What Things?
Preached by Benjamin Vrbicek
April 28, 2019
There would be a strangeness to preachingChristmas sermons in January, right? Christmas is in December, and when we getto January, we move on from Christmas themes until next year. But it’s not sostrange, I think, to have Easter sermons after Easter. Sermons on theresurrection are always in season. And every sermon, even the sermons that donot mention the resurrection explicitly, are resurrection-sermons because theyonly exist because Jesus does. So, for the next month, as we finish out therest of Luke’s gospel, we’ll continue celebrating Easter, which is what I hopewe do every week.
I’ve made it a point over thefive years I’ve been a teaching pastor here to never repeat stories in sermons.It’s a rule I’ve only broken a time or two. I don’t know why I feel that way. Ithink it has something to do with the stereotype of preachers as those who havelike six stories on repeat. But the biblical authors don’t share this sameaversion to repetition. The apostle Peter wrote at the end of his second letter,“This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both ofthem I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder” (2 Peter 3:1). In another place he writes, “ThereforeI intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and areestablished in the truth . . .” (2 Peter 1:12).
I bring this up because thepassage we come to this morning in Luke 24, I’ve actually preached before. Andthe more I restudied the passage and looked at the earlier sermon, the more Idecided it only needed a facelift and not a rebuild. So if some of this soundsfamiliar to you, that might be why. There was a saying one of the majortelevision networks used to use when they ran re-runs: if you haven’t seen itbefore, it’s new to you. So if this doesn’t sound familiar, then it’s new toyou.
And for all the epic-ness of theGood Friday story and the profundity of the words Jesus speaks from the cross, youmight be surprised by the first words of Jesus after the resurrection recordedin Luke’s gospel account because they seem so plain. But they might be myfavorite in the whole of the Gospel.
Luke 24:13–35
If you have a Bible, pleasefollow along with me as I read Luke 24:13–19a. I’ll read just a portion of our passagenow, then we’ll pray, and then we’ll spend time studying these verses, as wellas the rest of the passage, together. If you are new to the Bible, the bignumbers are the chapters, and the small numbers are the verses. Again, it’sLuke 24, starting in verse 13. You can follow on the screen or if you want touse one of the Bible’s in the pew to follow along, it starts on page 1007. Luke24:13–19a,
13 That very day two of them weregoing to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 andthey were talking with each other about all these things that hadhappened. 15 While they were talking and discussingtogether, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. 16 Buttheir eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 Andhe said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with eachother as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. 18 Thenone of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor toJerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in thesedays?” 19 And he said to them, “Whatthings?” . . .
Introduction
Years ago, one evening Iremember saying to my wife, “Do you smell gas coming from our kitchen?” And itturns out that there was. Thankfully, the situation was resolved with nothingbad happening. But of course you realize, don’t you, that that was a dangerousand delicate situation.
In the Christian calendar, theweek before Easter is called Palm Sunday. And it too was a dangerous and delicatesituation. Understanding what was happening on Palm Sunday helps us understandmuch of what happens in our passage thismorning. Palm Sunday gets its name because many followers of Jesus had placedpalm branches and their cloaks on the road to Jerusalem as Jesus came to town ridingon a donkey.
37 As he was drawing near—already onthe way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began torejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that theyhad seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the Kingwho comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in thehighest!” 39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowdsaid to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 Heanswered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones wouldcry out.” (Luke 19:37–40)
This scene is of course wonderful and strange and foreign to us. We call this Jesus’s Triumphal Entry, and here’s why: It was in a similar fashion that King Solomon began his kingship, riding on a donkey into the holy city (1 Kings 1:33). And also consider that there was a prophecy from the book of Zachariah that Israel’s king would come riding into Zion on a donkey, and the people were to rejoice and shout for joy (Zachariah 9:9). Now, consider this too: Jerusalem typically had some 40,000 people, but during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which culminates in the celebration of Passover, the city swells perhaps six times its normal size.1So, as Jesus comes into Jerusalem on a donkey during this festival, he’s coming to a crowd of some 240,000 people, with 200,000 of them being Jewish worshipers who have newly traveled to Jerusalem (and all to celebrate how God overthrew a foreign nation who was oppressing his people).
