The Start of Something New - Luke 24:13-34

© April 20th, 2025 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: Easter

Any time you start something new, there is usually a mix of excitement and fear. Think of your first day of school, you were excited to be a big kid, but a bit scared about what lay ahead. You probably repeated that experience many times, in Jr. High, High School, and college as well. The first day at a new job shares the same mix of emotions. And going on a date with someone new is similar too. Most of the time we are excited about the possibilities of what may lay ahead but scared about the unknowns.

That was the case with the disciples on the first Easter. They had been on a roller coaster of emotions, because they were convinced Jesus was the Messiah, but then watched Him be executed before their very eyes. The whole thing had to have played out like a nightmare to them, with them struggling to wrap their heads around what exactly was going on. The One they thought they had been waiting for was dead, and they were left reeling.

On Easter Sunday, when they heard that Jesus had risen from the dead, they had a completely different mix of emotions. Obviously, this was good news, and it offered a great deal of hope, but also surely a bit of bewilderment, as they wondered what in the world God had in store.

This morning, we are going to look at a passage that captures that struggle. We get a chance to see the kind of conversation two of Jesus’ followers were having on that Easter Sunday, as they wrestled with all that had happened, and with all they still didn’t understand. But even more than that, we will see Jesus coming to them to help them make sense of it all, and to help point them to the fact that He was doing something new—something they hadn’t expected, and probably couldn’t fully understand yet. As we look at this account, I hope we will look at the Easter celebration with fresh eyes, so that we too may capture the wonder of the empty tomb.

The Disciples’ Mindset

We pick up the story of the disciples in Luke 24, starting in verse 13,

13 That same day two of Jesus’ followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 As they walked along they were talking about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them. 16 But God kept them from recognizing him. 17 He asked them, “What are you discussing so intently as you walk along?” They stopped short, sadness written across their faces. 18 Then one of them, Cleopas, replied, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days.” 19 “What things?” Jesus asked. “The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth,” they said. “He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. 20 But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. 21 We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago.

22 “Then some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report. 23 They said his body was missing, and they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive! 24 Some of our men ran out to see, and sure enough, his body was gone, just as the women had said.” (Luke 24:13-24, NLT)

Just from the way the story is set up, we know something incredible is going to happen. It was Sunday, the day of the resurrection, and the disciples were walking to a place called Emmaus, which was about 7 miles from Jerusalem. As they were walking, the resurrected Jesus came alongside them and began walking with them, but the scriptures tell us that God kept them from recognizing Him. We don’t know how exactly that happened, but because of it, they spent the rest of the day walking with Jesus without even realizing it.

Jesus asked them what they were talking about, and we glimpse the confusion they were facing. They remarked that He must have been the only person in all of Jerusalem who didn’t know about what had happened over the last few days. What had happened was not just news to the disciples but sent shockwaves through the entire city.

They proceeded to tell them about Jesus, a prophet from Nazareth, who did powerful miracles and was a mighty teacher. They said they had thought he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel.

You could be forgiven for not knowing what that phrase meant to a Jewish person in the first century. The nation of Israel had spent the last 600 years under the control of foreign powers. They had been allowed to exist, but only as subjects of another nation. They had been subject to Babylon, Persia, Greece, and then Rome. At the time of Jesus, the Romans ruled over Israel, and while they had some degree of autonomy, they were under the control of the Roman Empire.

God had promised through His prophets that He would send a deliverer for the people of Israel and that He would set up a kingdom greater than any kingdom the world had ever known. He promised that this new King would usher in great blessing and freedom. This person was known as the Messiah, which means “the anointed one.” The Jews constantly prayed that the Messiah would come in their lifetime, and everything they did looked forward to the coming of this deliverer.

These men were saying they had believed this was who Jesus was. They believed Jesus was the One who had been promised for thousands of years! But they concluded that they must have been wrong, because Jesus was executed at the hands of the religious leaders and the Roman authorities.

