JESUS SPEAKING

            Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem.  And they talked together of all these things which had happened.  So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus himself drew near and went with them.  But their eyes were restrained so that they did not know him. 

And he said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?” 

Then the one whose name is Cleopas answered and said to him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have you not known the things which happened there in these days?” 

And he said to them, “What things?” 

So they said to him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and crucified him.  But we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel.  Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.  Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us.  When they did not find his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said he was alive.  And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see.” 

            Then he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!  Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter in to his glory?”

            And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself (Luke 24: 13-27.) 

INSPIRED THOUGHTS

            Jesus deliberately concealed himself from these two men to serve a purpose.  If he had revealed himself to them, they would have been unable to hear the things he was going to teach them.  We can also see that the things that occurred with Jesus were known openly by everyone.  These two men shared the sentiments of the people, which were that they had lost hope in Jesus, because of his crucifixion.  God’s plan for the messiah was unclear to them.  The Passover was finished and many of the millions of pilgrims were beginning to leave Jerusalem and return home.  So here were two men who were walking away from the place where Jesus’ tomb had been found to be empty.  There had been crushed, and they were disbelieving even though they had heard that the tomb had been found empty.  There faith was based upon their understanding, and they did not understand.  Jesus then addressed the source of their disbelief (a lack of understanding.)  He spoke to them of the necessity of the messiah to be punished, beaten and afflicted and crucified.  The crucifixion was not a trait of God’s weakness but of his strength; it was not a disappointing result of God’s inability to control things, but the result of God’s divine will.  Jesus revealed the truth of who he was to them as he walked with them and opened up the scriptures.  Jesus was honored by God when he was raised up on the cross, and he was glorified when he was raised from the dead.

             Why does Jesus go back to the Old Testament when he reasoned with these two men.  Prophecy is what makes the truth of God’s plan evident to all.  No one but God can know what is going to happen prior to it happening.  Jesus directs these two men back to the scriptures, no doubt pointing out all of the old testaments scriptures that described the coming messiah.  In many of the scriptures, God’s prophets wrote about a man who was going to be beaten, crucified, spit on, and rejected.  He was described as a lamb that would be slaughtered; he would raise the dead, heal the sick, and return sight to the blind.  He was described as having been born in Bethlehem, and born of a Virgin.  There are too many descriptions of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament to mention here.

             I don’t know if any of you have been involved in a class where you had no idea what you were learning.  Perhaps you just weren’t very good at the subject, or maybe you didn’t pay close enough attention to what was being taught.  I recall on a number of occasions, having a tutor come to my house to help me understand what I was learning in a particular class.  I was never very good at math, and so my friend helped me go through the book one line at a time, one problem at a time, until I understood correctly.  Jesus did this same thing with these two men on the road to Emmaus.

             Today, many people open up the bible and don’t necessarily understand what they are reading.  But God is still walking along side of them, speaking to their hearts, opening up their eyes, to whom Jesus Christ is, and why he had to come and die, and be raised to life.  Today, God has a plan in each and every person’s life, and that plan starts with a faith in Jesus Christ, and in his resurrection.  We don’t need to debate in our hearts, or with another person as to whether or not Jesus Christ was the messiah, we need only draw closer to him, and he will continue to reveal his truth to us; he will continue to open our eyes and to give us even greater understanding.  He doesn’t reveal all of his truth, all at once, and this is for his purposes and our benefit.  We will never be confused if we continue to follow him; we will never be in darkness, for he is with us, and in us, and among us, walking hand in hand through this life with us, and into the life to come.   

            “Lord heavenly Father, we ask and pray that You would come to those of us who lack understanding, and who are seeking You, and give us wisdom, and testify to our hearts the truth of Your plan for salvation in our lives.  Father, open the scriptures to us, open our eyes, and open our hearts to receiving Your Spirit and Your truth today.  We love You Father, we praise You and we thank You, and we ask and pray all of these things, in Jesus Christ’s name, amen.”  God bless all of you.

JESUS SPEAKING

            “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun to rise on the just and the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?  Do not even the tax collectors do so?  Therefore you shall be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mathew 5: 44-48.)

INSPIRED THOUGHTS

             Many people who were listening had been taught incorrectly.  Jesus is correcting them with the authority given to him when he says, ‘but I say to you.’  They had misunderstood who God was and what His will looked like.  God is in control of the sun and the rain, and all of the miracles of nature that allow men and women to survive from the increase of their harvests.  God also controls true love; unconditional love; we cannot cause the sun to rise, nor the rain to come, but we can love others in the same way God loves them.  The reward doesn’t come from doing what the rest of the world does, but from doing greater things than they do.  The world only knows how to love its own; those who do not know God are only capable of providing a love that is defined by boundaries and limits.  The thinking is, ‘if you love me, then I will love you back, and when you act unloving then I will take back that love I had given you.’  But as children of God, we are rewarded for doing his will, and his will is to love everyone just as he has loved us, and just as he loves them.  Jesus picks out evil doers as an example of how the world loves.  He compares tax collectors to the ‘Sons of God.’  Tax collectors loved those who loved and greeted them, but they were ungodly men, who stole and extorted from the people to gain wealth.  Doing only as they did would only make them blend in with the evildoers around them; and God would not be represented.  Most people are cold toward everyone except those they are familiar with and know and love.  The children of God however cannot love merely those they know and love them.  The perfection of God is seen in loving acts that don’t make sense in this world.  To love the stranger doesn’t make sense.  To love those who hate you, doesn’t make sense.  To give to those who are ungrateful and who don’t do anything in return doesn’t make sense in this world.  To do good acts in secret doesn’t make sense in this world either, because those who don’t know God cannot benefit from this type of action if no one is around to see it and to praise them.  When a person knows God they seek to please him, and they stop striving merely to please those for their own gain, as God is now watching them and they are rewarded when he sees these good deeds.