And when you add to this the factthat the relationship between the Roman rulers and the religious leaders wastenuous at best, all of a sudden, the slow-build of pressure throughout the systembecomes apparent. In short, Jesus was coming into a house filled with gas:dangerous and delicate, and the wrong spark would make the whole thing explode.
Let me put it like this. OnJanuary 20, 2017, our President was sworn into office. Imagine what would havehappened if early in the morning, as crowds are already lining the streets, therunner-up in the presidential electiongot into a black Suburban in an escort of other black Suburbans and had men inblack suits walk alongside the vehicles. And then the whole entourage madetheir way down Pennsylvania Ave. andConstitution Ave.
Do you see what’s going on? That’snot a parade; it’s a statement. That’s a dangerous and delicate situation, justas is ridding in to a holy capital city while people shout “Hail to the King,”when Roman is in change, not Israel.
Now back to the passage we justread. The first question Jesus asks these travelers, though they don’t knowit’s Jesus yet, is this: “Hey guys, whatcha talking about?” And what happensnext? We read:
And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas,answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know thethings that have happened there in these days?” And he said to them, “Whatthings?” . . . (24:17b–19a).
Jesus asked, “What things?” Thoseare my favorite two words in all of Luke. Oh, I think Jesus knew somethingabout what happened: the Triumphal Entry, the overturning of the moneychangers’ tables in the temple courtyard,the arrest, the flogging, the nails, the crucifixion, the wrath of God pouredout on him, and the empty tomb. Oh, I think he knew something about “whatthings.” Jesus has a purpose for being so sneaky, so let’s talk about that now.
1. Why the delay in recognition?
Why does Jesus delay their recognitionof who he is? This for me is the question that unlocks what’s going on in the wholestory. In v. 16 we read,
But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
Why? Why this delay? Why wouldGod veil their ability to see who Jesuswas—I mean, Jesus is alive! Just say it right away; enough with the suspensealready! And why does Jesus seem to “playdumb”? Why does Jesus say, “I see you’re talking about something; whatchatalking ’bout?”
Later in the story, which I’llread in a moment, their eyes are opened. They get it. They behold Jesus. Theysee Jesus for who he is, and they runaround telling people about it. But why the delay?
Well, on top of everything Isaid in the introduction, to make the situation in Jerusalem even moreprecarious, something else was also happening. In Jerusalem, the culturalexpectation that the Messiah would primarily be a political revolutionary was startingto become more and more enticing to more and more Jewish people. And it’sunderstandable, really. The Jewish people had undergone such a pounding overand over by Rome (and others), and they had already made so many compromiseswith Rome (and others) just to keep the peace. The people were tired. The hopethat someone would redeem Israel was all they could think about. And so theytook their little hope—which wasn’t necessarily wrong—but they lifted that hopeup so high that they could hardly understand who the real Messiah was.
Let me put it like this. A fewyears ago, the gym where my wife had been working out changed their policy. Iwon’t name the gym, but the policy had been that childcare was included with a gymmembership, which was a fee of only $23/month. Not too bad, especially when youconsider that we had four children at the time. But while my wife stoppedworking out for a few months when we had our fifth child, the gym changed thepolicy so that each child in childcare would now cost $9 extra each month. Ican’t say for sure whether we werethe reason that the policy changed or not, but I do know our membership wentfrom $23/ to $68/month, and that was not going to work for us for a very basicgym (no pool or basketball court; just weights and cardio).
So, we went “gym shopping.” Anyguesses what feature was crucial to us?Yep, “free childcare.” Forget about the weights or the pool or the spinningclass or the locker room facilities or the personal trainers or the rock wall.We just want someone to watch our munchkins. I know that’s silly, but I hope youget my point. In Jesus’s day there was anextreme narrowing of expectations regarding the Messiah. They just wantedsomeone who would throw off Rome!
