The Resurrection Surprises Us

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The Resurrection Surprises Us

Do you like surprises? A few nights ago I was out for a walk at night. And there were creepy, strange shapes moving around in the cemetery. I was a little shocked and scared—at least until I realized that they were deer. This morning, with his resurrection Jesus brings surprises to us. And in the words that follow we see what they are: “¹³ Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. ¹⁴ They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. ¹⁵ As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; ¹⁶ but they were kept from recognizing him. ¹⁷ He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast.” (Luke 24:13–17 NIV11-GKE)

These words take place on the day that Jesus rose from the dead. There are these two disciples who are walking down the road to Emmaus. And they are talking about all the events that take place. And then, as we are reading, Jesus surprises us. Jesus disguises himself. I remember when I was a boy hearing these words because I thought that Jesus doing something sneaky. And then I thought that Jesus here was doing something dishonest. After all, he was pretending to be someone else. But here we have to remember that Jesus gives people what they need, not necessarily what they plan for and expect. What they needed was for someone to help them take a step back and have a look at the situation. In the words that follow they bring this new visitor up to speed in their converstation. We read: “¹⁸ One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” ¹⁹ “What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. ²⁰ The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; ²¹ but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. ²² In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning ²³ but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. ²⁴ Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”” (Luke 24:18–24 NIV11-GKE)

Don’t you know? That’s the question they ask Jesus. On the one hand, they are kind with this visitor. They give him the benefit of the doubt because he’s an outsider and new to the life of Jesus. But on the other hand, they include him. They bring him in. They tell him two important details. First, they continued to hope.¹ You can just see the shock, sadness, and disappointment in their words. Again and again they trusted Jesus. And he never let them down—at least until now. And second, what is is that they hoped? They hoped that he would redeem Israel.² That word redeem is a very important one. It means to buy back. We use that sort of language today. For example, with the stock market the way it is, they say that now is not the time to “redeem” your shares. They knew that Israel had to be redeemed from her sins. And they knew that Jesus was supposed to be the one to do this. But he didn’t. Notice then how this unknown visitor responds: “²⁵ He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” ²⁷ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” (Luke 24:25–27 NIV11-GKE)

Notice how Jesus responds. If they say, “don’t you know,’” Jesus responds in the same way. But how he does this is fascinating. He starts out by calling them, “stupid.”³ And then he surprises them. He surprises them with how much this stranger knows about the bible. He surprises them with this amazing fact that they were hoping that Jesus would be the redeemer. But that’s exactly what he did. He bought Israel and the entire world from its sins. But he did so at great cost. And that cost was not gold silver. Instead, it took his holy, precious blood. It took his innocent suffering and death. And he surprised them by letting them know that if Jesus’ resurrection was surprising to them, how much more surprising must it have been for Satan who, on Good Friday thought that he was the winner. Then, just three days later, on Sunday, how shocked and surprised Satan must have been to learn that Jesus won by losing. He redeemed the world by dying. But he didn’t stay dead.

We take a step back and look at this and we see this massive irony. All the answers to their questions were there—right there in God’s word. But, to use Jesus’ words, they were too stupid and too lazy too look. And if we’re honest, we too fall into the same trap. How many times in our lives was there comfort, courage, and compassion there in God’s word just waiting for us? But we were too lazy to read it. How many answers to important questions that we had that were there, just waiting for us in God’s word. But we were too stupid to think what we read through and ponder them. That’s why these words are so important for us to hear. For Jesus doesn’t tell them that he’s stupid and leave them in their stupidity and sadness. He patiently walks them through God’s word showing them not just that the Christ would redeem them, but how he would do this. This suffering servant would be tortured so that they wouldn’t have to be. This suffering servant would die so that when they die they would have heaven waiting for them. And after a few days of darkness and silence, he would rise. Jesus’ resurrection surprised them. It surprised them with words of redemption. But as these words conclude, we see that Jesus’ resurrection surprised them in another way: “²⁸ As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. ²⁹ But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰ When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. ³¹ Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. ³² They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” ³³ They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together ³⁴ and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” ³⁵ Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.” (Luke 24:28–35 NIV11-GKE)

Here Jesus misleads them again. First he pretends to be someone else. Then he pretends to go farther. But then, finally, he reveals himself. And there we have these wonderful words recorded for us, “Were not our hearts burning within us?”⁴ That’s what the resurrection surprised them with: Rejoicing. They had planned on a long day of pain and sadness. But Jesus surprised them with a reason to rejoice. And he does the same to us. Now here is where we need to do some comparing and contrasting. Last week Thomas said that unless he saw and touched he would never, ever believe. And I made the point that emotions were bad. And now, here we are, and you’re hearing your pastor say the opposite: emotions are good. Which is true? But the context is important. All false teaching is a confusion of cause and effect. Our thoughts and feelings and perceptions do not cause the resurrection to be true. Instead, because Christ’s resurrection is true we have real thoughts and emotions. It is proper and natural to rejoice in the promise of forgiveness and the fact of Christ’s resurrection. It’s ok to ask the question, “when was the last time your heart was burning when God explained his word to you?” For my own part, I have to admit that I don’t remember too many Easters. But, for some strange reason, I remember many midweek lent services. For there is where God, through his word, reached out to me and explained his plan to me. There is where he surprised me with his love for me. There is where he revealed to me his majestic plan of winning by losing. There is where he proved that my sins were forgiven by striking down his only Son. There is where my sins of stupidness and laziness are redeemed. And on those times I can freely admit that my heart was burning within me. That’s what the resurrection does. It surprises us. It surprises us with redemption. And it then surprises us with rejoicing.