Years ago, I preached on Luke 24 in unusual circumstances.  After knee replacement surgery I arranged for a guest preacher for the four weeks of light duty the surgeon had proscribed.  By the third Sunday I’m missing Church so Starann and I look forward to being part of the congregation.  At 11 am I’m sitting in the first pew and get a tap on the shoulder: the guest preacher is in Hickory and can’t find us in Mooresville! // I look over my shoulder and all eyes are on me.  I hobble up to the pulpit, totally unprepared.  I comment in the Reformed Tradition we believe the Holy Spirit guides Pastors on what to preach.  I tell them we are going to test this belief.  From comments at the end, it appeared to the congregation the Holy Spirit did his part.  This morning I hope the Holy Spirit will continue to do his part as together we join Christ on the Road to Emmaus.

  In his three-year ministry Jesus teaches the disciples by his example to live his Gospel as faithful witnesses to God.  For the disciples to carry on his ministry they must believe in their hearts and minds he is the Messiah.  They must persevere in spreading his Gospel when challenged, persecuted, and facing death.  But as many times as they see him perform miracles that can only come from God, they do not completely believe in him and the prophecies of his death and resurrection.  How many times during his ministry and after his resurrection do you think Jesus wonders: “What does it take for these guys to believe in me?  When are they going to get it and carry on with what I have taught them?”  It is apparent the only way they will believe his resurrection is for Jesus to physically appear to them.  While his boys don’t get it, the women do!  Jesus sends Mary Magdalene to share the good news of his resurrection to his brethren.  But they doubt her.  By his appearance on that Sunday evening Jesus will change his disciples’ grief, fear, despair, and feelings of abandonment to pure joy. 

  Our message this morning takes place mid-day on that Resurrection Sunday.  This is one of the most compelling appearance stories of Jesus.  He gives believers then and now a timeless message of love, inspiration, and reassurance.  The plot revolves around the failure of two of his disciples to recognize their fellow traveler.  He walks beside them for the seven miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus.  The stranger teaches them God’s Word on the gift of his Son as the Savior of humanity.   They hang on his every word, hungering for more knowledge.  At the evening meal their eyes are opened, and Jesus disappears.  They run back to Jerusalem to share the good news with their brethren and arrive just after Jesus appears to the eleven disciples.  This is the high-level narrative.  We will dig into the “rest of the story” Jesus would have us understand and live.

  {READ Luke 24:13-16}  Midday on that blessed Sunday two followers of Jesus leave Jerusalem talking about the rumor of the empty tomb.  They see a stranger approaching because Jesus has cloaked his identity.  Do you ever wonder how many times Jesus approaches us as a stranger?  He may disguise himself as a homeless person, someone asking for food, who is dressed poorly, and different looking from you and me.  Why would he do this?  Is he testing us?  Possibly.  His behavior reveals what he expects of us.  Jesus in his ministry does not ignore or reject a needy person.  He does not judge based on one’s nationality or ethnicity.  He helps people considered unclean in Jewish society: tax collectors, Romans, and a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well.  He does not avoid people with serious kinds of illness, even healing lepers viewed by Jews as the most ritually unclean.  Jesus looks deeply into the hearts of those he meets. He lives as a servant of the people and expects the same behavior from us.  In our words, actions, and treatment of others, he wants us to reveal his Gospel as a God sighting with all whom we meet.