2024-04-14 Sermon – An Experience On The Road

An Experience on the road
Luke 24: 13-31

How many miles is it to Emmaus from Jerusalem? Seven miles! What do
you think about seven miles? Can you guess how long it would take for you to
walk seven miles?
It would take three-hours. Two disciples’ walking and talking with a
stranger as they walked on the road was continued when they invited him to their
home. This stranger entered their home to stay with them. He was at the table and
he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. Their eyes were
opened and they recognized him. The two disciples got up and returned to
Jerusalem and told what had happened on the road.
I hope this story is not just an event from two thousand years ago, but rather
something that happens as you and I walk along the road and meet the resurrected
Jesus.

1. Cleopas and the other one, two disciples on the road to Emmaus
   The two disciples couldn’t bear to stay in Jerusalem anymore. Jerusalem
   was the land where they had sung the song of hope due to their Rabbi, Jesus.
   However, their hope was not there anymore after Good Friday. Their Rabbi was
   crucified and taken away to the tomb. Jerusalem was changed into a land of
   despair for them. Moreover, the day they left for their hometown Emmaus was the
   day of the resurrection, Easter afternoon. That morning, they had heard the stories
   from the women who went to Jesus’ tomb, later recounted by Peter and John. They
   did not find his body at his tomb. They had seen a vision of angles. These angels
   told them he was alive. Even those stories seemed unbelievable, and they couldn’t
   bear to stay in that land any longer.
   Jerusalem had become a place of strange rumors, where zombies roamed.
   They could not bear to stay there due to their remaining memories of their Rabbi
   Jesus. They decided to go back to their hometown Emmaus. They loved the other
   disciples who had spent a long time wandering with Jesus. However, now they felt

they could no longer believe and follow them. They seemed so strange, like
zombies who spoke strange stories that He was alive. They might become crazy if
they stayed in Jerusalem longer. The thought of no longer being able to stay there
drove them away. After hearing the news of the Rabbi Jesus’s body disappearing,
they couldn’t bear it anymore.
Would they go back home? Emmaus wasn’t too far. It was seven miles, so if
they were driving now, it would only take about ten minutes or twenty minutes.
Even as they walked, they couldn’t erase the thoughts of the rabbi Jesus in their
hearts. They continued to talk about the grace, gratitude, hope, healing, hope and
miracles, wonderful teaching about the kingdom of God they had received from
Him. They truly believed that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, they believed
that He was the Messiah.
Such a Teacher was conspired against and killed by their leaders, religious
leaders, and Romans. They despised the very fate of being born as Israelites. For
them, Good Friday was still ongoing. Although the resurrection had occurred, such
a world was a distant one that couldn’t permeate their hearts. However, the painful
memories of the Teacher left in their hearts talked to them.
Whenever I read the story of the journey to Emmaus, I recall scenes of
walking with my grandmother to Dangjin. Sometimes I would get off the bus at
the Dangjin bus terminal and walk home at night because there was no bus. Even
walking along the dark road at night, it was so joyful to me. The road we take
back home to God, to Jesus, is such a beautiful road, a path to find who we are and
where we are going. If we go toward the place of truth without trying to show it to
others, we can be truthful and transformative.

2. A stranger on the road
   In this story, what is the most surprising thing is that the resurrected Jesus
   came to them. Yet, they did not recognize Him. Just three days. How could they
   fail to recognize their rabbi Jesus whom they had followed so desperately for so
   long time? Let’s read together verses 15-16.
   While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went
   with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

Ultimately, what does this story tell us? It tells us that the risen Jesus is not
recognized by sight alone. Our eyes cannot make us recognize him. Without faith,
without spiritual eyes being opened, even if the risen Jesus comes, we do not
recognize Him. I believe this is the very essence of our faith, the truth of our faith.
The two disciples on the road to Emmaus were preoccupied with their own
problems and emotions related to their teacher Jesus. Many biblical scholars
analyze them as a married couple. As they traveled from Jerusalem to Emmaus,
they incessantly talked about their own issues and emotions. They did not turn
their gaze toward the appearing stranger. Because they were absorbed in their own
problems, they couldn’t perceive Jesus.
How can we open our eyes to recognize the risen Jesus? In this sense, this
story is incredibly beautiful. We must deeply realize and experience how our eyes
can be opened, how we can be transformed to meet the risen Jesus, experience
Him, and live His resurrection.

3. How to recognize the resurrected Jesus?

First and foremost, we must recognize Him through the Scriptures. Why is
that? It’s because Jesus became the Word of God and dwelt among us. We
recognize Jesus through the scriptures. Let us go back to this morning’s story.
What did the stranger (Jesus) do? Let us read verse 27.
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the
things about himself in all the scriptures.
Jesus explained the entire Old Testament, Moses(Moses’ five writings) and
Prophets(History and writings) to these two disciples. What did Jesus teach them?
What was his point? The core of what Jesus taught regarding the Old Testament
scriptures is this: “They speak about Me.” How did Jesus know about it?
Jesus lived according to the Scriptures. He realized that the word of God was
about himself. Preparing this sermon, I was really challenged. We have to live
according to the Bible, the word of God. Then, we have to find how this Bible is
related to me. This book is my book. This book is about me.
We must realize that the Scriptures speak about us, about our destiny, about
our salvation. However, unless our souls meet Jesus and God through the
Scriptures, our hearts will not burn. When their eyes were opened and they

recognized Jesus, they were reminded of the fact that their hearts had been burning
when He taught them the Scriptures, although they hadn’t realized it then. Let us
read verse 32.
They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he
was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?”
If you recognize the resurrected Jesus, then what do you do? In the stories
about the resurrection in the Bible, those who recognized the resurrected Jesus had
witnessed his resurrection toward those who were close to them. Jesus’ resurrection
is experienced only through the work of the Holy Spirit. The resurrection of Jesus
became their own resurrection through witnessing. The two disciples on the road
to Emmaus got up and returned to Jerusalem right away. They went back to
Emmaus because they didn’t want any more relationship with the disciples they
had been with. But now, they return to Jerusalem to have fellowship with them
again. They begin to tell the other disciples in Jerusalem what had happened to
them. Let us read verse 35.
Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was made known
to them in the breaking of the bread.
Yes, how can we meet and experience the risen Jesus? He must come to us.
We must also recognize Him through reading and understanding the Bible. We
must experience a true encounter with Him through the communion of His body
and blood in the Holy Eucharist. It must be experienced through the inspiration of
the Holy Spirit. Experiencing the resurrection is truly living the resurrection out
with our body; it is the path of true faith. That’s what happened on the road to
Emmaus.
When we read the Bible, something amazing happens to us. My father told
me that once when he read the Bible once, all night, then while reading the Bible,
he began to speak tongues. He was not a Pentecostal but a Methodist. My father
demonstrated to memorize so many biblical verses when I worked with him.
One of my members in Delaware told me when I led a Bible study that she
began to read the Bible from Genesis. When she read chapter one of Genesis,
suddenly a kind of fear came over her, she could not read it any more. She closed
the Bible.
I think that there is some spiritual power in the Bible. Sometimes, we can be
connected to this power of God in the Bible by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

I believe that for all of you, there is an Emmaus experience. Would you
remember it like these two disciples on the road to Emmaus? If we were to share
our experiences of meeting the risen Jesus, then a new world would open up.