Sermon Tone Analysis

I want to paint a picture this morning to get into the hearts and the minds of the disciples.

In the time that the disciples were with Jesus He was performing many miracles, turning water into wine, healing the sick such as the paralytic and the blind, he was teaching them things with such an authority.

Then this same Jesus was telling them many things on the way to Jerusalem none of which made any sense; He was going to be betrayed and killed.

He said he was going to be gone for a little while and you will not see me and then you will see me.

Confusing things because surely Jesus is the one who is about to liberate Israel from the Romans.

Then in the garden, their friend and companion, Judas, had come with an armed gang and taken Jesus away and they had to flee for their very lives.

They all deserted him in his hour of need.

Later Peter was warming himself by the fire and when questioned he denied Jesus three times.

The next thing they knew was that their Messiah, the one they had spent the last 3 years learning from, getting to know him, was sentenced to death and no sooner had that happened he was hanging from a cross.

His death substantiated with a spear in the His side; and then buried in a tomb.

What has just happened?! Their hopes and dreams were shattered.

Where to turn to?

No doubt they too would soon be arrested and tried in just the same manner.

It’s just a matter of time.

This was

a “Messiah” who managed to get himself imprisoned and handed over to the Romans who then crucified him was a disappointing delusion.

They had supported Jesus—and because of that their life had not been easy.

Now they ached with grief and confusion.

The Scriptures promised a Messiah, and they thought Jesus was the one, but Jesus did not deliver.

Truly this has been a roller coaster for the disciples – they came rejoicing into Jerusalem, within days their Lord, teacher and friend was dead devastating them and leaving them bereft and grieving and scared.

But some strange things were happening among them.

Their women told them that Jesus had risen from the dead – leaving them incredulous and unbelieving.

Then, gradually, Jesus appears to all of them and they are not sure whether they should be full of joy, regret or even if they believe their own eyes.

Not so long after this they are no longer scared, no longer afraid, no longer grieving, no more regrets but instead with boldness preaching in public and willing to die for Jesus.

Talk about ups and downs and loop-the-loop!

We are on the road to Emmaus, we know that one of them is Cleopas, and it is possible that the other disciple is his wife, Mary, mentioned in John 19.

And Jesus Himself draws alongside but they did not recognise Him.

And why would they - they certainly was not expecting Him!

And He questioned them about why they were downcast and drew out of them their grief and disappointment and disbelief.

And He rebuked them for not knowing the Scriptures and why it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer.

And He started with Moses, who wrote the first five books of our bible.

And then followed that up with the rest of the prophets.

We would have loved to have been there to hear all these words - but it is not necessary if we read it for ourselves.

What would Jesus have been talking about?

Jesus was crucified for the sins of the world.

Why?

Because the world is in rebellion.

Everything was perfect at the beginning of creation until the first man, Adam, wanted to do things his way instead of God’s – and since then every person who has ever lived has carried on in the same way doing their own thing instead of God’s whether conscious of it or not and the result is a world that is in a mess today.

This rebellion against God is called sin.

But God is holy.

He cannot bear to even look at sin.

God says even our good deeds are like filthy rags.

There is none righteous declares God.

So, by default God considers us all wicked.

None of us have loved God and loved our neighbour as ourselves as much as is required by God.

So, Jesus had to die, the only way we could have peace and reconciliation with God was that Jesus had to pay the penalty for our sins which was death.

There was no other way.

Jesus had to die?! That’s right, because God could not leave us in our predicament; He loves us so much that His nature did not allow Him to have a choice; He had to send His own Son.

And on Good Friday he took our place on the cross, took the punishment that we deserve, and died.

So, what passages of Scripture do we think Jesus would have referenced along the way with these two disciples on the Emmaus Rd? What was interesting was that

The Word of God incarnate explained the written Word of God.

Perhaps Jesus would have interpreted the sacrifice of Isaac in Genesis 22 and the resulting receiving back to life again of Abraham’s son as a picture of His own death and resurrection on the very same mountain.

Perhaps Jesus would have used the Passover lamb as a picture that His blood on the cross was like that put on the wooden lintels and doorposts to ensure God’s judgement did not come near to those who put their trust in God.

I have no doubt that Jesus would have gone through Psalm 22 starting with those opening words: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” in relation to His own despair on the cross.

And then what of the four suffering servant passages of Isaiah (Isaiah 42:1-4; Isaiah 49:1-6; Isaiah 50:4-7; and Isaiah 52:13-53:12)

Let’s hear just some of those words:

And perhaps to close He would have mentioned:

So, Jesus said, it was necessary for the Christ to suffer but also to rise again, according to the Scriptures:

This is how we come to this day for the death of Jesus was not the end.

It was impossible for death to keep a hold of Him.

So he rose from the dead.

Upon this all of Christianity hangs.

If this is not true then everything else falls down.

He is alive!

He had to rise from the dead to complete the work of salvation, to conquer the wages of sin; death itself.

If he had not then death would still be the penalty we all have to pay.

As this is so crucial to our faith can we really know that Jesus physically rose from the dead?

I think that the answer is a resounding ‘yes’!

Perhaps, there is no more proof that Jesus knew he was going to die and rise again than enemies recording his own words at his trial and when he was buried!

Then we have the eyewitnesses.

Following his Resurrection, Jesus remained on earth for forty days, appearing at least ten times to various individuals and groups.

Some assume that Christ only appeared to His hardcore believers.

That isn’t true.

First, all the disciples were sceptics; none imagined that He would rise from the dead – it was the furthest thing from their minds.

But we see that once the disciples on the road to Emmaus had come back to Jerusalem and was telling the others about their experience that Jesus Himself stood there - not as some delusion of the mind but clearly bodily showing them His hands and feet and then eating in from of them food that they gave to Him.

And what of Thomas who was not present at the time, a vocal and determined doubter who had to be convinced and was after he saw Jesus.

What of James, the Lord’s half-brother who had originally rejected Christ or of Saul who was the great enemy of the Church.

We read that Jesus:

And Saul who became Paul wrote:

Then we notice that these scared disciples were radically changed from being full of fear to being full of faith

John Stott wrote: “Perhaps the transformation of the disciples of Jesus is the greatest evidence of all for the resurrection.

It was the resurrection that transformed Peter’s fear into courage and James’ and Thomas’ doubt into faith...It was the resurrection that changed Saul the Pharisee into Paul the apostle and turned his persecuting into preaching.”

And the testimony of millions throughout the centuries has been that Jesus is alive.

Our testimony is that He is alive!

My testimony is that He is alive!

It is one thing, though, to intellectually ascent to these facts, it is yet another to do something about it.

Today we are reminded of the things that happened about 2000 years ago but we are not to forget what it cost for God to send His Son to us knowing full well that we would mistreat Him and kill Him.

Not only that, he did it willingly for those who were still his enemies.

For us.

And even in the darkest hour when it seemed that mankind was lost forever because of the depravity of killing God’s son, where it appeared that Satan had won the victory – what was actually happening was that hell was being breached and hordes of people like you and me were being set free.

Satan thought he had won but actually the deceiver was deceived for had he known he would not have crucified Him and if He hadn’t been crucified we would still be in our sins.

If we continue in Romans it says:

Why was the resurrection so crucial?

[1 Cor 15] Without the resurrection then we have no basis for our faith, no forgiveness of sins, and no hope for the future.

With the resurrection we are now reconciled to God and have eternal life.

What is required of us?

We hear Scripture say

Do we already acknowledge this?

Are our hearts warmed by what Jesus has done?

Then I suspect that we have already come to faith in Him.