Luke 24
Our reading today will be Luke
chapter 24 verses 1 through 53. It’s the chapter in its entirety. As we did last week, we are fast
forwarding ahead in Luke. We’re in our weekly studies in
chapter 8. Last week, we looked at the triumphal
entry, Jesus sweeping over Jerusalem and other events, cleansing the
temple. That was in chapter 19. Today
we skip ahead to the last chapter of Luke’s orderly account written
to Theophilus. And we want to look at three
little stories, three little vignettes from after the resurrection. So let us hear God’s word together. But on the first day of the week,
at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they
had prepared. They found the stone was rolled
away from the tomb, and when they went in, they did not find
the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about
this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And
they were frightened. They bowed their faces to the
ground and the men said to them, why do you seek the living among
the dead? He is not here, but he has risen. Remember how he told you while
he was still in Galilee that the son of man must be delivered
into the hands of sinful men and be crucified on the third
day and rise. And they remembered his words
and returning from the tomb, they told all these things to
the 11 and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene and
Joanna and Mary, the mother of James and the other women with
them who told these things to the apostles. But these words
seemed to them an idle tale and they did not believe them. But
Peter rose and ran to the tomb, stooping and looking in, he saw
the linen cloths by themselves, and he went home marveling at
what had happened. That very day, two of them were
going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other
about all these things and what had taken place. And while they
were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went
with them. But their eyes were kept from
recognizing him. And he said to them, what is
this conversation that you were holding with each other as you
walk? They stood still looking sad. And one of them named Cleopas
answered him, are you not the only visitor to Jerusalem who
does not know the things that have happened there in these
days? And he said to them, what things? And they said to him
concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet, mighty
indeed and word before God and all the people and how our chief
priest and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and
crucified him. But we had hoped 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.
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 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 they found it just as the women had said,
but him they did not see. And he said to them, Oh, foolish
ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Was it not necessary? that the Christ should suffer
these things and enter into his glory. And beginning with Moses
and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures
the things concerning himself. 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 it 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. They found the 11 and those who
were with them gathered together saying, the Lord has risen indeed
and has appeared to Simon. Then they told what had happened
on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking of the
bread. As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood
among them. And he said to them, peace to
you. They were startled, they were
frightened, and they thought they saw a spirit. And he said
to them, why are you troubled? And why did doubts arise in your
hearts? See my hands, see my feet, that
it is I myself. Touch me and see, for a spirit
does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. And when
he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while
they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, He said to
them, have you anything here to eat? They gave him a piece
of broiled fish. He took it and ate it before
them. Then he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to
you while I was still with you, that everything written about
me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must
be fulfilled. And he opened their minds to
understand the scriptures and said to them, thus it is written
that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from
the dead. and that repentance and forgiveness
of sins should be proclaimed in Jesus name to all nations
beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things
and behold, I am sending the promise of my father upon you,
but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on
high. Then he led them out as far as Bethany. and lifting up
his hands, he blessed them. And while he blessed them, he
parted from them and was carried up into heaven and they worshiped
him. And they returned to Jerusalem
with great joy and were continually in the temple, blessing God. Let us pray together. Lord, we
ask that this day as your word is opened before our eyes, that
you would Move our hearts to believe what is written herein
for our salvation, for our obedience, for our worship. We pray that
our hearts would burn within us as your word is read and explained
and proclaimed. We pray that we would see Jesus
in the law, the Psalms, the prophets, that we would see the whole of
human history hinges on the person and the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We pray that We would not have
disbelieving hearts. We pray that we would not have
doubts. We would not have uncertainties, but that by your spirit and through
your word, we would know for sure that we have a savior, a
risen savior, even Jesus Christ. And we ask all of this in his
mighty name, we pray. Amen. All of us want to be part
of a story. All of us want to enter into
a story and be a great part of it. I mean, what, a few weeks
ago it was March Madness. We had our teams, we had our
brackets, and we wanted our Cinderella team to make it, our national
championship contenders to make it. We followed, we watched,
we checked for updates. The heartbreaks, the losses,
the upsets, they were part of our lives for several weeks.
