pharisees house…

Simon did not extend common courtesies to Jesus… but a woman… known for her sinful lifestyle broke an expensive alabaster flask of oil…

… weeped and washed Jesus’ feet with her hair.

Simon thought to himself, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.”

In response, Jesus told the parable of the Two Debtors… where a creditor had two debtors who could not repay him… so he freely forgave them both.

And, Jesus asked Simon, “Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?”

And Simon rightly judged saying, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.”

And follow along… Luke 7… I’m going to read starting in V44… “Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon [How powerfully intimate is that? He’s speaking to self-righteous Simon, but looking at this woman who feels so ashamed of her life… and look at the contrast Jesus paints…]

“Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. 45 You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. 46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. 47 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” 48 Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” 50 Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

And in the very next scene of Luke 8… we are introduced to Mary Magdalene… a woman who no doubt loved Jesus much for all that He did for her as well.

It’s no wonder that we see Mary in Mark 15:40… the Apostles had fled, but she was present at the crucifixion…

It’s no wonder that we see Mary in Mark 15:47… only her and one other woman were listed as staying late to observe the tomb where Jesus was laid.

It’s no wonder that in Mark 16:1… Mary was up early… and one of the women who bought spices… still open handed with her resources… there to anoint the body of Jesus…

And, so… it’s obvious that Mary was devoted to and loved Jesus… and He could have appeared to anyone first, but back in Mark 16:9… He chose to appear to Mary first.

I think back to OT promises about seeking the Lord… and when you do wholeheartedly… you will find Him.

In Deut 4:29 to Israel… Moses warned against idolatry upon coming in the land and the consequences thereof, but foretold and promised “… you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Moses even said in Deut 4:30-31, “… in the latter days, when you turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice 31 (for the LORD your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.”

That’s still yet future.

God is not done with Israel… and they will turn as a nation once again to Him when Jesus comes again.

In 2 Chron 15:2… to good king Asa of Judah… who was loyal all his days to the Lord… it was prophesied… “The LORD is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you...”

Asa heeded the words of the prophet and made many reforms in Judah…

And of the nation of Judah it was written they found God… “and the LORD gave them rest all around.”

Pro 8:17 exhorts “I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me.”

As we fast forward about 950 years forward from the dating of that proverb… Mary remained faithful to seek the Lord in the most impossible of situations…

Still loving Him… still seeking Him thought He has died.

And, I don’t know for sure, but is her faithfulness and love to Him the reason why He chose her as the first He would appear to resurrection morning?

I can’t be for certain… and I doubt Mary even expected to be honored in this fashion…

I don’t see reading the Scriptures that her motivation was to receive anything…

She was only there to give to the Lord… she was only there to honor the Lord… and in doing so… she received the most unexpected blessing…

She beheld the risen Lord before anyone else.

And there’s an application for us in all of this…

In our hearts and in our minds… we need to diligently seek the Lord expecting to find Him…

… but NOT motivated by what we will receive… but ONLY by what we can give… to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

THAT should be our motivation… and nothing else.

But, don’t be surprised when He reciprocates.

Because He is good… and He does bless us… He does care for us… He does prosper us… in many and diverse ways.

Well… Mary Magdalene… sees Jesus… and if you’re in the camp of doubt where you’re not sure if you can trust this passage… if you’re not sure that Mark 16:9-20 is inspired…

I assure you this is an authentic account. Turn over to the parallel passage in John 20.

John records that when Mary saw the stone removed… she ran to tell Peter and John…

They had a foot race back to the tomb to investigate for themselves…

And, picking up in V11… we find the expanded version of what Mark captured in just a couple verses…

Peter and John found the tomb empty… saw and believed… and then return to their homes… and then we read…

John 20:11-18 “But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. 13 Then they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” 14 Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. [this happened to several disciples… something about the glorified body is different…] 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (which is to say, Teacher). [She did not recognize His appearance, but she knew His voice. The sheep know His voice.] 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; [not that Jesus couldn’t be touched, but He didn’t want her to detain Him. Their relationship had changed… no longer would His physical presence be the reality for the church. He would ascend to heaven… and the Helper… the Holy Spirit would descend. His presence is the gift to the church.] but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’ ” 18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her.”

Now… turn back to Mark 16. Look at V10. When Mary returns to the disciples… look at the state they are in.

V10 reads, “She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept.”

