Luke 24:13-35
Seeing Our LORD
13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him.
17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”
They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
19 “What things?” he asked.
“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”
25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
Mark 16:19
Jesus Sits at the Right Hand of God
16 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God.
A miktam of David.
1 Keep me safe, my God,
for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing.”
3 I say of the holy people who are in the land,
“They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”
4 Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.
I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods
or take up their names on my lips.
5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
St. Luke wrote about the two on the Road to Emmaus and David wrote the sixteenth Psalm...David wrote that his LORD has made known to him the path of life...God fills him with joy and with the eternal pleasures at your right hand... David was very close to God and felt His Presence...David tried to keep his eyes focused on the LORD, but ever he has doubts in some of his other Psalms...I think David is writing about Jesus in these verses, especially verse ten... St. Mark writes that Jesus is sitting at the Right Hand of God...He is this Right Hand of God, and is the eternal pleasure that our Father has given us...These verses by St. Luke, St. Mark, and David give us a glimpse of our LORD and Savior and how we sometimes see Him...
David writes about the path of life, while St. Luke writes about two followers of Jesus, who are literally walking the path of life with Him on a road to Emmaus...The two followers, one unnamed and the other called Cleopas were even talking about this Jesus of Nazareth (and He is right there unrecognized)...We can tell by the story of St. Luke that the two were close to Jesus...He maybe had counseled them...He no doubt instructed their hearts with His wisdom...The two no doubt were also filled with grief, about His death...I would think their minds were a little confused by this tortuous death...They told Jesus, whom they were talking with and about this: “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people...The chief priests and our rulers handed Him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified Him; but we had hoped that He was the One who was going to redeem Israel...And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place...In addition, some of our women amazed us...They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find His body...They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said He was alive...Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but Him they did not see.”...
The two men thought Jesus of Nazareth would be the Messiah...They thought He would be the One to redeem Israel...Then the women told them they had a vision from an angel telling them that He was alive...But something was in their way of seeing the One, they were talking about...They had doubts now after His death...And yet they recall, He mentioned something was to happen, or something about the importance of the third day after His death...This also was on the two followers minds...We can listen to Luke's story and see that the two still held out hope...The still had the tiniest of mustard seed faith, that their Master had taught about...
The two had taken refuge in Him, and now He had died...How could, if He was the Messiah, die like this?...And He died on a cross...He was crucified, like a criminal...Would not God never let His Holy One see decay?...Why would their Messiah ever leave them or Israel?...The two thought He had died (and He did), but He did not abandon them in the realm of the dead...How can this be?...And it is very difficult for mankind to think in these terms...Some doubt is normal with faith... And yet we see, by Luke's story, the two still have this "something about this third day" -shows they have a little hope...
Jesus teaches us the eternities...He teaches show much about the afterlife and about His Father...He spoke much about the Kingdom of God...A Kingdom, we cannot get to until we die and move on from this earthly life...And often, and most often for this author, we doubt...Much like Cleopas and his friend doubted, even though the very One, our Savior was standing right beside them...He had touched them ever so lightly when He was explaining the Bible to them: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us (they would ask)?”...They felt something on the road as they walked and it touched by this fleeting feeling of refuge they had on the Emmaus road... For a brief moment on the road they felt something, a glimpse of something...
Jesus was hard to recognize after His death...I think He may have done that for us -the many followers after His death...That very much seems they way God and His Son works...We are often so caught up or so focused on life that Jesus might be there working through a friend, a neighbor, a brother, or a sister...The deeper, I think, our Christian roots get and grow, we see these things and they are a glimpse of Him...We cannot put our finger on it, but when we feel this glimpse or this slice of Him, if feels different than any feeling (it remains with us as a much remembered thought or touch) more than an earthly feeling and yet, so very, very fleeting -and full of mystique and all the while, however so short -and so joyful...Our hearts burn for more of these glimpses, for more of the Presence of Him...We long for more of this joy in His Presence...