Some of you want to be part of celebrities’ lives. And so you
get People magazine, right? We look at it in the grocery
store, but some of you buy it. You want to know what Brangelina
are doing, and who’s getting divorced, who’s getting married,
who’s having a baby. We want to know and be a part
of the lives of celebrities. This week, I received a number
of texts from people. They were alerting me to the
fact that the great Notre Dame Cathedral was on fire. It was
something that all of us felt a part of. It’s our religion. The Christian faith has existed
there for many years. It’s a piece of history, a piece
of architecture. workmanship, its craftsmanship
is probably not replaceable in our day and age. And so we were
all part of that story. We want to be part of a larger
story. And so we we watch sitcoms, we we watch period television
shows, we we follow it, we Watch it diligently. We’re a part of
that story. We desperately want to be part
of a grander narrative. Well, let me encourage you today
by reminding you, by showing you that you are part of a larger
story. And that story is the story of
redemption. That in real space, in real time,
in real human history, God, the creator of all things, made the
world and everything in it. And he put man and woman into
a garden. Their job was to dress it, to
keep it, to till it, to make it produce. And their job was
to worship him and to obey him. He gave them a command, you shall.
eat of all the trees of the garden freely, but of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it, for in the
day you eat of it, you will surely die. Whether we like it or not,
we’re part of this grand story, this grand story of the scriptures,
where mankind has fallen into sin and misery, where mankind
has fallen into a lost estate. We are estranged from Almighty
God. We are under his wrath, under
his curse. But a good, wonderful part of
this grand story is this, that God, from before the foundation
of the world, as he knew that man would sin and rebel, he made
this covenant of redemption. Some of you have been studying
this on Sunday mornings in the adult elective class, the covenant
of redemption where God, the father and God, the son and God,
the Holy Spirit said, we will redeem a people from this enslaved,
sinful human race. We will redeem a people for ourselves.
And Jesus said, I will be that redeemer. And so as we read through
the pages of the Bible, and let me encourage you, if you’re not
reading through the Bible in a year, this is a very helpful
tool. As you see in Luke chapter 24,
it was the scriptures, all of the scriptures that made sense
of Jesus suffering, dying and rising. It was the law. It was the prophets. It was the
Psalms that Jesus used to explain to his disciples. This is why
I did what I did. And this is why you don’t understand. So let me encourage you, read
your Bibles, read them through, read them through over and over
year by year. But we see in the pages of scripture
is we make it through the law. We see God interacting with his
people in Genesis. He calls Abram out of pagan worship. Out of Ur of the Chaldeans, he
calls them to the promised land. He calls them out of a pagan
lifestyle, a lifestyle of pagan worship in a pagan land and says,
come to Israel, come to the promised land. We see the ancestors of
Abraham through Isaac and Jacob and on through history, the redemption
of the people of Israel from enslavement in Egypt. We see
them in the wilderness. We see them entering the promised
land. We see the rise of the kingdom
with Saul and David and Solomon. We see the kingdom split. We
see the ministry of the prophets. We see Israel being exiled by
the Assyrians and then later the southern tribe of Judah. Even Jerusalem destroyed by the
Babylonians, the people of God carried off into exile and then
God bringing them back, the temple being rebuilt, and then a period
of history where the Romans take over Israel. And then into this
busy world comes Jesus. The announcement made to Mary,
the little one being born in Bethlehem in a stable to Mary
and Joseph, the, the little boy in the temple, the, the, the
man, Jesus, the temptation in the wilderness, the baptism by
John and the river Jordan, the beginnings of Jesus ministry,
all this we’ve looked at in our study of Luke so far, we’re,
we’re part of this story. We’re part of this grand story
of redemption where God, the father, God, the son, God, the
Holy spirit seek to redeem a people. It’s interesting, I read an article
this week in World Magazine, I believe, and it was talking
about how the story of redemption that is in the Bible, a story
that we’re all part of, mind you, has sparked so much wonderful
literature in the world. I mean, you would not have Tolkien. if it weren’t for the Bible.
