The Risen Savior

An Easter Sermon on Luke 24:13-35

ME:

Ever had a moment where you realized something important was happening — but only recognized it after the fact?

Maybe it was a conversation you had with a friend over coffee and it didn’t seem very important at the time, but that conversation, the friend’s encouragement changed the direction of your life. 

A season of life that felt aimless at the time, but looking back you can see exactly what God was doing.

In the moment, you couldn't see it. Only afterward does it click.

That's where we find ourselves most of the time as Christians. We live in the "not yet seen" far more than we live in the "aha" moment.

WE:

We gather this morning to celebrate the resurrection. The most earth-shaking event in history.

But for many of us, Easter can feel like a truth we affirm more than something we experience.

We believe Jesus is risen. We sing it, we confess it.

But day to day? Life still feels a lot like that road to Emmaus — walking along, processing our disappointments, wondering where God is or what he is doing.

That's not a failure of our faith. It is the normal Christian experience. Luke is describing what Easter felt like for those who follow Jesus.

These two disciples we find on the road to Emmaus are not outsiders. They followed Jesus. They believed.

And yet they couldn't see what was right in front of them.

Most of us know exactly what that feels like.

GOD — Trouble in the Text:

Two disciples, Cleopas and one unnamed, walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus, about seven miles.

They had packed up. They were heading home. The adventure with Jesus was over.

Two disciples had packed up and were heading home.

The adventure with Jesus was over.

A stranger falls in step and asks what’s wrong.

“But we had hoped that he was the one

to redeem Israel.”

— Luke 24:21

A stranger falls in step and asks what they're discussing.

Cleopas can hardly believe it, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who doesn't know?"

They pour out their grief:

Jesus of Nazareth — a prophet mighty in deed and word

Handed over by the chief priests, crucified by the Romans

The devastating line — v. 21: "But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel."

We had hoped. Past tense. Done.

Wright: it wasn't just that Jesus had died — if he was the Messiah, he should have been defeating the pagans, not dying at their hands.

Their expectations for the Messiah were real and deeply held, and the cross shattered every one of them.

Notice — they even have some of the Easter news already (v. 22).

Women went to the tomb, found it empty, saw angels who said he was alive.

And still they're walking away from Jerusalem.

They have the facts but can't see what the facts mean.

Luke: their eyes "were kept from recognizing him”.

GOD — Grace in the Text:

The risen Jesus doesn't reveal himself with a flash of light. He walks with them, enters their confusion, and helps them to begin to understand.

v. 27, "Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself"

The whole Bible was not the story of how God would redeem Israel from suffering, but through suffering, through the suffering of Israel's representative, the Messiah.

The promise in the garden — an offspring to crush the serpent's head

The covenant with Abraham — through his seed all nations blessed

The sacrificial system of Moses — pointing to a lamb who would atone once for all

The Davidic covenant — an everlasting king on an everlasting throne

The servant songs of Isaiah — a suffering king

And still, they don't recognize him.

Hearts burning, but eyes not yet opened.

Only when they reach Emmaus and invite this stranger to stay for a meal does something happen.

Jesus takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, gives it to them.

Their eyes are opened, they recognize him.

And then he vanishes.

Wright: this is the first meal of the new creation, echoing Eden's first meal, but now death has been defeated.

They recognize Jesus for a moment. He's there, then he's gone.

But that moment changes everything.

They get up that very hour and walk back to Jerusalem in the dark to tell the others.

YOU — Trouble in the World:

The experience of these two disciples is similar to our experience as Christians today.

We walk by faith, not by sight.

We live most of our lives on that road. We know about the resurrection, our hearts sometimes strangely warmed, but not seeing the risen Jesus face to face. Not yet.

In the meantime, life can feel heavy.

When we look at the news: war, division, suffering that never seems to end.

Or closer to home: a struggling marriage, an unexpected diagnosis, grief that won't let go, a child making choices that break your heart.

We can be tempted to live in that past tense with Cleopas: "We had hoped..."

We had hoped this would get better.

We had hoped God would show up by now.

YOU/WE — Grace in the World:

The good news of Easter: the risen Christ meets us on that road.

He met those disciples on an ordinary road in the middle of their disappointment.

He meets us the same way — in the ordinary:

In the Word read and preached

In the bread broken and shared at his table

In the gathered body of Christ, the church

Like those disciples, we may only see it for a moment: a glimpse, a flash of recognition.

A prayer answered unexpectedly

A moment of peace in chaos you can't explain

A conversation where truth is spoken and your heart burns within you

The moment passes, and you're back on the road.

But it changes everything, because now you know: he is alive, he is walking with you.

And one day you won't just catch glimpses, you will see him face to face.

Wright: Cleopas's past-tense despair only needs the slightest twist — "They crucified him — and that was how he redeemed Israel"

Because of the resurrection:

Death has lost its sting.

Sin has been defeated.

We don't need to fear the grave, Satan, or God's judgment.

We belong, body and soul, to our faithful Savior Jesus Christ.

Our hope is not past tense — it is present and it is coming.

One day Christ will return, every wrong made right, every tear wiped away.

We will see our risen Savior not for a glimpse, but forever.

WE — Response / Mission:

What do we do? The same thing Cleopas and his friend did — they got up and went back and told others: "The Lord has risen indeed."

Live with eyes looking for the risen Christ at work:

Every time the Word is opened and your heart stirs, that's the power of the resurrection.

Every time bread is broken at this table, that's the risen Savior meeting you on the road.

Every time you share this good news with someone walking in their own despair, you are walking with them the way Jesus walked with Cleopas.

The road to Emmaus didn't end at Emmaus — it turned around and went back to Jerusalem, and from there to the ends of the earth.

Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Let's go and tell.