Emmaus

On that same day, two disciples were traveling to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking to each other about everything that had happened. While they were discussing these things, Jesus himself arrived and joined them on their journey. They were prevented from recognizing him. He said to them, “What are you talking about as you walk along?” They stopped, their faces downcast. The one named Cleopas replied, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who is unaware of the things that have taken place there over the last few days?” He said to them, “What things?” They said to him, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth. Because of his powerful deeds and words, he was recognized by God and all the people as a prophet. But our chief priests and our leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him. We had hoped he was the one who would redeem Israel. All these things happened three days ago. But there’s more: Some women from our group have left us stunned. They went to the tomb early this morning and didn’t find his body. They came to us saying that they had even seen a vision of angels who told them he is alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women said. They didn’t see him.” Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! Your dull minds keep you from believing all that the prophets talked about. Wasn’t it necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” Then he interpreted for them the things written about himself in all the scriptures, starting with Moses and going through all the Prophets. When they came to Emmaus, he acted as if he was going on ahead. But they urged him, saying, “Stay with us. It’s nearly evening, and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. After he took his seat at the table with them, he took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight. They said to each other, “Weren’t our hearts on fire when he spoke to us along the road and when he explained the scriptures for us?” They got up right then and returned to Jerusalem. They found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying to each other, “The Lord really has risen! He appeared to Simon!” Then the two disciples described what had happened along the road and how Jesus was made known to them as he broke the bread. (Luke 24:13-35, CEB)

Again, a story where people who should have known Jesus had no clue who He was when they saw him. People have spent long days and years with Jesus, following him around and seeing miracles and signs and hearing Him teach, and yet here on the road, when walking with Jesus, they did not recognize him.

We would all say, I would have known it was him. Balony. We would have all been lost in our anger, pain, and loss. We would not have our senses any more than these two disciples.

But when they sat at a table, and Jesus took bread and blessed it and broke it, their eyes were opened because their hearts connected with something deeper.

What does your faith connect with?

Repay?

Then Jesus said to the person who had invited him, “When you host a lunch or dinner, don’t invite your friends, your brothers and sisters, your relatives, or rich neighbors. If you do, they will invite you in return and that will be your reward. Instead, when you give a banquet, invite the poor, crippled, lame, and blind. And you will be blessed because they can’t repay you. Instead, you will be repaid when the just are resurrected.”
(Luke 14:12-14, CEB)

Why do you do what you do?

Is it so that the person you are doing it for will see you and want to repay you?

Do you do things selflessly because they are the right things to do?

So many times, we are about the quid pro quo and not about just being good people.

Do what is right because it is right, not for what you get.

Hope on grace

Therefore, once you have your minds ready for action and you are thinking clearly, place your hope completely on the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. Don’t be conformed to your former desires, those that shaped you when you were ignorant. But, as obedient children, you must be holy in every aspect of your lives, just as the one who called you is holy. It is written, You will be holy, because I am holy. (1 Peter 1:13-16, CEB)

Place your hope completely on grace. Knowing you can do nothing to earn it or nothing to lose it.

Just focus your life on being who God has called and created you to be living in the love They have given us all.

Believe!

Although you’ve never seen him, you love him. Even though you don’t see him now, you trust him and so rejoice with a glorious joy that is too much for words. You are receiving the goal of your faith: your salvation. The prophets, who long ago foretold the grace that you’ve received, searched and explored, inquiring carefully about this salvation. They wondered what the Spirit of Christ within them was saying when he bore witness beforehand about the suffering that would happen to Christ and the glory that would follow. They wondered what sort of person or what sort of time they were speaking about. It was revealed to them that in their search they were not serving themselves but you. These things, which even angels long to examine, have now been proclaimed to you by those who brought you the good news. They did this in the power of the Holy Spirit, who was sent from heaven. (1 Peter 1:8-12, CEB)

You have never seen Jesus, but you love him.

I disagree. I have seen Jesus. There is a song called Have You Seen Jesus, My Lord.

Have you seen Jesus my Lord?
He’s here in plain view.
Take a look, open your eyes.
He’ll show it to you.

Have you ever looked at the sunset,
With the sky mellow and red,
And the clouds suspended like feathers?
Then I say you’ve seen Jesus my Lord

Have you ever stood at the ocean,
With the white foam at your feet,
Felt the endless thundering motion?
Then I say you’ve seen Jesus my Lord

Have you ever looked at the cross,
With a man hanging in pain.
And the look of love in His eyes?
Then I say you’ve seen Jesus my Lord.

