"Was It Not Necessary?" Sermon: Luke 24:13-35

“Was It Not Necessary?”
[Luke 24:13-35]
April 19, 2009 Second Reformed Church

Last week we celebrated Easter, and we remembered our Lord’s Resurrection, and we considered the first week after His Resurrection as He appeared and spoke and was touched and ate with over five hundred people. And we considered whether or not the real, physical, bodily resurrection of Jesus matters – and we answered, “yes.”

Today, we are picking up the history of the Gospel at the end of the Gospel of Luke, and, if the Lord is willing, it is my plan to finish the last chapter of Luke and then lead us into an examination of the second volume of Luke’s work, that being Acts.

The Scripture that I read begins the evening of the day of Jesus’ Resurrection and ends in the wee hours of the next morning. Today and, Lord willing, next Sunday, we will consider some of why all that happened to Jesus had to occur.

As we look at our Scripture, we find that two of Jesus’ disciples, but not from the twelve, were walking down the road, going towards their homes in Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking intently with each other, and, suddenly, Jesus was right behind them. And we’re told that God prevented them from recognizing Jesus.

Jesus asked the men what they were talking about so intently, and one of the men, named Cleopas, asked Jesus if He was the only Person in Jerusalem Who had not heard what had happened. And Jesus asked them to test them, to see what they had understood, “What things?”

Cleopas explained to Him that there had been a prophet, mighty in word and deed, Who was sent of God, named Jesus of Nazareth, and the chief priests and the Romans condemned Him to death and crucified Him. He explained that the reason that all Israel was talking about it was that they had hoped that He was the Savior of Israel, but it was now the third day since the crucifixion. And to make matters all the more scandalous, some of the women who followed Jesus went to His tomb to finished His embalming, but He was gone. They told the men that there had been angels who told them that Jesus was alive, but the men went to the tomb and just found it empty.

Why did God keep them from recognizing Jesus from the first?

We’re not given a specific reason, but we can say two things: first, our senses are fallible. Although that is not the case here, we need to remember that our senses fail us, so we should keep those limitations in mind as we live our lives. Second, and more to the point, God knows that there are times when we are not ready to see or hear or understand, either due to sin or lack of maturity, or something else. The author of Hebrews rebuked his readers, “About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:11-14, ESV).

What did they think about Jesus?

These were men who had followed Jesus. They had held Him in high esteem, recognizing Him to be, at the least, a mighty prophet from God. They had also hoped that He was the Savior of Israel, but now their hope was waning: it was the third day since He had been crucified and died. But there was a little hope left – the tomb was empty. Something had happened – they didn’t know if they believed the women who said they saw angels who told them that He was alive, but something had happened. After all, the Roman Governor, Pilate, had specifically placed a guard to keep anyone from breaking into the tomb and stealing the body – so something had happened, but they didn’t know what.

And then Jesus rebuked the disciples, “O 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?” Isn’t this exactly what the prophets said would happen? Haven’t they been telling you for four thousand years that the Savior was called to suffer in this way to accomplish His Work?

And then Jesus began to explain to them how all the Scriptures pointed to Him and the things He would have to endure to accomplish His Work as the Savior of Israel. Understand, when we read that Jesus interpreted the Scriptures, we’re only talking about the Old Testament – the New Testament didn’t exist yet – and when we read that He began with Moses and all the Prophets, we are to understand that Jesus began with Genesis and explained how it showed Him to be the Savior, then Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I Samuel, II Samuel, I Kings, II Kings, I Chronicles, II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. We’re reading through the Bible in Sunday morning Bible study – Jesus led them through a study of the whole Old Testament as they walked to Emmaus!

They arrived at the village where the men lived, and Jesus pretended to be going on. But the men urged Him to stay with them and eat with them, since it was late. So they prepared dinner. And Jesus gave the blessing, and broke the bread and gave it to them. And in that moment that they receive the bread from Jesus, God allowed them to see, and they recognized Him, and He disappeared.

How did they respond?

They looked at each other and said, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” They hit themselves on the head – the realized that no one but Jesus, no one by God the Savior could have explained the Scriptures to them the way He did. No one else could have caused the Scriptures to come so perfectly alive in them that their souls burned with the truth of them. Jesus was alive! They had seen Him and talked with Him and eaten dinner with Him!

But it was late. Our text indicates it was after dark. They had just made the seven mile walk from Jerusalem. So they went to bed, figuring they would tell others in the morning. Right?

No, they got up from the table “that hour” – right away – and they made the seven mile walk back to Jerusalem to tell the eleven. They got back on the road, walked another three hours or more, in the dark, went to where they knew the apostles would be – they were still awake, and there were others with them, because something had happened there as well: “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” While the two disciples were on their way back to Emmaus, Jesus had appeared to Simon Peter – the resurrection was confirmed.

