The Road to Emmaus
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning! Welcome to CHCC. Two weeks left in the book of Luke! Hard to believe it but we’ve made it. And what a wonderful final few passages we have left. Jesus has been crucified, and three days have passed.
Last week we looked at Jesus’ burial in the tomb of a man from Arimathea names Joseph. He was a member of council, but His allegiance was to Christ. Joseph went directly to Pilate and made the request to have Jesus’ body so that he could bury it. Given permission, it tells us that he took Jesus’ body off the cross, wrapped him in a shroud, and laid him in the tomb and went home for the Sabbath was soon beginning.
Three days pass between the end of chapter 23 and the beginning of chapter 24; the women who had been followers of Jesus since His ministry in Galilee wake up early after the Sabbath with their spices and oils in order to give Jesus His proper burial. But as they approach the tomb, their sorrow turns to wonder and confusion. The stone is rolled away from the tomb and no body is inside.
John’s gospel suggests that these women concluded that someone ransacked the tomb, moving the stone and stealing away His body.
They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”
But their confusion and wonder is about to turn to utter joy. They came to the tomb to finish preparing Jesus’ body. The mood was somber and sorrowful. But now there is elation! There before them appear two angels and one asks them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”
Then the angel exhorts the women to remember Jesus’ words, how He must die and on the third day be raised. And it is then they realize with great clarity and excitement that Jesus’ body has not been taken; He is alive! And so they run back, carrying the gospel message to the 11 disciples!
But they do not believe them; they consider it an idle tale! But even in his doubt, it tells us that Peter decides he must check things out for himself.
And running to the tomb, Peter stoops inside to find only the linen cloths. The tomb is empty just as the women had said. Then it tells us Peter “went home marveling at what had happened” (v. 12). I imagine him shuffling his feet and scratching his head trying to determine what this means. Could Jesus be alive as the women said? Did someone play an awful trick on us and steal his body? What is going on?
Well, as we will come to read this morning, more miraculous appearances are in store. The women were met by a couple of angels, but two other disciples are about to meet the risen Christ for themselves!
If you have your Bibles with you, please turn with me to Luke 24 as we begin in verses 13 this morning.
PRAY
That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
