1.
Grace,
mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. Amen. The message from God’s Word for this 3rd
Sunday of Easter is taken from Luke 24:13-25 and it’s entitled, “Jesus Opens Our Minds to the Scriptures,” dear
brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
Christian on this day you confirm your faith in
your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ remember that you are standing before God and
this congregation reaffirming the saving faith that God gave to you as an
infant on the day you were baptized. Your
confirmation day isn’t a graduation from the church, but only the beginning of
your life with God and His Church. As
you confirm your faith you are saying that you will stand with Christ’s church
on earth to confess His name before men, even if that means you may suffer
death for your belief in Jesus Christ as your Savior. And this many people have done from age to
age in the church’s life. You have been
taught and instructed in the 6 chief parts of Luther’s Small Catechism and have
had the Scriptures opened to you to see that Jesus is at the heart and center
of them. Now today you are confirming
the Christian faith into which you’ve been taught.
3.
Emmaus
was a small village outside of Jerusalem. The two men walking from Jerusalem to
Emmaus were discouraged disciples who had no reason to be discouraged. They’d
heard the reports of the women that the tomb was empty and that Jesus was
alive, but they didn’t believe them. They’d hoped that Jesus would redeem
Israel (Luke 24:21), but their hopes had been shattered. We get the impression
that these men were disappointed because God didn’t do what they wanted Him to
do. They saw the glory of the kingdom, but they failed to understand the
suffering.
4.
Jesus
graciously walked with them and listened to their conversation (Luke 24:17). No
doubt they were quoting Old Testament prophecies and trying to remember what
Jesus had taught, but they were unable to put it all together and come up with
an explanation that made sense. Was Jesus a failure or a success? Why did He
have to die? Was there a future for the nation?
5.
There’s
a touch of humor in Luke 24:19 when Jesus asked them in the middle of their
conversation, “What things?” Jesus had
been at the heart of all that had happened in Jerusalem, and now He was asking
them to tell Him what occurred! How patient our Lord is with us as He
listens to us tell Him what He already knows (Rom. 8:34). But we may come
“boldly” to His throne and pour out our hearts to Him, and He will help us (Ps.
62:8; Heb. 4:16). Did you notice that
the longer Cleopas talked, the more he accused himself and his friend for their
unbelief. What more evidence could they want? Witnesses, including the
Apostles, had seen the tomb empty. Angels had announced that Jesus was alive.
Witnesses had seen Him alive and heard Him speak. The proof was there!
6.
“Faith comes by hearing, and
hearing by the word of Christ”
(Rom. 10:17). This explains why Jesus opened the Word to these two men as the
three of them walked to Emmaus. Their real problem wasn’t in their heads but in
their hearts (see Luke 24:25 and 32, and v. 38). They could’ve discussed the
subject for days and never arrived at a good answer. What they needed was a
fresh understanding of the Word of God, and Jesus gave that understanding to
them. He opened the Scriptures and then their eyes, and they realized that
Jesus wasn’t only alive but right there
with them! This is what God does
through our parents, grandparents, pastors, and teachers, He uses them to open
the scriptures up to us through the Holy Spirit’s help in order that we may
understand and believe the Christian faith, like the Lord has done for you
through confirmation class.
7.
So
the main point of the text here in Luke 24 is that Jesus opens the Scriptures
for these two men. That’s the turning
point. As these men begin to understand
the Scripture, and more especially the life and work of Jesus in light of
Scripture, their sadness departs and they return to Jerusalem rejoicing. The deepest cause of their sadness hadn’t
been Jesus’ death. Not even His death by
crucifixion. What was crushing their
hearts is expressed in their words, “We
had hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel.” “We had hoped,” they said, with so
pathetic a use of the past tense. We
hope no more, they say. Their Master,
Jesus, is dead in the grave. They
believe that buried with Jesus are all their hopes that He was the promised
Messiah. That ended their dream. But, Jesus pointed them to the Word of God,
where there’s a clear account of the Messiah’s suffering and His victory. Had they only believed, they would’ve been
spared much misery and avoided that false conception of the Messiah’s work. They would’ve realized that this work was
greater than they had believed, not to deliver a small nation from Caesar’s
rule and taxes but to deliver all nations from Satan’s rule. Then they would’ve believed Christ’s own word
that He would rise again, and what they saw on Good Friday couldn’t have
brought them such despair. And on Easter
morning they wouldn’t have gone to the tomb to anoint a dead body but to meet a
living Christ.
8.
It’s
just when we go back to the old grind we remember “Christ is risen!” It’s just when we face a HUGE problem that we
believe “Christ is risen!” It’s just
when we stand at the grave of a loved one that we have hope because “Christ is risen!” It’s just when we find
our steps heavy, our spirits sagging, and our hearts growing cold that we “hear and taste” in the Scriptures the
goodness of the Lord (cf. Ps 34:8).
9.
Once
again Jesus walks with us. He speaks to us in his Word. He opens to us the
Scriptures. He opens our eyes to see. And our hearts are warmed. Sad hearts are filled with joy. Troubled hearts are filled with peace. Weak hearts are filled with strength. Doubtful and despairing hearts are
filled with hope. Lukewarm hearts are
filled with conviction. Cold hearts
are burning with faith and hope. We know
and believe that there’s no sin he doesn’t forgive, there’s no hurt he doesn’t
heal, and there’s no emptiness he doesn’t fill. Jesus brings our hearts from
hopelessness to hearts burning with abounding joy!
10.
What
a lesson for us! As we walk along the
path of life, how much grief we would spare ourselves. How many disappointments, fears of the
future, doubts of God’s love and the Savior’s constant care, if we only had a
better knowledge of and a firmer trust in the Word of God. That’s my prayer for you Christian as you
confirm your Christian faith today, that you would have a firm trust in the
promises of God’s Word in Jesus Christ your Savior. If we would only and always remember that in
His Word, Jesus comes to us and abides with us!
How blessed the assurance that there’s no time in our live when the
risen Lord isn’t with us—in war and in peace, at work and at rest, in health
and in sickness, in life and in death.
And when Jesus is with us, all is well.
That’s the blessing of Easter that we share with these two disciples.
11.
Prayer: Abide
with us Lord Jesus! Abide in our homes
and in our hearts. Open our eyes to see
You, our minds to know You, our hearts to give heed to You and to Your
Word. Be our companion on the way of
life, and teach us in the perils of the day and in the darkness of the night to
trust in Your loving care. Above all,
when the evening of our life turns into night, abide with us in that last
trial, and keep us safe until we see You face to face in our Father’s
house. Amen.
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