What the disciples knew up to this point was that Jesus was arrested… they forsook Him and fled… and He was crucified and was buried.

Thus they ‘mourned and wept.’

They were crushed… and their hopes… rather their expectations were crushed.

We know from numerous accounts that the disciples expected Jesus to be their conquering King.

James and John desired to sit at the right hand and left in His kingdom.

On the road, the disciples disputed among themselves who would be the greatest… as rank was important to Jews… and status in the Messianic kingdom mattered to them.

In Acts 1:6, they asked, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

Jesus had just finished talking about the outpouring of the Spirit… the Baptism with the Holy Spirit Jesus titles it in Acts 1:5…

… and several OT passages join this outpouring of the Spirit WITH the ushering in of the Kingdom Age.

(cf. Isa. 32:15–20; 44:3–5; Ezek. 39:28–29; Zech 12:8-10)

Joel 2:28–32 “And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. 29 And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. 30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. 32 And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved.”

And, so the disciples had built up an expectation… and NOT a baseless expectation, but an expectation founded in scripture…

Scriptures taught to them by the religious leaders who also held these expectations of Messiah…

It was a common expectation amongst Jews that Messiah would restore Israel and free them from Roman oppression.

After the feeding of the 5,000… John 6 records the people called Jesus “The Prophet” and Jesus perceived they were about to take Him by force to make Him king… so He departed.

Even John the Baptist held an expectation of Messiah… while imprisoned John must have been confused…

John must have reasoned, “If I am Messiah’s forerunner and Jesus is Messiah, then why am I imprisoned?”

Because John sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”

The “Coming One” was a Messianic title based on Psalms 40:7 and 118:26.

And so when we read in Mark 16 that the disciples “mourned and wept”… of course they mourned for the loss of their friend and their leader.

But also… there would have been a devastation that would have rocked them to the core… they must have reasoned that scripture was broken… that the teachings on the Messiah were wrong.

The problem wasn’t scripture though… the Nation just conveniently overlooked the many passages about the suffering servant… Messiah of the first coming.

And, focused on the passages of the coming King… who is Messiah of the second coming.

It’s so often that people today… when they build up expectations about God… or about what Christian life is supposed to look like…

And, they misapply scripture… or focus only on passages of prosperity… and ignore passages about trial and persecution…

When the trial comes… they too “mourn and weep.”

This is a key reason we teach the ‘whole counsel of God’ here at Calvary Chapel.

We don’t want you to stumble when life gets tough…

Because it’s written that in our Christian walk there will be trials and persecution…

And for sure we don’t want that, but you should be trained to know that in the midst of the difficulty… God is still good…

God is still on the throne…

God has a purpose and a plan… and through abiding in Him… you will find peace that surpasses understanding…

You will trust His words that He will never leave you nor forsake you…

And maybe… just maybe…when someone brings you an impossible message of hope… you won’t respond like the disciples do…

Look again at V11… “And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.”

Luke 24:11 records “… their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.”

“Idle tales” is translated as “pure nonsense” in the NET Bible.

In the midst of their mourning and weeping… they cannot receive the message of hope that Jesus rose again… JUST as He had predicted numerous times.

Did the disciples NOT hear Him? How was this report perceived as nonsense?

The answer is unbelief.

“…the did not believe...” in Gk is one word which is apistĕō which means “to disbelieve” or “faithless.”

They lacked faith that Jesus had accomplished the impossible… that He rose again.

And this is the message Mark repeats to his readers in this passages about Jesus’ appearances.

Jesus appears… the witness testifies to the Apostles… and repeatedly they disbelieve.

Though it was written… though Jesus said it… and though eye witnesses testify of the reality of the risen Lord…

They disbelieve. They lack faith.

And, the simple application would be “don’t be like the disciples”…

But the reality is… we are.

There are hard moments in life that rock us to the core and test our faith.

And, blessed are you if you cling to scripture and keep your eyes on Jesus in the midst of the trial.

But… if you fail… which is not preferred… in some regards… this passage should be comforting to you.

We read that Jesus will rebuke their hardness of heart.

But, despite them… Jesus STILL will not forsake His own words…

Heb 13:5 “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (looking back to Gen 28:15, Deut 31:6, Josh 1:5)

Matt 28:20 Jesus said, “lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Because that’s that goodness and steadfastness of God.

