Text:\u00a0 Luke 24: 25-35<\/p>\n
Read through the news.\u00a0 \u00a0A young man in Minnesota arrested for planning to murder his mom and dad and put a bomb in his school.\u00a0 A coach arrested for taking terrible advantage of many young people.\u00a0 The people of Syria suffering and dying in a brutal civil war that goes on and on.\u00a0 Monstrous tornadoes sweep through towns in the South and Midwest leaving a swath of destruction and death.\u00a0 Heart wrenching stories.\u00a0 The news is full of them.<\/p>\n
But every now and then we come across that heart warming story.\u00a0 The hiker rescued after being stranded on a mountain trail.\u00a0 The mother who decides against abortion and chooses life, the life that God gives.<\/p>\n
Today we have just such a story from long ago. A story carefully researched by the gospel writer Luke \u00a0about a very special incident on Easter Sunday.<\/p>\n
The Heart Warming Story from Emmaus
\n<\/b>I.\u00a0 The Risen Lord overcomes grief and confusion
\nII.\u00a0 The Risen Christ lifts hearts, feet and voices<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was sometime Easter afternoon.\u00a0 A disciple named Cleopas and another were walking the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus.\u00a0 We do not know the site of Emmaus today.\u00a0 We just know it was about a 7 mile walk for them, a few hours distant.<\/p>\n
If there were others on the road that day, they would have scarcely noticed them.\u00a0 We\u2019ve all been there.\u00a0 A great joy or sorrow grabs hold of our hearts and minds.\u00a0 Well that\u2019s where these men were on the road to Emmaus.\u00a0 Preoccupied with the crushing events of the past few days.<\/p>\n
The risen Lord approached them.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t allow them to recognize him.\u00a0 They see just another Jewish traveler.\u00a0 He asks them what they are discussing. And now this verse that says it all.\u00a0 They stood still, their faces downcast<\/span>.\u00a0 (17b)<\/p>\n They ask this stranger in so many words.\u00a0 \u2018Where have you been?\u00a0 Jesus draws them out. They tell him what is weighing on their hearts.\u00a0 This one so powerful in word and deed one was violently put to death on a cross.\u00a0 We hoped he was the One.\u00a0 We hoped he was the Messiah.<\/p>\n But now they did not know what to think.\u00a0 And even more confusing, the women who came with a report of an empty tomb and a vision of angels who said he was alive.\u00a0 What does it all mean?\u00a0 It didn\u2019t dawn on them that Jesus had done just what he said he would. Rise to life.<\/p>\n I see myself in these disciples.\u00a0 Do you?\u00a0 All too often we walk through life like these men on the road who should have known better.\u00a0 Think about it.\u00a0 God has spoken plainly to us in his Word.\u00a0 But all too often we let this life turn us away from God\u2019s promises. He invites us in his word.\u00a0 Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you<\/span>.\u00a0 Put your worries on me.\u00a0 I care for you. But instead of listening to God\u2019s Word, instead of trusting it, too often we let ourselves walk on like these men in sadness and confusion.<\/p>\n Jesus saw it in these men.\u00a0 I can almost picture him shaking his head in dismay as he spoke these words.\u00a0 \u201cHow foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 <\/sup>Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?\u201d<\/span> It was like he was saying.\u00a0 You still don\u2019t understand.\u00a0 I would have expected better of you.<\/p>\n But Jesus had not come to say \u2018shame on you\u2019 and then leave.\u00a0 For what does he now do?\u00a0 He sweeps away their confusion.\u00a0 He overcomes their sorrow.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>How?\u00a0 As they walk along he connects the dots that had made no sense to them.\u00a0 His ugly Betrayal, arrest, his brutal death.\u00a0 He connects those dots with one Old Testament prophecy after another. What they had witnessed, was not a tragedy.\u00a0 Yes, the Christ had to suffer.\u00a0 It was all part of God\u2019s plan.\u00a0 And just like a stage play where the spotlights sometimes come together on one person, Jesus explained how those prophecies came together in Him.<\/p>\n There are times in our lives when we walk down life\u2019s road like these Emmaus disciples. We too have been and will be sad and confused.\u00a0 But then we are reminded of something so important. Like these disciples, we are not alone as we walk this road.\u00a0 And yes. We have each other.\u00a0 But we have so much more than one another.\u00a0 We have the one who promised:\u00a0 I am with you always.<\/span>\u00a0 We have our living Savior who loved you and me more than his own life.<\/p>\n And as we walk with Him, as we listen to his Word, our Risen Lord overcomes that grief and confusion. Maybe not in a moment, not all at once, but over time.\u00a0 Over time his Word takes hold.\u00a0 Over time his Spirit comforts us in our grief.\u00a0 Over time this heart warming story becomes our own.