Luke 24v13-35 - When You Meet the Master - So Side - Apr 10

When You Meet the Master

Luke 24:13-35

Every year on the anniversary of the death of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, friends gather and attempt to get in touch with his spirit.  Recently a new TV show debuted that had a person trying to contact the dead to solve murder cases.  This winter a movie came out that talked about contacting the dead through the static in radios.  All of these are just examples of the interest that people have in communicating with the dead.  From séances and ouija boards at slumber parties to visits to psychics by people of all ages, an interest in spiritualism and communication with the dead is on the rise.

But in spite of all the attempts through the years to reach the dead and communicate with them, Jesus is the only one that has ever risen from the dead all by himself, appeared to his friends, and communicated with them.  We realize, of course, that this is the Son of God who has been raised from the dead by the power of God.  The resurrection is the basis of our faith in Christ.  The entire New Testament was written from the perspective of those who lived through Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.  At least 10 appearances of Christ after the resurrection are recorded for us in Scripture.

Not the least interesting of the post resurrection appearances of Christ is found in the verses we just read.  Emmaus was about seven miles south of Jerusalem.  After hearing the reports of the resurrection from these believers, Jesus began to teach them that he was the fulfillment of Scripture.  When they reached their destination, he would have gone on, but they invited him in.  When he took the position of honor and began to break bread with them they finally realized who he was.  This was the Master.  They had been met by the Master.

The supreme need of each one of us is to meet the Master.  We have to have the kind of knowledge that is more than knowledge about him.  We need to know him personally and experience his power in our lives.  In this time after the cross and the resurrection experience, we too can meet the Master.

When can we meet the Master?  We can meet him when we are fearful.  Knowing that the other believers were meeting behind closed doors because they were scared of the Jews, we can feel confident that these two believers would have been scared too.

Fear seems to be a characteristic of our society today.  Many people are literally crippled by fear of any number of things, including the future.

We can meet the Master when we are disappointed.  The Christ-followers on the Road to Emmaus were just that.  They had based their faith in Jesus and they had seen him crucified.

So many things disappoint us.  Other people can disappoint us, the lack of progress in a task can disappoint us, projects that we failed to complete or didn’t turn out like we expected can disappoint us, when something doesn’t meet our expectations we can be disappointed.  Disappointment can come upon us in so many different ways.  In the midst of disappointment, though, Christ appears to lead us to faith and life.

We can meet the Master when we are hopeless.  Reading verses 20-24 lead us to believe that maybe that was one of the things these men were facing.  They had hoped that Jesus would be the one to redeem Israel.  Now he had been killed, and their hope was gone.  Yet at the time that they were the most hopeless, Christ met them on the road.

We can meet the Master when we need forgiveness.  One of the most beautiful expressions of the gospel is found in the verses we read this morning.  When these men went rushing back to Jerusalem, they were met with the news that Jesus had appeared to Simon Peter.  Remember the last time we saw Peter?  He had openly denied Christ.  Both here and in Paul’s account in 1 Corinthians, Peter was the first apostle that Christ appeared to.  The one that needed the most forgiveness and reassurance was the one that Christ met first.

Since we know the times we can meet the Master, how about the ways that we can meet Him?  We can meet him through the Word of God.  Jesus gave these believers and exposition of the Scripture.  He showed them how he fulfilled the Old Testament Scriptures.  Here we have the living Word of God interpreting the written Word of God.  Christ is the key to the interpretation of Scripture.  We can meet Christ through the Bible.

We can meet the Master through divine revelation.  The eyes of these two believers were opened and they realized who was talking to them.  God revealed to them that Christ was the Son of God.  Whenever we meet Christ, that is a revelation from God.

We can meet the Master through the normal affairs of life.  The breaking of the bread was not an observance of the Lord’s Supper; it was simply a regular meal.  In the normal activities of these men’s lives, eating a meal following a journey home, these believers met Jesus.  We look for special experiences, but in our normal, everyday activities, we can meet the Master and have our lives totally changed.

When we do meet the Master, what experiences can we share?  When we meet the Master, it is an unforgettable experience.  VERSE 32. 

In 1735 John Wesley was a missionary to the colony of Georgia.  He was to be a pastor to the settlers and a missionary to the Indians, but he confessed that he went to save his own soul.  He failed as a missionary and returned to England.

On the evening of May 24, 1738, Wesley went to a society that met on Aldersgate Street in London, where someone was reading from Luther’s preface to the book of Romans.  He recorded that while the reader was describing the change that God works in a person’s heart through faith in Christ, he felt his own heart strangely warmed.  He knew that he did trust Christ alone for salvation.  With that he had the assurance that Christ had taken away his sins and had saved him from the law of sin and death.  As with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, his heart burned within him.

When we meet the Master, it is a primary experience.  This living proof that these believers had the truth of the resurrection became their most important concern.  They forgot about the time of day and their weariness and ran back the seven miles to Jerusalem to tell the other followers that Christ really had risen.

When we meet Christ, everything else is secondary.  This is indeed the most important experience that we will have, the experience of salvation through Christ.

When we meet the Master, it is a shared experience.  The truth of Christ cannot be hidden, it has to be shared.  One writer has called this the “hot-potato” news.  You cannot just stand around holding a hot potato.  Neither do you just stand around holding the news of salvation in Christ.  It has to be shared.  These believers rushed back to Jerusalem to share the news.

Our commission is to share the news of salvation with all the world.  That is a job we have to do.

You can meet Christ today just as these believers met him on the road.  This is the truth of the resurrection.  Christ is able to meet you now and bring you salvation even as you journey down the road of life.  Come to him today.