“Walking with Jesus” -- Luke 24:13-35

“What a pleasant surprise!” is always a fun thing to say, especially when it’s genuine.

Granted, there are times when surprises aren’t so fun, but when the surprise is something you were looking forward to but weren’t expecting, it can make the day so much better. A friend showing up at the door, a gift opened, a meal at a new restaurant.

Imagine the surprise of the couple walking home from Jerusalem to discover, once they got home, that they had been walking with Jesus for the entire trip. Imagine the joy they must have felt, the realization that all their hopes were alive and that Jesus was so much more than they had thought.

And they’re not alone. There are times in our lives when we experience the unexpected, only to finally come to the realization that Jesus was with us the whole time.

Central Truth: Jesus reveals Himself to us in unexpected but satisfying ways.

Jesus shows Himself:

By walking with us (13-16)

It was the Sunday after the crucifixion. Jesus had been taken from the cross and placed in the borrowed tomb. The two unnamed people were now heading home, perplexed and saddened by all that had happened that weekend.

Emmaus was seven miles from Jerusalem. A brisk walking pace can cover four miles in an hour, but let’s give them a slower pace, allowing two to two and a half hours to make the journey back home. The Bible doesn’t say when it happened, but somewhere along the way, the two were approached by Jesus. They didn’t recognize Him, but they graciously allowed Him to walk with them and share in their conversation.

The two people—one named Cleopas—probably didn’t mind the company. Maybe they thought a third person may distract them from their sorrow. Maybe they thought this stranger could add something to the dialogue. We don’t know.

All we know is that Jesus decided to walk with two people who were sad and confused. He decided to spend time with them, and being Jesus, He no doubt knew they needed His presence at that time.

It’s also reasonable to believe that Jesus walked with them because it was the way He knew He could get His message of the resurrection to the disciples.

There are all sorts of reasons Jesus chooses to walk with us, but one thing we can be sure of is that when Jesus chooses to come closer to us than usual, there’s a reason for it. Jesus doesn’t do things just because it looked fun, or that He wanted to do something different. When Jesus walks with us, it’s because we need Him to. When those times happen, Jesus lets His presence be known at the right time.

By listening to us (17-24)

The normal thing to say to someone when we walk into the middle of a conversation is, “What are you two talking about?” Jesus’ question to them brought them to an immediate stop. Luke records that the two stood still with a sorrowful look on their faces. One of them, Cleopas, asked Jesus, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in three days?” (v. 18).

Jesus feigned ignorance, and asked them, “What things?” At this point, the two begin to explain to Jesus all that happened to Jesus. They describe Jesus as a great prophet, but He had been handed over to the chief priests and rulers and had been crucified. They mentioned the empty tomb, and their words must have conveyed their confusion and uncertainty.

It’s not unusual when strange things happen that we don’t fully grasp the impact of the event or events. As finite humans, we can’t see the big picture very often. We only know what we gather through our senses, and our senses are not always accurate.

Jesus understands that. He knows how we act and react in our worlds and our lives, and He allows us the opportunity to speak with Him about what we are going through. There are times we want to scream at Him, times we want to sob in His presence. There are times we want to celebrate and times we want to express our regrets or our embarrassment or our shame.

And that’s part of being who we are. We can take comfort in the knowledge that Jesus knows us and knows our thoughts. Knowing that we cannot and will not hide ourselves from Him, we can speak to Him with confidence and openness. Jesus will listen, because He wants us to speak to Him.

By speaking with us (25-28)

The third thing Jesus did after joining the two and listening to them is that He spoke to them.

Jesus tells them they’ve been foolish. I don’t think we should look at that as though He’s insulting them. Let’s look at it more along the lines of chiding them because they’re worrying about things they know very little about. Jesus reminds them that they need to be people of faith, not feelings, and that their faith needs to be well-founded. That’s what He means when He says, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken” (v. 25).

When Jesus speaks to us, the most normal way is through Scripture. In this case, He went through the entire Old Testament, addressing the passages that pointed to Jesus having to experience the things He did in Jerusalem that weekend.

When we have questions, questions only Jesus can answer, we need to look to Him for answers. Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus will lead us to everything He has said, and most of that is in the Bible.

What isn’t found in the Bible can and will be revealed by the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, that will come through a brother or sister in Christ that He sends as His messenger. Sometimes, it will be as we pray. Sometimes, Jesus will speak to us directly. But always, when Jesus speaks to us, we will know it. His sheep know His voice, and we listen to that voice.

By opening our eyes (29-32)

Do you remember the old Lone Ranger shows? One of the last lines of the show every week was, “Who was that masked man?” which was usually followed by, “I don’t know, but he left this silver bullet.” When Jesus walks and talks with us, there is never any doubt afterward.

Jesus walked with the couple all the way to their home. As was the custom, they invited Jesus to join them for the evening meal. When they sat down for the meal, Jesus took their bread and said the prayer. As Jesus began to serve His hosts, they suddenly understood who they had spent the last two or so hours with.

Those times we spend with Jesus, when He knows it’s time to walk more closely with us than usual, when He spends time speaking with us and listening with us, He never leaves us wondering who He was. Again, the Bible reminds us that we know His voice and that we follow Him. It reminds us that the Spirit leads us to Him and His words.

There are times in our lives when we know that it was Jesus alone Who saw us through a crisis or showed us the right decision to make. It may not be obvious at the time, but after everything is over, we can look back and know that Jesus was there all the time.

Conclusion

There are always times in our lives when we need to closeness of Christ to see us through an event we are experiencing. There are always times when we need to know that God is watching over us. This passage, taken in the lives of two disciples, reminds us that when those times arise, Jesus is with us. We may not know we need Him, and we may not know He’s with us at the time, but we can know that Jesus always knows when we need Him and He is always here.