Have you ever stood in the family,
With the Lord there in your midst
Seen the face of Christ on your brother?
Then I say you’ve seen Jesus my Lord.

Have you ever prayed for your church,
With the Lord there in your midst,
Seen the face of Christ on your sister?
Then I say you’ve seen Jesus my Lord.

We have seen Jesus and see Him every day when we look at the face of one who was created by God.

See Jesus in your family, your neighbor, the stranger.

a sign

At that time some of the legal experts and the Pharisees requested of Jesus, “Teacher, we would like to see a sign from you.” But he replied, “An evil and unfaithful generation searches for a sign, but it won’t receive any sign except Jonah’s sign. Just as Jonah was in the whale’s belly for three days and three nights, so the Human One will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. The citizens of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it as guilty, because they changed their hearts and lives in response to Jonah’s preaching. And look, someone greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will be raised up by God at the judgment with this generation and condemn it because she came from a distant land to hear Solomon’s wisdom. And look, someone greater than Solomon is here. (Matthew 12:38-42, CEB)

Sign, sign, everywhere, a sign
Blockin’ out the scenery
Breakin’ my mind
“Do this,” “Don’t do that”
Can’t you read the sign?
(from Signs by Five Man Electrical Band)

Why do we need to see a sign or something miraculous to believe?

We have heard the promises and seen them come true. Why do we need more?

What will it take for you to believe?

Hope!

If we have a hope in Christ only in this life, then we deserve to be pitied more than anyone else. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead. He’s the first crop of the harvest of those who have died. Since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead came through one too. In the same way that everyone dies in Adam, so also everyone will be given life in Christ. Each event will happen in the right order: Christ, the first crop of the harvest, then those who belong to Christ at his coming, and then the end, when Christ hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he brings every form of rule, every authority and power to an end. It is necessary for him to rule until he puts all enemies under his feet. Death is the last enemy to be brought to an end, since he has brought everything under control under his feet. When it says that everything has been brought under his control, this clearly means everything except for the one who placed everything under his control. But when all things have been brought under his control, then the Son himself will also be under the control of the one who gave him control over everything so that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:19-28, CEB)

“Rebellions are built on hope.” A quote from Rogue One. Something we all need to see and remember. Hope is not just a name, but should be the foundation of our lives.

Our hope is in Jesus. It is something that we can not see or prove, but rely on beyond the shadow of a doubt.

Death is not the end, for Paul told the Corinthians in chapter 13, these three remain: faith, hope, and love. And while many say that is a chapter about romantic love, I say it is about the end of the world, and when everything else falls away, faith, hope, and love remain. Hope is our life.

In the darkness when you can not see the way, there is hope. Hope keeps us moving forward.

Never lose hope, and know that hope will take you to the kingdom.

First…

So if the message that is preached says that Christ has been raised from the dead, then how can some of you say, “There’s no resurrection of the dead”? If there’s no resurrection of the dead, then Christ hasn’t been raised either. If Christ hasn’t been raised, then our preaching is useless and your faith is useless. We are found to be false witnesses about God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ, when he didn’t raise him if it’s the case that the dead aren’t raised. If the dead aren’t raised, then Christ hasn’t been raised either. If Christ hasn’t been raised, then your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins, and what’s more, those who have died in Christ are gone forever. If we have a hope in Christ only in this life, then we deserve to be pitied more than anyone else. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead. He’s the first crop of the harvest of those who have died. (1 Corinthians 15:12-20, CEB)

I have a question about this: Is Jesus the first crop of the harvest of those who have died?

I mean, I get what Paul is saying, but did not Lazarus die, and Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead? So technically, Jesus is not the first to be raised from the dead.

Now, there were many miracles, and Paul may not have heard all of the gospel stories, given that most of Paul’s epistles were written before the gospels, so there are a lot of things to consider.

I guess the real question is: does it matter whether Jesus is the first to be raised from the dead? In my opinion, it is not; He was raised, and God did not leave Him in the tomb. He was executed and then raised to life again.

God raised Jesus. End of story, or actually the beginning.

Doubt?

