Luke 24:13-35     How to See Jesus Alive Today        April 8, 2007     Easter

I read about a Methodist minister who was given the honor of preaching at an important meeting of the denomination. Just before he was to start his sermon he was looking anxiously around the crowd. The Bishop whispered to him, "What’s the problem? Is there someone here who’s heard the sermon before?" "No," replied the minister, "I was looking to see if there’s anybody who hasn’t heard it before!"  I’m in a slightly similar position, because at Easter, it’s almost certain you’ve all heard so many sermons about the resurrection of Jesus.  But I pray today that you will hear a fresh word and discover how you can see Jesus alive today in your life.

Why do we tell this story every Easter about the resurrection of Jesus.  It’s a story worth repeating again and again.  St Paul wrote to his friends at Corinth, "If Christ has not risen from the dead, then our faith is useless and we are most miserable.”  In our scripture today, Luke tell us the story of two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus.  For them, life was most miserable.  They had suffered a heart-breaking experience in the death of Jesus.   How often do we find ourselves in that same heart-breaking place?  Driving home from the hospital, from the sick friend’s house, from the funeral.  Walking in the door, having lost our job, failed the test, heard that our spouse was leaving.  Human hope is a fragile thing, and when it withers, it’s difficult to revive. Hopelessness is a disease of the human spirit that is desperately hard to cure.  The two disciples on the road home said, "We had hoped ..."  But not any more.  They have no hope left.  Heart break is the most miserable place to be. 
    Now as the travelers made their weary way to Emmaus a stranger fell alongside them. Somehow they didn’t recognize him.  Folks always wonder about that.  We could talk of many reasons for their blindness.  But hopelessness always leaves us blind.  All the doors seem closed to us.  There is no way forward.    We cannot see. 
     The stranger asked them, "What are you discussing together as you walk along?" And so they poured out their sad story to someone who seemed so willing to listen.  Jesus is always ready to hear from you, move you beyond heart-break and start you on a heart-searching experience.   The first step to see the risen Christ in your life today, the first step to recovering hope in your life today, is to pour out your heart in prayer to him.  A heart searching experience begins as we talk to God.  Spend time telling God what you need to say.  Prayer is the first step to seeing Jesus because Jesus is still here. He’s the unseen "stranger", walking with us, listening to us and, if we are willing to hear his voice, revealing himself to us.

     Now as the two disciples spoke, Jesus took hold of their sorrow and gave them a heart-filling experience.  How did he do it?  He pointed them to the Scriptures. Luke tells us, "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, Jesus explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself."   The heart filling experience is still found in the scriptures.  Now many of you have read the scriptures, you have been in Sunday School.  But I want to ask you—Have you read the scriptures searching your heart to see what God wants to say to you personally?   Jesus said to these disciples, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken."   These disciples had read the Bible before, but they had read the Scriptures as they wanted to read them, concentrating on those parts that spoke of a triumphant Messiah.  The passages that spoke of a suffering servant didn’t fit in with their expectation of the Messiah and they tended to skip over them.  Their eyes were closed to parts of the Bible they did not want to see.  We are all like that.  But to see Jesus alive, these disciples had to open their eyes to the whole message of the Bible.  So do we.  Beyond our place of heart-break.  Praying our way to a heart search.  Until we are heart filled, completely saturated, in the whole Word of God, and we will see what we have never seen before.  Jesus alive in us. 

      Now Luke informs us that, "As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he was going further."  What is going on here?   Jesus is awaiting their invitation to come in.  Here is the crucial step to seeing Jesus alive in your life.  You must invite Jesus in.  In the Book of the Revelation we find his words, " ... Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me" (3:19,20).  There’s a famous picture painted of this scene, of Jesus knocking at a door, but there’s no handle to it. I expect there is a handle, but it’s on the inside!   You know, many of us have come to church, we have heard about Jesus, we have talked about Jesus, we have prayed at times, we have read the Bible, but listen to me carefully, when it comes to the crucial moment, we fail to ask him in.  When we reach the deciding moment, when Jesus stands there at our door, we say, “Well, it was great to talk.  Thanks for the time at church today.  I will see you next week.  Good night.”  And we go inside, leaving Jesus outside our lives.  Not these disciples.   We’re told by Luke, "They urged Jesus strongly, Stay with us ..."  Listen to me.  You can come to church, you can do Bible studies, your can read the Word and pray, you can volunteer to help with VBS and Sunday School and make cookies for the youth group, but in the decisive moment, Jesus is still standing outside your life.  Have you urged Jesus strongly, with all your heart, “Come stay with me.  You see, that’s the sort of invitation that Jesus can’t resist!   Luke says, "He went in to stay with them."   And they said later, “Oh, how our hearts burned within us.”   They experience the fire of God.   Maybe you think, “Oh, I did that once when I was 14 years old at a revival meeting down at such and such church.”  Have you urged Jesus lately, “Come and stay with me.”  Can you still say, “Oh, how my heart burns within me at the joy of God.”    It is not what you once did, but where are today?  Is Jesus staying with you now?  

      Soon the bread is on the table and the moment for Jesus’ disclosure has come. How does he do it? "He took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them."  As they worshiped, they remembered what he had said at that last supper, and their eyes were opened.  They saw Jesus.                   Let me ask you this Easter morning, where are you in your experience? Are you still heart-breaking because life has handed you some hard times?  Perhaps you are still in a heart-searching process - if so, continue to pray.  Maybe you are beginning to have your heart filled as you read the scriptures.  But when you are ready, you can find yourself in that heart-burning experience when you see Jesus.  You must ask him to come in and stay.  And he will.  You will know the fire and you will see Jesus, you will see your life in a whole new way.