And this explains, I believe,the delay in recognition. If Jesus shows up to these two disciples and hisfirst words are, “Hey, it’s me! I’m alive! ”guess what they would have done? They would have shouted, “Yeah, freechildcare! Get rid of Rome.” That’s all they were thinking about.
Their hope in the Messiah as adefeater of Rome, their “gospel” if you will, was too small. And Jesus wasgoing to expand it.
2. How was their gospel hope too small?
Let’s talk about this for amoment. In what ways was their gospel hope too small? Let me read more of the conversation.Look at vv. 19–27.
19 And he said to them, “Whatthings?” And they said to him,“Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deedand word before God and all the people, 20 and howour chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death,and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was theone to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third daysince these things happened. 22 Moreover, somewomen of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in themorning, 23 and when they did not find his body,they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who saidthat he was alive.24 Some of those who were with us wentto the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did notsee.” 25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, andslow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Wasit not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter intohis glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all theProphets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerninghimself.
There is more going on in theseverses than I’ll be able to cover. But let me point out a few things. They say,“There was a guy named Jesus, and he wasawesome—or so we thought. He was mighty in word and deed. And we had hoped hewas the one to set Israel free. In fact, there are even rumors that he isalive, but maybe that’s all that they are: rumors.”
In many ways, this passage isn’tjust about them. It’s about us too. We too can overlay our little hopes—our littlegospels—on top of the real Jesus, and when we do, we miss the Big Gospel, theBig Jesus.
I see at least three ways inthis passage that they had made the gospel too small. Let me name them quicklyand explain what I mean by each. There was “power Jesus,” “Pick-and-chooseJesus,” and “Prosperity Jesus.”
PowerJesus: I won’t spend much time on “Power Jesus” because we’vealready talked quite a bit about it. They wanted a powerful ruler who wouldgalvanize the hopes of the people and lead them to throw off Roman rule, thus leadingthem into a new Golden Age. Now, this might not be exactly the same hopes wehave today. But there is certainly pressure to take Jesus and mold him intoyour political system, whatever you believe politically. The reason, however, Jesusdidn’t want to reveal himself immediately to these disciples was because theymight have simply co-opted him to theirpolitical hope, and that is too small of agospel. It was for them, and it is for us.
Pick-and-chooseJesus: Another aspect of their gospel smallness was what I’ll call,“pick-and-choose Jesus.” What do I mean by this? I mean they focused on certain aspects of the Messiah to the neglector exclusion of other aspects.
What does Jesus say to them?Again,
25 And he said to them, “O foolishones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Wasit not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into hisglory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all theProphets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerninghimself. (vv. 25–27)
Notice two things. First, hesays it was “necessary” that the Christ should suffer. Suffering comes beforeglory. In their pain, they had picked the promises they liked and ignored theones they didn’t. This walk they were on from Jerusalem to a town called Emmauswas about seven miles, so it took them perhaps two hours. I don’t have twohours to talk with you, so I’ll resist reading the many, many Old Testamentverses that teach about the sufferings of the Messiah.
The second thing to notice isJesus’s repetition of the word “all.” He uses it three times. “O foolish ones,and slow of heart to believe all thatthe prophets have spoken! . . . beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to themin all the Scriptures the thingsconcerning himself.” All, all, all. Let the sweep of that statement land onyou. Think of the claim Jesus is making here. The whole Bible is about me, saysJesus.
As a staff last week, we read arecent interview in the New York Times.The woman being interviewed is the president of a theological seminary. And inthe interview in addition to rejecting the bodily resurrection of Christ, the seminary president also dismissedthe reliability of the Bible, humandepravity, the virgin birth, the substitutionary atonement of Jesus on thecross, and any hope or sorrow in an afterlife.
I don’t bring this up to scoffbecause perhaps this is how you feel about Jesus and the Bible. To you, I’d simply point out that this certainly isn’t howJesus felt about himself and the Bible. When the rest of the New Testamentauthors see in the Old Testament a focus on the Messiah who is Jesus, these NewTestament authors are not doing somethingcreative and inventive. No, they are onlyfollowing the pattern of Jesus himself and the way he interpreted the Bible,namely, as good news all about him: from suffering to glory.
