Resurrection. Luke 24 | The Continuous Flame

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2018
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Resurrection. Luke 24

A sermon given by Dr. Rafat Amari on Easter Sunday 2005, based on Luke 24.

Walking Away from the Good News

Luke 24:13 ESV That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.

Disbelief limits people’s movement and makes them journey in the opposite direction from where they are supposed to go.

On the day that witnessed great events and the spread of good news, two individuals who had left everything were on their way to a village called Emmaus. This represents an individual’s isolation from the good news and from those who believed it or remained waiting for God’s work. The disciples on the road to Emmaus believed that, if spiritual matters were uncertain, there was no need to dedicate their lives or exert effort to pursue them. Their departure represented withdrawal from a way of life that had been based on faith in Christ and His promise of eternal life, service, and anticipation of the Messiah’s forthcoming kingdom in this world, which would eventually liberate Israel from the Romans.

Luke 24:14 ESV and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened.

Despite their withdrawal and their distance from the fellowship of the disciples, they could not forget what had happened. The series of events could not be treated as incidental details on the day of the resurrection: the stone had been rolled away, Jesus’ body was missing, two angels had appeared, and the risen Jesus had appeared to Mary Magdalene. The facts about Jesus could not be ignored: His death and resurrection would remain the foremost subject of discussion throughout the lives of those to whom this good news had been proclaimed.

Christ Draws Near to the Disappointed

Luke 24:15 ESV While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.

Conversing with Christ does more than bring awareness of the person with whom one is speaking, Jesus Christ; through the Holy Spirit, it also brings His presence. The person who converses with Christ receives His personal presence through the Holy Spirit. Christ accompanies that person in order to confirm the truth of His sacrifice (redemption) and resurrection. For conversation with Jesus to differ from the other kinds of daily conversation people have, He must be seen and felt in the heart. Jesus continues to be with those who converse with Him until He plants the seed of truth in the heart. Does this not shed light on the significance of the Gospel and the importance of conversing with Jesus about His death and resurrection?

Luke 24:16 ESV But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

There was profound wisdom in their not recognizing Him: they would come to know Him in His death and resurrection through the Scriptures, not only through direct personal experience. By not revealing His identity immediately, Jesus gave them the opportunity to converse with Him and to express all their opinions freely while they still did not recognize Him.

This passage teaches us the importance of God’s wisdom in dealing with the most unsuccessful, disappointed, and hopeless people, especially when significant opportunities are delayed or when they do not see an immediate intervention from God. Spiritual lessons come before seeing miracles. This is the way God develops the character of an unsuccessful and disappointed person, because God wants him to depend on His promise, believe it, and live happily at all times, even when there are no miracles and his expectations have not been fulfilled.

When Sadness Conceals Unbelief

Luke 24:17 ESV And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad.

Sadness on a good and glorious day conceals a lack of faith. Sadness and a sense of failure that have no basis stand in opposition to the greatest success and glory.

This is how the mask of despair conceals a viewpoint opposed to the greatest truth of all: the resurrection. Do our personal convictions agree with God’s work in our lives and His good will for each one of us?

Luke 24:18 ESV Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

It was as though the Lord were the only one who did not know the problems and disappointment they had experienced. Likewise, in times of ordeal, we do not see God’s wisdom or His solution to our problems. We accuse God of not caring about what happens to us, as though He were a stranger who does not feel our pain. We wonder as the prophet Jeremiah wondered:

“O you hope of Israel, its savior in time of trouble, why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who turns aside to tarry for a night?” Jeremiah 14:8 ESV

The crucifixion of Christ was a great shock for the group that followed Him because they assumed that the promised kingdom of God would be established in this world.

Recounting the Cross Without Understanding It

Luke 24:19 ESV And he said to them, “What things?”

He ordered them to review their account of what had caused their disappointment.

Luke 24:19–21 ESV And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.”

Their review contained an accurate account of the crucifixion and its pain and suffering. However, they failed to understand that the cross stood at the center of God’s will for humanity, rather than an earthly deliverance of Israel by the incarnate Christ. The disciples also disregarded the signs they had been given concerning the resurrection, as we see in the following words:

Luke 24:22–24 ESV “Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”

They regarded the clearest signs as uncertain and therefore could not settle the matter. The negative events and difficult circumstances mentioned in our report may be real. But failing to recognize the hand of the Lord behind the clouds, and disregarding the powerful signs of the resurrection, bring no liberation from the gloom and grimness of life or from their effects on the body and soul.

Slow of Heart to Believe

Luke 24:25 ESV And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!”

Jesus was asking for faith from the very circle He had trained and taught. The disciples should have recognized the reality of the resurrection before anyone else, since the Lord Himself had taught them about it before it occurred.

It is truly sad how slowly we move from seeing God’s work to believing it, and from the theoretical study of theology to trust and belief in God’s promises, when we are unprepared to recognize that His work accords with the promises He previously gave us. By ignoring all this, we live in the past with all its sad experiences instead of observing God’s work in our lives.

Luke 24:26 ESV “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”

The death and resurrection of Christ should not have surprised the disciples. Neither should these two events have been difficult to accept and believe, because their occurrence had been foretold in the prophecies of the Old Testament.

Christ Opens the Scriptures

Luke 24:27 ESV And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

How did the resurrected Christ address the doubts and expectations of the disciples and of the others praying in the upper room in Jerusalem? He focused on laying a scriptural foundation for salvation and resurrection by explaining His redemptive death and resurrection. This made the signs of God’s work, as they appeared, clear and beyond doubt. A person grounded in Scripture readily recognizes the signs of fulfillment that God brings into his life; the appearing signs of God’s work will not remain unclear or doubtful to him. God lays a scriptural foundation in the life of every individual because He wants His work to be recognized.

Their Eyes Were Opened

Luke 24:28–34 ESV So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”

How could the one who explained the word of God to them not be invited to sit with them after clearing their doubts and giving them all that spiritual guidance? The one who dispersed the clouds of darkness and revealed divine truth must have held a position of importance above all the disciples who doubted the resurrection and failed to receive it as the fulfillment of the many scriptural prophecies. Did not the man who walked with them deserve recognition and a status higher than all the other disciples? Did He not deserve to be invited into closer fellowship? Was there not a need to know the identity of the man who walked with them, who openly and firmly rebuked their unbelief, and who explained the Scriptures in a way no one else could except the one who had been crucified three days earlier?

It is important for us not only to hear the word of God and its explanation, but also to recognize God’s intention to draw us into deeper fellowship with Him and to seek a deeper relationship with Him. We also need to recognize His intention to enter our homes and share with us the good news of eternal life, just as He broke bread with His disciples.

Stay with Us

Luke 24:29 ESV but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them.

A deep relationship with Jesus and His strong presence in the home are not the fruit of a brief, superficial prayer, but of a commitment to persistent prayer that reaches God’s ears and leaves us wanting nothing but this deep relationship with Him.