What Are You Talking About?
Psalm 116:1-4,12-29; Luke 24:13-35
Do you know that Jesus made five appearances on that first Easter Sunday? We heard about three so far and today we’ve listened to Luke’s detailed description of another one. A couple is walking home to Emmaus, about a 7-mile journey by foot, when Jesus comes alongside them. He’s about to spend more time with them than is recorded anywhere else, during his limited 40 days among believers after his resurrection.
We know how defeated and frightened Jesus’ disciples were right after his death and rushed burial; they were together, grieving, hidden in an upper room in Jerusalem. After the women reported seeing angels, and Mary saw her Lord alive, Peter thought this sounded like an idle tale, a fairy tale. So he and John went and saw the same evidence that Christ had risen, but Luke says that Peter wondered what had happened. Their difficulty comprehending, taking in this never-seen-before reality, is something we might have experienced if we’d been there. There was belief in their hearts, but also lingering doubt.
Luke goes on to tell a story about two other disciples, who were also despondent after Jesus’ death, struggling to understand why things turned out as they did. There was belief in their hearts, but also lingering doubt. Before we explore what happened when Jesus came alongside them, I want us to consider who they were. We learn that the man’s name is Cleopas, but his companion isn’t named. That anonymity can help us imagine we are in the scene. For centuries it was the norm to assume it was another man with Cleopas, but in recent decades many biblical scholars have come to believe it was a woman, probably his wife. In Mark and John’s gospels we learn that three Marys were at the foot of Jesus’ cross, Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and Mary wife of Clopas. Since very few people in all of Jerusalem watched Jesus dying, she would have been one of the very few eyewitnesses who could confirm his death and resurrection. I want to show you some artwork that crosses time and culture, which depicts Cleopas with a woman many believe was his wife.
We know how defeated and frightened Jesus’ disciples were right after his death and rushed burial; they were together, grieving, hidden in an upper room in Jerusalem. After the women reported seeing angels, and Mary saw her Lord alive, Peter thought this sounded like an idle tale, a fairy tale. So he and John went and saw the same evidence that Christ had risen, but Luke says that Peter wondered what had happened. Their difficulty comprehending, taking in this never-seen-before reality, is something we might have experienced if we’d been there. There was belief in their hearts, but also lingering doubt.
Luke goes on to tell a story about two other disciples, who were also despondent after Jesus’ death, struggling to understand why things turned out as they did. There was belief in their hearts, but also lingering doubt. Before we explore what happened when Jesus came alongside them, I want us to consider who they were. We learn that the man’s name is Cleopas, but his companion isn’t named. That anonymity can help us imagine we are in the scene. For centuries it was the norm to assume it was another man with Cleopas, but in recent decades many biblical scholars have come to believe it was a woman, probably his wife. In Mark and John’s gospels we learn that three Marys were at the foot of Jesus’ cross, Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene and Mary wife of Clopas. Since very few people in all of Jerusalem watched Jesus dying, she would have been one of the very few eyewitnesses who could confirm his death and resurrection. I want to show you some artwork that crosses time and culture, which depicts Cleopas with a woman many believe was his wife.
If we could’ve eavesdropped on Cleopas and his companion, we would’ve heard their back-and-forth; they exchanged thoughts and felt free to dispute what the other said. It was an honest and intense debate, done in private, much like a long-married couple might have. There were likely startled when Jesus suddenly appeared and started to walk alongside them. Luke says they were “kept from seeing” who it was, implying that God made Jesus unrecognizable to them.
He said to them, “What is so deeply troubling you?” The stranger’s seeming ignorance of the terrible events that brought turmoil to Jerusalem and to their own lives caused the two to abruptly stop. Their faces were etched with grief. Sometimes it can feel like time stops, and all the pain and sorrow of losing someone you love makes you unable to move… or think, or do anything. Sometimes it seems we only feel the numbness of grief within us.
Cleopas was the first to find his tongue, and his response was sharp. He couldn’t believe anyone living in the area could be that ignorant about the terrible things happening all around him. When Jesus asked him to explain, Cleopas unleashed his pain and bitter disappointment. When he did, he revealed some of his conclusions about the man from Nazareth. He’d thought he was a prophet -he’d believed he was the Messiah - but then he was condemned by the Jewish religious leaders and put to death.
Here’s the crux of Cleopas’ disillusionment: he said, “we believed Jesus came to redeem Israel.” Some of Jesus’ followers had high expectations that he’d become their King by defeating the Romans who’d conquered their land and people. He’d be their redeemer, which literally means someone who’s able to give a captured slave freedom. That was the future which some of Jesus’ followers longed for - including Cleopas, from the sound of it. They failed to grasp that Jesus came to wage war on sin and conquer death.
What Cleopas said next gets at his second struggle. He sounds detached, and perhaps skeptical as he describes how “some women from our group” came back after visiting the tomb, reporting that his body was missing and that they saw angels who told them Jesus was alive. Cleopas seemed to express no excitement; he sounds like a reporter delivering the evening news.
