God reveals His risen Son in God's good time - Isaiah 25 & Luke 24

St. Andrew's Brussels Sermons

Why is the story of the Road to Emmaus so popular? Well, it's a miracle story. But it is also s homecoming story. The Disciples had just witnessed a catastrophe, and the story ends by giving them new hope and new energy. The story is about a married couple, Mr and Mrs Cleopas. Their whole world had collapsed. The messiah they had believed Jesus to be had just been cruelly executed by the authorities. They were distraught and despondent. Then Jesus joins them on their walk. But despite the fact that Jesus was on their minds and in their conversation, they do not recognise Him! Why? Well, something kept them from seeing Him as Jesus. Of course, or modem, scientific minds don't get this, and try to explain this with science and logic. The option that this was a divine act doesn't enter our minds. Practical people do not consider the possibility of miracles, do they The difference with today is that in those times, people *did* believe in miracles. In the original text, the phrase actually says that their eyes “were kept from recognising” Him. Grammatically, this is called the “passive voice”, and it was used exclusively in the New Testament to describe situations where God is acting. In other words, it was God who kept them from recognising Jesus. But why would He do this? It was a ten kilometre walk. This provided plenty of time for them to be *tutored*, by Christ Himself! They were kept from recognising Him, so that they could be instructed! This had got to have been the greatest Bible Study in all time, because it was led by the Greatest Bible Teacher of all time! In that light, a ten kilometre walk could not possibly have been a long enough walk to cover all the areas of the Scriptures that point to Jesus. After all, the Bible is all about God's plan of salvation for Mankind through His risen Son, Jesus. To Him be all glory and praise!