The First Supper

Luke 24:13–35 (NIV)

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.

They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.

As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them;

but they were kept from recognizing him.

He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast.

One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

“What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.

The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him;

but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.

In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning

but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive.

Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”

He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!

Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther.

But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.

Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.

They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together

and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”

Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

Introduction

Have you ever not seen someone for a few months, or maybe even a few years, and when you see them again they’ve changed? Like, they are not the same person?

I think this happens a lot to us when we finish High School. We finish High School and we have a lot of goals, there’s things we are trying to accomplish with our lives and we kind of go our separate ways from our High School friends. And then a couple of years will go by and then you see someone and they say, “you’ve changed!”

How many of you know what I am talking about?

But, there’s always like one or two, who are completely the same person. I mean, their address hasn’t changed, their style hasn’t changed, their sense of humor hasn’t changed…

And I don’t know if they are running behind, or if they were ahead of their time, but they’re just the same person! It’s kind of weird isn’t it?

We have this expectation that we are all going to change.

And for those that do, its like,”wow, you’ve changed so much!”

And for those who don’t, it’s also like, “wow, you’re still the same guy.”

And change is what I want to talk to you about today.

Transition

We are kicking off this brand new series called Where Do We Go From Here, and I want to dive into the scriptures to better understand what the rapture means for us, and how it even relates to today.

And I want to kick this series off today by talking about this big idea that once you’ve received Jesus, you should be changed.

The Road to Emmaus

On the day that Jesus rose, there are three events in that first day. First, Jesus appears to the women at the tomb. Then he would appear to the two men walking to Emmaus, and finally, he would appear to the 11 disciples who locked themselves into a room for fear of the religious leaders.

We spent last week talking about when Jesus appeared to the 11, but today I want to go back just a few hours and talk about Jesus’ walk to Emmaus.

In the text we see that we have two men who are followers of Jesus. We know this based on how they knew about the events that had happened in Jerusalem. They also said that Jesus was a powerful prophet, and they hoped he would redeem Israel.

As we read just a minute ago, Jesus concealed himself from them until he sat down to have dinner together with them.

There’s a few things here in the text that we need to understand so that we see the significance of this walk to Emmaus.

Let me start off by saying that at this time in history, all of the disciples and the overwhelming majority of the people who followed Jesus were Jewish. These are people who followed the law, and now here is Jesus saying that he has come to fulfill the law.

In order to fulfill the law, Jesus has to come and deal with them on their terms. There’s a certain Jewishness to some key events here that were completely necessary to validate his resurrection.

The first very Jewish thing that happens here is that there are two men. Someone say that there were two.

1. The significance of this is that two witnesses fulfill the legal requirement of credibility in Judaism. Jesus is revealing his resurrected self to people, and in order to fulfill the legal requirement of credibility he made sure that there were two men present on the walk to Emmaus. So as you read right past this, understand that Jesus was doing a very Jewish thing in order to appease his Jewish audience.

2. The second thing to note here is that the men said this of Jesus, “the chief priests handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him.” What you need to know about Jewish believers, and even Jews today, they focus very little on death. Their focus is much more on the life of a person, and the importance of living without the same consequence of heaven or hell. The Christian probably has a greater focus on death becuase of the transitionary nature of death. To the Jew of that day, they believe in sheol, which is the underworld where everyone who dies is destined to go. They don’t have the same view of life after death that the Christian has that does not believe death is final. So to this follower, death is final. Jesus lived, he was a mighty prophet, and now he is dead.

3. Now, the last thing of great importance here on this walk from Jerusalem to Emmaus is this person uses this language, “today is now the third day since his death.” The insertion of this language is so key. It’s such a Jewish addition here that I have honestly read over many times. But I’ve been in the Book of Leviticus recently in my bible reading. And right now I am reading about sacrifices offered unto the Lord. The custom of the sacrifices is that when an animal is to be sacrificed to God, there were portions of the animal that remained in the tabernacle as food that was cooked for the priest. After three days, what remained of the sacrifice had to be discarded. But, Jesus, who became our sacrifice, supernaturally rose, not on the second day, but on the third day.

This was a sacrifice that was not going to be discarded like every other sacrifice. This wasn’t an ordinary sacrifice. This was the lamb slain before the foundations of the world to reconcile us back to the father.

All of this plays out like great context, very necessary for when the two men would return to Jerusalem to tell them that they had seen Jesus.

Jesus Exegetes the Scriptures

Now, with all of this set, Jesus would get to work. I want you to get everything that just happened to them, because it also happens to us.

Jesus meets us where we are at.

Many times we have this idea that we have to “come up to God.” If we are going to have an encounter with God, we have to level up. We have to behave ourselves. We have to get our stuff together. We have this idea that we have got to be somebody other than who we are to get to God.

But all throughout the scripture I see Jesus meeting people where they are at.

He meets us in the pain of our disappointment.

He meets us in the sorrow of a broken heart.

He meets us in the tension of wanting to quit an addiction.

We don’t have to “go up” to meet with Jesus, we just “show up” to meet with Jesus.