He then said “some of our men” also ran there and saw that Jesus’ body was gone. We can be pretty sure he and his wife Mary were with the other Marys, the 11 disciples and other core believers, but notice how Cleopas has no comment, no personal reaction to some shocking news. Did he believe in his heart? Did he have lingering doubts? Jesus gives us the answer to Cleopas and his wife’s states of mind, saying “You foolish, foolish people.” It sounds to me like Jesus was weary of repeatedly explaining things and people failing to understand. There were already signs, “evidence”, we’d say these days. The first was the empty tomb; the second was the flattened grave cloths that had been wrapped around him, much like the cocoon a butterfly leaves behind after its complete transformation. The third sign was the appearance of two angels who spoke in Greek so the women could hear these words: “Jesus is alive!”
While Jesus could have chided them about doubting these three miraculous signs, he doesn’t go there. He’s paid attention to Cleopas and his wife; they began by saying, “Jesus was a prophet who did incredible miracles, and he was a mighty teacher.” Jesus uses that as his opening, asking why it’s so difficult for them to believe what the prophets wrote. He moves on to their clear prophecies that the Messiah would have to suffer before entering His time of glory. That was, for Jewish people in that day, a second, less-embraced view of the coming Savior. They didn’t want a suffering servant - they longed for a victorious king to sit on a throne they could see with their own eyes.
Jesus likely took the next two or three hours to open up the Word of God for them, beginning with Moses. He may have had time to unpack most of the 300-plus references to the Messiah, and how they were fulfilled by the one called Jesus of Nazareth.
Cleopas might have been taught a good portion of Scripture, but he failed to grasp its meaning. Sometimes when we expect a certain reality - but discover down the road how much we were off base, actually just plain wrong about our assumptions - it can be hard to believe we were ever that naive. Blind. Foolish.
I’m reminded of a story Barbara Johnson told about a day that started off rotten. She overslept and was late for work; everything that happened that day at the office seemed to go wrong or not get done at all. By the time she got to the bus stop for her trip home, she had a tension headache, and her stomach was in one big knot. And as usual the bus was late and overcrowded. She had to stand in the aisle and hang on to keep her balance as the bus moved through traffic and around corners. She felt more worn out than when she got on, if that were even possible.
Then she heard a deep voice from upfront boom, “Beautiful day, isn’t it?” Because of the crowd, she couldn’t see the man, but she could hear him as he continued to comment on the spring scenery, calling attention to various landmarks. The park where children were playing. A magnificent church with stunning stained-glass windows. A fire truck sparkling in the sunshine, having just been washed. Soon all the passengers were gazing out their windows. The man’s enthusiasm was contagious. She found herself smiling for the first time that day. She noticed others were smiling as well. When she reached her stop and maneuvered her way toward the bus’s front door, she got a look at her “guide.” It was a young man with a beard, wearing dark glasses and carrying a thin white cane. He was blind; others had sight, but who perceived the world outside their windows? It was a beautiful day, for those who had eyes to perceive it.
Jesus opened Cleopas’ and his wife’s eyes to see the Messiah through the lens of Scripture. When they were nearly home, they begged Jesus to join them for a meal and he accepted. If they didn’t do that, it would’ve been rude given the hospitality standards of the day. But more importantly, if they let the stranger go onward, they never would’ve seen Jesus as he broke bread at their dinner table. The moment they did, he disappeared. We’re told that their eyes were completely opened, similar to the way their minds were fully opened and able to understand that Jesus was more than a prophet, teacher, and miracle worker. They have gone down in history as the only couple shown how hundreds of prophecies point to Jesus as the Savior of the world.
And what did Cleopas and his wife do with this new knowledge? And the gift of seeing Jesus resurrected from the dead? They hastily ate and within one hour were hurrying back to see the disciples in Jerusalem. Before they could announce their good news, they were told, “The Lord has truly risen - Peter saw him!” Then Cleopas and his wife shared their story of seeing Jesus alive and learning vast amounts about Scripture and its prophecies – but greater still was Jesus appearing to all of them! I like to think there were smiles on many faces as they lay down to sleep. After three miserable days, the worst they’d ever lived through, their fully-opened eyes and hearts could now believe in Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world. It was a beautiful day …. wasn’t it? Thanks be to God, amen!
He said to them, “What is so deeply troubling you?” The stranger’s seeming ignorance of the terrible events that brought turmoil to Jerusalem and to their own lives caused the two to abruptly stop. Their faces were etched with grief. Sometimes it can feel like time stops, and all the pain and sorrow of losing someone you love makes you unable to move… or think, or do anything. Sometimes it seems we only feel the numbness of grief within us.
Cleopas was the first to find his tongue, and his response was sharp. He couldn’t believe anyone living in the area could be that ignorant about the terrible things happening all around him. When Jesus asked him to explain, Cleopas unleashed his pain and bitter disappointment. When he did, he revealed some of his conclusions about the man from Nazareth. He’d thought he was a prophet -he’d believed he was the Messiah - but then he was condemned by the Jewish religious leaders and put to death.
