EASTER 3, A – April 6, 2008

SCRIPTURES – Psalm 133; Acts 2:14a, 36-41; 1 Peter 1:17-25; Luke 24:13-35

“O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” How would you like to hear Jesus call you foolish? It’s bad enough when someone important, a boss or a parent, is disappointed with you. But Jesus? He who is Lord and God? We don’t want Him disappointed and angry with us!

Why is our Lord so disappointed with these men? Well, they must have been some of His closest followers, for they know Peter and the other disciples; they know the place in Jerusalem where they are hiding out; they know the women who went to Jesus’ tomb. These two men must have been with Jesus, have seen His miracles and heard Him preach. Imagine being taught God’s Word by the One who inspired it, by the One of whom the Bible is all about! Now, at least six times He had specifically told them that He would be killed in Jerusalem and then rise again. And yet, they either did not pay attention, put their own spin on what He meant, or did not believe Him, for they are surprised that His body is not in the tomb! “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” They have earned His rebuke.

So have we. There are times, perhaps, when we wish that we could have been there, have seen and heard Jesus. But, do you not realize that you have so much more than those who were with Him? Remember that He only spent three years with them before He was crucified, rose again, and ascended into heaven. From then on, although He was with them always, as He promised, His presence with them was the same as it is with us: a hidden presence. They had the Old Testament books of Moses and the Prophets, which foretold the coming of the Messiah, and the preaching of the apostles. We have the preaching of the Apostles, also: in the Gospels they wrote, which tell us clearly about His coming, and what He did and taught! They also gave us the other New Testament books, which proclaim the meaning of all that Jesus did, of how it was all for us and for our eternal salvation. And, unlike the people in the 1^st century, we each have them. You have a Bible, and probably more than one, in your home. We are so blessed! We can read and ponder God’s eternal words every single day!

Do you? Do you read God’s Word and hear it proclaimed regularly and faithfully? Not one of us does as much as we could or should. Just think:

• We have Bibles – the very voice of the Creator of heaven and earth, the Lord of life who holds our lives in His hands, the One whose judgment of our lives will determine whether we live forever in heaven or in horrible suffering and sadness in hell – and yet we have a hard time finding time to read and ponder its words.

We spend a lot of time, the majority of our lives, working for money to spend on food, clothing, homes and apartments, transportation, etc. – which is ok, for God knows that you need these things, and He promises to provide them – and yet, when it comes to these words, which give free of charge the true riches which last forever as they make known to us our eternal joy and happiness in Jesus and unite us with Him; well, “It will always be there; I’ll get to it later,” we say.

And then, when we do read the Bible, all kinds of other things challenge us – modern ideas and viewpoints; the opinions and interpretations of others; our desire to be accepted and not rejected. Just in the last few years we’ve been told that:

• Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, and they had a child. And, Mary herself became a leading apostle, but this knowledge was later squelched as men took over the leadership of the Church.

• Jesus was died and buried, and remained buried. His tomb has been found!

Will we accept the Bible’s plain and simple words at face value? We all far too easily ignore the books or verses we don’t like, or far too easily explain them away as old thinking that is not in touch with today, not informed by our knowledge and under-standing. As if He who is eternal wisdom could not give us words that proclaim His saving truth to every age! “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” Such a rebuke is well-deserved.

Thanks be to God that our Lord Jesus is a patient God and Savior! See how patiently Jesus takes time with the two men, how He walks with them to Emmaus and takes them through the Bible, pointing out to them “in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Doesn’t the Lord of all creation have more important things to do than spend several hours with two foolish men? No, He doesn’t. There is nothing more important to Him than their – and your – salvation! How wondrous it is that the Lord Jesus comes down to spend time with you:

• To teach you His words, so that your hearts might burn within you with a glad and joyful faith, and with thanksgiving to God. Every time you open your Bible or come to listen to His preaching, He is with you to bless you with His Holy Spirit.
       Now, it would be nice if we knew which books and verses Jesus used when He went through Moses and the Prophets and taught the men while on the way to Emmaus? Why didn’t Luke tell us this? Perhaps because if he did, we might then restrict our focus to those passages only when considering where the Old Testament speaks of Jesus. Jesus tells us that the whole Bible is about Him, about His cross and resurrection. “He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” How wonderful that you don’t have to search around. The entire Bible is about Jesus and the salvation He has won for you!

• Your Lord Jesus comes down to break bread with you, even giving His body to be consumed by you as the bread of eternal life and His blood as the wine of eternal joy.

God patiently comes to you, speaks to you, teaches you, feeds and comforts you. He gladly paid the penalty for your wrongdoing and rose from the death it brings to bring you forth into new life with Him. How good and patient and loving is our Savior! His rebuke, then – “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe” – is a gentle rebuke. It is spoken by One who loves us and is calling us to His words, to find therein our life and salvation.

Receive Him, and don’t take Him for granted. You do not know how much time you have here, how many opportunities there are to walk with Jesus and receive His blessing. “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass,” the Bible warns us. “The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” Receive your Lord’s words in faith, and you receive His eternal life! “The word of the Lord remains forever” – and so do those who hear and believe it, for it is all about Christ and His death and resurrection for the forgiveness of your sins. Receive His Word, and you receive Him and His salvation. Don’t take it for granted!

Don’t take for granted, either, that you can easily read and understand God’s words on your own. We live in the midst of a “crooked generation,” Peter says. Crooked – the Greek word is skolia, from which we get the word scoliosis: a twisted spine. This generation – people who do not believe in Christ – is walking around bent down and twisted. This generation’s wisdom twists things and bends us down, filling us with confusion and grief – like those sad men on their way to Emmaus.

But in Christ and His Scriptures there is forgiveness, there is life, there is happiness, there is confidence before God. With Jesus we stand straight and tall, ready for God to call us home, looking forward to that glorious day when, with all of God’s people, we will stand in His presence in heaven. Stand with your Lord, then, by standing in His Word. let us pray:

Blessed Lord, who has caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning, grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart, that by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.