The Road and the Bread

I. A Generation of Nones 00:04

Lord, we pray this morning, as we come before you, that you would unfold the truth of your word, unfold all these things that Scripture says concerning you. And Lord, I pray that you would open our hearts, set them awake, that they may burn within us as we learn the truth of your resurrection. In Jesus’ name, amen.

So I had an interesting meeting this week at CVCS, Capistrano Valley Christian Schools. Some of you go there; some of you know what it is. They wanted to do an outreach to the local churches and have some pastors come and meet, and they had a buddy of mine, Dr. Sean McDowell, who was going to talk about this new generation, Gen Z, and how to reach the newest generation. It was a really fascinating conversation, less of a lecture and more of a back-and-forth. But one thing that stuck out to me, and that has been all over the news and the media, is this new survey that says that for the first time in recent history more people claim to be “nones” when it comes to their original religious affiliation (you give them a bunch of options, and they click “none” or scribble “none” into the box) than claim to be Christian or claim to have faith at all. Forty-eight percent of this newest generation supposedly marked the box for “none,” the vast majority.

And that’s something to think about. We are living in a world that is different than it used to be. But let me just remind you: it’s the same as it has always been. In fact, look back at the early disciples, who had just suffered the death of their Lord on a cross by the government. The government came in and took their taxes, and they’re so mad? No, the government came in and crucified their Lord. And if you were to give a religious survey, the number of Christians would have numbered on both hands, maybe a couple; you can do a few dozen, maybe.

And yet we see statistics like that, and sometimes our reaction is to panic: “Oh, this godless world, this godless culture.” There’s nothing you can do or believe to make this a godless world. Let me tell you: God is everywhere. And the story today, about these disciples of Jesus who knew the story of Jesus’ life but didn’t believe, can be hope for us. Because there are a lot of people in our world who know the story of Jesus’ life, but their eyes are closed and they see him not.

So as we talk through this, I’m going to be talking to us, but I want us to be thinking about them. I want us to be thinking about all those people in the world who don’t know the joy of our salvation. It’s truly good news, and yet we treat it like it’s our shameful secret. I was joking with somebody the other day who was like, “Oh, this lady at my work knew I was a Christian, and she came up to me and was encouraging me, and she was like, ‘Oh, I’ve been praying for you.’” And I was like, she’s embarrassed to have it known among her co-workers.

II. Walking the Wrong Direction 03:25

I hear stories like that, and I have my own inclinations to try to keep these things hush. I don’t want to deal with the implications of being a Christian existing in the world. I want to encourage you to remember that these people, everyone in the entire world, are built by their loving Creator with a need, not just a desire but a need, to be loved and saved by our Lord Jesus Christ. And even as I preach this message, like I said, it’s really to us, but we need to be transformed for them, because they need to know that Jesus not only died but actually rose again.

And that’s what we’re dealing with this morning as we look at the road to Emmaus, in Luke chapter 24, beginning in verse 13. It says:

13 That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. Luke 24.13–14

So first of all, these are disciples of Jesus, probably among the seventy. You had the Twelve, the inner circle, and you had the seventy. So they were very close with Jesus. Who knows how long they’d been walking with him. And they’re leaving Jerusalem, because the last thing they knew had happened was that Jesus was crucified on a cross. Their whole worldview, their whole identity, everything they had put their hopes and dreams in, was crushed and crucified.

And so what did they do with their pain and their dejection? They ran away. They left Jerusalem. They packed their bags and they went home. And what day did they go home? Easter day. Jesus is literally showing up to his disciples, saying, “I am risen,” and these people are on their way home.

How many of us have dreams and hopes that look like they’ve been crushed, and we’re waiting, and it’s been three days, and we’re like, “Oh gosh, I just can’t hold on to hope anymore. I’m done. I’m dejected. I’m heartbroken.” And we pack up and go home. And Jesus is like, “I’m coming. I’m here. I have the answer. I am the God of resurrection. Who cares if your dreams were crucified?”

III. Their Eyes Were Kept from Recognizing Him 05:46

Now, I say all that to say that all of us can identify with these disciples. Whatever they were hoping for, however they thought it would happen, it didn’t happen, and they’re going to go back to their daily lives, and they’re heartbroken. In that moment, in verse 15:

15 While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. Luke 24.15–16

Now, this is a really interesting scripture. I’ve heard several different people talk about why maybe they couldn’t see Jesus. My proposal this morning is that when your heart is sick and broken, it’s really hard to see the truth, even if it’s staring you in the face. When your hope is deferred, what does it say in Scripture? It makes your heart sick (Prov 13.12). It makes your heart blind as well.