             Jesus uses the Father/Son illustration because in Jesus we see who God really is.  He is the son of God, because he does exactly what God does.  Therefore, we are commanded to do the same if we desire to be God’s children also.  There is no better illustration to give of how God’s love is manifest than in the final day of the life of Jesus.  He was beaten and spit on, teased and mocked and not once did he return a single blow to those who struck him.  He not once replied in anger to any of the shouts and insults hurled at him.  Not once did he curse those who were cursing him.  Rather, he prayed for them as he hung upon the cross saying, “Father, forgive them, for they do not what they do” (Luke 23: 34.)

             Today, this practice of greeting and loving those who are lost, and those who are mockers, and those who profane the name of the Lord, and who devise evil against us is probably the more difficult of all of the teachings of Jesus Christ.  All our lives we have been taught that love has boundaries.  We have been taught that there are socially acceptable ways of interacting with people, and many are afraid of breaking through these boundaries.  Offering to pay from someone’s meal or cup of coffee is one way to love the stranger; but it takes courage.  Most people accept the offer, after wondering somewhat skeptically why you might be doing it.  They, like us, have been trained to be skeptical of love from people they don’t know.  Another way to practice this love is to ask a stranger about themselves and then listen to them as they talk, just as God listens to you and I without interruption.  You can return grocery carts; you can attempt to do something good for that family member you might not get along with; or for the person who has been cold to at your workplace.  You can pray for those who hate you, and who have wronged you, and who have taken something from you.  There is no end to the good that we can do all around us, but we must be willing to overcome the fear of not blending in.  Love that is Godly is not a common love.  As children of God we will be different, but it will be love that makes us different; an abundant love; a love that overflows and touches those around us; a love that is strange to some, but common to God; may we be Son’s of God, and do his will, that ‘we may be perfect, just as our heavenly father is perfect.’

            “Lord Heavenly Father, we ask you now to give us opportunities to do good to those who hate us, and to love those who have wronged us.  Lord, help us to overcome the fear of being rejected, and the fear of not blending in.  Help us Lord to love just as You love.  Give us Your Heart to love, for without You we cannot love without boundary, and without condition.  Challenge us today, and every day, to strive to be perfect and loving just as You are perfect and loving.  We love You Father, we praise You, and we thank You, and we ask and pray all of these things in Jesus Christ’s name.  Amen.”

JESUS SPEAKING

            “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Mathew 11: 28-30.)

INSPIRED THOUGHTS

             During this time, the average people were being made to engage in ritualistic behaviors they couldn’t possible complete.  For example, on the Sabbath day, you couldn’t carry anything because that would constitute work.  When Jesus had healed a man who had been crippled, the man was carrying his mat, and the religious leaders scolded him for this.  He said, ‘the man who healed me told me to pick up my mat and go.’  They wanted to know who it was so they could go and scold the person who told him this, but the man did not know it was Jesus.  The religious leaders required so much from the people, but themselves were unwilling to do anything other than keep themselves pure and knock other people down who broke one of their rules.  Jesus presents the people with the solution to this problem.  The first thing he requires is that they come to him, and not the false teachers and those who were claiming to be Godly.  He is not giving them another ridiculous rule to follow to maintain a pleasing status with God; rather he is the thing that makes a person pleasing to God.

             Beasts of burden were usually yoked in groups of two.  When one oxen died, they would begin to train a new oxen.  The yoke was a harness for two.  As the mature and trained oxen plowed correctly the new oxen would be steadied and would only need to stay connected to his partner to stay on task.  He didn’t need to worry about doing it correctly, he just needed to stay in unison with the ox next to him.  Jesus wanted them to know that when they connected themselves with him, it would be their relationship with him that would make them disciples.  They needed only to be willing to walk as he walked, and to do as he did.  He wanted to teach them, and he wanted them to be teachable.  Jesus also wanted them to know that those who had a guilty and unsettled spirit could find peace with him; such as those who felt the weight of a lifetime of sin upon them; they needed only to yoke themselves to him, and he would take that sin upon his shoulders, and carry it.  He reminded them that he was gentle, in that he did not wish to harm them if they made a mistake (like the religious leaders were doing), but rather, he was approachable, loving, peaceful, and patient.  He is making the relationship between them and God no longer predicated upon rules and rituals, but upon a relationship.

             Today, Jesus is still calling out to those who are heavy laden and burdened down.  Many people are attempting to follow some set of rules, believing this will bring them closer to God.  They have not yet figured out that coming to Jesus is the only way to know God, and that it is our relationship with him that makes us more Godly.  Jesus is in heaven, but we are yoked with him in the form of the Holy Spirit.  In this place, we become more like him, each and every day, as we grow closer, and closer to him.  As we pray daily, as we talk with him, as we read his words, and let them move us in our actions, we are being transformed in to his image.  When we feed the hungry, when we love others, when we give without asking in return, it is because we are bonded to him, and we are his disciples indeed.

             “Lord Heavenly Father, we ask that You would help us to have this rest You promise.  Give us the lowliness in heart that You have promised us as well.  Give us Your burden, however light it may be.  Help us to learn from You, and to grow closer to You, and to become more like You each and every day.  We love You Father, we praise You, and we thank You, and we ask and pray all of these things in Jesus Christ’s name.  Amen.”  God bless all of you.