Gtcotr/ws941724
Early in the morning, just before sunrise, on the 3rd day after Jesus had been crucified and buried in a garden tomb close by Mount Calvary, He was raised to life by the power of the Holy Spirit. There was an earthquake and the large stone which sealed the entrance to the tomb was rolled away by an angel. The Roman soldiers who were guarding the tomb fell silent and were unable to offer any resistance. That Sunday morning Jesus proved Himself to be the Son of God and victorious over sin, death, hell, and the grave.
First Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene and then to some of the other women who had come to the tomb to properly anoint His dead body for burial. Later that same day Jesus appeared to two of His followers who were walking along the road to Emmaus. At some time during their 2½ to 3-hour walk, Jesus joined these two men and asked what they were discussing and why they were sad. The men were astonished to imagine their new traveling companion was unaware of what had recently taken place in Jerusalem. They did not know they were talking to Jesus.
As they explained what had happened just 3 days earlier, and how the Jewish leaders, along with the Roman government, had killed Jesus. They revealed:
Luke 24:21 “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.”
“We were hoping” … but not anymore. Circumstances we didn’t expect changed our minds about Jesus and about our future.
Jesus had a purpose in talking with these men. He needed them. Jesus needed them to encourage others and to be a witness for Him. However these men had lost all hope in Jesus … they couldn’t see a better day.
How can you encourage anyone else if you cannot encourage yourself? These two men were good men, godly men, they were just going the wrong direction in life and believing the wrong thing. Thankfully, Jesus was with them. I love the fact that Jesus is with us even when we don’t know it and even when we are going the wrong way, thinking the wrong thing.
Luke 24
28 Then they drew near to the
village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone
farther.
·
Jesus still wants and waits to be invited into your
house.
29 But they constrained Him,
saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.”
And He went in to stay with them.
·
It is important we don’t forget our manners. In their
case, their upbringing.
·
Despite their own hurts, heartaches, and hurdles of
life, they did not forget to be kind to strangers.
·
The pain you feel may be the worst pain ever, but not
to others.
o
What makes your pain and disappointment real is that
it’s yours.
o Don’t allow your
pain to make you feel others have no right to theirs.
·
These two men remembered their manners and invited
Jesus to stay.
o
A few things would have happened in the home before
dinner: They would have shown Him a room where He would have washed and
freshened up and got ready for dinner.
o Dinner would have taken place traditionally just before sundown at the closing of the day.
30 Now it came to pass, as He sat
at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and
gave it to them.
·
What a marvelous message of Christ. We see it over and
over again throughout the New Testament how that Jesus:
1.
Jesus Took the Bread
2.
He Blessed the Bread
§ Baruch ata Adonai, Eloheinu Melech
ha-olam, hamotzi lechem min ha'aretz.
§ Blessed are You, Lord our God,
King of the universe, who has brought forth bread from the earth.
3.
He Broke the Bread
4.
And He Gave the Bread
·
He did the same with the fish and loaves. (Matthew 14;
Mark 6)
·
It’s a picture of what God did with Jesus, who is the
Bread of life.
·
It is a picture of what Jesus does with us.
·
This is the process of our lives in the hands of God.
·
The same loving gentle hand that takes us, blesses us,
and breaks/multiplies us, so that He can give us.
·
You can never be fully given if you
cannot be truly broken.
Jesus restored their hope. Jesus had been there with them, encouraging them all along. From their brokenness, from their despair, from their confusion and their total lack of hope, hope rekindled.
Only Jesus could touch that hurting place with a healing hand. Jesus knew how to break through the wall of despair and deliver them. King David said:
Psalm 40 NKJV
2 He also brought me up out of a
horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And
established my steps.
3 He has put a new song in my mouth — Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD.
Luke 24
31 Then their eyes were opened and
they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.
32 And they said to one another,
“Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and
while He opened the Scriptures to us?”
33 So they rose up that very hour
and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with
them gathered together,
34 saying, “The Lord is risen
indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”
35 And they told about the things that
had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of
bread.
·
They knew Jesus in the breaking of the
bread.
·
We also come to know Him deeper in the times we need
Him most.
Life unfolds for us one day at a time. Just because you are sad, disappointed, or lonely today, does not mean these feelings will last forever. Wherever you are in life … if you have lost hope and feel like your world just crashed and that you want to go to bed, pull the covers over your head and go to sleep so you can wake up from this nightmare … Jesus is right there with you.
Jesus will never leave us or forsake us. He is talking to us. The screaming in our head may be drowning out that still small voice trying to comfort you and give you direction.
The two disciples on the road to Emmaus were talking so much they overwhelmed themselves and didn’t even realize that it was Jesus trying to come alongside them to give them hope. This is a picture of what Jesus does with every broken-hearted Believer.
From Joseph to Jochebed, from Mary Magdalene to the mother of Jesus, everyone has encountered disappointment. This world is a cruel dark place and we are here to shine the light. Jesus said, “In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome this world.” And “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in this world.” And “No weapon which is formed against you shall prosper, but every word that rises up against you to judge you, you shall condemn. Because this is your inheritance, and your righteousness is of Me says the Lord.” And, “This is the victory, even your faith.” And “Call upon Me and I will answer you and show you mighty things you have not known.” And “When the enemy comes in, like a flood the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against them.” And “Don’t worry about anything, instead pray about everything. Tell God what you want and thank Him for all He has done.”
Open
your eyes, open your ears, open your heart. “If God is with you, who can be
against you.” In your darkest day, there is still hope. You can come to know
Him closer in the times of breaking. He was known to
them in the breaking of the bread.
