Sermon Tone Analysis

I love this story from the end of Luke’s gospel because it illustrates just how quickly the whole scene turns around for those who follow Jesus.

In this story we ride a rollercoaster up and down and back up again.

Today I want us to consider ourselves into that story.

Because here is what I observe.

We have just come off a week of solemnly remembering the suffering and death of Jesus.

Today we gather for this joyous celebration of Easter.

And tomorrow is Monday.

After today, Easter drops off the map for another year.

Oh sure, we say grandiose things on Easter like -Christians ought to live every day like it is Easter.

But let’s be real for a minute.

We have been through this enough to know that sooner-or-later, in fact maybe even by tomorrow morning, life goes back to facing the same challenges and hurdles that were there before.

Kids go back to school; many of us go back to work; some of us go back to routines of doctor appointments and chores.

We go up, then down, then back up again, then back down again.

Maybe it’s comforting, then, to see this story from the Bible that affirms the real world in which we actually live.

There is something of our own lives and our own stories connected to this story of these two guys commuting down the Emmaus road.

Broken Heart

Check out the scene.

Luke tells us these two men are traveling from Jerusalem to the town of Emmaus.

It is believed that Emmaus was a village about five miles from Jerusalem.

Since it was Passover time, it would not have been uncommon for travelers like this to be coming and going from Jerusalem within the surrounding villages.

And as these two particular followers of Jesus are going along, they are having a rather heated discussion.

I know our English Bibles tell us in verses 14 & 15 that they are talking and discussing as they walk.

The Greek word used here by Luke carries the notion of a debate or argument.

It is not idle chit-chat.

This is an anxiety-filled conversation.

This is a ‘what-are-we-supposed-to-do-now?’ kind of moment.

The disciples who had been following Jesus up to the point of his crucifixion had seen their share of confrontations.

Jesus was certainly controversial.

People either seemed to love him, or to hate him.

But there was no middle ground.

So, those who followed Jesus were all-in.

their hearts were passionate about following Jesus.

And this left them all rather broken hearted when Jesus was executed.

It appeared to them that Jesus was gone.

All the expectations wrapped up in their hearts for what they thought it meant to follow Jesus have been torn apart.

It’s not too hard to imagine, I suppose.

We all tend to do this.

We all carry a load of expectations that we heap upon God.

We all have an idea in our heads of how we think God is supposed to act; how he is supposed to come through for us according to our agendas.

You see, as much as I would always love to see and know exactly what God is up to, we just don’t always understand.

Maybe we shouldn’t be too harsh on these disciples, then.

We have the benefit of hindsight through what we know in scripture.

And so, it might be a little too judgmental for me to point at the disciples and accuse them of short-sightedness.

Jesus told them exactly what was going to happen.

And often I wonder, how could they not get it?

How could they have missed the plan that God was up to?

But what we recognize in this passionate conversation on the road to Emmaus is that when we wrap so much of our hearts into whatever it is we think Jesus ought to do for us, and then when God’s plan turns out to be something different, it leaves us with a bit of a broken heart.

Every disciple who follows Jesus walks through that.

We all come away from the empty tomb and sooner-or-later have to confront our own mixed bag of unmet expectations.

We are not too far off from those disciples who originally walked with Jesus.

We can all carry some wrong ideas about who we think Jesus ought to be or what we think Jesus ought to do.

And like those original disciples, we can get ourselves to be pretty passionate about the wrong things.

And like those original disciples, we can find ourselves wandering down a road turning away from Jesus and wondering what happened to the God we thought we knew so well.

Burning Heart

How do we respond to that?

What do we do in those moments when Jesus doesn’t show up the way we want or imagine he should?

Look at what happens in the story.

Jesus shows up right alongside of these two disciples and they don’t even know it.

It turns out that even as they are walking away from Jerusalem, Jesus comes after them and joins them.

Even when their hearts are broken and they are arguing about leaving it all behind them, Jesus chases them down; but they don’t know it.

And look at what Jesus does.

He opens scripture to them.

These guys are lost and not sure what following Jesus was supposed to mean anymore.

And in that moment, Jesus shows up and reveals the truth to them by opening scripture.

Stay with the story now, because there is a transition starting to take place.

Look at this.

It is not automatic like the flipping on of a light switch.

It is not as though Jesus shares one Bible verse and then all of the sudden they recognize Jesus and see clearly everything they formerly misunderstood about following Jesus.

That does not happen.

Jesus begins sharing scripture with them as they walk.

And they still don’t actually see Jesus there.

But what do they see?

This is important.

Jump to the end of the story where these two guys recognize Jesus and recall the events of the afternoon journey.

Here is what they say.

Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?

Even though they did not yet in that moment on the road recognize Jesus right there, an important transformation is still taking place.

As Jesus reveals scripture to them, they go from broken hearts to burning hearts.

A passion is being rekindled within them.

Something of a clearer picture for following Jesus is beginning to awaken in their hearts.

And how is this happening?

It is not in clearly recognizing Jesus, because they don’t recognize him.

The thing that begins the process of turning hearts that are broken into hearts that are kindled again is the Word of God.

It is simply and plainly through the Word of God that hope finds its way back.

This is a good reminder for us today.

We are here today and we triumphantly declare on Easter Sunday that Jesus is risen and that he lives.

But don’t lose sight of the fact that those first disciples of Jesus had a hard time coming around to the truth of this Easter resurrection.

For those disciples, the first Easter was more a day of confusion than a day of joyful celebration.

It took some rekindling of their hearts to let hope back into their lives.

And this rekindling of a heart that burns with passion for Jesus came to them through the message of scripture.

It began to find its way into them through the Word of God.

That’s a helpful reminder.

Because you and I have access to that exact same scripture.

In moments when perhaps you and I might be looking and wondering what God is up to, in moments when we might not be quite sure where Jesus is at, these are the moments when the best thing we can do is keep returning again to the Word of God.

And then, even as we do that, stick with it if we don’t get the clear picture of following God that we want right away.

Those first disciples didn’t recognize Jesus right by their side right away.

Often this is true for us too.

Even though our God is always right there beside us, we often find ourselves on that same road, not recognizing that Jesus is right there.

When those moments occur, stay in scripture.

Because it is in the Word of God that Jesus takes a heart that is broken and rekindles the flame of discipleship so we can see hope again with hearts that are ablaze.