In fact, Shakespeare of course makes use of this in many of his romantic comedies, where the person thinks they’ve been completely rejected, and somebody tries to explain to them, “Oh no, she’s really in love with this guy. She wrote this great love letter.” And they’re like, “Oh, great, she’s in love with somebody else.” And then they say, “No, it’s you.” And it’s this eye-opening moment for the person who was lost and now is found. We know this is true, and it’s in all of our stories: somebody who has been heartbroken, who has lost hope, cannot see the goodness in the world. Their eyes have been cast down, and they couldn’t recognize Jesus.

So that’s my psychological interpretation. I don’t know; there may be more spiritual things going on. But I think it takes very little to identify with these disciples who couldn’t see the truth staring them in the face. But man, the grace of Jesus. They’re running from Jerusalem, they’re dejected, they’ve given up hope, they don’t recognize him, and yet Jesus walks with them. Jesus is willing to engage with them in that place of brokenness and doubt.

17 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. Luke 24.17

IV. We Had Hoped 08:02

That’s just kind of a funny scripture. There are not a lot of descriptive words in Scripture, but this is one of the only times: how did they look? They looked sad.

18 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?” Luke 24.18

“Are you an idiot? Are you blind? How do you not know?”

19 And he said to them, “What things?” 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, 20 and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.” Luke 24.19–20

That line is telling, in my mind, because they’re basically like, “We had this hope, and these awful people ruined it.” It’s really interesting to me, and maybe I’m reading too much into it. But anytime our hope is deferred or we lose something, we’re very quick to find who’s to blame. Very quick. There’s not a lot of talk about what God’s doing in this situation, but there’s a lot of talk about what those chief priests and rulers did. There’s a lot of talk about how that company denied your claim, or how that boss fired you when you were supposed to be promoted, or that thing. And we lose track of the fact that, like I said, it doesn’t matter what we do: this world is God’s world. Our lives are orchestrated by him, regardless of how we view the situation.

So the chief priests delivered him to death, “but we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” We had hoped. Augustine writes about this passage: “O you disciples, you had hope. Your hope has died. Don’t you know your Savior is here? Your resurrected King is right with you.” And you can hear in Augustine that he’s wrestling with this, because he’s thinking about what a tragic moment it is. The whole story kind of revolves on this. That could be the end for these disciples: “We had hoped.” And so they keep explaining:

Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. 22 Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, 23 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. 24 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. Luke 24.21–24

V. Some Women of Our Company 10:18

Let’s take us back a few centuries here. What are they saying? They’re saying, “Those dumb women had some vision that an angel showed up and told them he was alive, but we don’t know what that means.” That’s really what’s happening in this passage. They’re blinded by the fact that women brought the message.

That’s pretty remarkable. Nowadays we’re like, “Oh my gosh, those awful people.” But you’ve got to understand the cultural context here. The Jewish law and the Roman law did not allow women to bring testimony in a trial case. They were second-class citizens. They didn’t bear the truth. They were flighty. They were described by all these things. They were dismissed.

Why am I harping on this? I’m harping on this to say: look at your own heart. Who do you dismiss as a possible bringer of the good news in your life? Who do you not listen to because, “Oh, that person, that group of people”? Be careful. God might be talking to them for you.

And furthermore, it’s really fascinating that this early splinter group within Judaism that started Christianity is willing to tell the story how it actually happened. These disciples looked pretty dumb. And not only that, they’re willing to say it was the women whom Jesus entrusted with the message of his resurrection, even though they knew everyone in that culture would dismiss the testimony of the women. There’s something true about this. They’re willing to tell the story even though it shows their misogyny, even though it shows their flaws, even though it shows that God did not do it “properly.” He did not show up to the leaders, the men who could bring the testimony. He showed up to the women, the only people who went to the tomb that morning. Let me remark on that.

VI. Slow of Heart 12:49

So this is what happens to these people. They have all the data. In fact, read their paragraph summary. What did they say? Jesus died; he was going to be the Redeemer of Israel; and the angel said he has risen. They have the Apostles’ Creed in their complaint to Jesus. Buried in there is the core of our faith: Jesus was rejected by the chief priests and rulers, he died to redeem Israel, and he was raised from the dead. They have all of the info, all of the data, but their hearts are sick. Their hearts are broken.