Paul wrote to Timothy… 2 Tim 2:13 “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”

In a few scenes, He appears to the disciples… He goes before them to Galilee… restores Peter… gives all of them the Great Commission.

Despite the fact that they all forsook Him and fled…

Despite the fact that in unbelief… they doubted the testimonies of Mary Magdalene that Jesus was risen…

Despite the fact that Thomas doubted… needing to see and physically touch His crucifixion wounds…

They were faithless… He remained faithful. He never left then… He never forsook them.

Be encouraged Christian… for in your times of doubt… He remains steadfast for you as well.

Mark continues… now spotlighting the Emmaus Road account.

Mark 16:12-13 read, “After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. 13 And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.”

Again… Mark simply draws his readers to the fact that Jesus appeared again to two who walked in the country.

And those two testified as well of the risen Lord… and again the disciples did not believe.

That’s Mark’s simple synopsis of the Emmaus Road account.

Again, if you’re struggling with the authenticity of vv 9 -20 in Mark’s gospel, Luke also records the Emmaus Road account.

Turn over to Luke 12. Luke alone details the Emmaus Road encounter.

Luke… the physician… who interviewed many eye witnesses of Jesus. At some point he would capture this amazing account.

Perhaps he met and interviewed Cleopas… the one disciple named by name travelling this road.

There are church traditions that the other disciple on the road… the unnamed disciple was Luke himself.

If true, Luke would only need to recount his personal experience.

And, if true… like John and Mark… Luke too would have anonymously written himself into his own Gospel message.

We read starting in Luke 12:13 “Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem.”

Seven miles… Lit. in Gk. “60 stadia”… from Jerusalem… about a 2-3 hour walk.

Where exactly they walked is contested today… there are a few possibilities… all in Judea…

We know they are walking away from Jerusalem…

They’re getting out of Dodge. They are leaving the scene of the crucifixion.

Emmaus translated means “warm wells”… was this their destination?

Heading to the baths? Would that not be typical?

After the trauma of Jesus’ passion and crucifixion… with the eleven Apostles hunkered down mourning and weeping… in doubt…

These two decide… ‘Let’s get out of here. Let’s go soak in the hot baths.’

For some… that’s just what the Dr. ordered when stress erupts.

Let’s go to the spa… and get a mani-pedi, facial and massage.

And, I’m not condemning that… nor am I condemning these disciples.

Had you or I also experienced the trauma and confusion they went through… we might want to head to Emmaus as well.

And so… on the road… we continue… in V14 “And they talked together of all these things which had happened.”

These men were feeling hopeless and went back and forth in their conversation… distraught as their hopes and expectations had come crashing down.

We know this because V21 records them saying, “… we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.”

They, like so many in Israel, built up expectation of a conquering King who would free them from Roman oppression… and usher in the Kingdom Age.

They expected the Messiah of the second coming… and failed to acknowledge all the other OT scriptures that spoke about the Suffering Servant…

And, so now with Jesus crucified… they are in a crisis of faith. And, they are walking to Emmaus

A crisis of faith so often occurs when God fails to meet our misconstrued expectations.

And, this is where these two men are… leaving Jerusalem… three days after the crucifixion… Rome is still in control… Jesus is not is sight…

And, they are walking away from it all…

And the we read in V15 “So it was, while they conversed and reasoned,

The word “reasoned” in Gk is a strong word… by def “to examine… to dispute.”

They’re examining and disputing about all the things that happened… for sure the things that happened in Jerusalem… perhaps even Jesus’ signs and wonder and teachings…

They thought He was Messiah, but He died… so how could He be?

They’re sking questions… letting thoughts and memories replay over and again in their minds…

Perhaps even cross referencing OT scripture.

And they are struggling to make sense of it all…

It’s in these moments of crisis that our emotions swing and shift… from confusion to sadness to anger… to hopelessness…to numbness… all kinds of feelings we wrestle with in our humanity.

And, as we read further in V15… it’s in this place of crisis… that we read “… that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.”

It’s in these moments that we must remember Jesus words… “… lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

You are NOT alone during a crisis of faith.

And, He proved this true on the Road to Emmaus…

Continuing on… V16 “But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.”

“Restrained” means “prevented”… several Bible versions use “prevented” for this verse.

Their inability to recognize who Jesus was a spiritual blindness.