And then the two told what happened to them – how Jesus had met them on the road, but their eyes were kept from seeing Him, and then how He explained all of the Scripture to them, that they would understand why the Savior had to live and die like He did to fulfill His Work, which caused fire to burn within them, and then He ate dinner with them and when He broke the bread, Who He is was revealed to them, and He disappeared, and they immediately went back to Jerusalem. “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Cleopas and his friend!” This is another confirmation of the resurrection.

We may ask ourselves: what was it about the breaking of the bread that made them able to recognize Jesus? Was this the Lord’s Supper?

No, this was not the Lord’s Supper, because Jesus told them at the Last Supper, “Take this and divide it among yourselves. For I tell you that from now on I will not drink from the vine until the kingdom of God comes” (Luke 22:17b-18, ESV).

No, this was a normal meal in which Jesus gave the blessing. It was God’s choice to reveal Him at that moment – there was nothing magical in the bread or the blessing. John Calvin wrote that God used the bread as a “spiritual mirror” in which to reveal Jesus to them and also as an injunction for them to give thanks (Calvin’s Commentaries, re: vs. 30).

Have you given thanks for Jesus and His Resurrection? Are you thankful for all that He has done for you in saving you and making you His child? Have you shown your thanks to Him? The disciples were so thankful and excited, they immediately went to tell others. They walked all the way back to Jerusalem, in the dark, after they had already made the journey. They needed to rejoice with other Christians. How will you give thanks?

What does this text mean for us today?

First, it means that if we are to understand Jesus, what He did and why, we must know the Old Testament. We are woefully ignorant of the Old Testament, but the New Testament is the fulfillment and completion of the Old. If we don’t understand the Old Testament, we can’t really understand the New.

There have been heretics throughout church history – even within a few miles of this church and on our TVs – who have said we can do without the Old Testament. I know people who say that only preach from the four Gospels. We are given the whole Scripture purposefully – God means for us to read and study and know Him and His Salvation through all of it. We cannot throw any of it out.

Jesus proved Himself to the disciples by taking them through the Old Testament and showing them that all of the Scripture is about Him and He fulfills it through His Work and Ministry, which leads us to a second conclusion:

It means that if we do read the Old Testament and read it correctly, we will see Jesus. Understand, Jesus interpreted the whole Old Testament to the two disciples, but Jesus has given us the New Testament to help us. The rule of thumb is that the New Testament interprets the Old. The New fulfills, explains, clarifies the Old – which means we need to read the New Testament as well, if we are to understand the Old – if we are to understand Jesus and what He has done.

For example, the book of Hebrews (in the New Testament) has been called a commentary on the book of Leviticus (in the Old Testament). The book of Leviticus is one of the books that Moses wrote, and it contains laws about sacrifices and diseases and worship. The book of Hebrews explains how these laws point to Jesus and prove Him to be greater than every prophet, priest, and king who came before Him, because He, Alone, is the Savior of Israel. We cannot fully understand Leviticus without reading Hebrews, and we cannot understand Hebrews without a knowledge of the book of Leviticus.

We have been given a lifetime to read and study and hear the Word of God preached, and we will not know it or understand all there is to know in this lifetime, so we ought not waste time, but begin to read, to take advantage of good books, good preaching, and studies that are offered in the church and elsewhere.

If we want to know and understand Jesus and His Ministry, we must know the Scripture. And as we know the Scripture, we will find Jesus on page after page after page.

Third, it means that if we meet Jesus in the Scripture, if we see and know Him through His Word, He will meet with us and give us assurance and strengthen us, just as He did those first disciples and apostles. Understand, Jesus is no longer physically on the earth – Jesus’ Physical Body is seated at the Right Hand of God the Father, but Jesus spiritually meets with us in worship and as we read His Word and as we hear it read and preached, so we can respond with those first Christians, “The Lord has risen indeed!”

Was it necessary for Jesus to endure all the things He did? The answer that the Scripture gives – the answer that Jesus gives, is “yes.” If the Lord is willing, we will look more specifically at what that means next week. This week, open your Bibles – read something. Read the Scripture for next week – it’s in the newsletter. Read something in the Bible and pray that Jesus will meet with you and assure you and strengthen you. Pray that the Holy Spirit will help you to understand. And if you have questions – next week – or ever – ask them. Ask me. Google it. Search in good books. But don’t let your question go unanswered.

Open your Bible to the table of contents and read something you have never read before – or something you haven’t read in years. Ask yourself what the Scripture tells you about Jesus and why He came. See if your hearts do no burn.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You for giving us the Scripture. We thank You that Jesus continues to meet with us and the Holy Spirit helps us to understand. Help us to put away our excuses – we don’t have time, we’re too old, it’s too hard – and cause us to believe You that You Yourself will instruct us in Your Word. It is for the joy of knowing You that we ask this. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.