The problem was that they had already figured out what all of this meant. Because of their sadness, because of their brokenness, because of this moment of hope deferred, this moment of unbelievable tragedy, they decided, “Well, he must have just been one of those failed Messiahs.” I think we forget sometimes that there were other people in the Jewish tradition who said, “I’m the Messiah,” and then were killed by the Romans. So they said, “Well, he was just one of those. Jesus came, and he had this project to save us, and he failed.” That’s what they’ve decided.

How often do we, in our own brokenness, our own hope, say, “Jesus had this great project going for me, and he failed me,” or “I failed him”? Don’t you know that Jesus knew you would fail before you failed, and he prepared a way before you for redemption, for healing, for hope? There’s nothing you can do that can separate you from the love of God (Rom 8.38–39). And I will argue there’s nothing you can do that can separate you from the purposes of God in your life. You can make it really hard. You can choose the way of difficult brokenness. But God is near to you even then. These disciples are running from Jerusalem, from the purposes of God, from the resurrection, and Jesus comes alongside them.

Now, he’s also not the kind, merciful Jesus who comes and says, “Oh, I’m so sorry you’re feeling downtrodden.” What does he say to them after they say, “We’re heartbroken, our leader’s been killed, everything’s falling apart”? In verse 25:

25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. Luke 24.25–27

You know what I take from this passage? The path to intellectual belief is actually through your heart. The path to your belief is through your heart. Because what does he call them? He doesn’t say “slow of wit.” He says “slow of heart.” It’s not that you don’t know. It’s that you don’t know in that biblical sense: your heart has been kicked out of whack by this tragic situation. And you see this throughout. They’re slow of heart. They did not see him. Their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And later on, what do they say when Jesus explains everything? “Our hearts burned within us.” There was heart work that needed to happen. Now, he did explain throughout all of Scripture the truth, intellectually, interpretively, exegetically. He explained to them what everything meant. But it was the heart work that he was really doing. They’re both essential, but the heart kept them from seeing.

VII. A Suffering Messiah 16:29

Okay, why was it so hard? Let’s just emphasize one more time how absurd God’s plan was. “I’m going to send my Son. He’s going to do miracles. He’s going to gather a following that wants him to be the king of the world. And then I’m going to send him to be betrayed and crucified.” It doesn’t make any sense.

In fact, I’ve been reading Aristotle lately. If you didn’t know I was a dork yet, you know now. I’ve been reading the Nicomachean Ethics. It’s for a paper I’ve got to write. And did you know that one of Aristotle’s virtues (and he was the chief moral philosopher of Jesus’ day) is pride? Like, that’s a good thing. Do you know what he means by pride? He means you are acting according to your station and your actions, and you get what you deserve. So if you’re a noble man, you get noble things. If you’re a wicked man, you get wicked things.

What did Jesus do? He was a noble man, in fact the noblest of all men. What was his lineage? Aristotle loves lineage. His lineage was the Son of God. There is no higher lineage. And what did he get? What everybody else deserved: the cross. That’s not Aristotle’s virtue of pride.

And let me tell you, the Romans perfected Aristotle’s virtue of pride. They may not have known the other ones, but they knew pride. They were always playing these games to make sure they got what they wanted. And we see that even in the Jewish religious leaders. They’re playing games to show, “I am the first. I am the most preeminent. I am getting what I deserve.”

It’s hard for us, because we’ve lived with the story for two thousand years, and it’s actually shaped the entire world and how we think. But imagine a culture that celebrates pride confronted with Jesus, a king who dies on a cross. It’s absurd. He failed at exactly the project he set out to accomplish, or so they would have thought. But then he talks through the Scripture.

VIII. Was It Not Necessary? 18:49

And this one line stuck out to me: “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Was it not necessary? And then he explains in the scriptures how this all happens.

And I know everyone in the world who loves the Bible has thought about this passage and thought, “Man, if I could have been there with Jesus explaining throughout all the scriptures who he is, like on the road to Emmaus, my heart would be burning.” You have this desire that you could have heard Jesus explain the scriptures and what they say concerning himself. And today I want to tell you, guess what: you actually have this guy, the Holy Spirit, this entity who is here within you to explain in Scripture the entirety of what it says concerning Jesus. If you are a Christian, God has not left you comfortlessness… comfort… I don’t know what word I was trying to say there. But God has not left you without a Comforter (John 14.18), without an interpreter, without somebody who can help you understand the scriptures, so you can walk the road to Emmaus in your own life and see where God shows himself in the scriptures.

You do have to open the book, though. You do have to actually get into the word. And you might want to ask him to be present when you do that. Let me rephrase: you should ask him to be present when you do that, and to help you understand.

