Two disciples of Jesus were on a seven-mile journey of doubt and despair, becoming more hopeless with every step. Then a stranger joined them. “Why are you so sad?” He patiently listened to their woeful words about Jesus’ death three days earlier. They lamented their dead Messiah: “We trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel, and now He’s dead!” The Greek elpis means hope: We had hoped—but now all hope is gone!” Apparently, things were so dire Jesus felt the need to minister to them Himself. The disciple named Cleopas responded: “What? Are you a stranger in Jerusalem? Haven’t you heard about the events of the last three days? Don’t you read the Jerusalem Post? It’s the headline story on CNN! It’s all over Facebook. It’s all anyone has talked about since Passover!”
The stranger did not reveal Himself but said, “What things?” Of course, He knew, but He wanted them to say it so He could respond. With their faith at the point of failure, they needed to confront their doubts head-on. We never have to fear to confront our fears and doubts head-on when Jesus is by our side. They related how they had hoped Jesus was the Redeemer of Israel, but the chief priests had Him crucified. The meaning of redeem is to release by payment of a price. They failed to see that Jesus had done this on the cross. When His body went missing from the tomb, and certain women said that angels appeared unto them declaring Jesus was alive, they dismissed it as hysteria and clung to their despair.
Jesus took them through the Scriptures of Messiah’s sufferings, death, and subsequent glory.
They had focused on the glory and ignored the sufferings. The remedy for all doubt, despair, and hopelessness is God’s Word. Before Jesus manifested that He was alive, He wanted them to receive hope from the Scriptures. He “expounded unto them the Scriptures concerning himself.” This is our answer as well. If God were to just give us a physical sign or audible word, the devil could talk us out of it later.
Jesus preached a Seven-Mile Sermon, and by the time they reached their town of Emmaus, they were filled with faith. For the first time in three horrible days, the blackest of their lives, they had hope. When we are in a battle, we need to be with people full of God’s Word who will speak hope and faith to us. We need to be in church where we can hear someone expound the Scriptures of God’s faithfulness. As they arrived at their house, Jesus acted as though He would pass on, but they constrained him—begged Him to abide with them. These are strong terms. They wanted to hear more! The flicker of their waning hope was ablaze with new promise!
DIDN’T OUR HEARTS BURN!
At supper, their honored guest spoke the blessing over the bread: “Blessed is the Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.” As He lifted the bread to heaven, suddenly, they had a flashback! Déjà vu! A familiar sight! A familiar voice! Their eyes were opened, and they knew it was Jesus! At that moment, He vanished. Their hearts spilling over with renewed hope, they left immediately to walk the seven miles back to Jerusalem in the dark, to tell His disciples Jesus had appeared to them. They said to one another, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?” The construction of the Greek grammar means their hearts were still burning after He was gone! Their dying flicker of hope had been fanned by Jesus’ expounding to them the Scriptures.
They were too excited to go to bed! They returned to Jerusalem that same hour, and the trip back was a lot quicker because now they had a spring in their step and a fire in their hearts! What caused their hearts to burn with new hope and passion?
1. Fellowship with Jesus: He talked with them on the way and ate supper with them. For us, it means spending time in prayer with Jesus.
2. He opened the Scriptures to them. For us, it is hearing the Word of God preached with the anointing in the church assembly, supplemented by personal Bible study.
When they arrived in Jerusalem, the disciples had their own good news: “The Lord is risen indeed! He has appeared unto Peter.” Cleopas and Luke related how Jesus joined them on the road, and they didn’t know it was Him. As they told how they recognized Him when He blessed the bread, at that moment Jesus suddenly appeared in their midst and said, “Peace be still.” Incredibly, they were all scared and did not believe it was Him! He had to show them His hands and feet and eat a piece of fish to prove He was not a spirit.
Then as before, He taught them from Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms: “He opened up their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:13-35).
God’s Word, the rope of hope, will pull us out of the pit of despair!
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