Here’s the crux of Cleopas’ disillusionment: he said, “we believed Jesus came to redeem Israel.” Some of Jesus’ followers had high expectations that he’d become their King by defeating the Romans who’d conquered their land and people. He’d be their redeemer, which literally means someone who’s able to give a captured slave freedom. That was the future which some of Jesus’ followers longed for - including Cleopas, from the sound of it. They failed to grasp that Jesus came to wage war on sin and conquer death.
What Cleopas said next gets at his second struggle. He sounds detached, and perhaps skeptical as he describes how “some women from our group” came back after visiting the tomb, reporting that his body was missing and that they saw angels who told them Jesus was alive. Cleopas seemed to express no excitement; he sounds like a reporter delivering the evening news.
He then said “some of our men” also ran there and saw that Jesus’ body was gone. We can be pretty sure he and his wife Mary were with the other Marys, the 11 disciples and other core believers, but notice how Cleopas has no comment, no personal reaction to some shocking news. Did he believe in his heart? Did he have lingering doubts? Jesus gives us the answer to Cleopas and his wife’s states of mind, saying “You foolish, foolish people.” It sounds to me like Jesus was weary of repeatedly explaining things and people failing to understand. There were already signs, “evidence”, we’d say these days. The first was the empty tomb; the second was the flattened grave cloths that had been wrapped around him, much like the cocoon a butterfly leaves behind after its complete transformation. The third sign was the appearance of two angels who spoke in Greek so the women could hear these words: “Jesus is alive!”
While Jesus could have chided them about doubting these three miraculous signs, he doesn’t go there. He’s paid attention to Cleopas and his wife; they began by saying, “Jesus was a prophet who did incredible miracles, and he was a mighty teacher.” Jesus uses that as his opening, asking why it’s so difficult for them to believe what the prophets wrote. He moves on to their clear prophecies that the Messiah would have to suffer before entering His time of glory. That was, for Jewish people in that day, a second, less-embraced view of the coming Savior. They didn’t want a suffering servant - they longed for a victorious king to sit on a throne they could see with their own eyes.
Jesus likely took the next two or three hours to open up the Word of God for them, beginning with Moses. He may have had time to unpack most of the 300-plus references to the Messiah, and how they were fulfilled by the one called Jesus of Nazareth.
Cleopas might have been taught a good portion of Scripture, but he failed to grasp its meaning. Sometimes when we expect a certain reality - but discover down the road how much we were off base, actually just plain wrong about our assumptions - it can be hard to believe we were ever that naive. Blind. Foolish.
I’m reminded of a story Barbara Johnson told about a day that started off rotten. She overslept and was late for work; everything that happened that day at the office seemed to go wrong or not get done at all. By the time she got to the bus stop for her trip home, she had a tension headache, and her stomach was in one big knot. And as usual the bus was late and overcrowded. She had to stand in the aisle and hang on to keep her balance as the bus moved through traffic and around corners. She felt more worn out than when she got on, if that were even possible.
Then she heard a deep voice from upfront boom, “Beautiful day, isn’t it?” Because of the crowd, she couldn’t see the man, but she could hear him as he continued to comment on the spring scenery, calling attention to various landmarks. The park where children were playing. A magnificent church with stunning stained-glass windows. A fire truck sparkling in the sunshine, having just been washed. Soon all the passengers were gazing out their windows. The man’s enthusiasm was contagious. She found herself smiling for the first time that day. She noticed others were smiling as well. When she reached her stop and maneuvered her way toward the bus’s front door, she got a look at her “guide.” It was a young man with a beard, wearing dark glasses and carrying a thin white cane. He was blind; others had sight, but who perceived the world outside their windows? It was a beautiful day, for those who had eyes to perceive it.
Jesus opened Cleopas’ and his wife’s eyes to see the Messiah through the lens of Scripture. When they were nearly home, they begged Jesus to join them for a meal and he accepted. If they didn’t do that, it would’ve been rude given the hospitality standards of the day. But more importantly, if they let the stranger go onward, they never would’ve seen Jesus as he broke bread at their dinner table. The moment they did, he disappeared. We’re told that their eyes were completely opened, similar to the way their minds were fully opened and able to understand that Jesus was more than a prophet, teacher, and miracle worker. They have gone down in history as the only couple shown how hundreds of prophecies point to Jesus as the Savior of the world.
And what did Cleopas and his wife do with this new knowledge? And the gift of seeing Jesus resurrected from the dead? They hastily ate and within one hour were hurrying back to see the disciples in Jerusalem. Before they could announce their good news, they were told, “The Lord has truly risen - Peter saw him!” Then Cleopas and his wife shared their story of seeing Jesus alive and learning vast amounts about Scripture and its prophecies – but greater still was Jesus appearing to all of them! I like to think there were smiles on many faces as they lay down to sleep. After three miserable days, the worst they’d ever lived through, their fully-opened eyes and hearts could now believe in Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world. It was a beautiful day …. wasn’t it? Thanks be to God, amen!