I’m going to take this one step further. If you have a heartbreaking situation in your life, something you do not understand, maybe something that even now, when you think of it, brings tears to your eyes, I would ask that you bring that situation to God, just like these disciples did. They shared their hurt with Jesus, even though they didn’t know it was him. And Jesus explained how it was necessary that he should suffer these things. He explained their hurt. He didn’t take away their hurt. He opened up the perspective, God’s perspective, on their situation.

And maybe there are situations where God might say, “Was it not necessary that Micah should suffer these things, to enter into his glory? That Jeff should suffer these things? That Mrs. Okie” (going back to the old days), “Mrs. Oakley-Dokeley, should suffer these things, to enter into glory? Was it not necessary that you experience the situation, that I might bring you goodness, glory?” Bring Jesus, the Holy Spirit within you, into your place of brokenness, and ask him to help you understand. I’m not saying he’s going to just make it all better. But I am saying they call the Holy Spirit the Comforter for a reason. And I’d much rather view my situation from his perspective than from my heartsick perspective, which we know can be so blind. Make sure you invite Jesus with you on your road to Emmaus.

IX. Known in the Breaking of the Bread 21:01

Let’s continue in verse 28:

28 So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, 29 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. Luke 24.28–29

Let me just tell you: it doesn’t matter how smart you are, how much revelation you have, how much understanding you bring to your situation. If you don’t ask Jesus to come in and be with you, you’re still lost. Imagine a situation where these disciples just let Jesus keep going on his way, and they just talk to each other: “Man, how interesting, that teacher who just walked by.” They still didn’t recognize him. They had all the answers, their hearts were burning within them, and they didn’t recognize him until they invited him to come in and dine with them. That’s our life. You can have all the answers, but until you invite Jesus into your heart to dine with you, you don’t have anything.

All right, so what happens then?

30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. 32 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?” Luke 24.30–32

This is what we’re doing today. We are opening the scriptures to talk about Jesus. That’s what we do when we sing these wonderful worship songs that declare the goodness of God. We take the scriptural truths and we put them into melody, and we sing so that we might be formed by our praise and worship, so that our minds might be contemplating Christ, that our hearts might burn within us. Then we read the scriptures and we listen, and we hope that the Holy Spirit inspires us and our hearts burn within us. And then I get up here, or Bishop or Father Powell, and we open up the scriptures, and hopefully your heart burns within you.

But all of that is so that when we go to the breaking of the bread, you may know him in the breaking of the bread. Because let me tell you one thing: it doesn’t matter how you feel, he is here. It doesn’t matter what you believe, he is here. It doesn’t matter what you’re carrying, the Healer is here. And when you kneel down, or now we walk through and you dip it in the cup, or you take the cup, and you eat the bread, you are encountering the real presence of God.

So what do we learn from this? Well, I’ll just tell you one thing. When you come to church on Sunday mornings, when you come to any Eucharist service, ask God to open your heart and open your ears, that your heart might burn within you, that you might be changed as you understand and hear his word. And then when you come to the Eucharist, take a moment. Take a breath. Know that you’re encountering the presence of God. We do this every week, and we get really good at that walk-by-and-dip: “I got it, we’re good to go.” Take a moment. Take a breath. I’m not saying you have to do anything weird or wonky. Jesus is here whether you pay attention or not. But I am asking that you pay attention. He is here.

X. Into the Mission 25:35

And then at the end (I told you this whole sermon is really about them), what do they do?

33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. Luke 24.33–35

There’s this philosopher-theologian who says: what happened when Jesus disappeared after they knew him in the breaking of the bread? And he said that he disappeared into the mission of the church, into the body of the church, who would then go out and be Jesus, an image of Christ, to the world. They were activated in that moment to go share the good news.

And then as we go through this Easter, we remark on the beauty of the resurrection. We’re heading toward Pentecost. I love the liturgical season, because there’s always the next thing God’s leading us toward. And we’re heading toward Pentecost, where these same people get empowered by the Holy Spirit to change the entire world.

I was driving through somewhere the other day, and it was like church, block, church. Every one of those is because of these guys, the disciples on the road to Emmaus, who found Jesus in the breaking of the bread. What could happen if you were activated in the same way, if you knew him in the breaking of the bread and were empowered by his Holy Spirit to bring the good news to those who are lost and dying in the world? I know my life’s been changed. I want theirs to be changed too. Amen.

Let’s end with prayer.

Lord, I just pray once again that you would open our eyes to see how you’re moving in our midst, that you’d set our hearts to blaze, that we might burn for you, and that you’d make yourself known to us in the breaking of the bread as we join you at this Eucharistic table. In Jesus’ name, amen.