You wouldn’t have the trilogies. You wouldn’t have the C.S. Lewis
Chronicles of Narnia. You wouldn’t have many wonderful
pieces of literature that we enjoy that are, in a sense, small
stories of redemption. You see, God has set a pattern
in this story, this story of which we are a part, that there’s
always a hero. There’s always a problem. There’s
always a rescue needed. And here in Luke’s gospel, As
it was put forth on the pages of the law, as it was explained
in the Psalms and in the prophets. Here we see a zeroing in, a microscopic
look at a portion of some of the greatest moments. of this
story of redemption, this gospel story. We get the big picture,
don’t we? We get creation. We get the history
of Israel. We get the prophets and the exiles
and the returns and the temples. We understand all that. We see
the life of Jesus. But here it zeroes in on the
person and the work of the Lord Jesus and how it benefits us. This is a wondrous gospel story,
and it takes place in three little pictures, three little vignettes.
First, there’s the women, Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of
James, Joanna. We’ve heard of some of them before,
right? In chapter eight, one through three, we studied a few
weeks ago, Jesus itinerant ministry was supported by many of these
women. Joanna, the wife of one of Herod’s stewards. There was
Mary Magdalene who had been healed of several demonic or evil spirits. There’s Mary, the mother of James,
and there’s many others. And these women on the night
Jesus died, a Friday, also called the day of preparation because
it was the day you got ready for Sabbath. I don’t know how
many of you still lay your clothes out on Saturdays. I don’t know
how many of you still maybe get a casserole up and on Sunday
morning you put it in the oven on a timer, but it used to be
that way. Now we’re busy. Now we just go
to Biscuitville or whatever after church, but we, we, we, we rush
around. But the day of preparation for
the Jew was, was Friday. You got ready. You got ready
for Sabbath because as you well know from your study of the law,
you had to keep the law perfectly. The Sabbath was a special day.
It was a day of rest, a day of worship. Remember the story of
Israel in the wilderness when there was manna for the other
days, it was enough. But before Sunday, you gathered
extra because you could not go out on Sunday and gather. And
so this Sabbath principle was ingrained in these women’s lives. And so as Jesus died on Friday,
they prepared spices and ointments. They saw that Jesus died. They
saw he was brought down from the cross. They saw where he
was laid in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. And then they kept
the Sabbath. And so for an entire Sabbath,
they waited. And on the first light of Sunday,
on the first light of what would become the Lord’s Day, the day
of Christian worship, because Jesus was raised from the dead,
they were at the tomb before the sun had begun to heat up. They were at the tomb before
anyone else could be there. They kept the Sabbath. But as
soon as it was lawful, as soon as they were able, they were
there at the tomb. And the next little story is
with the 11. Remember, there’s not 12 because
Judas had betrayed Jesus. And after Judas betrayed Jesus,
he took his own life. And so there were 11. And there’s
11 who hear the story of these women, but don’t believe they
believe it to be an idle tale. And then the next story, there’s
There’s the two men on the road to Emmaus, Cleopas, we don’t
know much about, but he’s named. And then the other, we don’t
know. Some suspect it to be his wife. We don’t exactly know who
it is, but they’re on the road to Emmaus from Jerusalem, about
a seven mile trip. They are talking about the events
of the suffering and death and crucifixion of the Lord Jesus.