<\/p>\n But let\u2019s get back to the story.\u00a0 For here in these men we see something more.\u00a0 We see that the Risen Christ lifts not just hearts.\u00a0 He lifts hearts, feet and voices.<\/b><\/p>\n The three were almost there at Emmaus.\u00a0 Jesus pretended to walk on.\u00a0 But the disciples insisted that this special traveler whoever he was, join them.<\/p>\n It was here that their joy would be made complete.\u00a0 As they sat down to eat, their guest took the bread.\u00a0 He gave thanks.\u00a0 And since the bread wasn\u2019t sliced, he broke it and gave them each a piece.\u00a0 Then suddenly, Jesus lowered the veil.\u00a0 He allowed them to see.\u00a0 It was he.\u00a0 It was their Lord\u2026and ours.\u00a0 And just as suddenly he disappeared from their sight.<\/p>\n When they caught their breath, they thought right back to their time with him on the road. 32 <\/sup>They asked each other, \u201cWere not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n While driving through Texas last week, we spotted a sign for a little Revival church.\u00a0 You don\u2019t see that much today.\u00a0 But it reminded me of a time in our land when revival preachers would set up tents and people would come out to hear them.\u00a0 The preachers would enflame the emotions of their hearers.\u00a0 And the people would weep and wale and do whatever the preacher called on them to do.<\/p>\n But no fiery speaker stirred the hearts of these men that day.\u00a0 Rather our Risen Savior walked them through the Old testament.\u00a0 He carefully explained how it all came together in him, his suffering, his death and his resurrection.\u00a0 And their hearts were lifted up.\u00a0 Their hearts burned within them as this stranger brought it all together.<\/p>\n The Easter gospel still does the same today.\u00a0 Some of you know Pastor Jim Radloff.\u00a0 He is part of a group that does mission work in China.\u00a0 In fact, Jim just left for there for 7 weeks.<\/p>\n Pastor Jim spoke to us last Sunday at a church near Austin.\u00a0 The gospel of our risen Savior is changing many hearts in China.\u00a0 And what a joy to see! \u00a0In the children and the old people.\u00a0 In the poor and those with so much yet sensing a personal emptiness of life without God. Hearts stirred from unbelief to faith in their risen Savior.\u00a0 Hearts that burn with the warm glow of peace in him who conquered death and gives us the victory.\u00a0 And they and we didn\u2019t have to walk that road to Emmaus to experience it.<\/p>\n Think about that.\u00a0 How your Savior has come to you in his Word.\u00a0 How he comes to us in his Supper.\u00a0 Think of how that guilt melted away as he gave you his true body and blood for your forgiveness.\u00a0 Think about how your risen Savior greets you now as he did his troubled disciples.\u00a0 How his words, peace be with you<\/span>, warmed your heart with the assurance that no matter how life looks, how it feels, all is well.\u00a0 Peace be with you he says and gives.\u00a0\u00a0 Think about those times.\u00a0 Can\u2019t we say the same as these men?\u00a0 Oh, how our hearts burned within us.<\/span> \u00a0But not just our hearts.\u00a0 Our risen Savior does more than lift hearts.\u00a0 Look here, He lifted their hearts, feet and voices.<\/b><\/p>\n It was night time. They could have waited till morning.\u00a0 But this was too important to wait.\u00a0 So they got on their feet.\u00a0 And they hurried back to Jerusalem.\u00a0 And once there they found the eleven apostles and the others disciples and told them.\u00a0 They told them this heart warming story<\/b> that we get to hear all these years later.<\/p>\n Soon the men and women in that room would head out into the world.\u00a0 The risen Lord would lift their hearts, feet and voices to go and tell a dying world.\u00a0 And they did.\u00a0 And not just those few.\u00a0 Many more.\u00a0 Again and again.\u00a0 The Risen Christ lifted hearts feet and voices until that good news of forgiveness and life came to you.<\/p>\n Now what?\u00a0 The devil would love us to keep these feet still.\u00a0 He would love us to keep our religion to ourselves.\u00a0 But he will not succeed.\u00a0 His people cannot be still or silent.\u00a0 For we know the old, old story of Jesus and his love.\u00a0 We know the heart warming story of our risen victorious Savior.\u00a0 And we know why he has left us here.\u00a0 To tell. To share the good news.\u00a0 Christ is risen.\u00a0 In him is forgiveness and life.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Text:\u00a0 Luke 24: 25-35 Read through the news.\u00a0 \u00a0A young man in Minnesota arrested for planning to murder his mom and dad and put a bomb in his school.\u00a0 A coach arrested for taking terrible advantage of many young people.\u00a0 The people of Syria suffering and dying in a brutal civil war that goes on and on.\u00a0 Monstrous tornadoes sweep […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":535,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534\/revisions\/535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}