Christ Church Daily Devotion April 3 2024

Two disciples are walking to a village called Emmaus, discussing the events surrounding Jesus' crucifixion. Jesus joins them on their journey but they don't recognize him. They tell Jesus about Jesus of Nazareth and their disappointment that he didn't redeem Israel. Jesus explains to them that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer before entering glory. As they reach the village, the disciples invite Jesus to stay with them. While breaking bread, their eyes are opened and they recognize Jesus, but he disappears. They return to Jerusalem and share their experience with the other disciples. The passage emphasizes the journey of recognizing Jesus and understanding his sacrificial love. The author encourages growing in faith and finding hope, joy, peace, and love in Christ. The worship option suggests a book that explores the journey to Emmaus as a path from darkness to hope. The message concludes with the proclamation of Christ's resurrection. Welcome to Christchurch's Daily Devotion for April 3rd, 2024. Today we will be reading from Luke, Chapter 24, Verses 13-35. Now that same day, two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them. But they were kept from recognizing him. He asked them, What are you discussing together as you walk along? They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days? What things? he asked. About Jesus of Nazareth, they replied. He was a prophet powerful in word and deed. Before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death. And they crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning, but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had been seen by an angel, Visions, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said. But they did not see Jesus. He said to them, How foolish you are and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? And beginning with Moses and all of his all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning himself. As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if they were going further. But they urged him strongly. Stay with us for it's nearly evening. The day is almost over. So we went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him. And he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the scriptures to us? They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven and those with him assembled together and saying, It is true. The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon. Then the two told what had happened on the way and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. Imagine overhearing the conversations of the people telling the stories of Jesus to the gospel writers. Today's passage is one I hear being told by the witnesses to Luke in almost the reverse order. This is because Luke tells us, the readers, the end of the story first. Luke allows our eyes to be opened. From the beginning, verse 15 says, As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them. We then know throughout the story the answer to the question they will ask in verse 32. Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the scriptures to us? A thread is woven in the phrases in verse 16. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And in verse 31, Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him. From the beginning, the witnesses' eyes only saw Jesus from their own expectation, of their own hopes, that he would be the one to redeem Israel with an earthly kingdom. Then, not only were their eyes opened in recognition of Jesus' presence with them, but their eyes opened to begin to understand the way of the Messiah. Verse 26 says, Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? The Messiah's way was the way of sacrificial love. And as they walked and heard Jesus speak along the way, their eyes were opened to the scriptures in ways they hadn't understood until this time. I believe that allowing the Holy Spirit to help us recognize the risen living Christ in his ways of sacrificial love is the journey of growing in faith. This faith-growing journey in Christ increases our hope even when we cannot see the way ahead, increases our joy even in the midst of suffering, increases our peace even in times of unrest, and increases our love even when the path is not easy. Your personal worship option today is, Reverend Joel Hostetler, in his book, Changed Eyes, 2023, writes, The road to Emmaus begins in darkness, pain, and grief, but it ends in light in the hopes of restoration, a mysterious, bewildering, joyful hope. In this Easter season, over 2,000 years later, we proclaim the same good news, the same hope that these followers experienced in real time on the first Easter day. Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed. Amen.