And Jesus walks with them. And then there’s Jesus appearing
to the 11 who disbelieved the women’s account, but saw the
risen Christ as he appeared with them. There’s these three little
vignettes and there’s something similar about all three. The
first is this, they don’t remember what Jesus has told them. And
how many times as you read through the gospel does it say about
Jesus, I’m going to Jerusalem. And when I get to Jerusalem,
I’m going to die. I mean, how clear could he have
been? How much more clear? He had said
it. I’m going to suffer. I’m going to die. I’m going to
fall into the hands of wicked men. They will scorn me. They will ridicule me. They will
treat me unjustly and I will die in their hands. How many
times had they read their Bibles as they went to synagogue, as
they went to temple and heard the law read, the Torah or the
prophets read? Or how many times have they heard
the Psalms read? I mean, they have to remember Psalm 22, where
in Psalm 22, it’s what Jesus quotes on the cross. My God,
my God, why have you forsaken me? Or how many times have they
heard the wonderful story of Genesis 22, where God tells Abraham,
I want you to do something for me. I want you to take your only
son, Isaac, the one whom you love and take him to a mountain. A mountain I will show you and
there sacrifice him on the altar as an act of worship to me. How
many times have they heard that story and seen that on the mountain
the Lord had provided that there was a ram in the thicket, a substitute
who died in the place of Isaac? Did they not realize that every
time they went up to Jerusalem to worship, that at that mountain
in Jerusalem, that was Mount Moriah where Abraham centuries
ago had taken his son and bound him and laid him on an altar.
And as he was ready to plunge the knife into his son and to
offer him as a sacrifice, a voice from heaven said, stop, for now
I know Abraham that you believe me. Did they not see that now
a different father was offering up his only son on an altar?
And that this time the wrath of God poured forth and that
that only son did die. He was the substitute. He was
the ram in the thicket. And you go through the Bible,
you go through the law, you go through the prophets, you go
through the Levitical worship, the particulars of covenant life. Did it not go ding, ding, ding
in their heads? Did not their eyes open and say,
yes, this all makes sense now. It’s all coming together. No,
it didn’t. They forgot. And they went to the tomb, the
ladies did, and he wasn’t there. They were perplexed, it says.
They should have known. And then the 11, the women came
and said, yes, he’s risen. And what did they say? No, he’s
not. I mean, these were the 11. These
were 11 of the 12 Jesus prayed for up on the mountain and God
gave to him as apostles. They’ve been with him. They’ve
heard his teaching. They saw him heal people. They saw him
do many wonderful and amazing things. Yeah, it’s not him. We thought it was him, but must
be a different Messiah coming. They’ve forgotten. Well, what’s
the cure for forgetfulness? It’s the Bible. The angels said
to the women at the tomb, do you not remember what Jesus said
to you while he was with you in Galilee? They had the living
word with them. He spoke to them. It was like
Adam and Eve in the garden. Sometimes we wonder, how did
Adam and Eve know what God wanted? How did Cain and Abel know how
to worship God? Well, they had God’s immediate
revelation, his personal presence there. That’s what the disciples
had. That’s what these women who followed
and supported his itinerant ministry had. And the cure for forgetfulness
is to read your Bibles. The cure for forgetfulness is
to come to church and hear the Bible. You know, we’re forgetful
people. We fill our minds with so much
stuff. We have these iPhones and these
tablets and these things on our wall that have a cable in the
back that’s connected to all these people all over the world
that are telling us things. And we can remember all that
stuff. We know our baseball stats. We know our NCAA men’s basketball
stats. We know who’s going to be the
number one draft pick coming up. We know all that stuff. But
this thing collects a little dust. You see the result. These women forgot. These 11
apostles forgot, these disciples of Jesus, they forgot that he
was the one who was supposed to come and suffer and die and
rise again and enter his glory as he ascended into heaven. And
friends, that ought to be a warning to us here in this passage. Our
church attendance gets a little infrequent. Our Bible reading
gets put second or third because of the kids or the television
show or because of the People Magazine or because of our desire
to be part of a grand story. We forget that we’re part of
one and we need to be up on it. And so the cure for forgetfulness
is to remember what Jesus has said. It’s recorded for us. It’s
in his word. It’s proclaimed. in his church. But there’s another problem that
this gospel account shows us. It tells us that the two disciples
who are walking on the road to Emmaus, they had Jesus right
there in front of them and it was not revealed to them. And
as Jesus walked with them and talked with them and conversed
with them as they talked about the grand story of redemption
as had just taken place in Jerusalem. They’re walking with Jesus and
it was hidden from their eyes. Verse 16 says their eyes were
kept from recognizing him. It’s not till later that they
go home. He spends the night with them.
