Easter Dawn Service - Sunday 27th March 2016 - Preacher: Craig Young

I chose this reading about the disciples on the road to Emmaus not because it is what we know comes next in the Easter story but because it makes me think about what it is that Jesus is doing.

I don’t know if you are like me and continually find new things in the Easter story and the preceding events surrounding the passion. For example I read during lent that when in the Garden of Gethsemane just before he was arrested Jesus prayed that this cup be taken from him. I read this time that whilst Jesus knew what had to happen to secure our salvation, that it wasn’t just his death which he feared but and this is the bit I hadn’t realized before, that he could not bear to be cut off from God whilst he took on our sin. Maybe you know this but for me it was a revelation which increased my understanding.

With that in mind the story of these two disciples on the way to Emmaus becomes one of comfort when you see what was actually going on. To understand the context we must consider what it must have been like for a disciple that day. Just looking at the time between Palm Sunday with that brilliant entrance into Jerusalem, that pinnacle of joy as they accompany Jesus; then as the week goes on the pure evil which envelopes them as the situation goes against them, particularly since the devil does not want Jesus to go to the cross. He tries everything to tempt him away from his mission to save the world.

Jesus prophesied that the disciples would desert him and here we have an account of two of them as they leave Jerusalem. I imagine that they would have been spiritually drained, exhausted, disillusioned, suffering from severe doubt and not knowing what will become of them. As they take their first steps away from Jerusalem and possibly their discipleship they encounter Jesus whom they do not recognize. As they walk together they discuss the previous week’s events. The disciples seem to know everything but have understood nothing so Jesus explains everything to them by relating all of the events to the prophets and what they had written about the Messiah. When they recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread they stop their journey which is taking them away from their discipleship and go straight back to join the others in Jerusalem. Jesus disappeared, job done, the disciples are back on track. The significant thing apart from the encounter with Jesus is that their hearts burned as the meaning of the scriptures was revealed to them. All of a sudden a light went on and they could see plainly what Jesus had accomplished and why.

Those of us here today will have a good reason to follow Jesus, maybe we will be able to point to a moment or an event in our life which has given the motivation to follow Christ or maybe it has been a gradual process which has led to our faith in him as Saviour. Maybe even a combination of the two but in any event I know that you are serious about Jesus. I know this because when I was speaking to Malcolm about how to prepare for this morning he said that anyone who gets up this early is really serious about Jesus. In a way each of us as Christians have had an encounter with Jesus, maybe not recognizing the event straight away but something has certainly happened so that we see more clearly in relation to our faith. However when the moment passes it may be a long time before we have another encounter so we should seek Jesus all the more. Where we find him is in the Bible. After all the two disciples were turned because the scriptures had been revealed to them and as we read further we find that what happened next after Jesus said peace be with you is that he taught the rest of the disciples the meaning of the scriptures and all that was promised to them.

From Johns Gospel we read this, “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome^[a] it.”

Jesus the Word Became Flesh and today we celebrate that the light is in the world and we can see that the darkness did not and will not overcome it. Jesus has given us all that we need to go forward in confidence and we have a great resource in the scriptures. It may be that all is not revealed, but it is there and as we live and work for Jesus we move towards that next revelation or encounter by studying the plain message. We have not to overcomplicate it for ourselves but we have to hang on to that bit which has been revealed to our heart, the bit that we understand and act on it. If at times we find ourselves walking away towards our own Emmaus we are to stop, find Jesus and to turn back towards God.

On that first Easter day Jesus was not having the day off. He was seeking out his disorganised disillusioned disciples and he was encouraging them. I believe that Jesus is still in the world and that there are still disciples who need encouraging. I know I do.

Our resurrected Lord came back with great power having secured our salvation.

It was by His power that the scattered disciples could throw off their disillusionment and despondency. It was by the risen power of Jesus that they could see and understand so that they could renew their commitment to follow him.

And so it is with us, it is by the power of the risen Jesus that we will ourselves be able to deepen our own commitment. As followers of Jesus we expect to be faithful and we can do this much more effectively when we trust in his power and not our own. It is by the power of Jesus that Gods great plan for humanity is revealed, just as it was to the disciples and it is by his power that we will be encouraged. Let us then go forward in faith and into the world full of confidence and with encouragement to meet Jesus the risen Christ. Christ is risen.

He is risen indeed alleluia.