This flew in the face of what they expected the Messiah to be. They expected the Messiah to overthrow the Roman authorities and set up His own kingdom. They expected Him to topple the religious hierarchy that existed in their day and establish worship in a new and different way. So when the man they thought was the Messiah ended up being killed by the very people they expected Him to overthrow, they were thrown for a loop. This is what they told Jesus, though they didn’t know that was who they were talking to.

To add yet another wrinkle into the mix, they told Him that some of the women from their group had gone to the tomb and discovered it was empty, and some angels had told them Jesus had risen from the dead! When the other disciples went to check, they discovered that the tomb was, in fact, empty. Jesus’ body wasn’t there anymore. These men were surely bewildered, not sure what to make of anything. They were confused, frustrated, and worried.

Jesus’ Explanation

I smile as I think about Jesus listening to these men talking about Him, without them realizing that’s what they were doing. I wonder how Jesus felt as He listened to them. Did He find their confusion funny, was He frustrated by it, did He feel sorry for them? Whatever the case, we see what Jesus did; He explained the scriptures to them.

25 Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. 26 Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?” 27 Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

28 By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey. Jesus acted as if he were going on, 29 but they begged him, “Stay the night with us, since it is getting late.” So he went home with them. 30 As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. 31 Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared! 32 They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” 33 And within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven disciples and the others who had gathered with them, 34 who said, “The Lord has really risen! He appeared to Peter.” (Luke 24:25-34, NLT)

Jesus seemed to chastise these men because they didn’t believe the scriptures. He explained that everything that had happened in the last few days had been foretold throughout the Old Testament, starting with Moses and going all the way through the prophets.

How could they have misunderstood what the scriptures said? Didn’t they know them? I suspect these men did know the scriptures. They knew what the prophets had said, they knew there was a Messiah who was coming, but they had also been told for their entire lives how they should expect these prophecies to be fulfilled. So, they were conditioned to read them with a certain perspective already assumed. The same thing sometimes happens to us today. We are conditioned to believe a certain way and thus find it difficult to conceive of a different point of view.

Jesus began to give them a different perspective. He surely took them to a passage like Isaiah 53,

3 He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. 4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! 5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all. (Isaiah 53:3-6, NLT)

Can you imagine Jesus reciting these verses to them and saying, don’t you see how this describes exactly what has happened in the last few days? Don’t you see that plan was always for the Messiah to be beaten, crushed, and punished? Don’t you see that the Messiah’s greatest purpose was to serve as a sacrifice for sin? Don’t you see that the kingdom the Messiah was setting up was not like the kingdom of Rome, but something far greater?

The men were entranced by Jesus as He began to open their eyes to what the scriptures had taught about the Messiah from the very beginning. They spent the rest of their trip and throughout dinner talking with Jesus about these things, and their own description was that their hearts burned within them as they heard Him teach. It was only when Jesus broke bread with them that the Lord allowed them to see that they had been talking with Jesus all day, and He really was alive!

But even more than that, they had a new understanding of who Jesus was, what the scriptures had taught about the Messiah, and what this meant for the future! Can you imagine the change that happened in these men’s spirits in the course of a single day? What an amazing roller coaster of emotions!

The men decided that though it was evening, they needed to head back to Jerusalem to meet the rest of the disciples so they could tell them all about their conversation with Jesus, that He really was alive, and that it changed everything!

One Last Teaching

When these two men arrived back in Jerusalem and met with the other disciples, they told them all that had happened. Suddenly, Jesus appeared once more in their midst. They were all confused, but He began to teach them once more. Listen to what He told them,

44 Then he said, “When I was with you before, I told you that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and in the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. 46 And he said, “Yes, it was written long ago that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead on the third day. 47 It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’ 48 You are witnesses of all these things. 49 “And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.” (Luke 24:44-49, NLT)

Jesus had a similar conversation with the eleven that He’d had with the two men walking to Emmaus. He helped them see what the scriptures had actually been teaching about the Messiah, and how His death, burial, and resurrection fulfilled the purpose He’d come to fulfill from the very beginning. He pointed out that they’d had many misconceptions, but He was setting them on a new path. Because of Him, everything would be different.