Well, he was going to, but he disappeared, right? But he’s
eating with them. He breaks bread. Some may think
this is a reference to the last supper a couple of nights ago
when he broke bread and that was their aha moment. Well, this
was just a common meal and likely Cleopas. And this other fellow
weren’t at the last supper. But Jesus supernaturally, dear
brothers and sisters, has to give us eyes to see. He has to
give us ears to hear. He has to give us hearts to understand
the natural man, the natural man left in sins and trespasses.
As the apostle Paul says in first Corinthians chapter two, he knows
not the things of the spirit. And without the Holy Spirit,
we cannot see. Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot
understand. Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot
obey. The scriptures mean nothing to us. It’s just another wonderful
piece of literature. It’s just another lifelong top-selling
book. But when Jesus opens our eyes
and we see, when he opens up our heart and softens it, we
believe. And when our hands are willing
to go anywhere, And to do anything for Christ and to run to Jerusalem
and to tell others that, yes, it is true, he is risen. That’s
when we know that God has touched us. These disciples, these apostles,
these women were forgetful. They were unbelieving in their
hearts. But the word and the spirit fixed all of that. Isn’t it interesting how when
the two disciples on the road to Emmaus make it home, Jesus
is there. He’s lodging with them, eating
with them. He breaks bread. Their eyes are open to see who
he really is. And then he disappears. And they said something very
interesting. We’re not our hearts burning
within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened
to us the scriptures. Let me encourage you in this
way today, dear friends. As you hear God’s word read,
as you hear it explained, as you hear it taught, and as you
hear it preached, if Jesus has revealed himself to you, It is
the most exciting thing in the world to connect the dots in
the law, to connect the dots through the Psalms, to connect
the dots through the prophets. And now, as we live on this side
of full and complete biblical revelation, we connect the dots
all the way through the life and the ministry, the suffering,
the death. the resurrection of Jesus, his ascension into heaven,
his giving to us the church. We read through the acts of the
apostles. We see the early church preaching and proclaiming salvation
through Jesus name. And now 2000 years later, here
we are preaching the same gospel, proclaiming the same Jesus. Yet
we have the same problem as these disciples, we forget. We don’t read the Bible becomes
maybe second or third priority to us. We get a little out of
church, we find other things to do. Maybe we find ourselves
forgetting all that Jesus is, all that he has done. Let me
encourage you this day, as we look to God in prayer in just
a moment, ask God to light that fire in your life, in your mind,
in your heart, and in your service to others and ultimately to God,
so that your heart does burn within you. because of who Jesus
is, because of what Jesus has done. And dear friends, most
of all, because through the gift of faith, you are part of this
grand story of redemption. Let us pray together. Our God, our Redeemer, we come
before you. And again, we recognize that
we were lost. We weren’t even searching or
seeking. We were happy in our death. We were happy in our darkness.
We were happy in our estrangement from you. But the Savior, the
Good Shepherd who seeks and saves the lost came to us. Oh, hallelujah. What a great savior for when
we would be happy wallowing in death and dirt. You come and
lift us up and you clean us up. You clothe us in righteousness.
You put a ring on our finger. You cook the fattened calf. You
open up a seat at the king’s table. and you place us there
forever, where you will delight in us and we will delight in
you. Help us this day to have faith
in the Bible, have faith in the gospel, have faith in the Savior,
and to have faith to grow in grace and to tell others all
that you are and all that you have done. And we ask all of
this in the strong name of Jesus, our great Savior, who died for
us. Amen.