The Lord Be With You Today!
Christ Is Risen!
Luke 24:13-36
Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus,
about seven miles from Jerusalem.
(These two men, having heard the amazing reports of Jesus having risen,
had left the city for Emmaus, a word related to intense, heated determination.
The men were determined to engage each other in discussing together
the mysteries they had just seen and experienced.)
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.
(Trying to make sense of the past few days, they were pondering
the news of the day and the tragedy of seeing their beloved Rabbi cruelly crucified
and the wonder of the reports that He was not dead after all.
The Risen Christ has actually come into their very presence,
but they were so focused on the circumstances, on the situation,
that their ability to focus on Him and to recognize Him was lost.
How often we, too, are in the very presence of the Living Christ
and yet are so focused on what we are thinking about, on the situation before us,
that we, too, blind ourselves to the wider and most important reality
that the Lord Himself is present with us
and to the situation-changing truth that He Himself is presenting to us.)
He asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?"
(The Risen Christ is hardly unaware of what they are talking about
or needs to be told what He already knows.
Rather, the Lord always invites us to pour out our hearts to Him.
He gives us the opportunity to put into words our deepest hurts,
our doubts, our confusion, our limited human perspectives.
Why? Not because He needs us to inform Him,
but because He knows our putting into words what is troubling us
is the best way for us to be open to Him and to allow Him
to enter into those places of hurt and confusion.)
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?"
(Again, simply clueless, still sad and discouraged, they are incredulous
that this Person, who was also walking on the road away from Jerusalem,
could be uninformed about the events that had consumed the attention of everyone.
Symbolically, both the men and Jesus are already beginning the first steps
of moving out of Jerusalem and going into the world to spread the Good News.)
"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.
(Though they had heard reports of the Resurrection,
though they had earlier heard Jesus foretell that He would rise from death,
they still spoke of Jesus out of their human perspective,
in the past tense and that He was, though powerful, merely a prophet.
When we are in the middle of situations we don't understand,
we, too, often relegate Jesus and His truths to a, perhaps, interesting,
but insignificant place where He doesn't really impact
the human truth of what we see before us.)
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.
(As we so often do, these two disciples measured what they had seen
against their own judgment of what should or should not have happened.
We, like them, ask the Lord to intervene
and, when He does and causes His plans to unfold,
bringing circumstances to bear that might not align with the way
we had thought God should act and had planned for Him to act,
we immediately view the situation as being exclusively of human origin and control.)
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?"
(The men had heard, they had remembered,
and they had even been told by eye witnesses
that Jesus would rise on the third day after He was killed.
Jesus knows their slowness to believe and their lack of discernment,
reminding them of both the words of the prophets of old,
as well as His Own words to them earlier.
How often, do we, too, still lack spiritual discernment and insight
about the events circulating in our lives today.)
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets,
He explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning Himself.
(Here is yet another example of the Lord's tireless patience in dealing with us
even when we are slow to believe and slow to act on His promises and truths.
This picture is an encouragement that even when we are foolish, even in our doubt,
He remains faithful and long-suffering, carefully and gently opening up for us
all that we need to know even though He has tried to teach us the same things before.)
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.
(Always pursuing us, but never forcing Himself on us,
always allowing us to exercise our free will,
Jesus had done what He knew His friends had needed. Now He was ready to go on.
What a holy time they would have missed
had they not pressed Him to prolong His stay with them
and what a blessing they received by being persistent.
How many times do we fail to press into Jesus and miss a blessing
that He would readily give and would be ours
were we to invite ourselves to spend more time with the Lord.
His time with us is ours merely for the asking.)
When He was at the table with them, He took bread, gave thanks,
broke it and began to give it to them.
(Their reward for their invitation to Him was more than they could have imagined.
When we ask the Lord to remain with us,
He makes Himself available in the most intimate and caring way.
After their long journey, after their deep discussions,
they were ready for physical refreshment,
and the Lord provides both spiritual and physical blessing to them.
He still provides the same for us today,
both physical and spiritual renewal and refreshing.)
Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him,
(How like us. As believers, we are always in the very Presence of the Lord
and, yet, so often fail to recognize Him.
Even in their despair, He had been with them all along, but they hadn't known it.
As we walk along the Emmaus road today,
sometimes a road of sadness and deep questioning,
the Lord is walking with us to reassure us and to open our eyes to Him.
We only need to look for Him. He is always with us.)
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?"
(How often do we sense that inexplicable "something" stirring within us,
and how often do we hear ourselves saying something like,
"Well, it was probably just me" when, in fact, that still, small Voice within us
is the very prompting, the very presence of the Lord Himself.)
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.
(Now ready to believe because they had encountered Jesus Himself for themselves,
the men are now ready to return to their place of doubt and discouragement
and exercise the authority that the Lord had given them.
Now they would reaffirm the women's testimony and Simon's testimony as truth.
Now they had their own story to tell.
Jesus today takes us through roads that are often difficult and challenging,
but they are roads that will give us a story to tell,
a "story," a new truth, in which we can place our trust,
if we will allow Him to teach us while we are on that road.)
Christ Is Risen!
He Is Risen, Indeed!
May the Lord richly bless you this day!
In Christ's love,
Blessings!
Sally
He Is Risen, Indeed!
May the Lord richly bless you this day!
In Christ's love,
Blessings!
Sally
[category word for today]