That’s exactly why we say, come as you are. You just need to show up to meet with Jesus, and let Him take it from there.

We read that beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself.

I love this...

This had not happened yet.

Every time Jesus spoke of his resurrection, it was an event that was coming. And, most of the time, the disciples really did not understand what he was saying. This is why he came on strong. He said, “How foolish are you?”

You still don’t see it?

You guys are talking like Jesus being crucified was the ending. What you need to know is that it is just the beginning.

This is why we continue to preach the resurrection of Jesus.

The resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of every person who believes.

Your new beginning begins when you believe that Jesus didn’t just die for your sins, but he rose from the grave to give you new life.

You see our entire gospel is hinged on his resurrection.

Our gospel means NOTHING if Jesus remained in that grave. He would have gone down as just another prophet.

But we know that Jesus wasn’t just a prophet. We know that Jesus rose from the grave conquering death and hell.

Now, he gives us that same victory!

Jesus is explaining to these men how all of this points to him. And yet, they still don’t see it. So he has to reveal it to them.

Someone say reveal.

The Last Supper

But before Jesus reveals himself to these men, he sits with them and has dinner together with them. The Bible records that as the men arrived at Emmaus, Jesus pretended that he was going to travel to a further destination, but the men convinced him to stay with them and enjoy dinner. It was getting late in the day.

We read that Jesus sits with them, and that he took the bread, blessed it, and then he broke it. At that time, their eyes were opened.

The last time Jesus blessed and broke the bread it was at the last supper.

Now it’s Sunday, and this is his first dinner since he rose. This was his First Supper. And there are parallels here that we need to get.

The last supper was about remembering. Jesus said, do this in remembrance of me.

The first supper was about revelation. Jesus is revealing his resurrected self to these men.

These men would then run back to Jerusalem and inform the others, all in accordance with the very Jewish affirmations we read about, that Jesus was not dead.

A New Normal

Now, when I read about the First Supper, I have so many questions. In a way, I’m kind of wondering why Jesus revealed himself to these two guys and not his disciples.

Think about that for a second...

Jesus pours himself into the 12, and when he rises from the grave, they aren’t even his priority anymore.

If that happened to some of you, you’d be triggered.

You’d be posting stories on the gram all salty.

Subtexting… not even coming out and saying it, just dropping your little hurt feelings stories...

Have you ever given this any thought?

But here’s what I’ve always understood about God.

He’s always ahead of us, preparing the next place for us.

It’s all throughout scripture. Even now… Jesus tells his disciples, I’m going to prepare a place for you so that where I am you can be also.

He said, I’m leaving to get things ready for your future.

That’s why everything that is present to us is past to Him. He’s already been there.

That’s a large reason for us to come to God in prayer. Prayer may not change the outcome of tomorrow, but it will prepare you for tomorrow.

And watch this...

We read in the bible that the latter will be greater than the former.

He says, you can’t put new wine into old wine skins.

In Leviticus we read that we can’t sew new threads into old garments even.

It’s a principle about our immutable God.

I think the reason Jesus is speaking to these two men is because they represent what is next.

Jesus was present with the 12 disciples, but now he’s getting ready to ascend to the father, and His spirit is about to fill everyone.

Someone say everyone.

So the same spirit that Peter received is the spirit that God is going to pour into you. The same spirit that the other disciples received is what God is getting ready to put inside of you.

Previously, he poured himself only into the 12. But now he’s about to pour out his spirit upon all flesh. And your sons shall dream dreams, and your old men are going to have visions.

This was next.

The Last Supper brought us closer to the fulfillment of the law.

The First Supper brought us closer to the birth of the church.

And what is the church? And why does it matter?

The church is the unstoppable, unquenchable, spirit-filled move of God here on this earth.

My Resurrection

Now let me close with this… becuase I know that I have packed this sermon with a lot of content, and still for some of you you are wondering what it means.

Just as Jesus brought an end to the law, Jesus wants to bring an end to the old you.

If you have never received Christ, if you have never experienced his resurrection power, that is what He wants for you. He’s going to bring an end to the old, and resurrect a new.

Let me explain it this way...

He isn’t trying to upgrade your life. He’s trying to transform you.

Just as the caterpillar is completely unrecognizable as a butterfly, that’s the type of change he wants to bring to your life. He wants to bring the type of change to you that people say, I don’t even recognize who you have become!

The old me died and was buried with Christ. But now, I am a new creation. The old things have passed away and all things have become new.

This is why we point people to, and why we celebrate water baptism. It’s what identifies us with his death and resurrection. If you’ve never been water baptized, and you have made a fresh start, that is your next step. Out next Baptism Sunday is in June, and we’d love for you to sign up!

And what happens next? You need to renew your mind. Paul says we are transformed by the renewing of our mind. It’s continual. It’s on going. It’s not a one and done, but it’s a continual renewal of our mind through the word of God.

How does that happen? Through his word, and through the church. This is why we do things FOR YOU. We want something FOR YOU, not from you.

So, if you’ve never received Christ, and you are ready to experience the power of His resurrection, let’s make today the day that you it.