He Won't Leave You Alone
Notes
Transcript
1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching Where Was God?
Where Was God?
During World War II, following word that an only son had been killed in action, a priest was called to the home of grief-stricken parents. The father, pacing the floor, weeping, in anger demanded, “Where was God when my son was being killed?” Silence prevailed. Then the ministering priest replied, “I guess where He was when His Son was being killed.” The calm, profound answer impacted the father, for it brought God out of remoteness into the circle of real life.
Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Luke 24:13-16
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.
There are three accounts in the Gospels where a person does not recognize Jesus after the resurrection. This one and the one regarding Mary Magdalene in John 20:11-17, are more intriguing than the one involving the disciples by the Sea of Tiberius in John 21:1-12, if only because in that one, there were out on the lake and Jesus was on the shore; it was possible that the distance played a factor. In Mary’s case, perhaps her emotions caused her to fail to realize who she was talking to until He said her name. Only in this case do we find the words recorded in Luke 24:16 “But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.”
Who did that to them - was it the result of God wanting to reveal Himself in a particular manner, or was it the result of their response to what had happened over the course of the three days beginning with the Passover/Lord’s Supper? These two men were not listed among the 12, so they might not have been present at the meal. Luke 22:8-14 says that Jesus wants to “eat the passover with My disciples,” and they were taken to a large upper room, but it specifically says that the Apostles were with Him at a table. Perhaps there were more than one table, but Exodus 12:1-4 tells us:
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb.
About 40 days later, according to Acts 1:3, in Acts 1:13-26, when Judas is replaced by Matthias by the casting of lots, we are told that there were about 120 in the room, devoted to prayer, including the Apostles, Jesus’ family, and “the women” - possibly those mentioned on Easter Sunday.
So we know that the room was large, and people other than the 12 could have been there on that Passover evening. It is also reasonable to think that, after Jesus’ arrest, word would have spread to the rest of the disciples if they had not been present at the meal.
So these two men, who are numbered among the disciples (the text describes them as “two of them”) are going on a seven-mile walk to Emmaus. Maybe they wanted to get away so that they could process what they have seen and heard - they are discussing “all these things that had happened.” I admit that what they understand at this point is pretty confusing, so that could play a role in their initial failure to recognize Jesus. Luke 24:15-24
While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”
Can you feel it, the sorrow, the tension? These men were there when they crucified my Lord too. They had hopes that Jesus “was the one to redeem Israel.” And now, they have heard the reports of the empty tomb, and even a report from the women of an angelic vision and report that Jesus was alive.
One thing we can do is recognize that 1st Century Jews understood how death works. Dead people generally stay dead unless someone who has authority over death intervenes. And while they did not reject the testimony of the women, they did not accept their words as conclusive either, because the women did not say that they saw the Lord, only that they were told that he was alive by an angel. They were not expecting to see Jesus. So how does Jesus make Himself known to the disciples?
The Rev. Dr. Steve P. Mueller writes:
Called to Believe: A Brief Introduction to Doctrinal Theology Chapter 2: Revelation and the Word of God
The pertinent question, then, is “How does God make himself known to the world he created?” Scripture answers that God reveals himself in two ways: natural knowledge (or general revelation) and revealed knowledge from God himself (also known as special revelation or supernatural revelation).
Before His crucifixion, Jesus had taught the 12 that He was going to be crucified and then be raised from the dead, but they resisted his words. Cleopas’ words indicate this; “we had hoped - not, “we hope.” Their hope died when Jesus died. They felt pitiful - remember what Paul said in 1 Cor 15:19?
If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
So here they were, pouring their hearts out to this stranger when He responds in a way that is anything but sympathetic: Luke 24:25-27
And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
These two men are looking at the circumstances and finding only reasons for sorrow, but Jesus takes those same circumstances and interprets them through the lens of the Scriptures. The Apostle Paul recognizes the importance of the Scriptures as the foundation of our hope: Romans 15:4 “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” St. Peter, after reminding his readers of the things that he had seen while being Christ’s disciple, says in 2 Peter 1:19-21
And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
So now Jesus, still unknown to them, opens the Scriptures to them, and it is so good that, when they get to their destination, they invite him to stay with them - Yes, they were showing hospitality, but you an bet that they wanted to spend more time with this man who had spoken God’s word to them in this manner. When you have been born of the Spirit, the things of the Spirit draw you. The Word of God excites you! that is something that the devil knows as well, so you need to know that those who bring the Word to you know how to “rightly divide the Word of Truth.”
But so far it seems like having Jesus Himself explain the Scriptures does not have the full impact upon them. Hearing the Word is good, but it can be bad for you, it can even judge you if you don’t believe it, according to Hebrews 4:1-2
Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.
Jesus, in the parable of the sower, talked about those whose experience is like seed sown among thorns: Matt 13:22
As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
So it isn’t that the Word alone isn’t enough, after all the seed that was sown on good soil bore fruit. But for these two, they needed more, and they knew that they needed it, so they asked. Luke 24:29-35
but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.
Yes, their hearts burned - the Word is living and powerful - but we need Word and Sacrament. We need preaching and the means of grace. This is the historic teaching of the Church, or put more doctrinally, “
God So Loved the World: A Study of Christian Doctrine The Church Is Found Where the Means of Grace Are Administered
The church (the assembly of believers in Christ) is found wherever the gospel is proclaimed and the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are administered.
God can work in a chariot, on the side of a hill where idolatry is practiced, or anywhere. But He chooses to make Himself known consistently through the Church. He chooses to deliver His gifts through the Church. He chooses to pour out His love through the Church. God honors the Church - the Bride of Christ, by binding Himself to His Word and placing His Word in the custody of the Church. As it is written in 1 Tim 3:15
if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.
The Church is not the source of the Word, but it supports the Word. Everything that Hebrews 11 talks about is rooted in what God has revealed to us in the Scriptures and that we receive by faith. When we reject it in unbelief, we suffer. Isa 55:10-11
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
And Ps. 107:20
He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.
So the two men returned to the upper room in Jerusalem, and we return to our confession:
Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions Article IV: The Gospel
We will now return to the Gospel, which does not give us counsel and aid against sin in only one way. God is superabundantly generous in His grace: First, through the spoken Word, by which the forgiveness of sins is preached in the whole world [
And the peace of God, that passes understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