I wonder if they had something like scales upon their eyes like Paul inhibiting their spiritual sight?

For you and I… sometimes… when we are caught up in life… and in a place of crisis… often our emotions crowd our ability to remember His words and His promises…

And, even though He’s right there with us as well… we are just like the Emmaus Road disciples… we do not know Him…

It’s in these moments that He walks with us… and gently guides us back to Him.

As He did for these disciples… look at V 17 “And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?”

Some translations state, “they stopped walking and looked discouraged” or “they stood still, their faces downcast.”

This is one of those moments when the weight of the world is on your shoulders… and a stranger points out you look sad… and their words stop you in your tracks…

And, Jesus will use this opportunity to lead them out of the muck and mire of their emotions and back to a place of faith… let’s observe how He does it…

V18 “Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?”

“Have you been living in a cave man?”

“Well… for three days in fact I have!”

I bet Cleopas later regretted his words here.

V19 And He [Jesus] said to them, “What things?”

Like He didn’t know. Of course He knew. He personally knew better than anyone what transpired in Jerusalem.

But, He wants to hear from them. Like a parent who already knows the answer to the question, but wants to hear their kids respond regardless.

So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet [Just a prophet? A certain downgrade from Messiah…] mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,

Which is the correct order… make sure your deeds and words are first right before God… then people.

If you get that backwards… you’ll be led by people and not by God.

You’ll get caught in pleasing people… when we should seek to please God first.

V20 “… and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. 21 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. [There’s that expectation] Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.”

And, where was Jesus? They personally had not witnessed Jesus burst through the Eastern Gate… as many interpret Ezk 44 and 46…

Or Jesus touch down on the Mount of Olives… splitting it in two as Zech 14:4 predicts.

All they had was the words of the women disciples… words that sounded like “idle tales.”

V22 “Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. 23 When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. 24 And certain of those who were with us [Peter and John] went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.”

So it’s here that Jesus coddles them like some kind of helicopter parent.

Oh no wait… that’s NOT what He does…

V25 “Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” [And what a Bible Study that must have been.]

He tells them… “You guys are thick-headed and slow-hearted!”

First, as Mark wrote in 16:14 "because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.”

And second because they were slow to believe the messianic OT prophecies written in scripture that foretold the coming of Messiah and how first He would suffer before He was glorified.

So… instead of giving up on them… He discipled them.

He expounded… meaning He thoroughly explained… from Genesis to Malachi the Scriptures that pointed to Him…

And this is what we are called to do with fellow disciples who are slow and thick.

And, I wish I had the time to expound the rest… but in summary… they arrive at Emmaus… urge Jesus to stay with them… and as He “took bread, blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them”… “their eye were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.”

Something about the word and communing with the Lord restored their spiritual sight.

Keep that in mind when your in crisis. Be in the word and commune with the Lord.

They said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

And they left Emmaus that very hour… no hot baths… and carried the testimony of these things that the “Lord is risen indeed” back to the eleven and the other disciples.

And back in Mark 16:13 we read “… but they did not believe them either.”

And, wrapping up, it was in the midst of their unbelief that Jesus would dramatically appear in the midst of them…

Mark 16:14 records, “Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.”

In the Emmaus Road account of Luke 24, Luke recorded that as two disciples testified of the risen Lord, Luke 24:36-40 “Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” [In Hebrew, “Shalom”… and this is what Jesus brings in crisis] 37 But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. 38 And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” 40 When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.”

Luke records, “they still did not believe for joy, and marveled...”

In their limited comprehension of humanity… they continued to wrestle with emotions of joy and amazement… yet unbelief because sometimes the supernatural is beyond comprehension.

But, as you continue that and the other gospel accounts… what we observe is Jesus continue to help them in various ways to come to that place where doubting Thomas landed when he proclaimed, “My Lord and my God!”

Worship team come.

Let me remind you… the writer of Hebrews says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.”

Like His disciples of old… and in every age… our Lord and our God is doing the same work in you as He did in them.

In the midst of the storm… in the midst of the crisis… even in your doubt and unbelief.

He walks with you and will never leave you nor forsake you.

Let’s pray!

If you need prayer… come forward… our Elders will be available to pray with you.

In this week ahead… remember the word of God… and the testimonies of those who have gone before you.

Be encouraged Christian. God is with us and never leaves us.

Remember this in your week ahead. And God bless you as you go.