Luke 24:13-35

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

The Bible passage for tonight is a long one, telling of Jesus’s meeting with Cleopas and his unnamed companion on the road to Emmaus (Lk 24:13-35). I’m going to suggest that you read the whole passage in your own Bibles, allowing me to cut and paste just two brief excerpts:

²⁵ And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

³⁰ When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. ³¹ And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight.

Jesus’s resurrection appearances aren’t quite what we might have expected. Unlike the birth narratives, in which choirs of angels sing and a star guides wise men from the east to the newborn king, the resurrection narratives are understated, full of odd bits and pieces, difficult to understand. Why did Mary Magdalene mistake Jesus for a gardener? Why does his appearance to Peter barely get a mention? Why do these two men on the road to Emmaus not recognize him? It’s all very different from his appearance to Paul on the road to Damascus. Blinded by the light and hearing a voice from heaven, Paul knows immediately that he’s confronted by his “Lord” (Acts 9:4). But on Easter Sunday, Jesus hasn’t yet ascended to heaven. He doesn’t have his glorified body yet; he’s still stuck with his scarred human body.

It’s not just the ordinariness of his appearance that puzzle us, though. It’s the unpredictability, almost the playfulness of it all. On the road to Emmaus, Jesus joins the two men on their walk, and says (Harris paraphrase version), “So, what are you guys talking about?” They reply, “Are you the only person who doesn’t know the things that happened in Jerusalem?” Jesus plays ignorant: “What things?” When they tell him, he launches into a lengthy Bible study, explaining how the suffering and death of the Christ was anticipated throughout the Hebrew scriptures. They still don’t catch on. Only after he’s joined them for an evening meal (having first “acted as if he were going further”), do they finally recognize him. He blesses the bread, breaks it, and gives it to them. Perhaps they see the fresh nail wounds in his hands. As soon as they recognize him, though, he vanishes. Why?

We don’t know. What we are told, along with Cleopas and his friend—as well as with the disciples, whom Jesus later treats to a similar Bible study (24:44-47)—is that it’s all part of a divine plan. The Scriptures have foretold Christ’s suffering. His death is an absolutely essential part of the divine purpose of redemption. Which means that the disciples’ agony over the loss of the man they loved and believed to be “the one to redeem Israel” (24:21) and their confusion over the rather spotty reports of his resurrection are also part of the divine purpose.

We can begin to see ourselves in this story. Why doesn’t God make everything easier for us? Why doesn’t he reveal himself to the world in all his glory? Why does his presence in our lives sometimes seem so intermittent? Why do we suffer? Why COVID-19? We don’t get the kinds of answers we might want: clear cut, specific, readily understandable. We’re just told that even the painful parts (and there are many, along—praise God—with some really good bits) are part of God’s plan of redemption for us and for all creation.

Jesus doesn’t tell us all this from a safe distance. He became human. He suffered horribly. He cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And for forty days after his resurrection, he showed up in his still scarred and unglorified body, to show that he was still fully human, one of us, and to help his disciples understand that all that had happened, even their confusion, was part of God’s loving purpose to redeem all things.

It’s not always easy to go along with this. Jesus asks us to trust him. The Spirit gives us faith in God’s love and goodness, whatever our circumstances, allowing us to believe—at our best—that God’s love will triumph in the end, his name will be hallowed, his kingdom will come, and his will will be done on earth, as it already is in heaven. If he sometimes seems to vanish just as we recognize him, take comfort in the promise that he’s still close and he’ll be back.

Your brother in Christ,

Max