You see, the ending that we haveto the gospel of Luke, an ending thatincludes the death and then theresurrection of the Son of God (suffering and then glory), is not like analternative ending that you can pick and choose if you want. You can’t haveJesus as a good teacher who is mighty in “deedand word,” as these two say of him, who is not also the crucified and now the resurrectedLord. We can’t pick and choose.
ProsperityJesus: Finally, their gospel is too small because it was aprosperity Jesus, a Jesus who brings relief tothis life only. They wanted Rome out, and they wanted that now. But we can’tblame them too much for this. They were suffering,and they wanted the suffering to stop. Once, I shut my thumb in my car door. Ithurt that day. It also hurt a lot the next day. In fact, it was the next daythat I learned the meaning of the word throb;I could feel my heartbeat in my thumb. It was all I could think about. Itwasn’t wrong to pray about this. Not at all. But it would be a mistake to begin to think that the sole reason theMessiah came to the earth was to make my life prosperous and free of pain.Sometimes “prosperity Jesus” shows up when we need a spouse. Or when we needGod to fix the spouse we do have. Or whenour kids are out of line, or when needinga new job or a new house or a second home or when we need Rome to beoverthrown. There’s nothing wrong with these by themselves, but what if Romewas overthrown? What if Jesus started aviolent revolution? I guess Israel would have prospered, at least for a time. Andyet, sooner or later, her prosperity would fall away, just as it always does.
This is why Jesuscame not to unveil a small gospel but a big gospel, and the Big Gospel changesthem.
3. How did the big gospel change them?
To see how the Big Gospel—theBig Good News Story about Jesus—changes them, let me read the end of thepassage in vv. 28–35.
28 So they drew near to the villageto which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, 29 butthey urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward eveningand the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 Whenhe was at table with them, he took thebread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 Andtheir eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished fromtheir sight. 32 They said to each other, “Didnot our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, whilehe opened to us the Scriptures?”33 And they rosethat same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the elevenand those who were with them gathered together,34 saying,“The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”35 Thenthey told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to themin the breaking of the bread.
This will be a short point. But doyou remember what was said about these two at the beginning? Luke describesthem as “sad” (v. 17). But now what are they? They comment that their “heartsburned” as Jesus explained to them the Big Gospel, which, by the way, is theonly gospel there is. I don’t know all that itmeans to say “their hearts burned,” but what I think it means is that when theJesus who is talked about in all the scriptures was explained to them, theyencountered something better than they could have possibly imagined: a saviorwho is not going to be just in charge of Israel but the whole world. Verse 47says “repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed inhis name to all nations.” All of Jesus in all of the Bible to allthe nations.
And far from being sad, thoughit’s late at night, they rush the seven miles back to Jerusalem to telleveryone about what they learned. They are changed.
Let me close with this thought.It’s strange to think about the way Jesus veiled himself in this passage. Healmost seems sneaky. I’ve read a number of systematic theology textbooks, andwhen discussing the attributes of God, I’ve never seen a discussion of thesneaky-ness of God. Yes, the holiness of God, the sovereignty of God, hisgrace, his mercy, his knowledge, his creative power—but never his sneakiness. I’mbeing silly, of course, because sneaky is not the right word.
Would you call a bride who wearsa veil sneaky? No, we would not. She’s notsneaky but strategic. I’ve officiated formal weddings where the bride wore a veil, that is until her veil was removed. The point was not to veil her beauty indefinitely but for the purposeof displaying it at just the right time to the one she loves.
Beholding the beauty of the BigGospel is so much better than all of our small gospels. It’s good news that wecan’t manipulate the real Jesus into being our politicalleader. And it’s good news that we can’t pick and choose what counts and whatdoesn’t; how could we ever do that anyway? And it’s good news that theprosperity Jesus gives can’t be taken away when you die. The real story of theMessiah is about one who dies for his people and then rises again. It’s a BigGospel. And it’s for you too. You can have joy and hope forever with Godbecause of what Jesus has done.
1 See this explanation here.
