Bible Passage: Luke 24:13-35
Pastor: Joel Jenswold
Sermon Date: April 23, 2023

Bulletin April 23, 2023

In the name of, and to the eternal glory of, Jesus,

I don’t know if you have ever experienced a time in your life like this, but for me it was when I began my studies at the Seminary.  It was unlike anything I had ever experienced!  Each and every day we would go from one class to the next and do nothing but study Scripture.  Each and every day my mind was blown by the discovery of something new.  I remember thinking at the time, “This can’t really be what I get to do!”  It was Scripture study to a degree and depth I had never known before.  It is not a stretch to say I felt like my heart was burning within me.  Not in some charismatic, “pentecostal” way.  But burning with the joy of growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Have you ever had a time like that?  It is the burning joy of the psalmist who wrote, The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. (Psalm 119:130)

In our text today, the unfolding of God’s Word gives light.  Two simple men gain an understanding they never had before.  Jesus does the unfolding of the Word.  And the hearts of these two men burn.  And all because they attend Bible Class with the Risen Lord Jesus.

The time is late afternoon on Easter Sunday.  Two followers of Jesus exit Jerusalem to the west to travel seven miles to the village of Emmaus.  According to Google Maps, it is a walk of about 3 hours.  As they left town, it is possible the road they traveled took them right past Golgotha and the Garden Tomb.

As they walked, they talked about Golgotha and the Garden Tomb.  That’s all anybody was talking about that day!  As they walk and talk, a stranger gets nearer and finally joins them.  It is the risen Jesus!  But they are kept from recognizing him.  The unrecognized Jesus engages them in conversation.  What are you talking about as you walk along? (v. 17)  The disciple named Cleopas answers, Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who does not know the things that happened there in these days? (v. 18)  Put in today’s way of speaking:  “Did you just crawl out from under a rock?”  What things? (v. 19) the stranger asks.

So they review the events of Golgotha and the Garden Tomb.  They tell Jesus all about…Jesus!  A man.  A prophet.  Mighty in deed and word. (v. 19)  The chief priests and the leaders hated him and put him to death.  They then pivot to the events of that very day.  The women at the tomb.  The angels’ message that Jesus was alive.  The trip to the tomb of Peter and John.  They are confused and crushed. Their shattered hopes are summed up with these words, We were hoping that he was going to redeem Israel. (v. 21)  Bible class is about to begin.

One wonders if their eyebrows went up when the stranger, who seemed not to know anything about the last three days, began by saying, How foolish you are and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! (v. 25)  Did you catch the point Jesus is making?  Jesus says they are not paying attention to “all” that the prophets have spoken!  They know “some” of what the prophets have said.  They were hoping for redemption and a Redeemer.  But Golgotha and the Garden Tomb threw them off.

Now the Bible class really begins!  The risen Jesus says, “Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and to enter his glory?”  Then beginning with Moses and ALL the prophets, he explained to them what was said in ALL the Scriptures concerning himself. (v. 26-27)  My heart burns wondering what parts of Scripture Jesus studied with them!  But Jesus showed them from the Bible that he had to suffer “these things,” the things of Golgotha.  Maybe Jesus took them to Psalm 22.  It begins with the very words Jesus spoke from the cross, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Psalm 22:1)  It contains granular detail about the crucifixion.  Maybe Jesus quoted verses 16-18:  A band of evil men has encircled me.  They have pierced my hands and my feet.  I can count all my bones.  They stare and gloat over me.  They divide my garments among them.  For my clothing they cast lots.  Maybe Jesus took them to Isaiah 53 and quoted verses 5-6:  He was crushed for the guilt our sins deserved.  The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.  We all like sheep have gone astray.  Each of us has turned his own way, but the Lord has charged all our guilt to him.  “These things” – these Golgotha things – had to happen for the redemption they hoped for!

Maybe Jesus stayed right there in Isaiah 53 and talked of his glory after suffering.  He could have quoted, After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life. (Isaiah 53:11)  Maybe Jesus took them to the book of Job and Job’s great confession, I know that my Redeemer lives (Job 19:25)  Maybe Jesus took them to the story of Jonah and taught them a lesson on types of the Christ – as Jonah was three days in the fish so the Christ was three days in the earth.  What a Bible study that must have been!  I would have loved to have heard Jesus explain the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament!  I’ll sign up for that Bible class every time!  Is it any wonder that when they arrive in Emmaus and, after Jesus pretends to have to keep going, their eyes are opened to recognize the risen Jesus, they say, Were not our hearts burning within us while he was speaking to us along the road and while he was explaining the Scriptures to us? (v. 32)

Some might say Cleopas and his friend had a “religious experience” that day.  Let’s examine that for a moment.  Nowadays when people speak about “religious experience” they describe it as “feeling/experiencing God” or “feeling God’s presence.”  This is really just ancient mysticism.  Mysticism says you can “experience God” without any means.  What did the Emmaus disciples “experience”?  What made their hearts burn?  It was the unfolding of God’s Word.  It was seeing Jesus in the Word!  It happened though Bible study!   Friends, if you want a religious experience, if you want to “experience God,”  this will happen through the means he has given us.  In the written and spoken Word, in Holy Baptism, in the Lord’s Supper, your hearts will burn as you meet again and again the risen Jesus!

Amen.