Journey to Emmaus: Faith, Revelation, and Witness

"that very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus about seven miles from Jerusalem and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened and while they were talking and discussing together Jesus himself Junior and went with them but their eyes were kept from recognizing him 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" [00:16:44]

"and he said to them o foolish ones 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 and so they drew near to the Village to which they were going and he acted as if he were going further but they urged him strongly saying stay with us" [00:19:55]

"and 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 and they said to each other did not our hearts burn within us well he talked to us on the roads 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" [00:26:58]

"and has appeared to Simon and then they told him what had happened on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking of bread this is one of the most glorious passages that we read anywhere in the New Testament superintendent and inspired by God the holy spirit is the veritable truth of God himself and I ask that this day you receive it as such please be seated let us pray again our father and our God we ask that you would help us because we are fragile in our understanding" [00:31:56]

"and feeble in our faith so we ask that you would condescend and give to us the Holy Spirit the spirit of truth that he may illumine for us the meaning of the text that we have just heard where we ask these things in the name of Jesus amen Luke recounts the story of two men we're walking presumably home to Emmaus from Jerusalem a distance of about seven miles a short enough trip but one that would take about an hour and a half at a normal pace and as they were walking together on their Journey they were having a discussion with each other" [00:36:41]

"and Luke tells us that Jesus himself Drew near and went with them but their eyes were kept from recognizing him and he asked them a question what is this conversation that you're holding with each other as you walk and this stopped them in their tracks what is this conversation that we're having are you the only person in Jerusalem who doesn't know what's been going on over the past few days and there was as if they would say to him where in the world have you been" [00:48:16]

"well Jesus didn't answer the question precisely and directly to the one that was specific or the one that was implied but had he answered that question I think the answer would have been something like this the first question are you the only one in Jerusalem that doesn't know what happened he could have said to them I'm the one person on this planet who understands comprehensively every single thing that has happened in the last few days where the implied question where in the world have you been" [00:55:36]

"he could have answered that one by saying well let me start Thursday night I was with some of my friends and we celebrated the Passover together and after that I went into the darkness to the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives and I prayed so intensely that I was sweating drops of blood begging my father concerning the mission he had set before me and when that prayer was finished I went across the brook Kidron and there in the darkness of the night I was met by a company of soldiers carrying torches and swords" [01:01:20]

"and led by a former friend who came up and gave to me the kiss of death and they arrested me and then they took me into the city and they shuttled me back and forth between the Jewish authorities and the Roman authorities until finally I was put on trial before the Roman procurator and after my interrogation he said to those who were standing by I find no fault in him he was about to release me but the screaming crowd began to cry for my blood and they said crucify him" [01:08:19]

"and being a politician driven by expediency Pontius Pilate surrendered to the voices of the crowd had me scourged and beaten and crowned with a crown of thorns and then LED off out of the city of Jerusalem outside the camp outside of Zion to a Barren Hillside called Golgotha where I was executed by crucifixion that I was not simply executed as a criminal to satisfy bloodthirsty men but I was subjected to the unmitigated wrath of God where before his face I was forsaken and he placed upon me his holy curse" [01:15:00]

"and counted me as Sin as he placed upon me the sins of my people something that no human being had ever been asked to endure in the history of this world and finally it ended it was finished and I gave up The Ghost and commended my soul and my spirit to the care of my father and I died and they took me down from the cross and instead of burying me in the traditional place of disposal and the burning garbage pile outside of Jerusalem called Guyana somebody interceded on my behalf" [01:22:00]

"that as God had promised his servant would not suffer corruption I was entrusted into the hands of a secret disciple whose name was Joseph of Arimathea a wealthy man who owned a marvelous Sepulcher in which I was entombed and they took my broken body and place it on the ground and wrapped it in grayed clothes and anointed me with spices and posted a guard in front of the cave that was also guarded by a huge stone that was rolled in front of it and there I was a corpse in the ground" [01:28:00]