It was still the first day of the week. That evening, while the disciples were behind closed doors because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities, Jesus came and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. When the disciples saw the Lord, they were filled with joy. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you don’t forgive them, they aren’t forgiven.” Thomas, the one called Didymus, one of the Twelve, wasn’t with the disciples when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, “We’ve seen the Lord!” But he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my finger in the wounds left by the nails, and put my hand into his side, I won’t believe.” After eight days his disciples were again in a house and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus entered and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here. Look at my hands. Put your hand into my side. No more disbelief. Believe!” Thomas responded to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus replied, “Do you believe because you see me? Happy are those who don’t see and yet believe.” Then Jesus did many other miraculous signs in his disciples’ presence, signs that aren’t recorded in this scroll. But these things are written so that you will believe that Jesus is the Christ, God’s Son, and that believing, you will have life in his name. (John 20:19-31, CEB)

This passage has been named “Doubting Thomas”. Thomas gets a bad wrap here.

The disciples, the 10 of them, are locked in a room for fear of what would happen to them as they had just witnessed Jesus being executed. Jesus appears and says, “Peace be with you.” But then he had to show them His hands and His side before they knew it was Him. And when the 10 find Thomas, where was he by the way? When they find Thomas and tell him they had seen Jesus, Thomas asks for no more than what the 10 got, but because of this, he is labeled a doubter. As if doubt is the opposite of faith.

I doubt all the time. In fact, as I type this devotion, I am doubting my call and where I belong in this world. Doubt is something that comes to all humanity and is not the opposite of faith. Doubt drives us to find answers and seek further. Doubt moves us to question and seek answers. Doubt is not the opposite of faith; certainty is.

Thomas asked to see the wounds, which the 10 got, and needed to see it was Jesus. Thomas wanted and asked for nothing more than what the ones telling him they had seen Jesus got.

Do not shame a follower for doubting or questioning. Walk with them and help them see the light when the darkness is all they see.

The sound of your name

Mary stood outside near the tomb, crying. As she cried, she bent down to look into the tomb. She saw two angels dressed in white, seated where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head and one at the foot. The angels asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” She replied, “They have taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they’ve put him.” As soon as she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she didn’t know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she replied, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him and I will get him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabbouni” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Don’t hold on to me, for I haven’t yet gone up to my Father. Go to my brothers and sisters and tell them, ‘I’m going up to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene left and announced to the disciples, “I’ve seen the Lord.” Then she told them what he said to her. It was still the first day of the week. That evening, while the disciples were behind closed doors because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities, Jesus came and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. When the disciples saw the Lord, they were filled with joy. (John 20:11-20, CEB)

This passage always gets me.

Why does Mary not see Jesus and know Him? She looks at Him and hears Him speak to her. She is distraught and overcome with anguish and loss. The teacher she had been with for many years, a person she dearly loved, was executed, and now, when she comes to finish His burial preparations, He is gone.

Jesus talks to her and asks her why she is crying and who she is looking for. She can not see him or hear the sound of his voice due to her anguish, pain, and loss. She is mired in her own world. We all get this way, and then Jesus said, “Mary.”

With the gentleness and love he had shown her so many times before, she heard Him.

The sound of your name, from the lips of a person who loves you dearly, is the sound like no other. It calms the anguish and stills the fears.

It is a sound that reminds you of life and love.

Listen, and you will hear Him call you by name.

There is grace for that!

Brothers and sisters, I want to call your attention to the good news that I preached to you, which you also received and in which you stand. You are being saved through it if you hold on to the message I preached to you, unless somehow you believed it for nothing. I passed on to you as most important what I also received: Christ died for our sins in line with the scriptures, he was buried, and he rose on the third day in line with the scriptures. He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve, and then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at once—most of them are still alive to this day, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me, as if I were born at the wrong time. I’m the least important of the apostles. I don’t deserve to be called an apostle, because I harassed God’s church. I am what I am by God’s grace, and God’s grace hasn’t been for nothing. In fact, I have worked harder than all the others—that is, it wasn’t me but the grace of God that is with me. So then, whether you heard the message from me or them, this is what we preach and this is what you have believed. (1 Corinthians 15:1-11, CEB)

I am what I am by God’s grace.

Better words have never been spoken, written, or typed.

I am what I am by God’s grace.

God’s grace is what saves us all and is the cornerstone. None of us makes it on our own.

Regardless of our pasts, we are all covered by grace and accepted because of that.

I am what I am by God’s grace