POST RESURRECTION APPEARANCES (Part 1)

FINAL 'CATCH-UP DAY'
April 25, 2010

Reading for Today
Jesus’ appearance to two on the way to Emmaus (Cleopas and another):
Mark 16:12-13
Luke 24:13-32

Wow! Talk about random reports! We have to piece the reports together to gain some semblance of the recorded post-resurrection appearances Jesus made between Sunday, +-April 4 and his ascension 40 days later on +-Friday, May 7, 33 AD.

In Part 1 I want to talk primarily about Jesus' appearance to the two who were on their way to Emmaus. That will catch me up with the portions of the story that occurred that I didn’t cover in real time…. I already jumped ‘ahead’ on April 11 and talked about Jesus’ appearing to his disciples behind the closed door a week after his resurrection so I could stay ‘in time’ except for the last couple of days of his life. Everything else following Easter (except April 11) has been written in ‘catch-up’ mode…. This is the last segment to catch up on.

I would love to have the complete verbatim record of all of the things Jesus said to these two who were walking through the country toward Emmaus. Mark gives us the ‘Cliff’s Notes’ version of the story – but the one fact he includes which is of great significance is that Jesus appeared to them in a different form. I had always wondered why they didn’t recognize him…supposing it was perhaps because they didn’t look him in the face - and that their hearts were just too heavy to 'hear' his voice.... Mark’s observation indicates that Jesus intentionally kept them from seeing Him for who He was. However he achieved that, they didn’t realize that He was walking beside them.

When Jesus asked them what they were discussing, Cleopas sadly replied, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?”

“What things?” Jesus inquired.

“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied, their sadness palpable….

The two men witnessed to Jesus as a prophet – a mighty powerful prophet – but not as the Son of God.

Then Jesus scolded them and said, “Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

Some of those things that were likely included are:

Genesis 3:15 (Part of what God told the ‘serpent’ Satan in His curse against him:)
“…And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel."

Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Isaiah 9:6
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 53
1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
11 After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

Daniel 9:24
"Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.

Malachi 3:1
"See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty.


Of course John hadn’t been written yet – but the first verses that came to my mind were John 1:1 – 4

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning.

3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

As they walked, Jesus shared all of the prophecies – all of the history – all of what Israel had looked for – and who it was fulfilled in: Jesus of Nazareth….

Their hearts burned with them. They found him so engaging that they prevailed upon him to stop and stay with them….and as he broke the bread, their eyes were opened – and he disappeared.

Jesus, Messiah. Name above all Names. Blessed Redeemer, Immanuel. The Ransom from heaven. The Savior for Many. Jesus Messiah. Lord of All….

Those are words in a song we sing at church.

And Jesus, Messiah, joined with 2 people on the road to Emmaus and told them everything…and their hearts burned within them.

I am so glad to know the One who is Truth. My heart burns within me when He opens the Truth of His Word to me in study. Thank you, Lord, for the joy of being in relationship with You. I want to know You more, love You more, serve You more….be filled to the brim with You….so I can spill over to others and let them see Truth in You too….

In real life:
Yesterday was the funeral for the young woman (14 ½ years younger than I am) who died of Pancreatic Cancer April 16. I was not able to be two places at one time – and knowing the family would be surrounded by people who love them, kept my original commitment to go to a Beth Moore Simulcast with my middle daughter, Erin. I’ll commit an extra blog entry to that!

I have a cute personal story to end with today:

As a Mom it is all too easy to raise one’s voice just a bit when frustrated with repeated dialogue with a strong-willed child. Many people grapple with that in parenting. I certainly remember having to discipline myself to keep my voice modulation in control– and certainly didn’t always succeed to my liking.

I’m prefacing the story because it is not an issue just one person deals with. My lovely, sweet, Christian, middle daughter told her kids: “I am not going to raise my voice when I speak to you any more. In fact, no one is going to yell at anyone any more at our house." Ah, great in theory. So – last week, when she was in the car with her 3 girls, her eldest, who has arguing down to an art form, pushed her Mom’s buttons one too many times, and Erin raised her voice to her. Immediately the youngest one, who is 3 ½ piped up and said, “Mommy, if you want me to, I could pray for you right now that Jesus will take that yucky sin away from you.” Her Mama said, “Yes, that would be a good idea.” Bless her heart…. A gracious Mama in the middle of the situation!