He explained that because of Him, there is forgiveness of sins for all who repent. This was something earth-shattering. Before, the way people had to deal with sin was to offer sacrifices in the temple. Jesus was saying that was no longer necessary, because He was the perfect sacrifice! Jesus didn’t say that sin didn’t matter any longer, but that He made it possible for sin to be forgiven!

He also told them that everything would soon change for them because the Holy Spirit would come upon them and fill them with power from heaven. I suspect they had no idea what this meant, but it definitely signaled a shift. It let them see that Jesus changed everything, and that nothing would be the same any longer.

I suspect when Jesus left them again, they began to search the scriptures to see all the ways they had misunderstood them. They began to look at the world with fresh eyes. They began to confront all their preconceived notions and see the world through the lens of what Jesus had done. It was really the start of something new.

This is what Easter is supposed to be like for each of us. Jesus really did rise from the grave. Not only is the tomb empty, but there is ample evidence to prove that Jesus actually rose again. Probably the greatest evidence is the change we see in the disciples. This passage demonstrates that change vividly. Here were people who went from being crestfallen, bewildered, and scared, to being bold and powerful. The only explanation that makes any sense is that Jesus rose, and they knew it. They knew that His resurrection changed everything.

Conclusion

So let’s talk about what the resurrection of Jesus means for us. Because it still changes everything. Like the disciples, we must look at the world with fresh eyes, looking through the lens of the resurrection. What do we see?

First, we see that there is forgiveness for sin. Sin is not a popular concept in our society today. We do not like anyone telling us what to do or not to do. We especially do not like anyone telling us that what we are doing is wrong, let alone telling us we will be punished for it. But that’s exactly what the scriptures tell us. Every single one of us is sinful and deserves to be punished by God and banished from His presence. We may not like this fact, but if we’re honest with ourselves, we know it’s true. It doesn’t take much time for us to understand that we are profoundly messed up. Jesus tells us, however, that He has provided the means for us to be forgiven. We cannot earn salvation, but Jesus has said that everyone who will repent of their sin (admit that what they are doing is wrong and go in a different direction) and trust in Him will find the forgiveness we need. Everyone who trusts in and follows Jesus stands forgiven because of what He has done for us!

Second, we see God’s love for us. Sometimes people feel like God is mean and tries to restrict our fun. They see God’s commands as harsh and unloving. But Easter reminds us that’s not the case. The whole purpose of Jesus coming to earth was to offer Himself as a sacrifice for our sin. It shows us that God cares deeply for us and wants what’s best for us. He does not give us commands to ruin our fun, but because He knows what’s best for us. When we see God’s love for us revealed at Easter, it changes our perspective on everything. It causes us to trust Him rather than question Him. And that leads us to obey Him, even when we don’t understand all the reasons for His commands. We know His character, and that’s enough.

Third, we see that there’s life beyond the grave. Jesus is the evidence that we can live even though we die. Lots of people believe in heaven, but they don’t really know how people get there or whether it’s true. They just find it comforting that there’s more than just this life. And I get it! It’s a wonderfully comforting truth! But it’s not mere sentimentality, it’s been proven by Jesus. Jesus said that just as He lived after dying, He would cause us to do the same—but only if we trust in Him. He promises that our lives have meaning, and that the end of this life is not the end of the story. That’s great news, and changes the way we look at everything.

Finally, we see that we have a decision to make. The resurrection of Jesus shows He is unique among every person who has ever lived. Only Jesus brought Himself back to life after being dead for 3 days. Only Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies about the Messiah. Only Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice for our sin. Easter reminds us that Jesus stands alone on the pages of history. It reminds us that there is only one hope for us to be forgiven of our sin—and it’s through Him. But Easter also reminds us that there is hope! Jesus makes it possible for us to go from death to life! He answers one of our deepest questions, giving life meaning and purpose. He shows us the way to go and what to do. Easter does all of this! The question we must each answer is what will we do with the resurrected Jesus? Will you let it change you, or will you act as though nothing has happened, like it doesn’t really matter? My hope is that like the disciples, you will begin to look at the world through a new lens, you’ll follow Him wholeheartedly, and that Easter will mark for you, the start of something wonderful and new.

© April 20th, 2025 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: Easter