What a Treasure You Have to Give! Luke 24:13-35
3rd Sunday after Easter (Mother’s Day) May 8, 2011 Pastor Thomas Kock
Grace, mercy, and peace are yours, from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The text for today’s consideration is taken from Luke’s gospel, chapte 24 (read text). In the name of Jesus, our risen Savior, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
“What are you thinking?!?” Perhaps some of you have heard of the Darwin awards. The Darwin awards are given out each year to the persons who do some of the most crazy things imaginable, generally hurting themselves in the process
So, for example, there was the story of the roofer who ended up in the hospital emergency room because he was putting a new roof on a building and, contrary to his bosses command, he hadn’t tied himself off and had fallen off the roof and hurt himself pretty badly. He’d had to have surgery, was in the hospital for three days, and when he left, he would have to be in a wheelchair for several weeks. So far, so good.
Well, he turned up at the hospital later that night. It turns out that he and his brothers and friends had decided to go out and celebrate the fact that he was out of the hospital. The problem was that his brother had a pick-up truck, and they couldn’t get him into the truck. So, they decided to leave him in his wheel chair, put the wheel chair up into the back of the truck and duct tape the wheel chair to the truck. (Yep, you heard that correctly.) And, it was even working until his brother took a corner too fast and the guy in the wheel chair was tossed out of the chair and onto the road! It kind of makes you want to scream, “What were y’all thinking! That’s crazy!!!!”
During Holy Week there are all kinds of time when you want to say to the disciples, “What were y’all thinking?” And perhaps in the top three of those examples are the two disciples who are traveling to Emmaus on Easter Sunday afternoon. They have heard the reports from the women that Jesus is alive. Some of the other disciples have gone out to the tomb and found it to be exactly as the women had said – the tomb was open, Jesus wasn’t there. Jesus has already appeared to the women and to Mary Magdalene. All the evidence is pointing to the fact that Jesus has risen! And these two? Why, they’re … leaving!!! Leaving? What in the world are y’all doing? All the action is in Jerusalem! This is THE place! This is THE time in the entire history of the world! And they’re … leaving?!?!? “What are y’all thinking?!?!?”
Do we see ourselves in these two? As God looks at our spiritual lives – at the time we put into the Word, at the value we put on spiritual matters, at the willingness of our hearts to believe what God has said – do you think there might be times when God might want to look at us and say, “What are you thinking?!?” Yeah, I KNOW God would want to say that about me. You too?
And, spiritual things are the most important things in the world! For finally it’s only the spiritual matters which last forever! The things of this world will go away. Career, wealth, health – all will go away. But spiritual things are eternal. So, the last area in which we OUGHT to mess it up would be in the spiritual realm, right? And yet, like these two, how often don’t we do so!
So, the two are traveling along, and Jesus comes up to them and begins to walk along. “Hi! What are you talking about?” Their answer, “Are you just a visitor to Jerusalem and don’t know about the things which have happened there lately?” “What things” Jesus asked. (Which is very funny when you think about it. Who would know better the things which happened to Jesus than Jesus! J )
So the guys launch into. They’re bothered! The Greek words which are used are unusual. The speech is kind of staccato, like they’re just spitting out words without putting them together into sentences: “About Jesus of Nazareth. He was a man, prophet, powerful in word and deed, in front of God and the people…” These guys are confused. They’re dejected. The Greek word that’s used for “downcast” in verse 17 is used one place in Greek literature to describe the river where the author had heard that his son had been killed in battle.
For what reason were they so downhearted? Listen: “The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; {21} but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.” (Luke 24:20-21 NIV) They had thought that Jesus was the Savior! But what good was a dead Savior? A dead Savior isn’t a Savior at all! So they’re downhearted, scuffling, in horrid shape as they walk along.
And so what does Jesus do? Well, Jesus begins with a brief word of rebuke: "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! {26} Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" (Luke 24:25-26 NIV) It wasn’t okay for them to be feeling this way. It wasn’t okay that they had not understood the Scriptures. It wasn’t okay that they hadn’t paid attention when Jesus Himself had told them that He was going to die and rise. It was sinful, it was wrong.
It’s wrong for you and me to fail to know what the prophets have spoken. It’s sinful for us to be slow to trust that what God says is true.
But notice what Jesus does next! He opens up those OT Scriptures to them! He explains to them – using the Bible – that the Savior was going to come, that the Savior would die, that the Savior would rise from the dead. He opened up the Bible to them, so that they could understand that Jesus really was the Savior, so that they could understand that Jesus was exactly whom they needed.
So can you imagine? Jesus spends the whole afternoon with these guys! He doesn’t just show up and say, “Hey guys! Look! It’s me! I’m alive!” He could have done that; He didn’t. Rather, Jesus spent the entire afternoon with these two, opening up the Scriptures to them so that they could understand that this was exactly the way that it was supposed to happen!
But wait a minute! Wasn’t there a whole world of people out there who needed to hear this? Yep. But at that moment, it was these two who really needed Jesus’ attention. And so He gave it to them. Uninterrupted, focused on the Word of God – Jesus was willing to spend all afternoon with them so that they could see the truth that salvation had been won for them.
And God is willing to put that sort of time into you and me, too. God will focus His attention directly on you, whenever you need it. No, that doesn’t mean that God is neglecting someone else in order to focus on you; God is God – He has the ability to focus on each one of us as if we were the only person in all the world.
And the way He builds you up is the same way He built up these two – He takes you into His Word. As He takes you into His Word, He builds your faith. Faith comes from hearing the message – that’s what God says. And so God takes you and me to His Word – as He did with these two followers of His – so that we can be assured that Jesus is our Savior, that we can be assured that God loves us, that we can be assured that we are on the way to life eternal. God does all that through the Word.
And moms – could there be a better example for you to follow than Jesus’ own example? What more precious thing can you give your children that to take them into the Word of God? What more precious thing can you do for your children than to have them sitting next to you in worship on Sunday morning, to make sure they’re in SS, confirmation class, VBS? What more precious thing could you do for them than to read them Bible accounts at the dinner table, or before they go to bed at night? What more precious thing can you give to them than to teach them that Jesus loves them, that their sins are forgiven, that they’re on the way to heaven? In other words, moms, as you do what Jesus did – as you take your kids into the Word – you’re giving them the most precious thing which they could ever have. What an honor to do so! What a remarkable opportunity! What a treasure you’re giving as you give them the Word!
You can see it in the two. They hustle back to Jerusalem after Jesus allowed them to recognize Him: “It’s true! He’s risen!” Why did they need to hustle back? Because their hearts were “burning within them!” The truths of the Bible bring us real joy, real hope, real peace, real focus, real assurance, real confidence. All the things we want our kids to have, God gives those things in the Word. Moms – you get to give your kids those very things, by taking them into the Word. What a privilege is yours, what a treasure you have to give! Just as Jesus gave this treasure to these two.
And, in some ways that might make you different, might lead you to make different decisions. Your kids may dress differently – they’re representing Jesus to the world. Maybe your kids won’t get to participate in some things, things which would regularly pull them out of worship and SS. Your kids won’t be sleeping in on Sunday morning, as their unchurched friends are doing. And perhaps some of those other parents might ask you, moms, “What are y’all thinking?” And you’ll be able to answer, “I’m giving my kids THE treasure, the treasure which will last forever!” And that … that’s GOOD thinking! Amen.